XPS 8950, not booting up with EVGA RTX 3080

Question

The power button LED is showing solid white, but the keyboard LEDs flash once. Then nothing happens. I don't even get to see the Dell logo.

I wonder if my GPU card is broken or not. Is it possible to pull out the GPU card and then use the build-in video port? I see there is a DisplayPort on motherboard.

Thanks.

redxps630 · Accepted Answer

Yes it is possible to uninstall discrete gpu and test video from iGPU. Solid white or blue power button led is a good sign of successful post

lz12345 · Answer

@redxps630​ Thanks for the reply. Yes, my system is up & running with the built-in GPU.

lz12345 · Answer

My other question is where to get the latest drivers for EVGA RTX-3080. Microsoft and NVidia recent updates keep messing up this GPU card. My understanding is that EVGA stops making GPUs, nor supporting the card.

Should Dell do something since we got the card from Dell?

redxps630 · Answer

Try uninstall all the gpu drivers currently installed, then try install a recent Nvidia driver. When you search for RTX3089 driver on internet, Nvidia lists the newest driver and below a list of recent drivers.  Pick a driver that is recent.

Chino de Oro · Answer

Re: Should Dell do something since we got the card from Dell?

Here is the graphics driver released by Dell in 2026 https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=hy8nm&oscode=w2021&productcode=xps-8950-desktop

lz12345 · Answer

@Chino de Oro​ Thanks for the link.

lz12345 · Answer

@redxps630​ The problem is that my PC won't boot if I switch to RTX-3080. I asked ChatGPT and it said the card didn't get enough power. The ports should have dedicate power cables, not split ones.

redxps630 · Answer

It may be booting but no video out from 3080. Could be a bad video card that the pc does not detect it being bad therefore power button is white. Do you get normal video from iGPU while 3080 is installed? If yes go inside dev mgr to look for display adapter. If it lists a Microsoft basic adapter then 3080 is detected.

Chino de Oro · Answer

@lz12345 , was the RTX 3080 really shipped with your XPS 8950?

We won't be able to explain why chat GPT said that the card didn't get enough power or how does it know what type of cables the RTX 3080 was installed with.

lz12345 · Answer

@Chino de Oro​ Yes, the 3080 came with the box. I only added more RAM and disks.

Chino de Oro · Answer

In that case, Dell has properly installed the RTX 3080 graphics card with separate 8-pin cables.  Don't worry about what ChatGPT said.  It was just a generic answer for failed diy to double check power.

piloianm · Answer

Did you do a BIOS update lately? Version 1.31.0 is giving me a similar problem. Although in my case I can’t access BIOS now unless I remove the NVidia and use the onboard GPU

XPS Desktops

XPS 8950, not booting up with EVGA RTX 3080

Was this post helpful?