XPS 8940, RTX 3070, cooling, PSU?

1. Probably, but users have increased cooling with more/bigger fans and better CPU heat sinks

2. A 500W PSU won't support a GPU with a 650W PSU requirement. You might be able to remove the stock PSU and connect an external (outside the case) PSU and snake the wires inside, but you'll probably need adapters for the motherboard's power connectors...

Hi, @Eazy D ,

You wrote:_

"the PSU with the 8940 is a 500w unit and the recommended PSU on Nvidia's website for the 30xx is a 650w."

If you ask a Dell Rep, they will probably tell you that their Graphics Cards are NOT Standard Nvidia Cards, but have been specially made & fine-tuned to operate on lower Power Levels - hence, they would suggest, that any combination that they offer/sell will not be a problem!

I don't have any experience with a XPS 8940, but I had a similar query with my XPS 8930 - that was the response that I got from Dell! However, I ended up replacing the PSU in my XPS 8930 &, suddenly, a lot of random rogue errors disappeared!

The XPS 8940 with GeForce 3070 is actually an official Dell product on sale for Black Friday. That's why I'm really suspicious about the 500w PSU being sufficient for the configuration.

Also, for anyone who has an XPS 8940, is the optical drive removable and can it be replaced with a Blue Ray burner? 

@Eazy D  - Dell OEM video cards typically do have fewer output ports and somewhat lower specs than the corresponding retail cards, so they're supposed to use less energy and need a smaller PSU.

Don't know what GPU @John-Jay has, but there are threads where XPS 8930 users had a  Dell config with a  stock 460W PSU and a Dell RTX 2060 that had strange issues which went away when the PSU was upgraded.

The XPS 8940 doesn't have an easy path to a larger PSU so you currently don't have an option to install a larger one.

You might want to look at the Alienware line which can have larger PSUs, but may not be offered with an OEM RTX 30xx series video card.

Hi, @RoHe ,

You wrote:-

"Don't know what GPU @John-Jay has, but there are threads where XPS 8930 users had a  Dell config with a  stock 460W PSU and a Dell RTX 2060 that had strange issues which went away when the PSU was upgraded."

My GPU was just a GTX 1080 (which Nvidia recommends a minimum of 500W), hence the "difference" (between recommended & actual PSU) was much more marginal!

However, I kept getting "strange issues which went away when the PSU was upgraded" with my setup - although Dell refuted that it had anything to do with the PSU being under-rated (but never offered any other suggestion on possible cause)! This is my original thread where I raised the question of my underrated PSU!! 

@Eazy D     I'm interested in the XPS 8940 with the GeForce RTX 3070 and i7 10700K

Have you looked at the Aurora R10 & R11  . . . where they have options for 1000 watt PSU and liquid cooled CPU? (both should be considered absolutely necessary)

There are some good holiday sales happening  

@Eazy D I wonder if the page that offers the XPS 8940 with the NVIDIA RTX 3070 is a mistake. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page there is a listing of the 'Ports vary depending on graphics card' and the RTX 3070 is not on that list but the RTX 2070 is.

I have XPS 8940 with:

• Intel 10900k
• NVidia 2070 Super (215 W Max)

Running a CPU and GPU stress test (basically maxing out both) drew a maximum of 493W at the outlet.  The 3070 is rated for 220W max which is only 5 watts more than the 2070 Super.  That would still be under the 500W.  As well, there should be more headroom that the PSU can theoretically provide since 493w is at the outlet after ~10% inefficiency of the 80 Plus Platinum.  So, I'm guessing that there's about 50w of headroom.

I'm curious what version they are using for the 3070. I can't imagine not using a blower model, because the case is so compact.