That's just an image of where and what a video card looks like. It's not the same card you have. The blue video port in that image looks like VGA, but VGA isn't listed as a port on the GTX 1080. Your monitor doesn't even have a VGA port so I don't know how you'd connect it that way.
The XPS 8930 does have both an onboard Intel Graphics HDMI port and a DP port. But with a video card installed, you should use a port on that card.
Assuming the monitor has an On-Screen Display (OSD), open that by pressing button(s) on the monitor itself and confirm that (a) it's set to use DisplayPort and its resolution is set to "Native/Recommended".
Also, open the Win 10 Display screen. Confirm Resolution is set to "Recommended". Then on same screen, if "Scale and Layout" isn't set to "100% (Recommended)" set it that way and see what happens with the games. If necessary, try other settings for Scale/Layout.
You can also go to the Win 10 Ease of Access screen and adjust "Make Text Bigger" and "Make Everything Bigger." and if that helps.
And after opening a game press Alt-Enter and see what that does...
And one more thingy... Get in the habit of imaging your boot drive (SSD) on regular basis. Save the image on an external USB drive. That way, should the SSD fail, you can quickly restore your latest saved image onto a new SSD.
You can use any imaging software you choose, and Macrium Reflect (free) is a good option. Just remember the image is only up-to-date on the day you made it....
Have you run the diagnostics from the F12 menu at boot?
Exactly which video card do you have in this PC? If you have any of these, did you install the firmware update? GTX 1650 GTX 1660 GTX 1660 Ti RTX 2060 RTX 2060 Super RTX 2070 RTX 2070 Super RTX 2080 RTX 2080 Super
Use your Service Tag on the support page to make sure the update is for your specific GPU.
Have you tried any other video ports besides mDP?
If the SSD fails, you won't be able to "migrate the OS to the HDD". You'll have to do a clean install on the existing HDD - all current files deleted, or on a new, replacement SSD. So there's nothing you will have to change in BIOS.
You do have to create a bootable Win 10 or Win 11 USB stick at the Microsoft site. Then plug that USB into PC and tap F12 to open the menu. Select the option to boot from USB. The Windows installer will take care of everything.
Hello, RoHe, and I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. For some reason, I didn't get an email notice that I had a response here. Also, I suddenly started getting private messages from DELL-Cares, which I thought was an entity separate from you'all.
Paventhan, from the Dell Social Media team, was very nice, very helpful, had a lot of suggestions, and offered to take the tower back again, for a complete analysis. I was so grateful to hear that; believe me. Then, I decided to not send the PC back, but to do a lot of research and experimenting, which I hadn't had much desire to do for some reason. (Maybe my age. When I got my first Dell -- a Dimension 8200 -- I experimented constantly, did clean installs roughly once per year, and that machine lasted 20 years.)
I was so pleased to start getting the private messages from Paventhan, and, as I've probably indicated already, the Dell_Cares team seems almost like a different company from what I now think of as "regular" Dell support -- and I love your forum. I've always gotten good advice from the people there. It was someone from your forum who basically gave me the courage to tell Dell I thought they'd put the OS on the HDD as opposed to the SSD. Sure enough, that's what had happened -- and I'll just shut up about that now. It's been a strange period of time, of my having had unexpected problems that just don't seem like Dell.
Hello again, RoHe. I should have told you that within the last few days, I flashed the BIOS; installed an nVidia "game ready" driver; and did something on the OSD. I think I selected mDP input source, and I'm embarrassed that I don't remember for sure. That's the input I have, and maybe the slowness to boot was coming from the computer having to check for all possible options for input.
Also, Dell did send an onsite tech in October of 2021 (Kahn Yang), who was very good and very nice. He found a faulty SSD and a faulty motherboard, both of which he replaced, and that made a huge difference. I wasn't surprised at his expertise; I was just surprised that the SSD (which Dell had worked on not long before that) and the motherboard were both faulty. That's just not like Dell. Anyway, I'm hoping all will be well now, as the computer is booting quickly; I'm getting the Dell logo, so I can get into the BIOS; and I'm getting the "mDP" input right on top of it.
Thank you again for your help. I'm confused about the forum, "Dell_Cares," and "regular" tech support, though.
This forum is user-to-user assistance. The people here are mostly volunteers who help other users, with occasional input from Dell employees.
Dell Cares is Dell's tech support brand on social media. When you start a thread here, the Dell Cares automated system requests your Service Tag. Based on the Service Tag, they'll know if the PC is still under warranty. And then a Dell tech support agent, using the Dell Cares branding, may contact you to discuss the problem, and arrange warranty repairs, if necessary.
The tech who actually worked on your PC probably works for an independent tech support company that has a contract with Dell to provide onsite repairs for Dell products.
Thanks so much for helping me figure out "who's who."
Everything was going really well, and then my boyfriend's games suddenly started showing up at about 1/4 of the monitor (upper left) -- or, in an elongated, narrow strip across the entire monitor, with roughly two inches of black screen at the top and at the bottom. This doesn't happen all the time, and it can usually be corrected by restarting the computer. Still, that's not right, and, ever since buying my first Dell, I've always avoided superfluous restarts.
I swear, I never expected all the problems we've had with the XPS. Right now, I'm researching the monitor (a UP2716D), to see if I can learn anything. Also, I've just seen that nVidia has an updated grame ready driver (511.23), so that might be something to consider.
Oh, my boyfriend isn't into big war games; he enjoys the simple kind that can be downloaded from MyRealGames. Also, I just bought him a "hidden object" game that's actually several games in one. One way or the other, I want the XPS to work for him -- especially since he's still paying for it.
You never told us which NVidia card do you have or if you're running Win 10 or Win 11.
There is an updated version of the Dell Display Manager Application for this monitor and Win 11. So if you run Win 11, you probably will want to install the update <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>.
Is the monitor plugged into the video card, and notinto any of the onboard Intel Graphics ports?
You might want to switch from mDP to DP on both the monitor and PC.
Are you sure Windows is set to the "recommended resolution" for this monitor?
Does BF's games have any specific spec requirements that your setup doesn't meet?
That's right; I forgot. I'm still running Windows 10. The video card is nVidia GeForce GTX 1080. As to where the monitor is plugged in: This is embarrassing. I'm not sure. It was plugged into the video card; I'm quite sure. But when the Dell expert was here, and got it booting so well (after putting in new SSD and motherboard), he plugged it into one of the ports that's way down on the back of the tower. I'm not sure what it is. The monitor will work when it's plugged into either of the first two ports (on the left when facing the back of the tower); then there's a port that's too small for a fit; then, there's another port, but the monitor won't run from that one. Like I said, it's embarrassing. I don't know what I'm plugged into right now, but when I was plugged into the nVidia card, I couldn't get the Dell logo, so I couldn't get into the BIOS.
How does one switch from mDP to DP? Oh, and the monitor definitely isn't set at the recommended resolution, because neither my boyfriend no I can see it. (We're old. We probably should have gotten one of those computers AARP advertises that are especially for old folks -- but I doubt we could do much with one of them.) The display resolution is set at 1360 x 768. Didn't think of that, but I suppose it could be a problem. Thanks again for everything.
That's where your monitor should be connected. You don't want to connect it to any of the ports in the area marked #1.
Looks like the GTX 1080 has three DisplayPort 1.3 port, one HDMI 2.0, and one Dual Link DVI-D port:
Your monitor has two HDMI 1.4 input ports, one DP 1.2 input, one MiniDP 1.2 input, plus one DP output for MST daisy chaining. You can use either the DP on both PC and monitor or HDMI on both.
Right-click an empty area on your desktop and select NVidia Control Panel. When that opens, under Display confirm it 1- identifies the monitor correctly, 2 it says connector is DisplayPort if that's where it's connected, and then select whatever resolution is listed as "Native" for your specific monitor.
Thanks so much for all the info, and for the graphic. I'd found something similar online, but it just didn't seem the same.
The nVidia control panel does recognize the monitor; it does identify the connector as Display Port; but the Native resolution (2560 x 1440) makes everything much too small for my boyfriend and I to see.
About the connection for the video card: Could it or should it run to the blue area of number 2? That was the one I thought didn't work, but today it's working. I don't know if it's the computer/monitor or me, but the operation of this machine seems inconsistent. (Probably me).
Right now, everything is working fine. I've been doing research regarding the strange sizes of some of my boyfriend's games, and have some possibilities I can try if it happens again.
Thank you again so much! I've printed out what you said, and also the graphic of the XPS.
Ron, I forgot to tell you this: You deserve at least 1,000 thumbs up, and, until just now, I hadn't even noticed the opportunity to give you one. Also, thank you for telling me specifically NOT to plug the monitor into the #1 area. After I got my old folks magnifying glass out, and looked at one connection point there, it seemed to be labelled with a D and a smaller P inside it. So, I thought that probably meant Display Port, which seemed to match one of the ports on the monitor. Good grief. Anyway, things are still working fine as of now, and thank you so much, again and again, for your patience and all your help.
OK, I've followed your advice on Native resolution, Scale and Layout under Display, and Ease of Access. So far, everything is working very well, so it seems this was the fix I needed. If things go wonky again, and if you can bear to hear from me again, I'll be checking in. Thank you, thank you for sharing your expertise, and for your patience with me.
And if I may make one more suggestion now that it's working properly... Make an image of your entire SSD and store it on external USB HDD. That way, if something goes wrong in the future, you can easily revert back to the saved image. You can use any imaging software you like, but Macrium Reflect (free!) is a very good, easy to use option.
Just remember, an image is only up-to-date on the day you created it. So get in habit of imaging the SSD on a very regular basis. And assuming your personal files are all saved on the HDD, back up those files to external media too.
I'm going to do exactly that. In fact, I just downloaded Macrium Reflect. You've provided me with such excellent help, all the way through this, I hardly know what to say. Thank-you doesn't seem like enough!
RoHe
10 Elder
•
45.2K Posts
1
January 17th, 2022 16:00
That's just an image of where and what a video card looks like. It's not the same card you have. The blue video port in that image looks like VGA, but VGA isn't listed as a port on the GTX 1080. Your monitor doesn't even have a VGA port so I don't know how you'd connect it that way.
The XPS 8930 does have both an onboard Intel Graphics HDMI port and a DP port. But with a video card installed, you should use a port on that card.
Assuming the monitor has an On-Screen Display (OSD), open that by pressing button(s) on the monitor itself and confirm that (a) it's set to use DisplayPort and its resolution is set to "Native/Recommended".
Also, open the Win 10 Display screen. Confirm Resolution is set to "Recommended". Then on same screen, if "Scale and Layout" isn't set to "100% (Recommended)" set it that way and see what happens with the games. If necessary, try other settings for Scale/Layout.
You can also go to the Win 10 Ease of Access screen and adjust "Make Text Bigger" and "Make Everything Bigger." and if that helps.
And after opening a game press Alt-Enter and see what that does...
RoHe
10 Elder
•
45.2K Posts
0
January 10th, 2022 11:00
And one more thingy... Get in the habit of imaging your boot drive (SSD) on regular basis. Save the image on an external USB drive. That way, should the SSD fail, you can quickly restore your latest saved image onto a new SSD.
You can use any imaging software you choose, and Macrium Reflect (free) is a good option. Just remember the image is only up-to-date on the day you made it....
RoHe
10 Elder
•
45.2K Posts
0
January 10th, 2022 11:00
You left out key pieces of info...
GTX 1650
GTX 1660
GTX 1660 Ti
RTX 2060
RTX 2060 Super
RTX 2070
RTX 2070 Super
RTX 2080
RTX 2080 Super
Use your Service Tag on the support page to make sure the update is for your specific GPU.
If the SSD fails, you won't be able to "migrate the OS to the HDD". You'll have to do a clean install on the existing HDD - all current files deleted, or on a new, replacement SSD. So there's nothing you will have to change in BIOS.
You do have to create a bootable Win 10 or Win 11 USB stick at the Microsoft site. Then plug that USB into PC and tap F12 to open the menu. Select the option to boot from USB. The Windows installer will take care of everything.
cherieana12
1 Rookie
•
30 Posts
1
January 15th, 2022 15:00
Hello, RoHe, and I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. For some reason, I didn't get an email notice that I had a response here. Also, I suddenly started getting private messages from DELL-Cares, which I thought was an entity separate from you'all.
Paventhan, from the Dell Social Media team, was very nice, very helpful, had a lot of suggestions, and offered to take the tower back again, for a complete analysis. I was so grateful to hear that; believe me. Then, I decided to not send the PC back, but to do a lot of research and experimenting, which I hadn't had much desire to do for some reason. (Maybe my age. When I got my first Dell -- a Dimension 8200 -- I experimented constantly, did clean installs roughly once per year, and that machine lasted 20 years.)
I was so pleased to start getting the private messages from Paventhan, and, as I've probably indicated already, the Dell_Cares team seems almost like a different company from what I now think of as "regular" Dell support -- and I love your forum. I've always gotten good advice from the people there. It was someone from your forum who basically gave me the courage to tell Dell I thought they'd put the OS on the HDD as opposed to the SSD. Sure enough, that's what had happened -- and I'll just shut up about that now. It's been a strange period of time, of my having had unexpected problems that just don't seem like Dell.
Thank you for your help.
cherieana12
1 Rookie
•
30 Posts
1
January 15th, 2022 15:00
Hello again, RoHe. I should have told you that within the last few days, I flashed the BIOS; installed an nVidia "game ready" driver; and did something on the OSD. I think I selected mDP input source, and I'm embarrassed that I don't remember for sure. That's the input I have, and maybe the slowness to boot was coming from the computer having to check for all possible options for input.
Also, Dell did send an onsite tech in October of 2021 (Kahn Yang), who was very good and very nice. He found a faulty SSD and a faulty motherboard, both of which he replaced, and that made a huge difference. I wasn't surprised at his expertise; I was just surprised that the SSD (which Dell had worked on not long before that) and the motherboard were both faulty. That's just not like Dell. Anyway, I'm hoping all will be well now, as the computer is booting quickly; I'm getting the Dell logo, so I can get into the BIOS; and I'm getting the "mDP" input right on top of it.
Thank you again for your help. I'm confused about the forum, "Dell_Cares," and "regular" tech support, though.
RoHe
10 Elder
•
45.2K Posts
0
January 15th, 2022 18:00
Glad you got it working properly.
This forum is user-to-user assistance. The people here are mostly volunteers who help other users, with occasional input from Dell employees.
Dell Cares is Dell's tech support brand on social media. When you start a thread here, the Dell Cares automated system requests your Service Tag. Based on the Service Tag, they'll know if the PC is still under warranty. And then a Dell tech support agent, using the Dell Cares branding, may contact you to discuss the problem, and arrange warranty repairs, if necessary.
The tech who actually worked on your PC probably works for an independent tech support company that has a contract with Dell to provide onsite repairs for Dell products.
cherieana12
1 Rookie
•
30 Posts
0
January 16th, 2022 15:00
Thanks so much for helping me figure out "who's who."
Everything was going really well, and then my boyfriend's games suddenly started showing up at about 1/4 of the monitor (upper left) -- or, in an elongated, narrow strip across the entire monitor, with roughly two inches of black screen at the top and at the bottom. This doesn't happen all the time, and it can usually be corrected by restarting the computer. Still, that's not right, and, ever since buying my first Dell, I've always avoided superfluous restarts.
I swear, I never expected all the problems we've had with the XPS. Right now, I'm researching the monitor (a UP2716D), to see if I can learn anything. Also, I've just seen that nVidia has an updated grame ready driver (511.23), so that might be something to consider.
Oh, my boyfriend isn't into big war games; he enjoys the simple kind that can be downloaded from MyRealGames. Also, I just bought him a "hidden object" game that's actually several games in one. One way or the other, I want the XPS to work for him -- especially since he's still paying for it.
Thanks again so much for all your help.
RoHe
10 Elder
•
45.2K Posts
0
January 16th, 2022 17:00
You never told us which NVidia card do you have or if you're running Win 10 or Win 11.
There is an updated version of the Dell Display Manager Application for this monitor and Win 11. So if you run Win 11, you probably will want to install the update <ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>.
Is the monitor plugged into the video card, and not into any of the onboard Intel Graphics ports?
You might want to switch from mDP to DP on both the monitor and PC.
Are you sure Windows is set to the "recommended resolution" for this monitor?
Does BF's games have any specific spec requirements that your setup doesn't meet?
cherieana12
1 Rookie
•
30 Posts
0
January 16th, 2022 17:00
That's right; I forgot. I'm still running Windows 10. The video card is nVidia GeForce GTX 1080. As to where the monitor is plugged in: This is embarrassing. I'm not sure. It was plugged into the video card; I'm quite sure. But when the Dell expert was here, and got it booting so well (after putting in new SSD and motherboard), he plugged it into one of the ports that's way down on the back of the tower. I'm not sure what it is. The monitor will work when it's plugged into either of the first two ports (on the left when facing the back of the tower); then there's a port that's too small for a fit; then, there's another port, but the monitor won't run from that one. Like I said, it's embarrassing. I don't know what I'm plugged into right now, but when I was plugged into the nVidia card, I couldn't get the Dell logo, so I couldn't get into the BIOS.
How does one switch from mDP to DP? Oh, and the monitor definitely isn't set at the recommended resolution, because neither my boyfriend no I can see it. (We're old. We probably should have gotten one of those computers AARP advertises that are especially for old folks -- but I doubt we could do much with one of them.) The display resolution is set at 1360 x 768. Didn't think of that, but I suppose it could be a problem. Thanks again for everything.
RoHe
10 Elder
•
45.2K Posts
1
January 17th, 2022 11:00
The GTX 1080 video card would be #2 on your PC.
That's where your monitor should be connected. You don't want to connect it to any of the ports in the area marked #1.
Looks like the GTX 1080 has three DisplayPort 1.3 port, one HDMI 2.0, and one Dual Link DVI-D port:
Your monitor has two HDMI 1.4 input ports, one DP 1.2 input, one MiniDP 1.2 input, plus one DP output for MST daisy chaining. You can use either the DP on both PC and monitor or HDMI on both.
Right-click an empty area on your desktop and select NVidia Control Panel. When that opens, under Display confirm it 1- identifies the monitor correctly, 2 it says connector is DisplayPort if that's where it's connected, and then select whatever resolution is listed as "Native" for your specific monitor.
Reboot when done and test things out now.
cherieana12
1 Rookie
•
30 Posts
0
January 17th, 2022 13:00
Thanks so much for all the info, and for the graphic. I'd found something similar online, but it just didn't seem the same.
The nVidia control panel does recognize the monitor; it does identify the connector as Display Port; but the Native resolution (2560 x 1440) makes everything much too small for my boyfriend and I to see.
About the connection for the video card: Could it or should it run to the blue area of number 2? That was the one I thought didn't work, but today it's working. I don't know if it's the computer/monitor or me, but the operation of this machine seems inconsistent. (Probably me).
Right now, everything is working fine. I've been doing research regarding the strange sizes of some of my boyfriend's games, and have some possibilities I can try if it happens again.
Thank you again so much! I've printed out what you said, and also the graphic of the XPS.
cherieana12
1 Rookie
•
30 Posts
0
January 17th, 2022 15:00
Ron, I forgot to tell you this: You deserve at least 1,000 thumbs up, and, until just now, I hadn't even noticed the opportunity to give you one. Also, thank you for telling me specifically NOT to plug the monitor into the #1 area. After I got my old folks magnifying glass out, and looked at one connection point there, it seemed to be labelled with a D and a smaller P inside it. So, I thought that probably meant Display Port, which seemed to match one of the ports on the monitor. Good grief. Anyway, things are still working fine as of now, and thank you so much, again and again, for your patience and all your help.
cherieana12
1 Rookie
•
30 Posts
0
January 18th, 2022 07:00
OK, I've followed your advice on Native resolution, Scale and Layout under Display, and Ease of Access. So far, everything is working very well, so it seems this was the fix I needed. If things go wonky again, and if you can bear to hear from me again, I'll be checking in. Thank you, thank you for sharing your expertise, and for your patience with me.
RoHe
10 Elder
•
45.2K Posts
1
January 18th, 2022 12:00
Yea! Glad to have helped...
And if I may make one more suggestion now that it's working properly...
Make an image of your entire SSD and store it on external USB HDD. That way, if something goes wrong in the future, you can easily revert back to the saved image. You can use any imaging software you like, but Macrium Reflect (free!) is a very good, easy to use option.
Just remember, an image is only up-to-date on the day you created it. So get in habit of imaging the SSD on a very regular basis. And assuming your personal files are all saved on the HDD, back up those files to external media too.
cherieana12
1 Rookie
•
30 Posts
0
January 19th, 2022 04:00
I'm going to do exactly that. In fact, I just downloaded Macrium Reflect. You've provided me with such excellent help, all the way through this, I hardly know what to say. Thank-you doesn't seem like enough!