Unsolved
798 Posts
11
87607
XPS 8930, GPU and CPU Liquid Cooler, PSU, Case Swap, Upgrade
Computer: Dell XPS 8930
CPU: i7 8700
CPU Cooler: UPGRADE: Corsair H60 (2018 Model) Hydro Series AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
Graphic card manufacturer / model number: UPGRADE: Liquid cooled MSI GeForce GTX 1080 SEA HAWK X 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5X PCI Express 3.0 x16 ATX Video Card
Bios: 1.0.12
Operating System: Windows 10 Home v.1803
Power supply: UPGRADE: Seasonic Focus Plus Gold, SSR-850FX, 850W Compact Modular Power Supply
Monitor: Samsung S34E790C - 34-Inch Curved WQHD (3440 x 1440) LED Monitor using Displayport.
Edit: 06/06/19
Case fan upgrades here
PSU upgrades here
Non-Dell GPU upgrades here
Phanteks case swap summary here
Case swap rather than case mod for more cooling options here and here and here
Motherboard connections for case swap here
Full liquid cooling with waterblock here
Tests slim 15mm fans with HWInfo.
Idle CPU Temps 32C.
Idle fan speeds intake 450-500 RPM
CPU FAN and TOP FAN = motherboard headers
***Prime 95 v2.66 CPU Torture Test, Small FFT, 12 cycles. 60 minutes:
CPU temps 66-70C. Max temp 75C (boost)
Clock speeds 3492 mHz (~10% overclock @ 65W TDP), max 4490 mHz
Voltage stable at 1.022, max was 1.3
Upper Intake Fan (CPU FAN) CPU cooler max RPM 1078
Lower Intake fan (TOP FAN) GPU cooler max RPM 1019
Upper exhaust fan fixed 1500 RPM.
Prime 95. initial boost of CPU 100% load at 4490 mHz at 110 W / 1.3v. Then tests at stable ~10% overclock 3492-3589 mHz at ~65W at 1.022 volts, temps 66-70C.
***3d Mark Fire Strike Test for system 1080P, ~ 7min.:
CPU Temps: Max 75C
Clock speeds max 4388 mHz
Voltage max was 1.31
Upper Intake Fan (CPU FAN) CPU cooler max RPM 906
Lower Intake fan (TOP FAN) GPU cooler max RPM 869
Upper exhaust fan fixed 1500 RPM.
GPU Temps: Max 79C
GPU Fan speed, 1100 RPM idle, max RPM 2822
GPU Clock max 1961 mHz
So far, CPU temps okay. But GPU temps high, will check bezel airflow.....
***3d Mark Fire Strike Test 1080P, ~ 7min
(front bezel off to test airflow restriction)
CPU Temps: Max 72C
Clock speeds max 4388 mHz.
Voltage max 1.31
Upper Intake Fan (CPU FAN) CPU cooler max RPM 853
Lower Intake fan (TOP FAN) GPU cooler max RPM 1183
Upper exhaust fan fixed 1500 RPM.
GPU Temps: Max 72C
GPU Fan speed, 1100 RPM idle, max RPM 2611
GPU Clock max at 1965 mHz
Changes with front bezel off:
CPU temps dropped by 3C
GPU temps dropped by 8-10C
CPU temps acceptable through bezel. GPU airflow through bezel needs tweaking!
==========
The install:
Tasks for upgrade in new XPS 8930:
1) Install Corsair H60 (2018 Model) Hydro Series AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
2) Install lower front intake fan/radiator with liquid cooled MSI Sea Hawk GTX 1080 HYBRID GPU
3) Upgrade PSU to Seasonic Focus Plus Gold, 850W Compact Power Supply
I need to accomplish this keeping in mind the following:
-Run the Corsair CPU cooler pump at constant 100% speed
-Requires fans connected to both 4 pin fan headers (CPU FAN) and (TOP FAN) to avoid startup error.
==========
Installing Corsair Liquid CPU Cooler:
New 2018 Corsair Hydro Series H60 has 157 x 120 x 27mm radiator and SP120 PWM fan. Pump has rotating barbs for hose placement to avoid the swinging PSU. Pump connects to a PSU SATA cable for 100% power and the radiator PWM fan to the CPU FAN motherboard 4 pin header. Optional tach cable to monitor pump speed and provide a signal to the fan header to prevent startup errors. Fan specs: SP120 PWM, 1700 RPM, 28.3 dBA, 57.2CFM.
Slim fan for tight location: Noctua NF-A12x15 PWM, 1850 RPM 23.9 dBA 55.44 CFM / 1400 RPM 16.8 dBA 41.67 CFM
The 3 pin version is a good option at fixed speed to noise tolerance for constant airflow.
Review below posted 60C temps with i7 8700K CPU 30 min stress test at stock clocks.
https://proclockers.com/reviews/cooling/corsair-hydro-series-h60-120mm-liquid-cooler-review
Nice installation guide here:
https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/corsair-h60-review.html
The XPS 8930 chassis is similar to the Alienware R5/R6/R7, but the Alienware allows for CPU liquid cooling by having an opening to mount the fan/radiator through the top of the chassis, an installation bracket, and a top cover to house the unit.
With no such space in the XPS 8930, I saw two possible locations a liquid cooler could be installed: Upper exhaust and front intake.
1) Tried the upper exhaust position first without success with the radiator in the top exhaust fan location. The problem is that the rigid hose fittings protrude into the case 20mm. The PSU bracket is not able to close.
I also tried the radiator upside down with the hoses above the motherboard. But with the radiator lined up with the top exhaust opening, a CPU power connector, capacitor and fan header block the area at the hose fittings.
2) Next the front upper intake position at the hard drive location. With intake cooling, cool air enters the radiator but warm air exits into the case. Should not be a problem if CPU temps are ok.
I found that the radiator can install with hoses up or down. With the radiator upside down, the hoses can spread on either side of the motherboard ATX connector.
Picture bottom install location:
Flipping the radiator upright, the swinging PSU bracket negates any liquid cooling in that location with the hoses up as the bracket cross bar crushes the hoses when lowered.
However, I found that by removing the cross bar off the bracket and a small corner off the bracket support leg it would work.
So I chose having the hoses up as the installation path.
1) Flatten the wire holders in that location.
2) Remove the two support legs and the swinging PSU bracket by removing screws at the leg supports and a few at the rear.
3) Used dremel reinforced cutting wheel to do about 5 minutes worth of cutting, then deburring the cut edges.
Picture dremel cuts. (Additional recommended cut to use 25mm fan here)
4) Then placed the radiator up with the hoses at the front of the chassis. The bottom of the radiator fits between the two screws that hold down the supports of the PSU bracket.
5) Attach the 15mm fan with the model label showing for pull orientation and use 4 - 1” or 1 ¼” 6-32 machine screws to attach the radiator. NOTE: The 6-32 screws used for the radiator have a different thread than the 6-32 hex head screws being used in the case. Big box stores have these screws.
Pic of screws
6) Carefully mark the location of the holes in the radiator and drill four holes to mount the radiator to the front of the chassis.
How I did this was place the radiator, then use tape on the front of the chassis to mark the sides of the radiator position.
Then put another piece of blue tape across the front of the radiator at the middle of the top holes.
With the radiator in position inside the chassis and the sides lined up with the tape, look through the rear grill at the blue tape and mark the height of that tape on the front chassis. Marks represent the height of the radiator holes.
Mark the height of the holes with another piece of tape across the front of the chassis.
You now have the height of the top holes.
7) Place a fan on the chassis between the two pieces of tape at the sides and line the two top holes with the radiator mark. Mark all four holes . Again tape off the case well to make sure you don’t get metal filings anywhere.
Mount the radiator with fan to the chassis using ¾” 6-32 machine screws.
9) Installing the pump head:
Clean CPU with alcohol. You see the 4 mounting holes here
Using th 4 double sided pins, put the lower pins into the mounting holes. No modifications needed, the unit is set up for the Dell motherboard LGA1151 CPU socket. Mount the cooler pump by placing the corner attachment brackets on the upper pins and tighten the thumb screws. You can’t overtighten these, they just won’t turn any further when tight.
10) Connect radiator fan to the 4 pin CPU FAN header.
11) Attach pump SATA power to the PSU.
12) With no cross bracket on the PSU swinging bracket, there is room for the pump hoses to flex under the PSU. There is a smooth rounded edge where the bracket contacts the hoses when closed. As an additional precaution install braid wrap on the upper part of the hose for protection at that point.
Done!
Picture again from top, note no bar on the PSU bracket and the edge of the lower part of the PSU bracket that will contact the hoses when down.
==========
Installing MSI GTX 1080 Hybrid GPU: The 151mm high radiator is installed in a sideways position with the hoses in front. The GPU is 10.5” long leaving little room for both fan and radiator at the lower intake position.
With little space to put a fan on the radiator inside the case, the slim 15mm fan was mounted in front of the chassis and under the front bezel. The front bezel is over 20 mm deep so the fan is able to still pull air from the bezel front side vents.
Picture front bezel
1) The only problem encountered was a large raised hole in the middle of the front of the chassis which interfered with fan placement. Keep turning the fan to the position centered to the radiator where the fan frame doesn't hit that large bump.
2) Check that the side of the radiator is clear of the swinging arm of the PSU bracket. Important!.
3) Drill 4 holes, attach the fan to radiator using 4- 1 ¼” 6-32 machine screws.
I also used a10mm foam compressible Phoyba radiator gasket on the radiator due to the 1" wide flange at the rear of the front chassis.
It supports the Alienware R5/6/7 front intake fan bracket that snaps in at this location. That piece of metal prevents the radiator from sitting flush. The gasket took up that space. It has adhesive on one side to attach to the radiator.
Note: In the picture of the front bezel a large plastic hollow pin sticks up that would hit the fan in that location. Trim with the dremel cutting wheel.
Picture front install, note no bar on the PSU swinging bracket.
4) Connect the slim fan on the AIO radiator to the 4 pin header (TOP FAN). (Noctua NF-A12x15 FLX 1850 RPM 23.9 dBA 55.44 CFM / 1400 RPM 16.8 dBA 41.67 CFM)
Notes
Protect the radiator fins with a piece of cardboard taking the GPU in/out. They are bent easily by the corner of the GPU.
Edit 9/18/18 GPU temps resolved here: (must read prior to installing, grillwork is removed)
Edit 02/23/19 Recommended cuts to use 25mm fan on CPU radiator here and here
Edit 03/15/19 Fixed speed radiator fan CPU temps 55°C range here
**This thread edited for accuracy, add'l pics and current information.
sparkymark75
11 Posts
0
January 3rd, 2019 09:00
Hit a snag with my changes. So got the GPU all setup with the Kraken G12 and ready to try and mount it into the case. Only to realise I don't have anywhere to hook the fans and water pump up to.
I'm guessing the fans and definitely the pump would be better just plumbed straight into the PSU. But to do that I'm going to need 3 x 4 pin to 3 pin adapters which I don't have at home!
I can't connect the fan on the Kraken into the GPU as the Kraken covers the fan connector on the board.
HanoverB
798 Posts
0
January 3rd, 2019 11:00
The Kraken fan looks to be a 92mm 3 pin fan. Intended to run fixed with the install.. If you are able to connect to the GPU onboard header it is likely a 4 pin PWM connector. If you connect the 3 pin fan it will run fixed at maximum speed.
If you can connect to the header on GPU you can always replace the 92mm 3 pin fan with a 92mm 4 pin PWM fan and have that fan run as intended controlled by the GPU temps. However, the CPU liquid cooler is taking care of the GPU temps now. It looks like the fan is meant to cool the VRM/heatsinks and vram so it might run at low RPM's. I would look at the noise of that 92mm fan at maximum speed and see if that is acceptable.
Check the connector on that GPU onboard fan header it also might be one of those mini-PWM connectors as well which would require another adapter..........
HanoverB
798 Posts
0
January 3rd, 2019 11:00
The H55 Pump Power is straight to the PSU. 100% fixed power. Should come with an adapter.
The H55 Radiator fan (Noctua) if it a 3 pin FLX fan should be connected to the PSU using the molex to 3 pin adapter that came with the Noctua fan. Set it for 1400RPM using the LNA
The Kraken fan looks to be a 3 pin fan that runs fixed so you can connect that to the other side of the Y connector that came with the Noctua fan.
So assuming the Noctua fan is 3 pin fan FLX fan, use the Y connector and chain that to the molex to 3 pin fan adapter to the PSU. Noctua fan using the LNA on one side, the Kraken fan on the other.
What are the specs of the Kraken fan?
Wonder how noisy that fan is and why they want it to run fixed speed.
sparkymark75
11 Posts
0
January 3rd, 2019 18:00
It is one of those mini PWM connectors and there’s not a lot of clearanacd between it and the Kraken G10.
Ive got some 4 pin Y-splitters coming in a couple of days which should sort out my cabling issue.
sparkymark75
11 Posts
0
January 3rd, 2019 18:00
The H55 doesn’t come with any power adapter unfortunately.
I’ll have a look at the cables for my PSU and see what’s there. It is the 3 pin Noctua fan but I don’t recall any splitter being included in the box.
sparkymark75
11 Posts
0
January 4th, 2019 06:00
The 4 pin Y splitters came a day early so I got everything connected up.
Ive got the Noctua on the outside of the chassis but haven’t cut away any of the chassis. I’ve got the rad on the inside, both held on with velcro!
The Noctua fan, the Kraken fan are connected up to the CPU header via splitters. The H55 pump is hooked up to the PSU via the molex adapter that came with the Noctua.
Its not silent but will be quiet enough once I have the side of the case back on. First benchmark using Timespy yielded a max temp of 46c. The CPU though reached a toasty 92c with an Arctic heatsink/fan on it.
Should really water cool that now but not sure I have the room as the space where the rad would go for that is filled with the PSU cables!
sparkymark75
11 Posts
0
January 4th, 2019 10:00
So I shuffled the connections about so the 3 fans weren’t all coming of the one fan header. So I had the Kraken and CPU fans on one header, the case and rad fans on the other. Now when I boot up, I get that annoying Dell CPU fan error.
Im not using the Dell CPU fan but the Arctic Freezer 11. I’ve had this fan installed for 3 months so not sure why the system is complaining now. I’ve tried putting the CPU fan back on the header on its own but it’s still complaining.
Any ideas? Everything else seems to be working fine apart from that. When I continue last the error, Windows boots up okay.
sparkymark75
11 Posts
0
January 4th, 2019 16:00
Ripped everything out and put the machine back to stock. It all works okay. So I’m going to wait until my molex to fan connectors arrive and then hook everything to the PSU and leave the motherboard headers alone.
I’ll probably leave the stock fan on there for now since I know that works. With the water cooled GPU, my system is cramped. I can’t imagine how you found room to water cool the CPU too!
HanoverB
798 Posts
0
January 4th, 2019 19:00
Solid temps with the GPU liquid cooler. 46C on Timespy is great. Looks like you don’t need to do any further cutting or modding of the front bezel with those temps with the Kraken AIO upgrade.
Doesn’t surprise me that the Arctic cooler wasn’t able to manage the CPU temps. You are running 1440p like me and that does put some stress at the CPU with some titles. You can opt to liquid cool the CPU at some point in time with some cable management. See what kind of temps you get in normal game play.
You are right about space inside the case, given the design of the case it’s like working on a mini-itx case. It’s an adventure anytime I pop open the case.
The molex to 3 pin fan adapter is an easy way to connect fans running at fixed speeds if a header isn't available. They also make 3 pin fan to SATA adapters as well. I’ve seen single/double/triple/quad+ 3 pin fan to SATA adapters. Modding does require some prep work for parts and you did well just being short a couple of fan power adapters.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0711CR7HV/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AQ8OIL3FGVKZE&psc=1
sparkymark75
11 Posts
0
January 7th, 2019 05:00
Seems I was a bit premature with those temp readings as the GPU still reached 83c when trying out a game. It appears the case is just too cramped with the modular power supply and the liquid cooling solution for the GPU.
So what I'm going to do next is basically move it all to a new case. Is the Dell motherboard in this a standard size? I'm assuming it'll just slot into a new case?
I was thinking about the Fractal Design Define R6. That will allow me to also water cool the CPU.
If you're thinking I'm crazy spending this money on a Dell PC and then spending all this money on it, then I got the PC for free so the only money I've spent is on the upgrades and I'll recoup some of that by selling the GTX 1070.
HanoverB
798 Posts
0
January 7th, 2019 14:00
Curious to see how a case transplant would work out.
The IO plate in the back is built into the case so can't be moved to your new case. Might look unfinished in the back of the new case but should still work.
Other than the USB 3.0, card reader and audio cables from the Top IO area of the case which plug into the motherboard, the only other IO cable you would have to deal with would be the power cable that plugs into the motherboard. The connector on the Dell motherboard looks to be just the power and led to the power switch. Not sure if it is propietary as there are 4 wires that come from the power button up top and plug into the motherboard just left of the M2 connector. Would have to check the pinouts on the new case and if the wiring off the power switch is compatible with the case connector or if you would have to do some splicing.
HanoverB
798 Posts
0
January 7th, 2019 15:00
The Dell upper IO panel pic shows their wiring and once you figure out the wiring to the various motherboard connectors, you would need to match to the Fractal Case and other than the Dell power button connectors (which uses only 4 of the pins and a jumper for the XPS 8930 case), all the motherboard connectors for the front panel, USB, and audio look to be industry standard. The card reader header might be a problem since the BIOS expects one connected there.
IO Dell
Fractal Case
HanoverB
798 Posts
0
January 7th, 2019 15:00
If you look back on this rather lengthy thread I had some problems with the GPU temps with the Sea Hawk cooler which I believe is the same H55 that you are using with the Kraken G12. When I ran the radiator and fan outside the case with unimpeded air flow I had solid temps in the mid 50C's. That was the baseline I used as I did more modding as I found the lack of proper coupling between the fan and radiator and the lack of airflow from behind the bezel were the underlying issues. Had to cut away some sheetmetal and create a blowhole to counter both of those issues.
rwgordon
25 Posts
0
January 15th, 2019 20:00
Would like to hear how case transplant went! Worth $100 or so to get a little upgrade ability!
sparkymark75
11 Posts
2
January 16th, 2019 01:00
After HanoverB posting it kinda made me think is this really worthwhile? Am I going to buy a case and find it can't work or I have to start splicing cables. So I just went the whole hog and bought a case, motherboard and AIO cooler for the CPU. I then shifted some of the memory from the Dell and the CPU to the new motherboard.
My CPU now runs at mid 50c and my GPU after a few hours gaming gets to low to mid 60c.