XPS 8930, heat (and other issues)?

From my experience and reading through this forum, heat is the primary problem, and it is mainly caused by restricted air flow due to the swing out PSU design. These issues are not insurmountable, especially for your intended usage regime. I will add some photos, worth 1,000 words, each (click to embiggen)

If you get a non "K" processor, your CPU fan will look like the photo below.

If you get the "K" processor, which is recommended (example i9-9900K), your CPU will have the blower style fan and heatsink pictured below.

However, note in the above photo that the top exhaust fan in only 92 mm. The OEM Dell fans are also of a lower quality (noisey). This would need to be upgraded to a 120 mm fan. Also, a very easy addition is another 120 mm fan in the lower front intake position.

This is a thread I did on the fan upgrades for my XPS 8930 XPS 8930 Exhaust Fan Upgrade

For your purposes, which are similar to my own (no gaming, video rendering, etc.) that should be sufficient.

I had zero experience with computer modification and received all of my information and encouragement from this Community.

From what I have read on this forum I would agree with Dell630i about the heat and fan noise problems with the XPS 8930. It appears that Dell is trying to address this issue since the latest BIOS version updates the thermal table to enhance the performance of the fan, but it does not say which fan. I agree with you about not wanting to modify a new PC, it should not be necessary to waste money and time to modify a new PC.

@Anonymous 

Thanks for your response, those photos, and the link to your separate post about adding the fans. Nice job of thoroughly documenting the steps in your process. This is a perfect example of what I meant about the awesome community support on this forum.

I noticed that the fan and heat sink assembly that comes with 'K' CPUs blocks a substantial portion of the top exhaust fan. That looks like a pushme-pullyou arrangement with the CPU blower fan that pushes and the top case fan that pulls air through the fins on the heatsink. I wonder if that is an overall gain or a loss or a wash for air flow . . .

Why is it 'recommended' to go with K processors like you did, especially if the PC won't be used for gaming? Is it to get that beefier fan and heat sink arrangement?

By the way, props for introducing me to the word 'embiggen' which I did not know existed.

@ggeinec 

 I wonder if that is an overall gain or a loss or a wash for air flow . . .

I don't think the top exhaust fan is pulling much air through the heatsink fins, but the blower fan is at least pushing air in the right direction. The top fan is exhausting air from the entire case, which is why 92 mm is too small. An intake fan (or two) in the front case position will result in positive air pressure inside the case, which will aid in exhausting hot case air and dust control.

Yes, the 'K' processor for both the blower fan/heatsink, and for a better quality CPU. You can read elsewhere in this Community about how they choose which processors are deemed "overclockable". Another option would be to purchase the blower fan/heatsink assembly separately.

In an ideal world, it should not be necessary to waste money and time to modify a new PC. But that is not the world we live in today. If you want to stay with the XPS series, accept the fact that some modification will be necessary for gratifying performance. Or you can do like me, and embrace that fact, and learn a lot from this Community, and enjoy the satisfaction of doing those modifications yourself. It is fairly inexpensive, and it is not rocket surgery.

 "Embiggen" was actually invented by The Simpsons writer Dan Greaney for a 1996 airing of the show. It was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in March, 2018. It should have been added much earlier, as it is a perfectly cromulent word.

So - If I get an XPS 8930 with an i7 CPU, something like a GTX1660 6GB video card, a 500GB SSD for Windows 10 and the application software, and two 2TB spinner HDDs for data and backups (probably WD Black 7200RPM for now until SSDs come down a bit more in price), would this push the envelope for heat management in the 8930 or should it be OK?

If that's too much heat, would dropping the HDDs to 5400RPM help? I assume switching the two HDDs to SSDs would be most helpful but currently that is not an option because of cost

I think your priority here is "future proof" and keep being able to run software for browsing/ video watching with OS upgrades over a period of 5-10 years. Is that correct?

All of the components you mentioned should meet those needs except I would upgrade that 1660 to 1660 Ti.

You'll use up the 2 bottom bays for the spinners and the M2 slot for the SSD. A good lower front fan like ML120 Pro or Noctua A12x25 should provide the intake to cool down both HDDs and the GPU. Likewise, a good upper front fan to send some air to the CPU cooler and swapping out the top fan for a more robust 120mm. XPS8930 does not come with Alienware fan control software so all your PWM is BIOS controlled. I recommend you do some research into PWM vs fixed speed fans and their compatibility with 8930 motherboard (BIOS non-boot etc.) because you may end up with better cooling and acoustics with the right mix vs all PWM/ all fixed speed.

"Embiggen" was actually invented by The Simpsons writer Dan Greaney for a 1996 airing of the show. It was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in March, 2018. It should have been added much earlier, as it is a perfectly cromulent word.

I just came over to the XPS board as it's quiet in Aurora board today and saw this. For the longest time I thought it's Deutsch given your preference for water cooling parts from Deutschland. 

We will now wait in suspense while the pic gets approved.

hmm, so how does this work?        i7-9700k cpu cooler

@lingon  I don't know which models have them but mine has the cpu liquid cooler shown in a post above.

I suspect that the cooler to which you are referring is the blower fan/heatsink below. This is not a liquid cooler. No XPS 8930 models come with a liquid cooled CPU. Models with the "K" processor option, like your i7-9700K, come with the 'upgraded' blower fan/heatsink. It also comes with a 92 mm top exhaust fan, which you might consider upgrading to 120 mm, and a better quality fan than the Dell OEM screamers.

@GTS81   I am going to go out on a limb and assume it is a pic of their blower fan/heat sink. (it is funny looking at photos of my computer from six months ago  )

@lingon 

Below photo (click to embiggen) is the heat sink with the blower fan removed. This conducts heat away from the CPU. Heat is dissapated through the fins on the heat sink, and also into the copper tubes running through it. The copper tubes are connected to a fin stack, where heat is dissapated into the air blown through the fins by the blower fan.

@GTS81 

Thanks for your response and the additional recommendations you made.

Yes, my priorities are "future proofing" and reliability.

Seems like you've been sitting on this for a while?

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-concerned-about-heat-issues/m-p/7280809/highlight/true#M23743

And the same folks have been debating along similar lines (air vs liquid/ slow down the CPU etc.)?

Anyway, clock is ticking with end of the year sales coming up so here's my 2 cents.

If you want to get the 8930 and not have heat issues right out of the box, you'll likely have to handle it through software either by adjusting fan curves (and get noise from fans) or slow down the CPU. @Anonymous and I think it is immoral to slow down the CPU just because of the heat and noise issue. That's because we're willing to pick up screwdriver to replace fans, add liquid cooling, etc.

In fact, I recently adjusted my company issued laptop's power profile to run at base frequency more often so that the fan doesn't turn on (after I am spoiled by my totally quiet R8). It's a use-case decision as I'm running Unix virtual terminal and the most action my laptop CPU sees is Excel or Chrome.

Hope you'll be able to make a decision on the purchase. Good luck!

If I get an XPS 8930 with an i7 CPU, something like a GTX1660 6GB video card, a 500GB SSD for Windows 10 and the application software, and two 2TB spinner HDDs for data and backups (probably WD Black 7200RPM for now until SSDs come down a bit more in price), would this push the envelope for heat management in the 8930 or should it be OK?

That's awfully similar to what I ended up with.

I found that it was time to move on from Win7, so I bought two $700 XPS 8930 systems for my wife and myself (I7-8700/16GB RAM/1TB HDD/Win10/Integrated Sound/Audio/Etc.,.). However, I IMMEDIATELY ran into trouble with not only noise, but also the throttling behavior when the systems hit 100C. I should mention that this took less than ten seconds if a core was ramped up to 100% usage.

I came here looking for modest solutions to the processor overheating that I had experienced. I discovered some very straightforward and relatively inexpensive upgrades that put the temperature woes behind me. They included:

1) The heatsink and fan that Dell employs on XPS systems with upgraded processors.

2) The 120mm lower-front intake fan that's standard to Dell Aurora cases.

3) The 120mm exhaust fan off of one of those same Aurora cases.

I'd have to look at the receipts to make sure, but I believe that the total came to less than $100. With those parts in place the 8930 not only runs 25C cooler, but it's MUCH quieter than it was before.

Component upgrades consisted of an EVGA 1660 ti SC Ultra ($270) , an Intel 256GB 760P M.2 NVME SSD drive ($45), and a WD 1TB Black HDD ($75). Those items added approximately $400 to the project.

That's pretty much it, cost-wise. My $700 XPS had turned into a $1,200 rehab job...with sales tax sprinkled in here and there, to the tune of perhaps another C-note.

As I stated in my opening, what I ended up with is not wildly different from what you have in mind. However, I honestly can't say that I came out too far ahead, $$$-wise, by upgrading what was admittedly a bare-bones 8930. For a lot of people, simply buying a system configured to their liking may well make more sense.

@ivanmoe   For a lot of people, simply buying a system configured to their liking may well make more sense. 

From my understanding, the measures you took to lower your temperatures 25C and run much quieter; "K" model CPU blower fan/heatsink, 120mm top exhaust fan, and 120mm lower front intake fan are not configuration options when ordering from the Dell website. You built yourself a nice system. Hopefully you did the same for your wife's computer