XPS 8700 nVidia GTX video card upgrades,

In my 8700, I was wondering if there would be any problems between running an EVGA GTX 970 SC versus the EVGA GTX 970 FTW.

There should be no problems.  As long as you have BIOS A10 or higher, and the right PSU it should be fine.

If you have not purchased the GTX 970, you might consider a GTX 1060

availability is still slim,but it out performs the 970s and uses less power.

Hi, I was wondering if the MSI GTX 1060 can fit in an XPS 8700, Its a big investment for me and Im worried it wont fit.

The MSI GeForce GTX 1060 DirectX 12 GeForce GTX 1060 GAMING 6G 6GB 192-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 ATX Video Card dimensions are exactly the same as the MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G that I installed in my son's system.

go back to page 26 of this thread, and scroll down and you can see a picture of it.

I installed an GTX 1060 Founders Edition in my XPS 8700 and I could not be happier.  Easy fit, no power supply changes needed.  Rerouting 2 cables under the rear of the card was tight but that was it.

The GTX 1060 is an OK card, and likely will slap around many of those that were on the market at the first of the year (2016). However, that's not the case now, while I was tempted for the same reasons as I were the 4GB version of the GTX 960 for the same price, there's one thing not to be overlooked, and that mistake won't be made again.

While the GTX 1060 will outperform ANY GPU that Dell or any other large scale OEM has installed in their computers, it's performance is hamped just as the GTX 960, by the bit version. There's a world of difference between 196 bit & 256, the card will likely perform at around GTX 970 levels & that's about it.

I've decided on the more expensive EVGA FTW version of the GTX 1070, not quite top of the line, though certainly not at the bottom of the scale (3x the performance of the GTX 970), and this card will run in a stock XPS 8700 w/out breaking a sweat. Mainly because while nVidia has increased performance & lowered power requirements in a single sweep.

Plus it's nice to have 8GB of VRAM, even on a 24" 1080p monitor, with benchmarks such as Heaven's, should be able to set much everything to max & let the good times roll.;-)

So when looking at the three cards, and I'm sure a 4th will probably be added, maybe a 1050, for the same reason, some couldn't afford the GTX 960 & added a 950 & will need a $175-200 GPU.

At this point, there's zero reason to purchase any GTX 970 if over $135-150 & GTX 980 if over $200, because the 1070 alone will be superior to both. Plus these are fast approaching becoming legacy cards by now, there was a couple of long Topics on this very forum regarding the headaches of installing these, with many Dell owners giving up & returning the PC's within the allowed timeframe. This now seems ages ago, and most certainly more so since the XPS 8900 has hit the market & though the 4th gen Intel CPU line has been the longest 'i' series standing (& still are), either the 6th gen will surpass it, or the more talked about 'kaby_lake' will.

Though I have to admit, the XPS 8700 was one of Dell's huge successes, going way back to the Dimension years, enjoyed a 27 month run, As for the 4th gen Intel i series, that gen has been kicking *** & taking names since early summer 2013 & the unlocked versions shows no signs of letting up, though the MB choices for the Z97 platform needed to utilize these are drying up, which is why just earlier today, grabbed Z97 ASRock Extreme6 (one of only 4 Z97 MB to have native onboard M.2  x4 slot on the board), to add another PC alongside of my ASUS Z97-PRO Gamer. Just waiting on the funds for the GTX 1070 to arrive.

speccy.piriform.com/.../jzGOZ8zIpqKhxNkyEWovNkf

My XPS 8700 is still in use, though for now the GTX 960 has been removed, and later, the i7-4770 CPU will for the Z97 ASRock build. I'll grab a cheap 1150 Anniversary Pentium Edition to stick in the XPS 8700 & sell for $350 as a 'Special Edition' version. After all, that would be true, how many of these has a Pentium G3258 installed? Just need to remove the 'i7' sticker carefully, to place on mine.;-)

Plus it still has a year of the SquareTrade warranty left, all it would take is a spark, and the new owner would pocket $699.99, the price when I purchased new in 2013, in essence doubling the investment.

Have fun with the GTX 1060, am sure it's 10x better than the GTX 960 for only $50 more ($0 if the 4GB version).

I'm beginning to enjoy system building now, as Dan-H told me that it may be up my ladder at some point, when I realized what I had was no longer upgradable. In fact, the i7-4790K support is half-baked, the added BIOS does not make up for the loss of one of the ATX CPU power pins, and once on a gaming MB, the difference was like between night & day. In the XPS 8700, freezing, freezing & more freezing. Because it needs both 4 pin CPU ports for best performance, and I imagine it's that way for the i7-4770 also. The only reason why the i7-4770 likely didn't freeze was because Dell kept the Turbo performance back to a manageable level. Once a 4.0GHz CPU in the i7-4790K was dropped in, software gimmicks couldn't adjust on the fly anymore, and there was no restraining of the 4.0GHz, though never seen 4.4GHz Turbo on the XPS 8700, it would freeze before that happened. Maybe 4.2GHz tops. trying each OC setting in the UEFI firmware. With only two 92mm fans (one meaningless), heat was also an issue under hard load. 

Cat

I bought the XPS 8700 back in June 2012 and finally got around to upgrading the Graphics card. So I just purchased a gigabyte GV-N950OC nvidia gtx 950 and installed it, however after booting up the PC the minister stays in power save mode as though the desktop was still off. I removed all the old drivers and made sure everything is plugged in correctly. The only thing I could think of is the PSU can't handle the card. I'm still using the base psu that came with the desktop and I read that the card only requires a 375W psu. Any ideas?

Cj, you meant to say June 2013, right? I ask because the first runs of Dell XPS 8700 were in the summer of 2013.;-)

Yes, your PSU is capable of pushing the GTX 950 & a lot more. Probably could push a GTX 1060, if you wanted, because it has a good 460W PSU under the hood, made by Delta Electronics.

The XPS 8700 is an OK PC with limitations that renders some of the latest options ineffective. For instance, yes the BIOS had support for the i7-4790K, yet the MB has only one 4 pin power connector for CPU's, which causes random freezes (not BSOD's) that just locks everything as is, a hard reboot is required. Placed the old i7-4770 back in & all is OK. So while the PSU & BIOS supports the i7-4790K, the MB doesn't, and since it passes graphics, not quite 'off-topic'.

At any rate, yes you can run the GTX 950 fine, enjoy your new card & forget any i7-4790K upgrades & you'll be OK.;-)

Good Luck!

Cat

I bought the XPS 8700 back in June 2012 and finally got around to upgrading the Graphics card. So I just purchased a gigabyte GV-N950OC nvidia gtx 950 and installed it, however after booting up the PC the minister stays in power save mode as though the desktop was still off. I removed all the old drivers and made sure everything is plugged in correctly. The only thing I could think of is the PSU can't handle the card. I'm still using the base psu that came with the desktop and I read that the card only requires a 375W psu. Any ideas?

did you update BIOS to A10?

BIOS should be A11, which was released some months back, for various fixes, to include 'support' for the i7-4790K (or unlocked CPU's) & possibly NVIDIA related fixes, which is what this discussion is about. Many in the early goings purchased GTX 970/980's & were returning their PC's at very high levels, and both Dell & NVIDIA had to stop the bleeding.

Mine shipped with the original BIOS, though I didn't upgrade until A08, because I didn't need to, plus as we all should know, flashing the BIOS isn't a risk free procedure. The main thing to protect the computer is to perform the upgrade in clear weather, though not overly hot (this time of year should be fine) & having the PC connected to a UPS as a backup power measure. While notebooks has this protection built in (as long as battery is healthy), a desktop PC doesn't.

You can do to the Dell Support site (IE is best for this) & type in the Express Service Code, then all of the drivers & updates will show. Don't update what's working fine, it's a lesson learned long ago, though with Dell, if there's a BIOS update, usually there's a reason for it. I'd say with the NVIDIA card, go ahead with A11 & be up to date, and take only one risk. Going to A10 & then A11 will be taking two chances.

Good Luck & please keep us informed!

Cat

BIOS should be A11,

A11 is only needed for windoze 10, and Windoze 10 on an 8700 introduces other headaches with Wifi and bluetooth drivers.

A10 is what is needed for GTX 9x0 and GTX 10x0 cards.

I put a GTX 660TI into a new XPS 8900 which had a GT 730 video card in it. I have tried everything I know and speny 8 hours on the phone with multiple DELL reps and had ZERO solutions from them. They all tried to sell me $380 worth of premier service, NO on them could tell me if this 660ti card is supported or not?

The system is the system powers up and no output from HDMI or DVI ports. Tried two different cards, cables etc. Have the latest Nvida drivers and system Bios for the XPS8900

Any ideas on how to get this card to work?

Thanks

Alex

I've decided on the more expensive EVGA FTW version of the GTX 1070, not quite top of the line, though certainly not at the bottom of the scale (3x the performance of the GTX 970), and this card will run in a stock XPS 8700 w/out breaking a sweat. Mainly because while nVidia has increased performance & lowered power requirements in a single sweep.

@catilley 1092

Were you actually able to get the EVGA FTW GTX 1070 in your machine?  I know that EVGA increased the height of their Pascal based FTW cards to a little over 5".  Were you able to get the power connectors in place under the side chassis?

The MSI GTX 970 is a very snug fit, and it is almost 1/2 inch taller than the EVGA.

MSI GTX 970 4G: 10.91" x 5.51"

EVGA FTW GTX 1070: 10.50" x 5.06"

The MSI GTX 970 is a very snug fit, and it is almost 1/2 inch taller than the EVGA. MSI GTX 970 4G: 10.91" x 5.51" EVGA FTW GTX 1070: 10.50" x 5.06"