Dell XPS 8500 will the EVGA GTX 970 work and what PSU should I get?

I happened to have the box near me.   Definitely an  04G-P4-1972 KR.

You were the first to catch the error, so I updated my post.   I snapped this picture from the box:

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-1972-KR

Thanks for pointing that out and asking.

The various models seem to be VERY VERY VERY Picky about which ones work or not.

Thats why I wanted to nail that down.

In older dells like Precision T3400 BIOS A09  I've used an EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SuperSC ACX 2.0+ 2GB GDDR5 128bit,  02G-P4-2966-KR

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-2966-KR

Can you please tell me if you had to upgrade your PSU before upgrading your GPU?

I am really wanting to play Fallout 4 and the GPU you put in looks right for my 8500.  However,  if I'm going to have to get a new PSU I will probably just save  up and build a new system.  I want to play Witcher 3 and I'm not sure if the 970 can handle it or not.

But then I guess I can always buy a really nice PSU and just take it with me when I build a new system.  You got the new PSU in w/o any major problems?

I must say you did a nice job on everything.  Plus it is all clean and shiny. I guess I need to blow mine out.

Another question:  Do you know what kind of memory the 8500 takes? I have 8 Gigs of ram in 2 banks leaving 1 slot free in each bank - so each ram is 4 gigs.  Can I slap in another  for a total of 16 gigs?  IF it is not to much money and the system can handle it I can't see a reason not to.

Thoughts?

Thanks

REHII

It depends on your definition of "had to upgrade".

You absolutely should upgrade your PSU.  

But... what if you don't?  The upgrade might work for a while at the risk of damaging your motherboard, overheating the card for games that tax the CPU/GPU, game freezes, spontaneous reboots, and shortening the life of your PC Hardware.   That also assumes that your case has the appropriate power connections for the card.   It's a really bad idea. 

Let's ask a better question --  Do I need a super-expensive PSU?   That answer is no.  

Sure, we all love our Bronze, Silver or Gold Certified PSU's...   but  you don't have to break the bank.  I picked up a $70 Bronze because I wanted 750watts.    I have 4 hard drives jammed in my case (don't ask how), but I could have gotten an even less expensive PSU. 

You may not even require the 80+ efficiency Bronze certification, or be as picky about limiting your search to reviews with at least a 4.5/5 or more than 30 reviews.    If the $69 cost is too high, you could probably find a cheaper PSU. 

All ATX Power Supplies have about the same Height and width  (150mm or 5.09" wide)  and (86mm or 3.38" high).    The problem is the Depth.   How deep into your PC can it reach  (extending towards the back side of your CD/DVD).  

I did some measurements, and realized that the MAX PSU depth that would work would be about 165mm or about 6.5".     That's tricky because I wanted a 750w plus power supply, and its REALLY, REALLY hard to find a good power supply under with less than (180mm / 7.09").   And, that wouldn't fit.

About a year ago, I scoured every 700+ Watt,  80+ certified PSU carried by Newegg (as of 12/1/2014).   Then, I cross checked the newegg specs for each prospect with the manufacter's website for verification.  I only focused on PSU's with at least 8 reviews, and then only if they averaged a 3.5 rating  (unless the low ratings were for frivolous things like rebates).

After looking up the specs on over 200 PSU's  (over a 5 hour period),   I only came up with 5 potentials:

• EVGA SuperNOVA 750B1 $69.99
• RAIDMAX RX-1000AE 1000W $119.99
• SeaSonic SS-750KM3 750W $139.99
• CORSAIR AX series AX760 $159.99
• Coolmax 1200W ZPG-1200B $282.35

So...   although I recommend that you upgrade your PSU...   you can still do it for less than $75.     And, you can probably even go lower than that.    Just be sure to check the manufacture's website for the official dimensions to make sure the 3rd dimension is less than 165mm or about 6.5".     The other two dimensions will always be (150mm or 5.09" wide)  and (86mm or 3.38" high).

There are websites to calculate how much power you really need.   Depending on the card you select, you might be able to get by with a 650watt or 700watt.     (The hard part was finding a 750watt that fit!)

Corsair AX760 is a lot more expensive than CS750M.  The 750M works in my case YMMV.  The 750M is what a consider a bare minimum upgrade.  If you are trying to use 2 X GTX 970 or 980 then the supply should  be 1100W or more.

Hey all, 

Is it necessary to upgrade the motherboard? I'm planning to get the same power supply however get a gtx950 instead. Will it still work?

I'm planning too use the same 750W PSU as it fits into the dell xps8500. Instead of a 970 i'm planning to use a MSI GTX 960. Assuming I set it all up correctly, I wont run into any problems? Shall I follow  your way and make changes to the motherboard?

It was my first time doing this but I had some purchasing guidance from one of the pros at microcenter and install seemed very straight forward based on what I read. Everything went in fine and fit properly. I followed the directions to uninstall the existing GPU driver before replacing and download the latest driver for the new card but not install it.

When I press the power button the boot screen loads (shows the Dell logo and blue progress bar, so I know the display works). Once the progress bar is full nothing happens and after about 30 seconds I get a beep from inside the case. Pressing F2 or F12 in the boot screen does nothing and makes ticking sounds if you press it after the beep starts. I did what trouble shooting I could but I am stumped.  To me it seems like the OS isn't loading.

I checked all of the power connections, they are all correct and tight. All of the SATA cables and such are tight. I put my ear to the HD on power up and I can hear it wind up. The HD makes a slightly different sound when it starts spinning, I don't know if that means anything... Whats going on here???  I dont know what BIOS I have. Should I reinstall the old card and check the bios version?

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3515/p/19602879/20702349#20702349

BIOS is up to A12 on the 8500

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/DriversDetails?productCode=xps-8500&driverId=GVGPD

 
* Download/Save the file to the windows desktop
* Before running A12, I would install the Prior Bios in order
* Disconnect any external hard drives, keys, printer, scanner, etc. You only want the USB mouse, USB keyboard, LAN, monitor connected
* Run the executable from Windows
* Allow the system to complete the installation and restart automatically. Do not force a restart or power off
===============================

DELL only "tests/validates" those video cards in the list. Dell warranty does not cover non-OEM video cards NOT on our list. Below are the Dell validated/tested OEM video cards for  our 460w power supply =

8MXMJ Nvidia GeForce GTX750Ti P123N, 2GB, DVI-I/DVI-D/mHDMI
TC2P0 Nvidia GeForce GTX745 M302N, 4GB, DVI-I/DP/HDMI
9YJWT Nvidia GeForce GT720 M211N, 1GB, VGA/DVI-D/HDMI
FPDH3 Nvidia GeForce GTX660 D15P2-40 V2, 1.5GB, DVI-I/DVI-D/DP/HDMI, (Win 8)
2CHCY Nvidia GeForce GTX660 D14P2-40, 1.5GB, DVI-I/DVI-D/DP/HDMI, (Win 8)
8C3R5 Nvidia GeForce GTX650Ti P122N, 1GB, DVI-I/DVI-D/mHDMI
9168H Nvidia GeForce GTX645 OHGA4/M301N, 1GB, DVI-I/DP/HDMI
R5H2D Nvidia GeForce GT635 M210N, 1GB, VGA/DVI-D/HDMI

9KYFK AMD Radeon R9 270 RD14D-P1-70, 2GB, DVI-I/DVI-D/DP/HDMI
WNMHJ AMD Radeon HD8870, 2GB, DVI-I/mDP/mDP/HDMI
51NCR AMD Radeon HD7570 M209A, 1GB, DVI-I/HDMI (Win 8)

Yes.  Absoutly check the bios.    You might have to switch back to the old video card to do it.

That's typically the first things folks do pre-upgrade.  After that...   (if that doesn't work)

I can only make educated guesses from years building PC's.

The beep and startup mean it probably isn't a powersupply issue.

The fact that you see a screen means it probably isn't an explicit motherboard hardware issue.

I'm guessing that it's a driver issue,  and/or  your video is switching to one of the other ports  (HDMI, VGA, Display Port 1 or Display Port 2) -- a different one that you see during boot.    There is also a possibility that the card is defaulting to a resolution that your monitor doesn't support  (too high, to low, or just not accepted)  and/or a format that is not accepted  (such as HDMI that uses rgb vs ycbr and all the 4/4/4, 4/4/2 and 4/2/2 settins in 8-bit and 12bit).

I'd play with additional monitors and additional ports.   Perhaps go back to the old video card and reset yourself to some generic 1280x720 and then switch hardware back to the new card.   Perhaps remove all drivesr when you go back to the old card so that you boot the new card on generic video drives... and do the install of the video drivers when the new card is in on "generic Windows Drivers" at ugly 800x600 resolution.

Thats typically where I go from where you are.

And...  once or twice  (and this is an absolute longshot),  I've bent a pin on a  DVI or VGA cable while replacing a video card.... and fought this for hours before I realized a pin was broken or missing.  I suspect you are using non-pinned cable like DisplayPort or HDMI... but trying different cables is a "Hail Mary" after you've done everything twice with two different monitors and every port out of the card.

Sometimes I never figure out what the actual issue was (I chance so much).  It could be anything from one of the times I reseated the card, to who knows what.    

There might even be a remote possibility that the card is under powered and you only see the consequence when it attempts to switch to a different resolution.   That's more of a "conspiracy theory" level guess... if everything else fails.