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ZeusMastah

21 Posts

20498

February 13th, 2019 18:00

XPS 8910, 8920, 8920 SE, 8930, Case Upgrade/Mods

PART 1

*Please note that by moving everything out of your current XPS case, you will void the Dell warranty. My warranty was already up, so I went for it anyways.*

Recently I decided to upgrade the graphics card (which I will continue to call a GPU from here on out for those who don't know what that is) in my XPS 8920 SE from an AMD Radeon RX 560 to the MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Duke. When I purchased the 1070 Ti, I did not look at the dimensions of the card and realized once I got it delivered that there was absolutely no way that it was going to fit in the XPS case. This is not the same situation for other cards out there, but this specific GPU was massive. So, I decided to take on the idea of buying a new aftermarket case and moving everything inside of the XPS 8920 to a new home. Being a budget gamer, the NZXT H500 seemed perfect because it was a $77 case (which you can find cheaper, but was the price on NZXT's website and have actually gone up) that came with a ton of inside room, a tempered glass side panel to view the inside of the case, and two extra exhaust fans already mounted in the rear. So, after finding out how easy it was to move everything over, I have had a couple of people ask me to do a step-by-step on how to move everything over. I really hope to not miss anything since it has been about a month now since I moved everything, but it is super simple and only took a little bit of my time.

First, let's start by saying what you will need to have for your build be absolutely done at the end of all of this:

  1. The H500 case from NZXT which is such an easy case to move into *they sell the H500i which comes with built in RGB lighting, but note that I am not sure if it comes with the necessary RGB hub or adapters to address the lighting controls since the Dell motherboard does not have any RGB addressable plugs. Even then, you are paying $30 for lighting if you still decide to go with that*
  2. A couple of fan cable splitters or a sata to 4 pin adapter for your power supply (which I will call PSU from now on for those that don't know). I got the 2 pack to be able to control three total fans, the two that come with the H500 and the one I took out of the XPS case or these.
  3. The manual from your XPS case, which is available online through the Dell website and is over 100 pages long. I will be referring to the XPS 8920 manual for page numbers and the cases between the 8910, 8920, and 8930 are basically identically made, so you can use any of them.
  4. A set of screw drivers to loosen and tighten every screw (which will be a lot of them).
  5. If you can, purchase a newer and better PSU that is either semi or fully modular so you can have a really nice and clean build. Also, Dell's PSU for the XPS series is not exactly the greatest. I personally have the EVGA 750w BQ bronze which is priced really well, but pick whatever you want.
  6. Some motivation because it will be frustrating at times if you decide to refer to other forums and articles about how to move this specific PC over to a new case instead of just trusting yourself.

ZeusMastah

21 Posts

February 18th, 2019 10:00

Part 3:

It's not as hard as you might think. It's just tedious work and requires some time.

With all your stuff to one side, get your h500 case ready by opening the side glass panel and the other side panel and setting them to the side. Remove the two rear case fans on the case to make putting in the mobo much easier. Not necessary to do so, but it makes things easier in the long run. Now we will go through what you need to do to set up your XPS system inside of the new case. Read through the instructions that came with the h500 case and it will explain how to place everything inside of the case. Even then, I will go ahead and describe how to do it by also suggesting the easiest and (in my opinion) best cable management options.

  1. * This step is only necessary if for some reason your NZXT h500 did not come with the standoffs pre-applied to the case* Go ahead and place standoffs (which came with your h500 and the h500 manual shows you which ones) into the correct spots on the case where the mobo goes. Do this by lining up the holes in your mobo with the screw holes in the case and placing standoffs in the right spots. I forgot to put standoffs in mine and nothing has happened, but I will be adding those soon. Don't forget this step.
  2. Once you have all of the standoffs in the right spots, go ahead and mount your mobo using the appropriate screw that the h500 manual says to use. Using the right screw ensures that the threads for the screw match up with the size of the threading in the standoffs. Remember not to let the screws touch the mobo and carefully place them in the right spot. Don't worry if you don't have every hole in your mobo with a screw in it. The Dell mobo is not your standard ATX or mATX size, but it fits well enough. As long as screws are in the four main corners and some in the center, you will be fine. *Note that you will not have an i/o shield on your motherboard anymore once you remove the mobo from the XPS case. It is not necessary, but can affect aesthetics if that really bothers you. Make a note of what each i/o port is somewhere so you know which USB port is which (so you don't use a 2.0 when you thought it was a 3.0 USB) and so on.*
  3. Mount your PSU into the bottom of the case as per the instructions on the h500 manual. This is relatively easy, but make sure that the fan for the PSU faces downward towards the bottom of the case because there is a fan filter there meant for the PSU. The case comes with the necessary screws for this as well, so don't worry about that.
  4. Go ahead and install the wireless card and antennae to the mobo before you forget and before you have a ton of cables in the way. You can use the instructions on the XPS manual, but it's just the reverse of how you removed it. Attach the antennae to the wireless card first before mounting it to the mobo. The antennae will not reach the outside of the case, but I just taped them to the inside top part of the h500 case on the same sides they were originally on in the XPS case. This might reduce the distance you can be from your router, but that only matters if you are not directly plugged in through ethernet cables.
  5. Now you can take advantage of the cable management system on the side of the h500 that does not have the tempered glass and run your 24 pin cable to your mobo from behind the "beauty panel" that the h500 has to plug it in. *the beauty panel is explained on the h500 manual* Hopefully you upgraded your PSU, but I believe the standard Dell PSU should have long enough cables to do all of this.
  6. Run your 4 pin CPU power connector up the back side of the case behind the mobo (as in you can see this cable if you take off the non-glass panel. not as in directly behind the mobo because that doesn't make sense) and run it through an opening that sits right between the top of the mobo panel and the top of the case to plug into the ATX_CPU connector on the mobo.
  7. When you opened the back panel of the h500, you would have noticed that they have some cables there for you already neatly cable managed and ready for you to use. These include the "front panel", "front audio", and "front usb" cables if I remember correctly. You are going to run the usb cable up one of the cable slots next to where you should have run your 24 pin power connector from earlier and plug it into the F_SSUSB1 slot on your mobo located right under the 24 pin connector. This case only has two front usb ports, so your F_SSUSB2 slot will be left untouched. The front panel connector will run through a slot right between the top of the PSU and the mobo panel. When you plug this in, it should only go in one way, but just make sure that the lettering on the cable itself faces upwards when you plug it into the F_PANEL slot on your mobo which is on the bottom right side of your mobo. The same goes for the F_AUDIO cable routing except you won't have the lettering face up on this one and it is located on the bottom left side of your mobo. Like I said, they only go in one way, so you won't mess this up. *there may be a cable I am forgetting, but they are all labeled and you will be able to figure out where to plug them all in*
  8. After all of this is done, you should mount your hard drives and SSDs to the case wherever you find best by using the instructions on the h500 manual for how to do this. I like the stock configuration that it comes with because it keeps them all in the bottom of the case under the PSU shroud and behind the mobo for SSDs. Once you have all of these mounted the correct way, run your sata power cables from your PSU to each one. Some PSUs have individual sata cables for powering drives, but the 750 BQ has them chained. If they are chained together, find the best way to plug them all in and still keeping things neat. You might have to use more than one set of sata cables from the PSU to make this happen well.
  9. Now is the part where you plug your drives into the mobo using the sata data cables that you removed from the XPS case. Plug your drives into the same sata ports on your mobo that they were originally plugged into by running the cables behind the beauty panel again. If you forgot which ones these were, just make sure that you plug in the drive that has windows installed on it into the sata port labeled SATA1 on your mobo because that is where your mobo will try to boot from first. It is best to make sure you remember these as best as you can so that you don't have to reconfigure things later.
  10. Those are all the main plugs that your mobo will need to boot and to run correctly which means that now we can focus on fans and cooling before we get to the GPU. I highly suggest leaving the fans where they were originally in the case. Many people have tested the thermals of this case, and there is almost no improvement when it comes to adding or moving fans around. The best configuration is to put the two NZXT Aer F 120mm fans (which come with the h500) in the two rear (top and back) spots as exhaust fans. To know which way is exhaust in case you forgot when you took them out earlier, face the sticker on the fans towards the outside. When you look inside the case, you should not see the sticker that is on one side of the fans. Also, since the cables on the fans come off of one specific side of the fan, try to position the fans when you mount them so that the cable can easily be routed right above the mobo where your ATX_CPU comes through and out the back. With your fan splitter (if you decided on this rather than the sata power adapter cable), plug one end into the TOP_FAN slot at the top of your mobo and run it out through that opening. If you only bought that one splitter, then go ahead and plug your fans into the splitter and you are done with your fans. *If you intend on adding the third fan you removed from your XPS case, then you should have purchased two fan splitters so you can have three spots to power fans from. Before plugging any fans in, follow the steps I just said, but instead of plugging in your two fans, go ahead and plug in your second splitter into one of the spots on the first splitter. Now you have three ports open for fans to be plugged into. Your third fan, for best results, should be mounted on the bottom part of the front of the case to blow cool air onto your GPU. If you read through the h500 manual, you would know that the front fan mount is one piece that very easily removes with a thumb screw. Make sure that you add this fan as an intake (with the sticker facing inside the case) on the inside part of the fan mount (as in the side of the mount closest to the mobo) because this will maximize the amount of air that the fan can move. Right where the mount fits back into the case, there are some holes where you can route your fan cable back towards the open spot on your cable splitter.* **If you purchase a sata power adapter, then just plug in all of your fans to that.**
  11. Finally, with everything else plugged in and ready to go, you can mount your GPU! To do this, you must first loosen two thumb screws that are on the back of the case where your mobo i/o is where the PCIe covers are. You don't have to remove these screws. They just loosen a little bit so you can move a little sliding cover out of the way to give you access to the screws holding the PCIe covers in place. Depending on your GPU, you will have to either remove one or two PCIe covers from the case. To figure out how many you need to remove, look at the ports on your GPU and see if they are all in one row or if there are two rows of ports. If one row, only one PCIe cover If two rows, two PCIe covers. Once you have removed the covers, go ahead and fit your GPU into the PCIe x16 Express slot on your mobo (the longest one). With your GPU in place, use the screws from the PCIe covers to tighten and secure your GPU to the case in the same screw holes that the screws were in originally. This will give your card some needed support.
  12. If your GPU requires power from the PSU, there is a hole in the PSU shroud that you can see inside of the case that will let you run the necessary power cable to the GPU. Some GPUs do not require power from the PSU, but if yours does, make sure to use the right cable as this can vary from GPU to GPU.

You are now done with the transfer of your XPS system to the NZXT h500 case. Before you plug in your PSU to a wall outlet or power strip, make sure that it has the power switch on the PSU in the "off" position to make sure that there are no surges when it is first plugged in to a power source. Go ahead and plug in all of your peripherals (keyboard, mouse, monitor, headset, etc.) before turning everything on. Now, flip the switch on the PSU and push the power button on the top of the h500 case. As long as you plugged in all of your drives and such in the same exact spots they were in when they were in your XPS case, your computer will boot and act like normal!

*If you upgraded your GPU from the original one in your XPS case, remember to uninstall all of the original display drivers associated with the old GPU and then install the necessary drivers for your new GPU*

**If you intend on swapping out the stock CPU cooler, the mounting bracket on the back of the mobo does not remove, but can be used instead of the brackets that come with any LGA1151 style coolers out there, so you shouldn't have too much of an issue**

I have hopefully covered everything you need to transfer your XPS system to a new case. Let me know if something is unclear (which is very likely) or if you have any questions. Worst case scenario, I am an amateur PC builder (even though I still run my XPS system due to budget constraints) and will be willing to work something out and build it for you for a reasonable price and shipping costs.

I am not responsible for any harm done to your PC or any of its components due to mishandling or any other reason. Everything I have listed is to be done carefully and with the assumption that you have read up on proper safety and handling of PC parts. The idea is to move your XPS system in an almost mirrored fashion from the original case to the NZXT h500 case specifically. If you failed to connect things such as drives exactly how they were originally on your mobo, that is your fault. Moving your components over was your personal decision, I only give you the means and proper way of doing so.

I would have added pictures, but I was unable to do so. If I can, I will do this at a later date.

Thanks!

ZeusMastah

21 Posts

February 18th, 2019 10:00

PART 2:

Now that you have all of your stuff together, your first step is to unplug everything from the back or front of your XPS case and open up the right side/bezel of your case using the tabs on the back of the case like it suggests on pages 19 and 20 of the XPS manual. Try to avoid doing this on carpet, especially if you wear only socks to avoid any static shock from frying any components. When removing any part of your case, try to always be touching the metal part of the case in some way to keep yourself grounded. From there, get ready because we are about to get started removing everything out of your XPS system:

  1. Remove the PSU by using the tabs on the back of the PC and unhooking all of the cables that are connected from the PSU to your PC. Pages 52-55 of the XPS manual shows how to do this. Refer to page 16 and 17 if you are unsure which slots are which on your mobo (motherboard). The 24 pin connector is a hard one, but make sure you push the little tab on it while you pull so you don't risk breaking your mobo.
  2. Once you have removed the PSU, you have to just go ahead and unplug everything from your mobo except the "CPU_Fan" because you are going to keep your CPU cooler on there for now. If you intend on replacing it, do it once you get your mobo into your new case so that your CPU stays protected during the transfer. If you also have a M.2 ssd (solid state drive), then leave it connected as well. Don't remove the RAM either. Make a note of which sata ports your drives (hard drives or SSDs) were plugged into because this will be important later on. There are connectors on almost every side of the mobo. Start on one side and disconnect each one. Some are tougher to get than others, but don't be afraid to use some muscle to get them out. Also remove the GPU by pushing back the little blue tab on the mobo that connects the GPU to the mobo and slide it out of there. There's instructions on how to do this on pages 65-66 and 68-70 of the manual depending on what kind of gpu you have in your system.
  3. This is a tougher one, but you have to remove the wireless card that is on your mobo to be able to get the mobo out. Pages 103-104 of the manual show how to do this and you need a small screwdriver, but you are not done. The antennae have to be removed as well or your wireless card is basically useless. Unplug the antennae from the wireless card The antennae are glued on, so just pull them off with a little force. Pages 107-109 show how to do this as well. Note that the instructions for the antennae removal also say to remove the top cover/bezel and should have a clickable link to show you how to do it, but it just pries right off if you get your fingers under the right side of it where your case is already open. Please keep in mind which color wire was connected to which spot of the wireless card so that you can place them back in the correct spot. Once you have removed your wireless card, put the card and antennae together in a safe spot so you don't misplace any of it since it is small.
  4. Put all your cables that are not attached to the PSU to the side somewhere because you will reuse some of them. The front panel i/o connectors from the XPS case do not remove from the case and you will not need them anyways because the h500 comes with its own set. The inside of my case had two sets of regular sata cables. One for my hard drive and one for the optical drive. If you have an ssd or more than one hard drive, keep all of those sata cables as well.
  5. Remove the front hard drive bay (it has blue clips inside of it) and any other hard drive bay that may be in the way of pulling the mobo out. This may not be necessary, and you won't need the bays in the new case, but it makes things easier and safer. Pages 33-45 show how to remove each one depending on where your hard drive (also known as hdd) is located in your case. Always remember that if you have more than one hard drive or SSD, to remember which sata port on your mobo they were specifically plugged into so that your computer will still boot from the one where you have windows installed when you plug them back in! This is super important or else you will have to change some BIOS settings later on to make this work the right way.
  6. Now it's time to remove the mobo. You should have nothing plugged in to your mobo except your cpu cooler which is still connected to the CPU_Fan header on the top of your mobo and maybe a M.2 ssd if you happen to have one. There are screws on your mobo that are located on almost ever corner, if not close to every corner, and some close to the center. Remove all of these, and make sure to not drop any of them onto your motherboard. If you use a magnetic head screwdriver, make sure you don't miss and accidentally touch your mobo with it due to the potential of messing something up. I personally used a regular one, and loosened to the point that I could pull them out by hand. Pages 111-112 of the manual show you how to remove your mobo, but disregard the part where it tells you to remove the ram sticks and cooler and such because it's not necessary and will save you time later on. Now, just pull the mobo straight out and place it down on a clean table very gently.
  7. *OPTIONAL* If you want a third case fan for your h500, which already comes with two of them, then you can go ahead and remove the fan that is in your XPS case since your top bezel has already been removed for the antennae removal. The third fan won't do much more cooling and really doesn't make a difference, but I moved it over anyways. Pages 60-62 of the XPS manual show this procedure. You already unplugged it from your mobo, so just remove the screws and bracket holding it in place.

HanoverB

798 Posts

February 21st, 2019 22:00

Zeus, upgrade on the XPS 8930 little trickier than the XPS 8910 and XPS 8920 using the NZXT case and a Meshify C-Mini.

Link to post here:

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-CPU-Liquid-Cooler-GTX-1080-Hybrid-GPU-Upgrades/m-p/7247268/highlight/true#M22480

Info on motherboard connectors here with updates:

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-CPU-Liquid-Cooler-GTX-1080-Hybrid-GPU-Upgrades/m-p/7189904/highlight/true#M21680

From XPS 8930 case swaps into both a NZXT H500 case and Fractal Designs Meshify C Mini:

  • USB connector from the XPS 8930 top IO panel, both blue connector and black connector installed on the motherboard. Blue to blue connector.  Black to black connector.
  • SD card connector from the IO panel to the motherboard Card Reader header
  • Jumper on motherboard front panel connector on pins 5 and 9.
  • PCIE USB 3.0 card with a 20 pin USB 3.0 connector onboard. Connect the front panel USB connector on the new case to connectors on the installed PCIE USB 3.0 card.  

 

The NZXT case comes with a breakout cable you have to use to get individual front panel connectors.  Otherwise you will not be able to jump pins 5 to 9.

IMG_7445.jpg

MrLAX

6 Posts

February 22nd, 2019 18:00

Zeus, you lived up to your name! King of the gods! I followed your parts recommendations and guide and just finished a case swap from the 8910 to the NXT H500. It worked! 

As a newbie, I had never done a build or case transfer, and found your instructions really clear and easy to follow. Also watched some Youtube videos on installing the CoolerMaster CPU sink and builds on the H500 (there are tons) that were good complements. LOTS of PC build videos on Youtube, who knew...

So I ended up doing a case swap (initiated based on upgrading to a heavily discounted refurb 1080 GTX graphics card that needed a 8+8 pin from the PSU). Outside of the GPU, my purchases where the H500 ($50 on sale at Fry's), a 750W EVGA Gold modular PSU ($83 AR at B&H), and the CoolerMaster 212 Evo ($29 on Amazon), so all in was about $160. The PSU should set me up for a long while (future builds) so not a huge expense.

Knock on wood, the computer booted without a hitch after the transfer, and so far, so good (having some minor bluetooth issues I'm troubleshooting which could be an antenna issue). Front panel ports and power button work, fans spin, and computer boots...CPU temps are about 50% that of the Dell stock case, and (based on the GPU upgrade) I'm able to run games in ultra on my ultrawide monitor (not 4k but close).

Some notes:

  • The disassembly was really easy using your guide and the manual. The challenging piece was removing the wireless card, which is a little tricky given you have to take out the card as well as detach the antenna. Almost feels like you are 'ripping off' the white and black cables, but they have a tiny joint that snaps on the card, and was relatiely straightforward to reattach.
  • Overall, after disassembling the Dell, it's actaully very impressive how they engineered the case in terms of space efficiency and doing basic upgrades; the challenge is it's also easy to see how the thermals are so bad in it. It really shouldn't be used for high power GPU/CPUs.
  • Putting on the CoolerMaster heat sink was also sorta tricky; the base plate as you pointed out on the Dell motherboard is fixed so you had to use it instead of the supplied one. Getting the CM risers in required a lot of torque that I worried would cause damage, but in the end worked out OK. 
  • Speaking of which, your rec on the 212 evo is great, as the idle temps are around 19 C! I can't imagine liquid cooling would do much better, and plan on an overclock (see below)
  • I ended up putting on the new CPU heatsink before installing the motherboard in the H500 -- think it was easier to do that way.
  • The H500 case is amazing for its pricepoint, aesthetics, and ease of build and cable management. It's an amazing case for a first timer like me. And it looks great, and based on the temps has significantly improved air flow v. the stock Dell case. Anyone considering a case swap from the 8910 or 20 should get this.
  • If you are switching PSUs, I also recommend a modular one (per Zeus's recommendaiton), as it makes the cabling simple and elegant. With the good cable management of the H500 my build (as a first timer) almost looks cable-less. 
  • I also took your recommendations on the fans (including helpful references on peoples' testing on thermal performance with different fan placement) and stuck with the stock fans in their factory placements, as well getting the cable splitter you recommended.. Being new to building, I wasn't sure the 4 pin power from the splitters would work with the NXT fans (3 pins), but worked fine. Also given your recommendation that adding the Dell fan doesn't really improve the airflow, I skipped that (but saved the fan in case I want to use it later)

More to come as need to see if any issues arise, but so far so good. With the 8910, no BIOS/start issues due to not using the same front panel I/O akin to the 8930 issues covered in another thread.

All in, this took me about 3 hours, maybe 4 including watching various Youtube videos. I could see someone with experience doing this in 1-2 hours.

One follow up question (assuming no issues arise):

I asked before about overclocking the 6700k and you said only if I upgraded the cooler (which I did to the 212). So now that I've done it, and the idle temps are low, how would I approach this on the 8910? Read a bit about this but less clear how you do this in the Dell:

  • Does Dell's stock BIOS enable overclocking? From various threads it's not clear
  • Do I need to upgrade the BIOS before trying it? Worried that it may brick the case transfer as this BIOS as you noted works with the transfer
  • What BIOS settings, if you can use the Dell stock one, do you change?
  • What recommendations do you have for the settings? Have read that it's pretty standard to overclock to 4.4Ghz (it's now at 4.0) at 1.35V. But have no idea how to change these settings (other than knowing you have to boot into an advanced mode)

 

Also, and less important, if you want to add 'flair' to the case and add RGB LEDS within the case, how would you do it with the Dell Mobo? Remember you mentioning that the 500i LEDs wouldn't function well as the Dell  Mobo doesnt' support it...not critical but how would you add RGB effects? Some kind of hub? And if so, where/how would it connect. 

 

Anyway THANK YOU for these instructions, it was a great act of good will and I hope karma repays you for this pro bono advice. So much of the internet is just garbage these days, it's nice to see people volunteering their expertise to help strangers. Gives me hope!

 

 

 

 

 

MrLAX

6 Posts

February 22nd, 2019 18:00

Here are before/during (putting on the 212 EVO)/ after of the build using Zeus' guide. The h500 really looks good, and is a great deal at $50.

IMG_3255.jpeg

during.jpg

 

AfterAfter

Vic384

1 Rookie

 • 

3.2K Posts

February 23rd, 2019 04:00

The Dell stock BIOS does support overclocking but the options are very limited. The XPS 8910 supports both the 6th Generation Intel Core i7 and i7K.

There is always a risk with bricking the system by upgrading the BIOS but I don't think a physical transfer of system components from one case to another affects the BIOS.

I am not sure what the BIOS setting are for overclocking but there is a overclocking feature section under Performance Options in the BIOS. Because of overclocking limitations in the BIOS it has been reported that some have had success with Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU).

ZeusMastah

21 Posts

February 24th, 2019 12:00

I am so glad and happy to hear that your case upgrade went well! Congrats on your new PC upgrade because it really looks professionally done! The case upgrade will have no effect on your mobo unless you somehow shocked it or messed something up while transferring it. To answer some of your questions:

1. You are in fact able to overclock in the Dell BIOS and you shouldn't need to update the BIOS if you haven't really had any issues with your computer beforehand. You are always more than welcome to check on Dell's support page to see if they have released any updates regarding your MOBO, but even then, if there haven't been issues, no need to update.

2. As to how easy it is to do on the Dell mobo, I am unsure of. I have only ever overclocked on retail mobos since the CPU in my Dell mobo is a non "k" i7 7700 and I don't really do much that requires overclocking the CPU on that PC. Even then, any standard overclocking techniques you find on the web or youtube should help you get started. A lot of it is trial and error and may take a few hours for you to really find the threshold of where your PC gets the BSOD (blue screen of death for those who don't know) and where it is stable for everyday use. Go to Steam and download 3D Mark's free stuff to stress test your overclocks along the way. You can also use this to overclock your GPU.

3. From what I have seen, you shouldn't raise the voltage of your CPU too much to achieve higher clock speeds, if at all. A voltage of 1.35V seems pretty standard for your CPU from what I have seen. Sync your cores if possible, or just go through and input the same clock speed one by one. If you want to aim for the 4.4GHz, then try changing the speed to 4.2GHz, restart your PC, run the tests, and then see if it is stable. Run the tests two or three times in a row if necessary to make sure it really will stay stable. Then bump it by .05 GHz (if possible) until you reach 4.4 GHz if that is your goal. Some people can manage a 4.6GHz on a wtaer cooled loop, so you may be able to squeeze a 4.5GHz out of that 212 Evo as long as your ambient room temps are not too high and if the mobo can handle it.

4. When you boot into the BIOS, it should be super easy to see where the overclocking features are since the Dell BIOS is a rather simple looking setup. There are no advanced options aside from the overclocking feature. You also can't change fan speeds within the BIOS. If you want your 212 Evo to run at full speed to contain your overclocks (since I don't know what the fan curve is like on Dell mobos), you may need to purchase the SATA fan adapter I mentioned before and plug the fan in to the PSU directly. This will keep temps down even more when your overclocks are done.

5. To add RGB to your system, you will need to purchase a HUB and run that from your PSU because Dell mobos do not have RGB pins. The HUB may come with a controller that you can use to change the color of your LEDs. All you need after that are products with RGB addressable features. NZXT has one of the better HUBs out there, but a lot of other companies make good ones as well.

Your worst case scenario would be to purchase a brand new MOBO that can do everything you need it to do. The issue here is that you will have a very hard time getting your OS to transfer over. You have several options here to make that work. This starts getting out of the Dell space of things, so I'm not gonna post it here in a Dell forum, but you are more than welcome to contact me directly and I can explain what to do. Otherwise, the Dell mobo isn't too bad even though certain features are lacking.

My final thought is to plug your Dell fan in that bottom front spot to move air onto the fans of your GPU. It is the only temp difference I have been able to see a good improvement on when adding fans. It definitely helps if you are overclocking your GPU (which, why wouldn't you if you are gonna overclock your CPU for max performance). Aside from that addition, adding fans does almost nothing to overall temps.

Enjoy your new case!

ZeusMastah

21 Posts

February 24th, 2019 12:00

My PCMy PC

I apologize for the blurriness. This is from my instagram and it did weird things. Also, the tape at the top of the case is where one of the antennae sit from the wireless card. I went for the all black because the rest of my desk uses a black theme with light pink accents from my keyboard and mouse. I like to call my current PC "FrankenComp" due to the mix of different brands of products within it. This kind of thing doesn't bother me because I go for budget/performance first, and looks second.

AlienBlaster

20 Posts

February 25th, 2019 15:00

Thanks again Zeus. Very nice setup you got there. How are temps?

I just want to give a shout out to anybody who is interested in this topic that another brilliant case NZXT H400 is currently on sale for $69.99 ($40 off retail) from Newegg.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811146294

While H500 (ATX mid tower) is company's mainstream model, H400 (mATX mini tower) is more of a premium model. I am sure the same steps for H500 will also apply to H400 without any issue.

The main differences between H400 and H500 are

1. Form factor: 35L vs. 39L

2. Fan support: five (top 2 x 140 mm) vs. four (top 1 x 140 mm).

3. Double front side vents vs. Single front side vent

4. Full glass panel vs. 3/4 glass panel

5. 4 expansion slots vs. 7 expansion slots

6. 4 x 2.5/1x 3.5 storage vs. 3 x 2.5/3 x 3.5

7. 3x Aer F120 case version fans included vs 2x

8. MSRP $110 vs $77.

The more popular white version is sold out but the black one is still available.

If you prefer airflow, Meshify C white (not mini) is also on sale for $79.99

https://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-FD-CA-MESH-C-WT-TGC-Computer-Case/dp/B07BPP9KYD

HanoverB

798 Posts

February 25th, 2019 18:00

:Yes: on the NZXT H400 for a smaller footprint case.

 

XPS 8910 into Fractal Design Meshify C Mini case swap by Alienblaster

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-GPU-and-CPU-Liquid-Cooler-PSU-Case-Swap-Upgrade/m-p/7241669/highlight/true#M22272

Alienblaster.jpg

William0145

5 Posts

March 2nd, 2019 11:00

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I transplanted my XPS 8920 into the Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 3 case. Everything worked out as it should. No startup issues. I was able to attach the wifi antenna to a location at the top of the case and it worked perfectly, just like it was in the original case.

Speaking in the original case ...

I loved the original cabinet! Very robust and compact, but after upgrading the GPU and the power supply, it left something to be desired and temperatures were high!
I also installed a Cooler Master Hyper 212X and now the temperature is tamed! :)

The only thing I did not like was the noise from the original MasterCase Pro 3 fans. They are working at 100% because I plugged it right into the power supply with the adapters provided with the case.
I also did not like losing the SD card reader, but this is easy to solve with any other reader.

I am satisfied with the results. This post encouraged me and helped a lot in the whole process.

 

[Google Translator]

HanoverB

798 Posts

March 12th, 2019 12:00

HanoverB

798 Posts

March 12th, 2019 19:00

IPatricio

1 Message

July 11th, 2019 10:00

Thanks for the guide! Moved my XPS 8500 to the NZXT H500i, didn't have to buy a fan splitter as the fan controller came with many fan ports. One thing to keep in mind if you do this though is that you have to have one fan plugged into the fan port on the mobo, otherwise when you boot it is going to give a system fan failure error. You can just ignore the error and continue but it would be pretty annoying to have to deal with it every time you boot.

Gweagles

1 Message

October 2nd, 2019 03:00

I found when swapping to the new case the the motherboard power supply cord is too short on the stock psu so would definitely have to get an extender or new psu

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