XPS 8930, possible to install a front case fan?

Thanks for the help!

546insp I have seen your thread and comments about blocking air from recirculating. I am looking at some 120mm fans that come with a silicone gasket to help in that regard.

HanoverB from your comment up-thread "For the intake position a large slow moving fan that moves a lot of air is usually desired.  It typically is installed to create airflow into the machine for a better pressure gradient."

So if I am going to get a couple 120mm fans the move 50 to 60 CFM, do I really need them to be "modulated" from the mobo? Can I have them running full speed all the time regardless of CPU/GPU temps? Also, can I pick up power for 3 fans from the 6-pin PCIe connector that is split from the GPU power source (red circle below)? I would go 6-pin to 4-pin molex to a three-way 3-pin fan spliter (allowing for a possible exhaust fan in the future). I have no idea if this would work or if it even makes sense.

My 8920 has a 120mm fan in the top rear which is one reason it runs so cool. The more RPMs a fan has the louder it is. They all put out about the same noise at the same RPM. My PWM 120mm front is tied into the top fan and spin faster when need but it is never needed because they both run constantly and get "the jump" on any heat build up, plus they are dead quiet all the time, even when watching u-tube and running a virus scan at the same time. Mount them like I did and they will run quiet. There is no need to find one that comes with a special  tape or gasket. All the air MUST come from outside in the front. I have a video card but no extra spinning drives which don't put out a lot of heat anyway. Everybody puts front fans in and ignore air control (like a fan shroud on a car) and wonder why they need more cooling.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the help!

546insp I have seen your thread and comments about blocking air from recirculating. I am looking at some 120mm fans that come with a silicone gasket to help in that regard.

HanoverB from your comment up-thread "For the intake position a large slow moving fan that moves a lot of air is usually desired.  It typically is installed to create airflow into the machine for a better pressure gradient."

So if I am going to get a couple 120mm fans the move 50 to 60 CFM, do I really need them to be "modulated" from the mobo? Can I have them running full speed all the time regardless of CPU/GPU temps? Also, can I pick up power for 3 fans from the 6-pin PCIe connector that is split from the GPU power source (red circle below)? I would go 6-pin to 4-pin molex to a three-way 3-pin fan spliter (allowing for a possible exhaust fan in the future). I have no idea if this would work or if it even makes sense.

 

 

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I think it’s a good idea to run all or some of the fans in your case at fixed speed.   I did so when I upgraded my machine.   The problem with the XPS 8930, unlike the Aurora R7, is that you have no control over individual fan speeds to adjust for case temps.     With this machine if you have a fan running at constant speed in the upper top fan exhaust position you will have airflow continuously out of the case.   A good fan for that location is the Noctua NF-S12A FLX 3 pin fan.  I have it installed fixed at 1200 RPM using a molex to 3 pin fan adapter that came with the fan.  It is an airflow case fan that moves a good amount of air and is very quiet when running all the time at max RPM.

You can use that fan as well in the front intake position. 

If you choose to run one, two or three fans at fixed RPM, don’t use the GPU 6/8 pin connector you have circled, find an extra SATA power connector on that PSU, then use the appropriate SATA to 3/4 pin adapter with 1-3 fan leads.  It installs neater that way and you can eliminate the need for a PSU molex connection.  Other option would be the TOP FAN header if unused or a fan hub controller made for PWM fans.  When you plug in a 3 pin fan they run at full rated RPM (you  can use a low noise adapter as well to decrease fixed fan RPM’s as well)

Three fan adapter looks like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0711CR7HV/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0711CR7HV&pd_rd_w=fnJxZ&pf_rd_p=21517efd-b385-405b-a405-9a37af61b5b4&pd_rd_wg=FzEHH&pf_rd_r=JSR83QGNCDP2NG78JSMQ&pd_rd_r=56ed7f96-040a-11e9-ade5-fb19e6f8bfdd

Couple of different fan hubs are talked about a little here:

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-CPU-Liquid-Cooler-GTX-1080-Hybrid-GPU-Upgrades/m-p/6191055/highlight/true#M18861

BTW, You will likely also need to pick up a replacement top exhaust 120mm fan/bracket off the big auction site, the bracket that came with my 92mm exhaust fan will not work with a 120mm fan.    The mounting holes don’t line up and the hole for the fan in the bracket is off center from the upper opening.

Much thanks again for the help and advice. I ordered a 120mm top fan that includes the bracket from the big auction site. Still waiting for that to arrive. I was planning to plug that in to the same place the 92mm fan is currently connected. Do you know if I will be able to swap out the top exhaust fan without having to mess with that CPU blower fan/heat sink? There is not much room there.

I did get the snap-in Aurora R5-7 lower front fan from the big auction site and I was surprised that is 120mm. According to the label it blows 148.9 CFM, and I was thinking more like 50 to 60 CFM for the two front intake fans at constant speed, so I am not sure if I will use this one or not.

Also appreciate the advice for the fan power source. Is the connector below (circle & arrow) an SATA connector? And thanks for the link for the adapter.

Let me know what you think about the 2 front intake fans @ 50 to 60 CFM, both 120mm and always on, and the modulated 120mm exhaust top fan (if I can get it installed). Does that seem like it will be a balanced air flow through the case?

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@Anonymous wrote:

Much thanks again for the help and advice. I ordered a 120mm top fan that includes the bracket from the big auction site. Still waiting for that to arrive. I was planning to plug that in to the same place the 92mm fan is currently connected. Do you know if I will be able to swap out the top exhaust fan without having to mess with that CPU blower fan/heat sink? There is not much room there.

 

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The 92 mm and 120mm fans are both 25mm thickness fans and will fit in that location.   The difficulty would be access to the fan header for the top fan which is under the heat sink.  Just not sure if you can get to them with the cooler/heatsink installed.

The manual here on page 84 shows how to remove and replace the cooler/heatsink on the XPS 8930

https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/xps-8930-desktop_service-manual_en-us.pdf

Video showing that cooler is here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMmCb6gBW-8

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Also appreciate the advice for the fan power source. Is the connector below (circle & arrow) an SATA connector? And thanks for the link for the adapter.

 

@Letme know what you think about the 2 front intake fans @ 50 to 60 CFM, both 120mm and always on, and the modulated 120mm exhaust top fan (if I can get it installed). Does that seem like it will be a balanced air flow through the case?

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If that connector is for the hard drives that came with the machine then that is a SATA connector.

What you do for fans depends on what you will be doing with the machine.  The GTX 1080 will go to its 83 degree C temp under loads for gaming or other graphics intended tasks.  The i7 8700 chip stock cooler under those types of loads ran loud and was not able to cool the CPU effectively, therefore users looked for alternate cooling options.  The i9-9900K should be a little more efficient than the i7 chip but will still run hot.

If you aren't gaming or doing intensive rendering a front lower intake fan and top exhaust fan might be enough.  If you are gaming, then it's a different story.  

As far as balanced airflow yes the addition of an upper and lower front intake fan is the optimum way to go. 

It would direct the flow of air in the direction you desire out of the top of the case and past the components that need cooling. 

Keep in mind that at least one of the fans has to be connected to the top fan header to avoid a fan error at startup.

The upper and lower intake fan at a fixed RPM would be the best way to assure constant airflow out of the case.  I have that Noctua FLX fan at 1200 RPM at that upper location.  You could use the same fan fixed at that front position as well.  A SATA connector using the adapters is an option but using the TOP FAN header would be best as you need both fan headers on the motherboard connected or you will get an fan error at startup. 

So your choice, either the front upper or lower intake fan or both connected to the motherboard to that open TOP FAN header.   As long as you have a fan connected to that header you will be fine.

With those three fans installed then the question remains if CPU temps and the CPU cooler fan noise levels are acceptable.  If not, it's the limitation of that CPU cooler and case design.  That is the real concern with your machine.

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@Anonymous wrote:

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I got the 8930 SE and it also have a 92mm top fan.

XPS 8930 Tower Special Edition

• Motherboard Chipset Intel Kaby Point Z370, Intel Coffee Lake-S
• 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-9900K 8-Core Processor (16M Cache, up to 5.0 GHz)
• 64GB, DDR4, 2666MHz Samsung
• 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD Toshiba
• nVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5X: 3x DisplayPort 1.3 (1.4 Ready), HDMI 2.0, Dual Link DVI-D
• 11ac + Bluetooth 4.2, Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz, 1x1
• Windows 10 Pro 64bit English
• Microsoft® Office Professional 2019
• 2 x Dell UltraSharp U2717D 27” InfinityEdge Monitors

 

 

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OT: What version of the bios is on your machine with the i9-9900K?

Edit:  I'm good, found the new BIOS for the chip upgrade on the Dell support site for the XPS 8930.

Much thanks again! I will need to read through your response a few more times to make sure I understand the part about connecting one of the fans to the top fan header to avoid a fan error at start up. Can that one fan be the top fan, with the two front fans running at constant speed?

I ordered the CRJ SATA to 3 x 4-Pin PWM Sleeved Fan Power Adapter Cable you suggested. I have also ordered the Aurora R 5-7 120mm top fan & bracket to replace my 92mm top fan. I have 2 of the Noctua FLX fans saved in a cart, pending a final decision on this set-up. 

I have been reading a lot of posts in this and other threads (thank you very much!), and it appears that, if I have to remove the CPU blower fan/heat sink assembly to access the top fan header, that would be the opportune time to upgrade the PSU. I currently have the standard 460w PSU. Can you think of any reason why I would need to go more than 650w? That is what I have seen in the XPS 8930 PSU upgrade threads. I don't do any gaming or video rendering, or such like.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Much thanks again! I will need to read through your response a few more times to make sure I understand the part about connecting one of the fans to the top fan header to avoid a fan error at start up. Can that one fan be the top fan, with the two front fans running at constant speed?

I ordered the CRJ SATA to 3 x 4-Pin PWM Sleeved Fan Power Adapter Cable you suggested. I have also ordered the Aurora R 5-7 120mm top fan & bracket to replace my 92mm top fan. I have 2 of the Noctua FLX fans saved in a cart, pending a final decision on this set-up. 

I have been reading a lot of posts in this and other threads (thank you very much!), and it appears that, if I have to remove the CPU blower fan/heat sink assembly to access the top fan header, that would be the opportune time to upgrade the PSU. I currently have the standard 460w PSU. Can you think of any reason why I would need to go more than 650w? That is what I have seen in the XPS 8930 PSU upgrade threads. I don't do any gaming or video rendering, or such like.

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For one upgraded fan at upper exhaust:

Use fixed speed Noctua FLX 3 pin fan at the top exhaust.  That fan is really important to have airflow at a constant rate with a fan that is reasonably quiet.

To add the OEM lower intake fan in the R5/R6/R7 bracket:

For lower fan intake, If you use the OEM PWM fan and a fixed speed fan in combination, then use the 4 pIn Y adapter off the TOP FAN header.  Can use one side for the PWM fan for motherboard control, the other leg for the 3 pin fan at fixed speed.  

If upgrading both upper exhaust and lower intake fans to fixed speeds:

If both these fans are upgraded to be fixed speed, you can use the top fan header, both fans fixed using the 4 pin Y adapter.  If you have a molex connector on your PSU, you can also connect the exhaust fan to the TOP FAN header (fulfills requirement to have that header used) and the molex connector to the PSU for the lower intake fan.  If you don't have a molex connector, use the SATA to 3/4 Pin Adapter to connect the lower intake fan.

If you add a upper intake fan to the other two upgraded fans:

If you add another 120mm fixed speed fan at the upper intake postion, then use the molex connectors or the SATA to 3/4 Pin Adapter for the two intake fans. The upper exhaust fan is already connected to the TOP FAN header.  I think the SATA fan adapter is neater in the case then using the molex connectors.

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Go with a 850W PSU, in case you upgrade the GPU in the future to take advantage of 1080p or 1440p at higher refresh rates or 4K.  You are good with that i9-9900K processor for a while, the next upgrade will be the GPU.

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-CPU-Liquid-Cooler-GTX-1080-Hybrid-GPU-Upgrades/m-p/6223264/highlight/true#M20383

Don't forget the slimline SATA cable for the optical drive, link is there

Size comparison

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-CPU-Liquid-Cooler-GTX-1080-Hybrid-GPU-Upgrades/m-p/6137734/highlight/true#M16377

Keep in mind the issue with that CPU heatsink and cooler assembly.  Not sure about the clearance under it for the 4 pin connector that powers the CPU.  The modular cables on a PSU are not as flexible, take a look and see how much room you have there.  

Edit:  Cleaned this post up a little Dell630i, hopefully it makes more sense.

Great information, very helpful. I am obviously a novice at this, so I appreciate your patience in answering my questions. I was wondering if it would be possible to "daisy chain" 2 PWM Y connectors (pictured below).

The first Y connector plugs into the mobo top fan header; from that, the 3-pin connector goes to the top exhaust fan, and into the 4-pin connector we plug second Y connector. From the second Y connector, the 3-pin connector goes to the bottom intake fan, and the 4-pin connector goes to the top intake fan. If that is even possible, 3 fans would be running from the mobo top fan header.

 After dreaming up that crazy scheme, I was looking at the service manual and, from the picture at least, it appears the mobo fan header has only 3 pins, while I was certainly expecting to see 4 pins (19 below). Does that change any of your recommendations?

 I want to try to plan this project so I can have all of the parts, connectors, adapters & supplies I will need to get it done, without having my computer down waiting for something to be delivered. Fortunately, my wife has a computer downstairs, so I can still get to this forum if I get stuck in the process!

BIOS Version is 1.1.3   SMBIOS Version is 3.1

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@Anonymous wrote:

Great information, very helpful. I am obviously a novice at this, so I appreciate your patience in answering my questions. I was wondering if it would be possible to "daisy chain" 2 PWM Y connectors (pictured below).

The first Y connector plugs into the mobo top fan header; from that, the 3-pin connector goes to the top exhaust fan, and into the 4-pin connector we plug second Y connector. From the second Y connector, the 3-pin connector goes to the bottom intake fan, and the 4-pin connector goes to the top intake fan. If that is even possible, 3 fans would be running from the mobo top fan header.

 

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Should work, the end result would be two 3 pin fans running at full speed and the 4 pin PWM fan being controlled from the motherboard fan header.

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 After dreaming up that crazy scheme, I was looking at the service manual and, from the picture at least, it appears the mobo fan header has only 3 pins, while I was certainly expecting to see 4 pins (19 below). Does that change any of your recommendations?

 

 

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Both the fan headers on the XPS 8930 motherboard are 4 pin PWM headers.  That picture is not accurate.

That was the exact route I took.  I upgraded the Top Fan from the stock 92 to the 120mm/149CFM fan, and Inserted the same 120mm/149CFM fan into the Aurora R5 Front Fan frame.  Used that PWM Y splitter, to run them both.

I will say when using Fusion 360, or even my son playing his games at full ultra settings, I never see CPU/GPU temps over approx 70c.  And, this is with 3 4GB spinners in the case.  I still wish I had a better CPU cooler but I can't seem to get my hands on the pictured above SE cooler which appears should outperform the LP11 cooler a few others have tried. 

But overall, this case cooler upgrade does a pretty good job and well worth the investment, imho.

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@mr_archer wrote:

That was the exact route I took.  I upgraded the Top Fan from the stock 92 to the 120mm/149CFM fan, and Inserted the same 120mm/149CFM fan into the Aurora R5 Front Fan frame.  Used that PWM Y splitter, to run them both.

I will say when using Fusion 360, or even my son playing his games at full ultra settings, I never see CPU/GPU temps over approx 70c.  And, this is with 3 4GB spinners in the case.  I still wish I had a better CPU cooler but I can't seem to get my hands on the pictured above SE cooler which appears should outperform the LP11 cooler a few others have tried. 

But overall, this case cooler upgrade does a pretty good job and well worth the investment, imho.

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But is ALL the air coming from the outside in the front?

Thank you once again! Inaccurate service manuals are not very helpful for beginners. In addition to the CPU blower fan/heat sink issue, my PC is supposedly "VR Ready" (whatever that is), so I also have a VR heat sink right next to the CPU that is not shown in the mobo schematic.

Happy to learn that the mobo top fan header is 4-pin. Also good to know that the dual PWM Y connector "daisy chain" set up will work. I just got the 120mm top fan and bracket from the big auction site to replace the current 92mm top exhaust fan. I think I am just going to use the bracket and put in the "Noctua NF-SA12 FLX fan at fixed speed of 1200 RPM" that you recommended for the exhaust top fan location (please correct me if I misunderstood).

For the 2 front intake fans: I already got the snap-in Aurora R5-7 120mm fan and bracket from the big auction site. I am thinking of not using that. If I understand correctly, based on the dual PWM Y connector set-up, the top front intake fan will be controlled by the mobo, and the bottom front intake fan will run at full speed. The top fan has to be 4-pin, the bottom fan can be 3-pin. 

What is your opinion about these fan options?

Top intake fan 4-pin mobo controlled

https://www.coolerguys.com/collections/fans/products/noctua-nf-f12-industrial-ppc-120x-25mm-2000-rpm-pwm-fan-ip67-rated

or

https://www.coolerguys.com/collections/fans/products/blacknoise-blocker-120x25mm-bionic-loop-fan-12v-pwm-4-pin-b12-p

Bottom intake fan constant speed

https://www.coolerguys.com/collections/fans/products/blacknoise-noise-blocker-120x25mm-silentpro-pl-2

Top exhaust fan constant speed

https://www.coolerguys.com/collections/fans/products/noctua-nf-s12a-flx-120mm-premium-fan

One thing I like about the Noctura fans is that they come with some speed adapters for adjusting the fixed speed fans.

I also ordered the Seasonic 850W PSU and Slimeline adapter cable.

Thanks all for the help and suggestions!

Yes, I saw your posts and the comments and pictures were very helpful for a noob.