After a month of daily use of this machine, I want to share the outcome of this successful case swap into a Phanteks Eclipse P350X case.

 

 

Machine has been running perfectly with no startup, shutdown or sleep issues as a result of the required workarounds necessary for the successful case swap. 

CPU temps are typically around 30 C at idle and the mid 50 C’s under testing loads with the Corsair H60 CPU cooler and noise levels acceptable with the final fan configuration.  What is significant with this case swap was the decision to fix the speed of the fan on the CPU cooler radiator rather than connect it to the CPU FAN header and allow the motherboard to control the fan speeds and CPU temps.  The drop in CPU temps is significant with the fixed speed fan.

The cost of a case swap would be the cost of the case + USB 3.0 PCI-E card.  

The upside of the case swap is that you are no longer limited by the stock XPS 8930 chassis in regards to CPU cooling, GPU cooling, fan noise, and drive placement.

You have the ability to add an air cooled or liquid cooled CPU cooler of your choice, use additional fans for cooling, have multiple hard drive and SSD placements, and add optional LED’s to your liking. 

I have received PM's and not into doing videos.  So the steps to a successful case swap for the XPS 8930 are summarized here from the original thread where a lot of information was shared.  

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-GPU-and-CPU-Liquid-Cooler-PSU-Case-Swap-Upgrade/td-p/6137280/highlight/true

 

Phanteks Eclipse P350X

https://www.phanteks.com/Eclipse-P350X.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJEaKt7zv5o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa3tjSCJY7s

 

Case Swap Summary:

 

I did three successful case swaps to test different cases to see if the same issues arose with each swap

 

Fractal Design Meshify C Mini Dark TG

Test build using stock fans on the GPU rear exhaust and CPU upper intake cooler radiators, stock Fractal fans as lower intake and upper exhaust.  A 240mm radiator CPU cooler will fit in front as long as the GPU isn't much longer than the 10.5" GPU shown in this case. 

 

 

NZXT H500

Test build using stock fans on the GPU rear exhaust and CPU upper intake cooler radiators, stock NZXT fans as lower intake and upper exhaust.  CPU radiator mounted in front of chassis under front bezel.  No issues with 240mm radiator CPU cooler in that front position.  A 280mm radiator will fit but the bottom part of the radiator will drop down slightly into the opening at the front of the lower shroud.  

 

 

Phanteks P350X

Initial test build using stock fans for the GPU rear exhaust and CPU upper intake cooler radiators. Stock Phanteks fan as lower intake.  Two Noctua slim 15mm fans (from XPS 8930 CPU liquid cooler mod) as upper exhaust.   Installing a 240mm radiator CPU cooler is no problem in this case.

 

 

With each case swap there are four specifics workarounds necessary for a successful case swap:

• 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 header on pins 5 and 9.
• PCIE USB 3.0 card with a 20 pin USB 3.0 header onboard. Connect the top panel USB connector on the new case to the USB header on the installed PCIE USB 3.0 card.  

 

On this closeup from the Phanteks P350X picture note:
-The two USB connectors entering the case to the right of the GPU for connection to the black and blue motherboard USB headers. The USB connectors are from the XPS 8930 IO Panel hidden under the PSU shroud. 
-The red PCI-E USB 3.0 card, under the GPU at the back of the case, connected to the USB cable from the top USB ports of the Phanteks case.  That two strand cable runs under the GPU to the opening at the lowest of the vertical cable entry slots.
-At the bottom of the motherboard, note the 4 connections located there.  From left to right, the HD Audio cable from the top of the Phanteks case, and the SD Card Reader cable from the IO panel under the PSU shroud.  The Power Button cable from the top of the Phanteks case and the yellow jumper wire on pins 5 to 9 are right next to each other and connect to the front panel header on the motherboard.  

 

 

Motherboard connectors info for the XPS 8930:

From first glance the motherboard connectors look to be industry standard Intel header connections.  However, unlike the XPS 8910 and XPS 8920, where the case swaps are straight forward and easier, the firmware of the XPS 8930 has specific requirements for connections to certain headers to avoid startup errors.

1) The PSU connections to the motherboard are standard. There is a 24 pin ATX connector to the right of the RAM slots (on the upper right) and the 4 pin CPU power connector at the upper left.

 

2)  Two USB 3.1 headers (blue and black) look like standard 19 pin connectors.   On the XPS 8930, they are connected to the 3 USB 3.1 ports and the single USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port on the top panel.

They are marked F USB1 and F USB 2 on the motherboard.  The blue header is for the USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type C port and the left USB 3.1 port.  The black header is for the right two USB 3.1 ports. 

The top panel USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type C port is only 5 Gbps, the same speed as the other 3.1 USB ports.   It’s just a different connector.  The higher speed USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C port is on the real panel.

 

 

With a XPS 8930 case swap, one of the workaround is that both the USB connectors from the XPS 8930 IO panel from the top of the case need to be connected into the motherboard USB headers using their respective color connector.  Black to black, blue to blue.

Without both headers connected, you will get an IO front panel error at startup.

What this means is the XPS 8930 IO panel at the top of the chassis needs to be inside the new case as part of the case swap.  The large PSU shroud compartment at the bottom of the case is a convenient place to hide the IO panel.

 

Because the USB 3.1 ports on the motherboard are now no longer available for use by the USB front panel connectors on the new case, you will have to bypass the motherboard connectors and install a PCI-E USB 3.0 card on the motherboard and connect the USB connectors from your new case to the PCI-E card.

 

 

Be really careful when removing and installing the USB 3.0 connectors on the motherboard.  I hate the Intel design as the connectors are very tight and it is very easy to bend or even break a pin. Try to always go straight up of down with the connector.  If you wiggle is from side to side you risk bending/breaking a pin.

 

3) The front panel connector is a standard industry connector and Dell chose to use it only for their power button and LED.  Dell used a single connector with only pins 2 and 4 for the power button LED, and 6 and 8 for the power button.  There is also a yellow wire jumper between pins 5 and 9 on the connector.

 

 

With a new case you can use the pins on that header for the Power, Power LED, Reset, HD Power LED connections.  There is a diagram on the XPS 8930 motherboard that shows the configuration for the pins. 

 

 

On the XPS 8930 motherboard the pins on the  F Panel header are numbered like this.

2 4 6 8 10

1 3 5 7 9

 

 

Pic of Industry Standard Front Panel with the same pin numbering.

 

 

 

When doing the case swap, the Power button, LED, reset switch all work fine with a new case.  The small arrow you will see on a connector is the positive side of that connector.

However, a Jumper is necessary on the XPS 8930 motherboard front panel connector from pins 5 to 9 to prevent a startup power button error.   The jumper is a female to female connector for a 0.1" (2.54mm ) header,

 

4) The Audio connector is a standard HD Audio 10 pin connector with a pin typically missing at 8.  This header controls the headphone jack and mic jack on the upper IO panel.  

 

 

 

 

5)   Dell uses a 6 pin connector for the Multi-Card Reader on their upper IO panel.  On the motherboard it is marked CARD READER.

 

 

 

With a case swap, it was confirmed by RWGordon that you will get a startup error with this header open on the XPS 8930.  Connect the card reader connector from the XPS 8930 IO panel to this header with a case swap.

 

6) Fan Headers

 

Fan headers:  Left is TOP FAN header, right is CPU FAN header.  Both are 4 pin PWM.   3 pin fans can be connected to them but they will run at full speeds.

 

Edit: 8/25/19   Added Alienware R7/R8 case swap information here.