XPS 8500, video card, power supply, upgrades

considering the xps 8x00 have one case fan I would say go with the reference cooler 770s.

http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16814130939

i tried a cheaper 770 with dual fans and it seemed to heat up the inside a lot (crashed during Assassins Creed 3 on max). I installed a 120mm exhaust fan on the dell and the problem seemed to go away. 

Make sure you upgrade the power supply as well.

Sitech has it right, the reference cooler is set up to exhaust air out of the back of the case rather than into the case itself.

The GPU's rear exhaust along with the dual fans in the upgraded PSU should be enough to keep the case temperatures manageable.

What I meant is that the reference cooler blows air out, the aftermarket cooler on my 770 just blows hot air inside the case. The 120mm fan is not desirable as it required an adapter (dell stock size is 92mm) and my case doesn't fully close because it's too big.

Just to clarify, the GTX 770 will not work with the system?

Just to clarify, the GTX 770 will not work with the system?

GTX770 will work with the system, largely because it's a re-branded 680. To avoid the disappointment, you'd better use an EVGA or PNY, as they were tested and confirmed by some users （see previous posts). I use an A12 Bios.

Does the gtx 770 work with a09 bios?

Graphic card manufacturer and model number: MSI R9 270 GAMING 2G

Bios:  Originally A05 but then also updated it to A12

Operating System:  Windows 7 x64

Power supply manufacturer if not Dell 460w PSU : Corsair VX550

Compatible:   No video output at all tried DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI

Original card with system that worked:  Not sure which video card this came with but I've been successfully running an EVGA 9800 GTX+ card very smoothly until recently (which is the reason why I decided to upgrade to the R9)

Other Comments:

I believe there has been at least one person in this thread that confirmed that the MSI R9 270X worked for them. My understanding was that the 270X was basically the same card with better OCing.

Ironically, to confirm that it was not the card that was defective, I installed the 270 on an old Inspiron 530 and the video was output correctly via DVI.

Yeah. I planned on going with the EVGA one and I think I will. But, BIOS updates worry me.... I don't know why. Like the system scanner thing scanned my PC and no BIOS updates came up. But I have a09 and the newest one is A12. I don't want to run the risk of bricking my motherboard... But, even without the upgrade and if I went with the EVGA, it would run properly. Is A09 compatible with newish processors (i7 3770), and gpus (GTX 770) and such?

Graphic card manufacturer and model number: MSI R9 270 GAMING 2G Compatible:   No video output at all tried DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI Other Comments: Ironically, to confirm that it was not the card that was defective, I installed the 270 on an old Inspiron 530 and the video was output correctly via DVI.

Hmm, wow.  Thanks for this info.

If I can para-phrase it a bit, all you did to get the AMD card working was flash the vBIOS of that video card? (not the Aurora Bios? Maybe you did update the aurora/mobo bios but updating the video card bios fixed it?)

Looking at my XPS 8500, it is running on Legacy mode and not UEFI. So I guess my follow up question would be if I need to change the XPS bios mode to UEFI to get the video card working?

Or is it that I should try looking for the non-UEFI vBIOS for the video card then flash that?

Thanks again!

to get the AMD card working was flash the vBIOS of that video card?

Yes, he had to find a "Legacy" VideoBios. My interpretation is that the Legacy vBios forces the machine into that mode.

He would have updated the Aurora R3 main BIOS, but it was already current and Dell isn't releasing any more for it. It works with their OEM cards and they are good with that. There has been a new Aurora R4 released for years since.

Yes, if you have options like uefi, legacy, secure-boot, PCIe-v3, etc ... you should try flipping them.

Hi guys,

I'm still looking at upgrading my video card, I was going to get a GTX770, but it happens my friend got a spare 680 I can use. It was good, the improvement upon stock GT640 is obvious, even without upgrading the power supply.

So in my recent research, Google "XPS 8500 GTX 7", I found there are people successfully put a GTX780 in the XPS 8500.

• EVGA GeForce GTX 780 SC w/ ACX: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19454353.aspx?pi21953=3
• MSI N780 TF 3GD5/OC: http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-Corp-N780-3GD5/dp/B00DIH8OOQ

I think according to the previous posts, EVGA and MSI are the brands always work with XPS 8500, not exactly sure why.

I personally think the 780 will be a good buy, kind of future-proof for some time, don't think I can squeeze too much out of the stock 8500 anymore without changing the modo.

Any thoughts?

Some update, I finally put the EVGA GTX770 in, but the inside the case is a mess now. I got three hard drives, which in the end I had to push the case close. I changed the case fan too with a Noctua NF-B9, I don't play too much game, so far so good. Very happy.

Graphic card manufacturer and model number: EVGA GTX 770 02G-P4-2774

Bios: A12

Operating System: Win 7 64 Bit

Power supply manufacturer if not Dell 460w PSU : Corsair CS650M

Compatible:  Yes 

Original card with system that worked: GT 640

Hi! did you tried the R9 270x ? any news? i want to buy a sapphire R9 270x but i dont know if that card is supported by the bios ... thank you!