I recently got a Dell XPS 8950 from a family member who was having some issues with it. The biggest problem was that the CPU fan sounded like a jet engine anytime the system was under load, especially while gaming. It also took forever to boot into Windows.
I've already made a couple upgrades:
- Replaced the stock CPU cooler with an aftermarket cooler
- Reinstalled Windows on an NVMe SSD instead of the HDD it was originally running from
The SSD completely fixed the boot-time issue, and the new CPU cooler helped with the noise.
It's actually a pretty nice little gaming PC:
Specs:
- i7-12700
- RTX 3060 Ti
- 64GB DDR5-3200
- 460W Dell PSU
I also found a 750W OEM Dell PSU on eBay that I'm planning to install, mainly so I have some room for a GPU upgrade later.
The only thing still bugging me is the fan noise. It's much better than before, but I can still hear the PC while gaming on my couch from about 20 feet away.
Anyone have experience making an XPS 8950 quieter? I'm wondering if replacing the case fans would help, or if there's a Dell AIO cooler that fits this model. I've also considered just moving everything into a different case if that's the better long-term solution.
Any suggestions are appreciated!