XPS 8930, replacing video card, factors to be considered?

I still have the originial Dell 460 w PSU. The power from the PSU to the GTX 1060 is a 6 pin PCLe unless somebody can remember whether Dell 's 460 w PSU has an additional 8 pin power connector...I can't remember if maybe there is.  I'd rather not resort to a 6 pin to 8 pin adapter to connect to an 8 pin GPU

....I know what the 8930 specs say GT 1030, GTX 1050 Ti, 1060, 1070, 1080. but why ?

a user posted a question in a dated thread on the XPS desktop forum about a non-Dell retail graphics card he purchased on Dell's site. Some mixed responses were received. Some replied the PNY retail brand that the user purchased on Dell's store should be fine. A reply from speedstep said that the user's XPS 8930 may not boot or POST with that retail card installed.

After doing some casual looking around for Dell OEM Nvidia cards, suppliers  appear pretty limited in their inventory with the Dell Nvidia cards listed in the 8930 specs. Dell themselves aren't even offering for sale any of those 10 series card. Hence, the reason the user posted a question about the PNY retail brand.

If my memory serves correctly  @RoHe mentioned the card on his 8930 is a GTX 1660 Ti. Wonder why Dell 's 8930 specs don't list that card. At least one Dell OEM Nvidia  GTX-1660 Ti was found for sale. Still not sure though about the card's compatability         
   

Dell OEM cards are different from "retail" cards with the same NVidia or AMD number. OEM GPUs typically have fewer and/or different output ports, fewer/smaller fans, etc. OEM cards are designed to be lower cost and have lower power consumption.

You don't have to install a Dell OEM card, as long as the stock PSU is adequate for the retail card's requirements. But, unless a specific retail GPU card comes with a driver signed by Microsoft, Secure Boot has to disabled in BIOS setup to allow the PC to boot. Dell OEM cards always come with a signed driver.

@Anonymous You are correct, my XPS 8930 came with a Dell GTX 1660 Ti GPU, as shown on my PC's config page:

It's not listed on the Specs page for the XPS 8930 because that doc was released before Dell started offering this GPU. If you look, the specs also say the XPS 8930 has an 8th Gen CPU, but mine came with a 9th Gen CPU, which also wasn't available when the specs doc was written. Component offerings can get updated over a PC's sales life, but the initial specs docs typically don't...

It took a long while to find answers to what I was looking for but I finally found them. There was an enormous amount of info posted by HanoverB, but it was hidden within an OP's thread that at first I disregarded based on the title and never gave it another thought . .. until I looked again.

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8930-aftermarket-graphic-card-support/m-p/7235898/highlight/true#M22138     

Regarding the Dell OEM GTX-1660 ti versus the Dell OEM GTX-1060. I didn't see an issue that could be a concern in changing to the GTX-1660 ti. Except possibly one thing. I didn't read anywhere in the thread that mentions whether the input power connector on the GTX-1660 ti  is a 6 pin or 8 pin. After looking around to check somewhere else, the power connector on the GTX-1660 ti "appears" to be a 1x8 pin (unless I was looking at incorrect spec information).

Sensor readings I ran say that I have 6-pin PCLe Input Voltages

The GTX-1660 ti sounds to be a better choice though from everything I read in the thread    

Ok. User dt19 posted the same thing I basically wondered about regarding an 8 pin GPU connected from a 6 pin power connect cable. It was mentioned in that post (on page 3)  there's a closely located cable with a 2 pin plug cable which isn't being used now. I remember another cable that isn't connected but I never looked at the end to see if its a 2 pin connector. I'm going to need to open up and examine it. 

What's hard to visualize is how two plugs would fit "side by side" into a GPU that accepts an 8 pin connector. I'm just saying, the physical space of two plugs side by side are obviously going to take up more space than a 8 pin plug would and they maybe were not designed to plug into a GPU that needs a single 8 pin power cable connector. .   

There are 6 pin > 8 pin PCI-e power cable adapters for GPUs, if that will help...

Since I have a GTX 1660 Ti in my XPS 8930, I don't think you'll have any issues, assuming the OEM PSU in your XPS 8930 is adequate for the job. I have the 850W PSU, and the smaller one offered in this PC model is 460 W.

I know. From reading some posts on the Nvidia forum from users asking about cable adapters, some frown on the idea. Those who were drawn to those  questions are basically other users who by consensus noted concerns about damaging the GPU.      

Its hard to tell from this picture, or when the moderators will allow it to be viewed, but I took a picture of this cable that isn't being used a while back.  I didn't think to get a shot of the connector or the number of pins. But now that I look at it, it has five wires. orange, 2 blacks, red and yellow.    

I'm doubting that cable is designed for to be used with the 6 pin PCLe connector in conjunction to power an 8 pin GPU with the Dell stock 460w PSU. I've found nothing to support that which I saw in that thread that I added a few posts ago from that link. It talks about having a 6 pin PCLe connector from the stock 460 w on the XPS 8930 with an un-used 2 pin PCLe. 

Maximum power draw on the Dell GTX-1060 is 75 W on the motherboard PCIe x16 slot plus 75 W on the 6-pin PCLe connector.

I've yet to find anywhere how to verify before buying any retail card whether it'll include a signed MS driver to avoid having to turn off secure boot and enable legacy ROM.  

I think the power draw on Dell OEM 1660 ti is 75 W on the motherboard plus 150 W on the 8 pin PCLe power connector - total max 225  W

I  can't even find what the max output amperage is on the Dell 460w PSU. They provided no label affixed on the PSU. Nothing like a power chart or whether it's a single or multi 12V Rail, or any spec information

I don't know how in the heck anyone is supposed to know whether Dell's power supply is underpowered when hunting for scarcely available parts to safely power everything in the 8930 when it's absolutely necessary

I'm basically out of luck finding a replacement GPU. No Dell GTX-1060 cards are to be found anywhere and I don't want to pay 30% re-stocking fee for a retail card that doesn't have a signed driver

This whole secure boot has to be disabled when using a non-Dell OEM graphics card is fishy to me as I don't even use the graphics drivers from Dell, I use the drivers downloaded from Nvidia's website as they are newer. The Nvidia drivers are signed to, Is there something else in the video card bios for Dell's OEM cards that Retail cards don't have that restricts the use of secure boot? I sure wouldn't think so as that would create problems between Microsoft and the video card companies.

The power draw for a Dell OEM gtx 1660 ti is only 120 watts, they could have gone with a six-pin connector like did on the OEM 1660 super. They stuck to Nvidia specs on the ti as they called for an eight-pin connector.

@Anonymous  That pic might be the spare SATA power connector for a HDD or ODD which has same color cables as in the one you posted:

The Dell NVidia GTX 1660 TI has approx wattage of 120 W.  Pick the exact card you want and see what PSU size the manufacturer recommends for that card. Then see if your 460W PSU has 6- or 8-pin PCIe power connector cable attached. It may be under/behind the PSU. And if all else fails, there are power adapters to convert a SATA power cable plug to a 6- or 8-pin PCIe plug so google for them.

You could try contacting the manufacturer's tech support group to ask if the driver for that card is signed to work with Secure Boot enabled or not.  Or, just install the card with a suitable PCIe power connector attached and see if the PC boots with Secure Boot enabled.  If not, just disable it in BIOS setup.  Win 10 runs normally with/without Secure Boot enabled on the XPS 8930. I've run Win 10 on my XPS 8930 both ways. Win 11 is a more complicated and needs a work-around...

@ohwell1954  It's not fishy at all. Microsoft demands hefty fees from manufacturers of GPU and other add-in cards to have their drivers officially signed (approved).

Quote:
"Starting with Windows 10, version 1607, Windows will not load any new kernel-mode drivers which are not signed by the Dev Portal".  That process goes through Microsoft's Windows Hardware Dev Center program.  There are exceptions to needing a signed driver, including when "Secure Boot is off in BIOS".

And if you search these forums, you'll find lots of threads for various Dell PC models where a user installed a 'retail' GPU and the PC won't boot. When they disable Secure Boot in BIOS, the PC boots normally...

Then it has to be something in the video card bios, not the video card drivers as I get my drivers from Nvidia's website, not Dell's.

thanks @ohwell1954 So, then would you happen to know what wattage is drawn with the Dell GTX-1660 Super?

I don't mean to put you on the spot. If you're not sure, it's not that big a deal.

Weighing all options, I'll probably end up having to get some retail mid range to settle with ....MSI, EVGA, etc.  Chances on finding a Dell GPU that'll work is slim to none. But.... in case a decent used deal comes along, it'll be worth knowing the power drawn before making the no-return purchase

According to Dell, their version of the gtx 1660 super draws the same as the gtx 1660 ti 120 watts, Nvidia's reference card wattage for the gtx 1660 super is 125 watts. That's why it's strange that the 1660 ti has an 8-pin power plug while Dell's 1660 super has a six-pin. But either way, 6-pin would actually be enough wattage. Just don't try to use a 6-pin supply on an 8-pin card that won't work without an adaptor.

Yeah Ron It's almost certainly a SATA power connector for a future HDD. So much for reading into everyone else's xps 8930 config

I know my GPU is connected by a 6 pin power connector. I didn't think of looking where may be a hidden 8 pin is somewhere, but I'll look again

Of all replacement parts, the GPU is one of the most expensive. Manufacturers could inventory some of "their" spare parts. They're a manufacturing company. Dell certainly has available spare parts when you need to ship it off under warranty. Dell refurbished parts nevertheless. 

I'll try to see about contacting tech support of a retail company. I'd prefer secure boot enabled, whether anyone else agrees or not. It's designed for an actual purpose 

Whether anyone who has an extended warranty and never used it, the agreement works like this. They provide an anecdotal solution when it's a problem they can't diagnose... its either one of two options. Either you let them tear out basically everything and replace the components, or the other option is you tell them to do nothing.

Moral of the story, if you have an extended warranty and open a claim, don't even offer them any input or feedback Just say, my pooter no work .. please fix