For discussion around thermals/tweaks/performance from This Deal
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Dell XPS 8940 10700K RTX 3070 16GB Owners Discussion Thread
LBushwickBill on 03/01/2021 - 13:07
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I used CPU-Z (first time I used it) to stress the CPU, I left it for 15minutes pegged at 100% and it stayed at a stable 70-74C. It actually cooled down slightly at the end as the cooler fan ramped up and I could hear it. Normally it is silent.
On the old cooler I used a less aggressive web based tool and it nudged the 80ies pretty quickly
Both nights were pretty cold though.
It works as that cooler should do, I don’t think the reported 90C throttling will be an issue with the new cooler.
I have a Noctua NF-A9 92mm PWM fan on order to place where the front drive cage used to go. So it should then have straight through ventilation. The G5 case is much better in this regard than the XPS.
I may do the same to the rear case fan and replace the current fan.
THEN I add one of these beauties to my VRMs when they get back in stock.
https://www.amazon.com/Deal4GO-Regulator-HeatSink-Replacemen…
Finally I will play with this to remove the Dell imposed power limits.
https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlesto…
It works on a Dell apparently
https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8940-Better-…
Not much else I can do I suppose.
No Noctua 12x15 Slim 120mm fan for the front?
EDIT - That VRM heatsink looks amazing - I haven't looked to see if I have one already…
@BushwickBill: Lots of fans fit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/lzh7mm/g5_desktop_the…
The Noctua kit I am waiting for has spitters, extenders and mounting rubber screws included, when I ordered it was $24 or something but it seems lost somewhere between San Bernardino and Sydney.
Just want to share this with you - XPS 8940 with RTX 3070 is now supporting Resizable BAR (well, in a way).
I updated my Dell OEM RTX 3070 comes with my XPS 8940 (11700K version) long times ago and it works, but of course the motherboard BIOS still need to be updated to make it work. I used the VBIOS from this thread: RTX 3090/3080/3070/3060 Ti VBIOS - Dell Community. I thought it's likely the same GPU for both Alienware and XPS so I bit the bullet and it certainly didn't brick my card. Use at your own risk, YMMV as it's for Alienware. At the time of this post no XPS VBIOS is provided yet.
As of the motherboard BIOS, it was literally released a few days ago and yes it supports Resizable BAR: Dell XPS 8940 System BIOS version 2.2.0. It took me quite a few tries to update as it simply ignore the update at boot time. I have to use flash drive to update from the boot menu instead. The new BIOS adds an option to turn on Resizable BAR in performance section. Then you can check if Resizable BAR is enabled in NVIDIA Control Panel.
However the side effect is that my extra HP EX900 on a adapter card in PCIE x4 slot doesn't work anymore and will hang at boot. Have to remove it to make it boot. I tried other NVMe SSDs (SK Hynix PC611 and Crucial P1) and they simply disappear from the system (both Windows and BIOS). Dell really should put two NVMe slots on the motherboard for expansion. I'm pretty sure it's a stupid compatible issue, just like the very limited RAM support for this motherboard. And because of the chipset choice, you don't get to use PCIe 4.0 devices, too, such as the graphics card it comes with.
I tried a few games that support Resizable BAR and… well didn't notice a difference. What a surprise. I know the feature is on as NVIDIA Control Panel said yes. But I assume the bottleneck is elsewhere.
You are a legend. I've been waiting so long for this. My ocd wasn't going to cope without BAR, but it gave me a chortle in terms of probably not doing much anyway.
But gotta have it. Thank you!
Whoa! Performance section?
Guessing in the BIOS.
Hi guys,
I have an XPS 8940 w/ 3060ti, to upgrade the cooling I've done the following:
- Replaced stock pancake cooler with VWMTJ tower cooler (ships with the K variant CPU)
- Installed the Dell VRM heatsink
- Replaced rear fan with Noctua NF-A9
This resulted in a fairly hefty 1200 point increase in Geekbench Multicore performance (7857 > 9098).
Unfortunately it still sounds like a jet engine when playing games… monitoring the CPU temp while playing games such as D2R and Splitgate I can see it slip into to 80's which is super disappointing. I might considered adding an additional intake fan infront of CPU cooler. I don't really want to MacGyver a 3rd party CPU cooler either (research online indicated that the VWMTJ coolers performance was within 5% of Notcua, Artic etc.) so think I'll just learn to accept the loud noise + elevated thermals.
See previous comments on undervolting if interested. I’m a complete novice, but tweaking that has kept temps down and it now runs very quietly. Haven’t changed anything else.
Can't do undervolt anymore - the latest security patch in BIOS disable that options in XTU. Yeah… undervolt is a security flaw now haha.
Ooh did you get the VRM HS from Amazon? How was installing it - any issues?
Nope I ordered the part directly from Dell for about $10 inc. postage. Super simple to install as it has pre applied sticky pad + 2 screws.
I have absolutely no idea if it made any difference! Just thought it would be worth installing given how cheap the part was.
Bugger. Mine was 30 bucks. Still nice!
Which liquid cooler recommended for xps 8940? cpu is i7-11700 not the K version.
I've got a spare (new) VRM heatsink if anyone needs -$20 + pp :)
Hey guys is it a good idea to upgrade the 80mm back exhaust fan for a 92mm and then reuse that 80mm at the front as intake?
Sure. There's not a ton of room at the front bottom though - depending on your GPU.
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Useful post : +1
How do you find it performs with that cooler?