Skip to main content
Start a Conversation

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

Cobra Jack

1 Rookie

 • 

1 Message

7952

July 16th, 2018 07:00

XPS 8900, graphics card replacement

I want to put a GTX 1080Ti graphics card in my XPS 8900.  Almost all of the 3 fan versions are nearly 12 inches long and that looks like a really tight fit in the 8900 chassis.  The two fan versions are about an inch shorter but still would be a tight fit.  So I have several questions; will the longer card fit?, will the two fan card fit and will a two fan card work well controlling temperature?  I also found a mini card that might work.  Work are you losing performance wise with one of those.

 

Thank s

HanoverB

2 Intern

 • 

798 Posts

July 16th, 2018 16:00

1) Length not a problem, it will be height.  You may have to move the hard drive bracket if gpu is too long for easier access to the rear of the card. Maximum height of the upper part of the power connector if on the side of the card under the side chassis is 4.3” or you will not be able to fit the power connector.  Maximum height of the card itself is 5” or it will not fit under the side chassis unless you cut some metal.  Try to find a card that is 4.3” high and you will be fine.

2)  From the experience with the XPS line from the XPS 8300 up to the XPS 8900 the problem with specific cards seems to follow a pattern even after the BIOS updates to fix early bugs.

  1. a)   Nvidia based reference cards, where the manufacturer such as EVGA, MSI, etc., is using Nvidia spec components and BIOS, in particular the PCB (the board), are most likely to be successful as an upgrade.  On these cards, you often see the Nvidia trademark on the front or back of the card.
  2. b) Non-reference cards where the manufacturer makes their own boards using  Nvidia GPU's, but have modified the PCB and other components to lessen the cost, or for overclocking and fan mods.   ASUS and Gigabyte models seem to have more compatibility issues.  These have not always worked with Dell motherboards, both XPS or Alienware models.

Three fan cards are usually a non-reference type of card.  So be careful there.  I do like the rear blower cards as they do exhaust the hot air out of the case.

3)  Temperature wise it really depends on the model of the GPU for above reasons and the CPU temps depending on what resolution you are running. 1080P no problem (and I would cap the framerate so the CPU isn’t stressing), at 3440-4K then the CPU has to try to keep up with the GPU at the 60+ fps you are trying to achieve and with the poor airflow in the case you will have a problem with the stock cooler.

4) The 8900 stock PSU should be upgraded.

5) Adding a fan intake up front will help with the cooling to set up better airflow.

speedstep

9 Legend

 • 

47K Posts

July 17th, 2018 08:00

The USB 3 front panel cable also gets in the way as does some of the wiring.

It can be done but its a royal pain with a 12 inch card.

You may also have to cut holes for the AUX power if they are not going into the end of the card at a right angle.

The EVGA POWER LINK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuuMEimsGGw

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-PowerLink-Support-Founders-600-PL-2816-LR/dp/B01MQ1YEYH

 

 

Was this post helpful?

View All

Top