XPS 8930, underrated PSU?

Intermittent lock up, shut down, blue screen are some of the telltale signs of incorrect power distribution to gpu.

@redxps630

Would you mind providing a link to where you got the information about the GTX1080 needing a 500W (min) PSU? I've checked the Nvidia Web-Site & couldn't find it!

@Vic384 

Thank you for that useful Information!

I note the point you make but, unfortunately, I don't have the Technical Knowledge/Detail to assess what the rest of the System is doing - hence I can't comment on whether a 460W is actually adequate (particularly when I keep getting the occasional errors that are "supposedly" associated with the Graphics Card)!

Go here and click on 'View Full Specs': https://www.nvidia.com/en-sg/geforce/products/10series/geforce-gtx-1080/

Recommended System Power is 500W (min) and Graphics Card Power is 180W, so it seems to me a 460W PSU may be adequate depending upon what else you have in your system and what you are doing that may stress the system.

Assuming no oc, your 1080 would be requiring the most power under load.  It would also be a prime candidate to experience issues if underpowered. Do the issues only come up when you're stressing the gpu? Do you have any oc settings enabled on the pc? If you can't troubleshoot, an easy thing to do would be to test the 1080 in a different computer with a sufficient psu and see if the problems follow the gpu.

Most likely very little if any room for oc'ing that 8700k though.

Hi, @Vic384 ,

I simply don't do "Gaming", hence I'm NOT aware of any Heat or Fan Issues.

Generally, I find that I have quite a few "niggles", with this XPS8930, & I'm trying to resolve then one by one!

Seeing that it has been mentioned about the inadequate PSU Spec (even though I don't use the Graphics heavily), it just seemed possible that the PSU Transient Response was inadequate - with a possibility of short Voltage-Rail disruptions, causing the Card to reset!

Obviously, if you have any other ideas, they would be most welcome!

You may not the technical knowledge/detail to assess what the rest of the system is doing, by you know if you are gaming, using some CPU intensive app, or just browsing the web is before you get these errors. You can also look at the Performance tab of Task Manager to see if the CPU, GPU, Network, Disk, etc. are showing high utilization. 

@r72019 

I don't know how BIOS/chipset management works . . . but if the CPU is being thermal throttled, could the GPU be being throttled as well, even if the GPU temp is "normal"?

Interestingly, immediately after making my last Post, I opened up Task Manager & that action caused another short-term Black-out!

When I got into the Performance Tab, I could see that there had been a significant spike in both CPU & GPU - although I was unable to establish the magnitude of the Spike!

While in Task Manager if you look at the Processes tab you can see which apps may be utilizing the CPU and GPU. 

@Vic384 

The problem with that is that it only shows the current/instantaneous status & NOT the status that occurred during the situation that caused the Blackout (&, as I believe, the Graphics Card to reset), some seconds earlier.

Effectively, to be able to figure the issue, I would need to  be able to manually freeze the Graphs in the Performance Tab & then scroll to the Peak & show the usage history at that point!!

Yeah, I mean it could bottleneck the gpu.  That is, the CPU and GPU depend on each other, they are a team.  The gpu could be falling asleep waiting to get going while the CPU is holding the team back running in circles deciding what shoes to wear to the ballgame. So to speak.  

@r72019   Yeah, I mean it could bottleneck the gpu. 

The reason I ask that is, from the other thread that prompted this thread (exact same computers)  @RobinLowet   posted their CPU temps during a very brief stress test. These are hot

I've had the same problem as John-Jay described for 1.5 years. A blank/white screen several times per day. Dell replaced the MB and GPU, but the problem never got better. I get the same error code that he gets. I have posted here many, many times to try to find a fix. Other than doing all kinds of recommended "troubleshooting", I never found a cause. I always thought it was the PSU, but Dell claimed it wasn't.

Meanwhile, just a week ago, I got so frustrated with dealing with the XPS8300, I removed it and put my 7-year-old backup PC in its place. I loaded  the old PC with the same OS, software, monitor, cables, surge protectors, peripherals, etc. This old PC has been in service for 5 days now and not one blank/white screen or error. This proves to me that it is the XPS 8300 itself.

If someone can positively confirm that the 460W is really the problem, I will be glad to upgrade to a new PSU. The specs for the XPS 8300 are way better than my old PC, but my old PC is more stable and running better than the XPS 8300. If it is the case that Dell put underpowered PSUs in these PCs, shouldn't there be a recall, or at least a free PSU upgrade? Seriously.