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1897
XPS 8930 SE, purchase research
I am trying to decide on an
upgrade
replacement to my current Inspiron 530 (Core 2 Q6600 2.4GHz, 4GB ram, win 7) and I am running dual Dell 19FP monitors.
I have a few questions and hope a few of you can give your opinions.
Looking at the XPS special edition i7 8700K 4.6GHz, 32 GB ram, 512GB PCIe x4 SSD + 1TB 7200RPM HDD, NVIDIA GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X , win 10 pro.
- Does this support dual monitors? silly question? Here's why I ask(from specs): -Chipset Z370 with Intel K CPUs only (some features of Z chipset not supported, including dual graphics)
- Will this support virtualization (Hyper-v, VMware, Oracle VirtualBox)?
- Is the OS on the ssd or hdd?
- Providing the answer to bullet one is yes, will this rig run two S2417DG monitors well? (or should I get something different?)
- I am not a gamer anymore, 20 years ago :-) , but if I were to want to try a few games what would run good on this and is easy to start as an (old 40's) newbie
- What about heat & noise? Do these run hot or loud?
I used to build my own PCs years ago, but when I bought my Inspiron ten years ago and had such good luck with it, I figured I would just try Dell again. No time to troubleshoot the BSoD, random reboots, or compatibility issues :-)
Thanks for your time,
DD
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
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17K Posts
1
October 17th, 2018 20:00
0. Looks good
1. Yes. They both would connect to GTX-1080
2. Yes
https://ark.intel.com/products/126684/Intel-Core-i7-8700K-Processor-12M-Cache-up-to-4-70-GHz-
3. SSD
4. Yes, but an UltraSharp u2717D would be better. Maybe just get one for now and use one of those old LCDs for #2 (and probably #3 if you want) A 24inch 16:9 monitor is gonna look small.
5. Depends on what you like. Install Steam. Watch Humble Bundle. I like games like Fallout-4, FarCry-3/4, BioShock Infinite, Crysis-2/3, The Division, good racing and flying games, ... like that.
6. During most activities (even casual gaming), should be cool and quiet. If you:
- encode-video CPU will be cooking without a Liquid-Cooler (XPS only has a fan on CPU).
- heavy gaming ... fans on CPU, PS, and GTX-1080 will be spinning fast
Next step-up is Aurora-R7. You can get it with above plus Liquid-Cooler (for CPU) and 850w Power-Supply (for all those nice powerful components).
546insp
732 Posts
0
October 17th, 2018 21:00
To answer your question about heat and noise; the i7 cpu will run hotter and many have had problems with noise from the cpu and/or top exit fan when stressing the unit. All the 8900 series are pretty much the same and I was plagued with fan noise in my 8920 but cured it with a bios update and a front fan addition. If you put a PWM front fan in it make sure you block off all around it and the area above with tape so ALL the air comes in from the outside. I too have had good luck with Dells, I buy a new one every 4 years (for many years) and never really had a glitch other than a noisy HDD that they took care of right away.
HanoverB
798 Posts
0
October 18th, 2018 10:00
If you are considering gaming seriously consider Tesla's step up to the R7. If you put one of the higher end next gen GPU's in the XPS 8930 and put any load on it, the CPU and the GPU will run hot. The XPS chassis airflow leaves a lot to be desired and temps and noise might become an issue. The liquid cooled R7 is fully capable of higher end gaming and is easier to upgrade as necessary.
Old gamers? I'm a burnt out WOW mythic raider from the Siege of Orgrimmar expansion. Don't shortchange yourself. Started out just playing to do something with the grandkids and next thing I know I was playing more than they were. I was 60 when we completed that expansion and killed Garrosh and I could hold my own with the kids and was always near the top of the damage meters. Grandkids thought I was awesome. Fun times but nice to have my life back. You are still a youngster if you are still in your 40's. Have fun!
Would also agree with Tesla's with his monitor recommendation from going to a 24" to a 27" with an older set of eyes. I used a dual 27" setup until 2 years ago where I switched to a single curved 34" 3440 x 1440 display. Lot less eyestrain as I had a lot of problems with those higher resolutions.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
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17K Posts
0
October 18th, 2018 19:00
1. Yeah, the wife plays WoW. I would rather run-around in the (Fallout 4) waste-land. :Smile:
2. If not an UltraSharp, at least get an IPS-based monitor.
24inch - 1080p
27inch - 1440p (is better) ... even if you have to scale-it-back for Windows desktop, you will still likely want to use 1440p for full-screen gaming
speedstep
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
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47K Posts
0
October 19th, 2018 06:00
I'm basically done with Fallout 4 and purchased all the DLC for Fallout 3.
It takes a bit of work getting it to run on Windows 7/8/10. Upgraded Older Video Card to GT 1030 and can play Fallout 4 in High Settings and Fallout 3 in Ultra.
I also play WOW and Defiance. Not worth Getting Defiance 2050 however because its just a rehash of Defiance and gives you a solid blue face with intel graphics where as the original works fine with haswell and later intel HD
WOW and Defiance are Free to play before you pay for any DLC.
https://battle.net/account/download/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/224600/Defiance/
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/pny-geforce-gt-1030-graphics-card-gf-gt-1030-2-gb-gddr5-pcie-30-x4-low-profile-dvi-hdmi/apd/a9763687