Upgrading a Dell XPS 8900 with a new used model
Upgrading a Dell XPS 8900 with a new used model
I recently acquired a Dell XPS 8900 and a 3 Inspiron for just 10USD from a govdeals.com ad. The XPS is running after some testing, but I’m curious about possible improvements. I replaced the GTX 745 with a GTX 580, which claims to be 50% faster according to certain sources. I also swapped out the stock PSU for one without 6+2 pins and installed the one I had with the GTX 580. I’m thinking about upgrading the GPU later and want to know if there’s a better processor option for this motherboard. The current i7-6700 with Intel Z170 chipset is fine, but would an i7-7700 offer more performance? For the graphics, what GPU should I target? Should I go with PCIe Gen 3 x16 for RTX 20 or 30 series cards, or should I limit myself to GTX 10 series models? Thanks in advance.
The 7700 offers no significant speed advantage over the 6700, and it's uncertain if Dell ever provided a BIOS that would work with it. The 4c/8t Skylake chips are essentially interchangeable—similar models like i7 6700, i7 7700, i3 10100 all perform similarly. For optimal performance, the best GPU choice would be an RTX 2080 Ti or RTX 3070. In most current games, even with these cards, CPU limitations often dominate. A stronger GPU can help, but it usually doesn't make a big difference. An RTX 3060 12GB or RTX 2070 might be more sensible. Historically, the GTX 1080 or 1080 Ti paired well with those CPUs, though they’re not much cheaper now. A 3.0 x16 configuration is perfectly acceptable since earlier generations only supported PCIe 3.0.
Hello fellow GovDealser! That's a sweet find! One of the last business machines that still used standard power connections With a 6700 you can make a pretty decent 1080p medium rig. Gonna chug on some more recent games, but with a good enough GPU you can still get decent frames. It's a 4 core, 8 thread chip so most games up to the release of the PS5/SeriesX were designed with that in mind. As for CPU upgrade, well, that's where it being a business machine bites you. While the chipset should support 7th gen and the socket would certainly fit, you would need a BIOS update which Dell would need to publish which they have not and never will. So you're stuck with 6th gen. With a cooler upgrade you could definitely run a 6700k for a 5% speed boost, it's probably not worth the 100$ you'd be dumping into it. I would recommend repasting the CPU cooler though. That thing is a decade old and, assuming it's never gotten maintenance, the paste is probably closer to powder at this point. On the GPU front, that mobo's primary x16 slot is fully wired for x16. And yes, while it IS a gen3 slot, even a 4090 doesn't max out the bandwidth on gen3x16 (GamersNexus has a great vid comparing gen 3vs4vs5 and the results are within 1-2% margin of error) and the only thing you'd really lose out on is ReBAR support. Honestly, I run a 8700k/3080ti rig which yields decent frames at 4k
It was a major step to get everything running, mainly updating the BIOS from 12.2 to 12.9. I still need to install a M.2 SSD and have an old 1TB Barracuda HDD connected. Right now I’m just browsing Marketplace for compatible parts. I’d like to hook up my Dell E772p with something that outputs VGA, so it would be convenient. Maybe using the GTX 580 and a DVI to VGA adapter would work well for playing Ace Combat 04. I might try that setup anyway. Thanks for your thoughts. OddOod, please note those listings aren’t just 20 office PCs with six printers stacked on top. Keep an eye out for Dell P series CRTs—I might be the bid at Temple University right now. Still unsure how I’ll get that unit home if I win.
Lol that's cool! I once bought 20 SFF dell towers for $100 from an old psychiatric hospital. I got into cluster computing and it was pretty fun. Back in 2018 I was among the top 20 in Asteroids@Home. Now I'm still in the top 400. The place had three printers and a dead UPS that came with it. I sent the printers to Goodwill and fixed the UPS, which worked fine for three years. Now it just acts as a doorstop.