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XPS 8950, please advise on specs, PSU, air cooling type
It took some doing, but I think have the specs I want (listed in full at the end of this post). This system will be for someone who does play some demanding games, so I expect that CPU and GPU usage will get up there. I have three questions for the forum.
1. Is the 750w PSU overkill for this combination of CPU, GPU, RAM, and SSD?
i7-12700 (not K)
Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti
16gb RAM
2 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
optical drive
It took some doing even to add the 750w PSU, since 460w seems to be the default for this combination of CPU and GPU. One might assume that Dell thinks 460w is adequate, but I'm trying to minimize assumptions at this point. We won't be overclocking anything.
2. The CPU I have selected -- 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12700 (25 MB cache, 12 cores, 20 threads, 2.10 GHz to 4.90 GHz Turbo) -- is not a K, but there is no price difference between "Standard CPU air cooling" and "Advanced CPU air cooling." Does it make sense to select "Advanced CPU air cooling," and is there any reason not to? Is one noisier? Again, this machine will be used for games, but not overclocked.
3. Bonus question for anyone who's still reading: what does the extra $100 for a K processor get you, and who should buy it?
Specs for the machine I have in my cart:
Processor 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-12700 (25 MB cache, 12 cores, 20 threads, 2.10 GHz to 4.90 GHz Turbo) [338-CFOM] / G4PAMYH 1
Operating System Windows 11 Home, English [619-APTK] / GBIUA48 1
Graphics Card NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 Ti, 8 GB GDDR6, LHR [490-BGYV] / GMQWUT6 1
Chassis Options 750W Night Sky Bezel Chassis including optical drive [321-BHGX] / GYD49MI 1
Cooling Option Standard CPU air cooling [321-BHGL] / GOIFRV9 1
Memoryi 16 GB, 2 x 8 GB, DDR5, 4400 MHz; up to 128 GB (add'l mem sold separately) [370-AGSZ] / G19HUOY 1
Hard Drive 2 TB, M.2, PCIe NVMe, SSD [400-BNCQ] / G9AYEVP 1
Optical Drive Tray load DVD Drive (Reads and Writes to DVD/CD) [429-AAXX] / GYS072V 1
Wirelessi Intel® Killer Wi-Fi 6E (6 where 6E unavailable) AX 1675, 2x2, 802.11ax, MU-MIMO, Bluetooth 5.2 [555-BGST] / GZ14O0I 1
Keyboard Dell Multimedia Keyboard-KB216 Black (English) [580-AILI] / GGUBZ5O 1
Mouse Wired Mouse, Black MS 116 [570-AATH] / G963OAD 1
redxps630
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December 20th, 2022 09:00
Re: there is no price difference between "Standard CPU air cooling" and "Advanced CPU air cooling."
definitely get advanced air cooling. The standard air cooler is basic Dell pancake not good at all.
standard air cooling
Advanced air cooling
get the 750w psu for gaming. For demanding gaming consider higher spec gpu 3080 or 3080ti/3090 if you can afford. Very hard and costly to upgrade proprietary psu from 460w up if you do not get the 750w up front.
-k cpu is a premium binned cpu. For multi core it beats non-k 12700
The single-core performance is almost similar in both CPUs. But, in multi-core benchmark tests, 12700K is the winner. You can see the multi-core GeekBench score is too high for 12700K as compared to 12700.
https://makethatpc.com/intel-core-i7-12700-vs-core-i7-12700k/
smokeygraypoupon
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December 20th, 2022 12:00
The Dell premium air cooler is dramatically superior to the basic cooler. When I ordered my XPS 8950, the premium cooler was not an option. I found after installation of the premium cooler (purchased online from Amazon) the decrease in cpu temps were around 10C at idle and about 28C at 100% utilization for the i7 12700 non-K. The Dell basic cpu cooler left about 20% of the cpu uncovered/exposed.
By the way, the premium cooler is also quieter than the basic cooler. Hopes this helps.
dswo3
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December 20th, 2022 19:00
Thank you both. I've ordered the advanced cooler and the 750w PSU. Glad to hear the advanced cooler is quieter: that matters to me.
redxps630
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December 21st, 2022 08:00
It seems the gaming benchmark difference is not impressive between 12700k and 12700.
If OP had opted for the 12700k cpu w 125W TDP instead of 12700 w 65W TDP, liquid cooling would be warranted. The efficacy of Dell stock 120 mm AIO is doubtful though.
ProfessorW00d
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December 21st, 2022 08:00
You could have gotten Performance CPU Liquid Cooling for $50. Also should have gone for the "K" processor.
ProfessorW00d
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December 22nd, 2022 05:00
Not everything in life is measured by the FPS metric. The processors designated as "K" are sourced from the highest yield wafers at the manufacturing labs, and as such, statistically, would perform most efficiently and most reliably . . . statistically.
The 125 watt CPU should absolutely have liquid cooling. The 120mm radiator is small . . . 240mm radiator is recommended.
kardassian
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March 9th, 2023 08:00
hi smokey, the premium option wasn't available for me either, can you let me know which aftermarket premium cooler you went with? Thanks!
paultranevite
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November 17th, 2023 19:11
@kardassian Smopkey uses this one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/195745907170
It works great! Cheap and very quite.
I run it on an SFF i7 8700. Way better than the stock CPU cooler