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Buying a DELL XPS8930. Anyone upgraded to a GTX1080 non-oem? You can!

Anonymous
Not applicable
I've done my research and this machine is both discreet and of good speed for VR gaming.
I know I can upgrade the cpu fan to the new DELL made upgrade to lower the loud fan noise and core heat by about 18degrees.
I read that the Secure Boot prevents a non-oem gpu card from even booting and so it must be turned off before changing cards as I have a EVGA GTX1080 SC2.
Anyone had trouble with this? I presume it can fit for the size and I prefer to save the cost of having to sell my own or wasting it in a spare PC.
Also it comes stock as a 460W PSU but I think the SC2 is more efficient? It only needs the 1 connector to work.
If any issue I'll probably get a 550W upgrade. Other than that does anyone use one of these and does it kick VR ass?!!!
26 REPLIES 26

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hey Oculus I got a new DELL XPS 8930 i7 8700 (non k) 16GB 256GB M.2 SSD (for under £1200) coming to me!
If this does not work I'll huff !!!
OK so Dell Tech says the EVGA GTX1080 will indeed fit the case and I can firstly make SECUREBOOT=OFF in Bios whilst their GTX1060 card is still installed (they won't sell PCs without a gpu and don't alter the stock PC now and no pre-configs). So getting my own card working should be ok even though the PSU is 460W not 500W as Nvidia suggest.
They admit they are still working on the heat/noise issues and will supply/fit the needed parts Fan KTDJC & Heatsink T57JF once I have the PC for warranty to be in place. Today I got 14% off which meant it was £150 cheaper than Curry's even with their 10% off! This is about the cost of the gpu I won't use plus I get the free upgraded parts which I wouldn't have got via Curry's own sales warranty!
Hoping this all goes well. They now sell it with WIN 10 PRO 64 which I've always used but wondered if the Group Policy or other over-security measures were an issue for the Rift's installation lately. Will see!

*I wanted the Black case anyways but the Special Edition Silver case has the upgraded Heatsink/Fan already but is only sold on Black Fridays and Thanks Giving. I'm just gobsmacked at Dell not custom building to our specs and especially not involving 9th Generation CPU & m/b yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLKGSKcPAzU

Anonymous
Not applicable
The good news is the EVGA GTX1080 SC2 can fit length wise no problem (so is wrong info from Users on DELL's Community Forum) and installs easily with SecureBoot=OFF. Although the case is quite awkward to close again and perhaps it's the plastic stop on top of the card in the way a bit if it's slightly higher.
I first tried HMD in the 10Gbps port with Sensors next to it in the 5Gbps ports. The sound cut off after 30mins of E:D and it Warned I had to update the USB Driver. I thought that was a bit odd and assumed it was drawing too much power in that port and was looking to downgrade it so I fixed it by swapping the HMD to the other rear 5Gbps.
I've now found an updated ASMedia Driver and will test later.
It was odd that when looking at Personalization it reported I could not Activate my windows as it was not sold with a code. All it needed was to use the Troubleshooting Link and it fixed the correct code. It was as though it had picked up my other PCs code via the Microsoft Account which I had enabled by adding my email account onto my Offline Account.
The fan isn't so loud and is only on for short bursts but I'm keeping an open verdict on it as there has been many report it and got the upgrades on Warranty.
Having been off VR for 2months now it was really amazing but actually I must use zero SS at all if I use all on max settings for holding mostly 90fps. I did get some small stutters in RES sites in E:D and not in others. My old Xeon Quad Duo 3Ghz actually did an incredibly close job in comparison albeit at just 30fps in Stations and RES but at HMDSS=1.5 and is just wicked of Oculus to write into the Software now an exclusive list of what they allow! They don't even allow the new RTX2060 just because they haven't yet added it to the list. That's all proof enough!
One major downside is VOICEATTACK is no longer understanding me as their Dev added an auto Mic Mute and there's no way to reduce it's threshold. I'll provide some feedback to him on this. It recognises some words fine but not most. I never ever needed to use Windows Speech Recognition on any of my VA installs since it launched over 3yrs ago!
Is it worth the £1200? Sure I got a great deal but it's not that amount of performance boost to my old Xeon! Will see just how it handles multitasking 😉

BTW the soundcard 5.1 plugs on the rear are Left=Front / Middle = Sub / Right = Rear. Mic and other headphones plus Media card on the front. Buyers complain of the DVD drive that it is mechanical. Upon first use on each boot it's hidden in Explorer. To open it you do push a button on the tray. You then can see the drive in Explorer and it can use Eject by software there but it's always hidden again after each boot.
Beware the PSU which swings out does not easily lock back into place and makes the side panel a struggle to close properly!

Digikid1
Consultant
So now can you stop complaining about the CPU stuff?  

Anonymous
Not applicable
ABSOLUTELY.
However I just found out about Uservoice feedback on the Forum. In support for blacklisting "working tech" please see my feedback if we are to free up systems that are capable to work just as new tech is released also with the same issue.
https://rift.uservoice.com/forums/918556-oculus-rift/suggestions/36544543-allow-non-sse4-2-cpu-to-wo...

Anonymous
Not applicable
This PC uses onboard Realtek Soundcard and the last updated Driver 6.0.1.8248 uses a program Wave MaxxAudio to always Enhance the audio (all outputs inc. 5.1 & Headphones) to enrich the Stereo Spread, increase Bass, add Treble and also add more Volume to make up for the crap speakers on Dell Laptops!
This of course is obviously not wanted on most Desktops which we may use it with bloody good Studio Monitors and Sub as I do for music production! I can not mix sound obviously on anything that alters the original raw sound!

So what to do...a search said keep uninstalling/rebooting the driver but after 5 times it was obvious that the Realtek Driver was still on the Drive. After the 1st uninstall it did remove the hidden Wave Program that does not even allow us any custom changes BTW! This made the sound into a Rear 5.1 (no Bass and added a small delay). So now the sound was wrecked and hugely compressed. I seen other posts reporting they heard distortion so this must be the same.
What I needed was to revert back to the HD High Definition Driver used by Windows as default but it kept updating it to Realtek. I could only uninstall the 2 Realtek and 1 Wave Folders in SafeMode (without emptying from trash just yet). From a new boot I could enter Update Driver, Search PC and Select From Own List: HD High Definition.and this stays.

From here I found the master volume in E:D half what I liked even on Boost!
I tried the Headphones Windows Sonic Option and this was all at a good level but not dynamic and no bass.
I then tried other audio options in E:D and they still were not as loud as they used to be before I removed that Driver/Program but Night Time was loudest but no dynamics. I restarted E:D then tried these again and wow it was massively loud! I went back to Boost and it was just as Massively Loud but had dynamics. I went to Normal and it was Loud and spot on!

Why would Dell just through in a Soundcard Driver they used to improve Laptops and not think why a Desktop would need the exact same?!? Bloody lazy!!! So yes it can be removed and without needing that daft MaxxAudio Program either which has many effects we are supposed to access from Reverb, Pitch, etc. and they didn't even allow any access to it. Useless!

My Rift mic in VoiceAttack is still at 1/4 of the volume it used to be but does hear 90% of the time.

Digikid1
Consultant
The BEST thing that you should do with ANY new laptop or desktop is to do a FULL backup before you do ANYTHING.  Then you grab the latest drivers for your motherboard/audio/gpu.  After that you erase ALL partitions and do a full reformat with the latest version of your OS.  

When you get your OS installed you ALWAYS install your chipset drivers FIRST!  This is the proper way to do it and there are NO exceptions to that rule. Then your video and then your audio. 

Then do your OS updates next and let them finish until there are no more updates left. 

Then and ONLY then do you install all your other stuff such as games and other programs. 

Do NOT install from the media that came with your computer as 99% of it is crapware and bloatware that you simply do not need. 

Anonymous
Not applicable
I usually do that but am saving all that for the time being as I learn what needs doing to custom it. By installing that last Realtek it includes the Wave MaxxAudio as part of it so now I know not to and just get the standard HD High Definition. Such a bad choice for Dell Desktops when used with good speakers yet they assume we won't as if they are equal to Desktops. Sure, it sounded great but it made my Sub overly loud as it was set for a balanced sound. Dell need to learn how to sell to tech savy customers whom would prefer custom builds just as they did. Then again, they took a massive hit in the marketplace due to bad Laptops losing their screens from faulty Hall Sensors in the lid closes and eroded traces to them plus they don't like replacement non-oem batteries!

Anonymous
Not applicable
SOLVED: using HD High Definition Audio Drivers instead, this did not play sounds on certain websites 😉 😉
The solution was to select my actual output configuration (Stereo only) which was oddly set as 5.1 after being the Realtek 5.1 config which had it's own software to select what each output you choose it as when plugged in rather than just the Preset order which is shown in their manual!

abider
Explorer
Been flipping PCs for a while now. Almost all OEM PCs have secure boot option enabled in their bios. It should be turned off if you want to run any other graphic card. That 460w isn't good for 1080 SC2 as it will be on peak most of time. Better get good 80+ PSU.