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XPS 8930, video card upgrade questions
XPS 8930
I currently have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti in my XPS 8930. I looking to upgrade to probably a GTX 1070 or 1080. My question is, does my new card also need to be from Nvidia, or is a different brand ok? Thanks.
ispalten
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January 30th, 2023 05:00
Switching cards is not a problem and any vendor (Nvidia, AMD, etc.) or model is OK. What you do need to watch is the power requirements and cables. Some require more or different power cables. You have to find out what those were, and then possibly buy splitters or additional cables.
Also, check the space. There is a limit depending on XPS model how far back a card can go.
Dell usually gets its video cards from select vendors. They may not use Retail versions. I have an 8940 and my Nvidia RTX2060 I got with the Dell is NOT the same as the Retail version physically. I have one large fan vs. 2 smaller ones on the Retail card. It might also be shorter I think?
I suggest getting the new card from a place that doesn't have a return or stocking fee (like Amazon) just in case you can't install it for any reason.
kras1
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January 29th, 2023 22:00
A 1070 or 1080 will technically still be a Nvidia card.... but I get what you're asking. You can get any brand (MSI, EVGA, PNY, just to name a few.). You could even switch to an AMD Radeon card if you wanted.
kras1
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January 30th, 2023 11:00
@ispalten brings up very important points that I forgot to mention. I looked up power requirements for a GTX 1080 and it recommends a 500 watt PSU. If you have a 460 W PSU in your PC, you would be right at the limit. It would actually be a bit small but you should be ok. I do not know what GPU connectors you have coming off of your PSU or what connectors the GTX 1070 or 1080 have.
Chino de Oro
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January 30th, 2023 12:00
The XPS 8930 shipped with 460w power supply and it could support all of Dell's OEM validated graphics in the chart below. If you prefer to upgrade it to a more powerful PSU, a standard ATX PSU with 140mm depth should fit this system just like the OEM. You may need a mini SATA power cable for optical drive if you use one. Your OEM 460w should already have 6+2 pin cable for 8-pin card such as GTX 1080.
Hokie_Shankar
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June 3rd, 2024 20:39
Stay away from AMD cards. I had very bad issues with the 580 and 6650 XT. It looks like the 8930 fights with AMD drivers causing crashes and instability. In addition, one has to disable secure boot in the BIOS. After a major crash and windows 10 reinstall, I updated with a Nvidia 4060 and all is well. Enabled secure boot back and today, got the windows 11 update as well.