XPS 435T Observations and Answers (Power, Case, Misc)

Thank you for taking the time to share your findings about the 435T. As we have owned the same PC for about the same length of time, you answered some questions that I had, but haven't had the time to focus on finding the answers. Great information!!!

Thanks for the reply Chas. Glad to be helpful.

I just got back from Fry's and it looks like there are no mainstream power supplys of the physical dimensions of the stock power supply.

Essentially all the mainstream ones are 150mm W x 86mm H (variable depth around 150mm).

The DELL PSU is 150mm W x 98mm H. So the gap in the case is about 150mmW x 12mmH.

Still looking online for a PSU that matches the stock dimensions.

You are welcome.. If you find a PS that fits your needs, it would be helpful to the community in case someone has the same goals are you. Personally, my gaming days are far and in between, so the stock power supply will suffice. However this turns out, the info would be an asset to someone. It always bugs me when these types of threads are initiated and if someone has discovered a silver bullet, it's always proactive to share the knowledge. Thanks again!!!

No prob. Sadly the reason I needed to change the PSU was not for gaming, the stock PSU was fine for all my power needs. It just flips out when any affordable battery backup unit goes into battery powered mode (ie: when the power goes out).

hi.  has anyone found a psu that will fit this nicely?  or any psu that works and is secure, even if it doesnt fit perfectly?  i just bought a 435 that is being delivered in a week and i have an apc xs 900, so it seems im going to have the same problem with the apc not working with this machine.  also, i woldnt mind a better psu as then i could upgrade the video card to a better one.  thanks in advance for any help.

Yup I found a Power Supply that will work, and it fits great and alot better than stock.

https://shop.pcpower.com/products/power_supplies/dell/

Do you happen to have a graphic of the motherboard that shows the location of the 6 SATA ports?

- This has been covered here before, but I will give a concise summary: The default 475 W PSU is apparently very sensitive to having a perfect sine wave, so normal battery backups will not operate in backup mode with this PSU. (ie: pull the plug or shutoff the breaker, and the system resets and will not turn on while in battery backup mode). This is NOT an issue of slow switching to battery as the system will not turn on while there is no wall power, even when any of the batteries are fully charged. DELL apparently recommends the server grade battery backups which will run you 300-500$. I installed a Corsair HX620 power supply and it does not have the same problem. The original DELL 475W PSU would not work with either a 750VA or 1300VA APC battery backup, whereas the Corsair HX620 worked with both, the larger one lasting 21 minutes before shutdown and the lesser one lasting about 13 minutes before shutdown. The only problem with the new PSU is the physical size not matching the case. (see next item) - The PSU that comes from dell is larger than a default PSU. It is almost square from the rear of the PC, whereas the new Corsair HX620 is almost rectangular, This causes 2 of the 4 screws to not line up on the PSU. (still installs tightly). This also leaves a gap of about 5" x 1/2" below the power supply where air can flow freely in/out of the case. This is less than ideal because dust isnt being directed through filters, etc. (maybe doesnt matter). I am going to the store tonight to see if there are any 3rd party power supplies with this larger form factor. Hope this helps you. I am very pleased so far. As long as I can find a PSU that matches the physical dimensions of the original part, but also works with a battery backup, I will have no complaints.

Hi dwlovell,

I know this post is about a year old, but it's really good stuff. Very helpful. I wish mainstream reviewers of PC's were as good as yours. This whole "sinewave UPS powersupply" issue is a MAJOR bummer and blows my mind. I've been wanting a new PC for many months now, but ever since I came across this sinewave issue, my purchase has been on hold. I am astounded that this isn't more widely talked about on the internets. I have a $60 APC UPS that has worked great, but to have to buy a new one for no less than about $250 is ludicrous. Even more ludicrous than that, is the fact that NO WHERE on the Dell page for the Studio XPS Studio 435/9000  is this requirement for a UPS mentioned.

Anyway, that's a deal breaker plain and simple. I really wanted a XPS 435/9000, but now I just don't know what to do. I guess just wait another several months or a year until a differnent model is out. I don't know. It sucks. Oh, and the idea of buying a new PC, and then imediately opening it up and replacing it with a new power supply sucks bigtime. The whole thing sucks. 

well, I just read this review, thanks for the great details, I  didn't know about this PSU issue before I bought the xps 9000 a few months back, I could swear I tested with an APC 550 upon setup and everything was fine, but I just re-tested and realized that the UPS/PSU is not working, (I noticed couple of 'reboots' before but chalked it down to overheating, but now I'm sure they were power spikes/dropouts)a big issue for me since I could loose a lot of work if power cuts off before saving..

I'll contact Dell but I think is going to be a waste of time...

Is that PSU link above really comparable with the XPS 9000?

I checked their comparability tables and they do not mention the 9000 case AFAI can tell...

 Have had the XPS435T or 9000 same thing, for almost a year and the first thing changed was the power supply. For vid card upgrade

and added HD's and such. The 475W good PS but marginal if  big vid card i.e. 5870-5970/GTX285-295 and so on. Then overclocking it

adding drives ect. will push it.

(Alot of us) have upgraded our power supplies. Have seen 550 to 1200W going in with out any problems. Replaced mine with a CM 850W Modular.

Worked great and haven't heard of problems with others either, Other than could only use 3 of the 4 screw for holddown on some units. No biggie!

Now my 850W is in my new( Home built 4.2 rig) and 475W back in the XPS435T/9000.Good machine but handicapped for the price.

Never buy another pretty much non upgradable machine again.:emotion-45:

My two cents worth.

Later:emotion-2:

Thanks Irocing for the reply and info, I read through Cooling Masters specs and bookmarked them..

Did you test this PSU/9000 box  with a regular APC UPS?

I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade the Psu now or just find a UPS that works with the OEM PSU, since I'mnot planning to upgrade my Video right now.

I'm hesitant to install a new Psu on  a brand new PC so soon, and worry that Dell's warranty may be void.

.PS: Interesting that you and others find the 9000 to be non-upgradable, I thought it was and that's why I got it, but goes to show how complicated all this 'hardware' stuff has gotten, I researched  for quite a while before pulling the trigger but obviesly still missed important info.

 As to the UPS, have a Belkin that have used for years for other computers and not a problem at all.

Was not able to use it for my new build though because of power requirements when overclocking.

Works fine for the Dell though.

As to upgrading your power supply see no reason for you to upgrade unless going for a power hungry

video card and alot of drives and devices. The 475 seems to be a good unit.

 Went a few rounds with Dell when I purchased it as was not quite told the truth about things like overclocking,

memory speed upgrades and a few other items. Purchased my 435T/9000 when they first came out and suppose thier

(Salesmen and techs) I talked to at the time where not, shall we say, Up to speed on it.

Almost sent it back but needed one badly at the time.

 Just got done building my own computer from scratch and wish had done it from the start.

Worked out good though as the Dell is the other halfs now and she really likes it.

 My new unit is sitting at 4.2 rock stable and can go higher, unlike 2.6 and bios locked Dell.

Running #2 video cards and could run #3 if wanted to. Dell #1.

Can run any speed memory out there, will take the new 6 core processor,Sata 3, USB 3.0 and the list goes on.

Thats upgradability. And just below the initial cost of my Dell.

Al though does not include the cost of the power supply or new vid card I upgraded to in the Dell.

Now Dell back to original.

 Don't get me wrong, the XPS435T/9000 a very good machine for the average user.

Hope this helps. 

I realize this post is a little dated, but it still contains good information. I took delivery of a XPS 435T refurb this almost past summer. The PSU situation I solved. After experencing the heat given off this machine I looked for answers. I replaced the PSU with a Corsair TX 650W, standard ATX unit.. Heat is down and the computer is more responsive. Heres the fab work. Mounted the PSU towards the top of the case using the holes that would pin. Elongagated one hole towards the 10 oclock position as needed. The screw covers the complete hole, out of site. The other non pinning hole was moved up aprox 1/8" to 3/16". This left a gap and the unused hole. A 5/8X 6" piece of aluminium .030 thick to start covering this mess. Trimming to length (width of the case) I was able to tuck the bottom of the filller piece into the panel supporting the rear case fan. The ends of the filler are not seen -covered by white sides of the case. Lossen the PSU screws and it will also tuck under it. It looks like the filler belongs there. The PSU does not sit on the side rail inside, in this configuration. So I took some square aluminum (1/2") tube and cut it in 1" lenghts (2 pieces).Placed one at the back and one farther in on the rail. Loosened up the PSU screws and the blocks slide in with a dab of epoxy on each. Tightened the PSU up. No rattles or other.                              

I see reports of these machines running 50C plus, Mine did also. I solved this problem by replacing the Intel CPU fan and heatsink with the crazy tube, with a copper tube and fan arrangement. Unloaded I will see 30 to 34C. Loaded 40 to 42C. I chose a Rosewill unit and installed one on my LGA 775 machine with the same results. 2 extra 92mm fans were added. One in the Flex bay and the other in the now vacant left side vent pulling air in connected to a variable speed controler. The run on 1/4 throttle. Yes the flex bay holds the attachment for reading motherboard and hard drive temps. Hope these are helpful.

123ghost

I also recently purchased the XPS 435T as a refurb. I've had it for over a month now and I like it alot. But I too am indeed getting VERY hot readings from my CPU. Right now, it's idling at 55c. And if I run DVDFab (DVD ripping/video convertion) which takes advantage of all four CPU cores, it will almost max them out at 99%. Very quickly, the temps SKYROCKET to up to 92c. That's correct 92c. So this obviously has me worried makes me have to always think twice now before I start doing heavy CPU intensive stuff because I don't want to fry the thing, which kind of defeats the purpose of me getting this new beefy PC if i can't take full advantage of it.

I've considered replacing the fan/heatsink, but I'm kind of a novice pc user - not a massive noob beginner, but not a geek master either. I've never built a pc, but I've installed hard drives, ram, video and audio cards several times on mine and family's pc's, but never a CPU heatsink which I would be nervous about. Mainly  the idea of removing the old thermal paste and applying the new is what gets me neurotic because it's not just unplugging and plugging something - there is a margin of error there - you can apply too much or too little of the paste. Also, perhaps a bigger worry, is about how changing a CPU fan will interact with the Dell BIOS. I wonder since it's a different fan with potentially different specs like the fan size and RPMs, will it result in strange behavior of the fan? For example, will the fan spin at much higher RPMs than necessary, or spin much too slow, or stop the pc from booting. I remember reading on some post that this might be a problem if the BIOS expects the fan to spin at a certain RPM during boot and will just shutdown or keep restarting if the replacement fan doesn't behave like the Dell BIOS thinks it should.

Anyway, if you say that your Rosewill heatsink works perfectly, then I might want to get the exact same one as you. Could you give me a model number or a link?

And about the two extra fans you installed: I looked in my case, but I didn't see any extra power connecters available. What did you hook them up too? Putting in another fan or two in just the way you described was also something I was considering, but I just assumed it wasn't an option since i couldn't find any spare power connections.

Thanks,

DarthSineWave