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Hi All, after fishing around the web for questions regarding beefing up my XPS 8300 I came up pretty empty--lots of questions out there with few definitive answers regarding the mobo and case. Will the case fit a non-OEM PSU? Which GTX 10 series will fit? What processors does it support? Will it fit a non-OEM cooler, and if so, which one? I have successfully answered these questions with a few pics below. First, the new specs

 

same case (XPS 8300 midtower)

same mobo (0Y2MRG; mini-atx)

same mechanical drive (for storage)

Kingston 1 TB SSD (new main drive for OS and programs--cloned my existing system, Win 7)

i7 2600 (most powerful processor supported by this mobo--used chip from Ebay, Costa Rica manufacture; mobo does not support K series)

DDR3 16 gig (4x4)

EVGA GTX 1060 SC (6 gig; single fan design)

Corsair CX 650M (Bronze 80; semi-modular--needed an extra power cable for the GTX)

CoolerMaster Masterair Pro 3 (fits with about 2mm to spare ;-)

Arctic F14 PWM 140mm fan

Arctic F9 PWM 92mm fan

PWM fan splitter cable

 

From hindsight I would have gone with a 550 PSU, and checked temps before purchasing the extra fans and splitter to save some $. The only real "mod" was cutting an opening for the 140mm fan in the front of the steel chassis (behind the plastic face-plate)--used a dremel. Not sure if the extra case-fan was really necessary, but the whole system runs cool-as-a-cucumber at full throttle after several hours (gpu and/or cpu). I can let it render overnight (Arnold) without worrying about cpu thermal throttle. The beefier cpu cooler was necessary, as the i7 (which replaced an i5 2300) otherwise ran REALLY hot when rendering with the Intel cooler.

 

The mobo has standard holes for mounting aftermarket coolers, but has a proprietary back-plate that must be removed, as it blocks the holes with threaded mounts for the Intel cpu fan (the following two front and back pics are for the XPS 8500, but is the same situation for the 8300 mobo):

Capture.PNG.8beed3c65a492e1a026bb54109212a39.PNG.deef582a3dde1a31aae04d5231846919.PNG

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As can be seen, the cpu bracket must also be removed in order to remove the back-plate. Once the three screws are removed from the cpu mount the back-plate is easily removed (no adhesive on the mobo). The black outline is a non-conductive membrane that is easily peeled away from the back-plate. I reused the membrane for the cpu bracket and the new CoolerMaster back-plate (see pics below), but tossed the OEM back-plate. Happily I happened to have a few small nuts on hand to reattach the cpu bracket. The hardware for the new cooler was sufficient for the rest of the install (all remaining pics are of my system):

IMG_20170423_121557707.thumb.jpg.5d62b69d029dad42b4516534eb6ce89d.jpg

IMG_20170423_154503832.thumb.jpg.0cf082d6dd2f2892d112ba23ec1b2093.jpg

 

IMG_20170423_155624857.thumb.jpg.4ea4b5d5b92f74c966e5d12b6628c5ef.jpg

 

IMG_20170423_161630173.thumb.jpg.432b660ec00d14d80d4ad15b84f461c1.jpg

 

IMG_20170423_185311324.thumb.jpg.247d5306c58be97238173e96d9580d7a.jpg

It looks like the CoolMaster is sitting on top of the GTX, but there is plenty of room between them. The fan splitter is plugged into the cpu PMW header (the only one on the board), which are controlled via MSI Afterburner (so also gpu).

 

After rendering with the gpu for a few hours, and then the cpu, temps averaged about 67c for the gpu, and 65c for the cpu (closed case). The fan profile fluctuated between 50-60% speed. After adding the additional 92mm fan to the cooler (not pictured) temps dropped about 10c, even after a five hour stress test with all eight threads maxed at 100%, and the fans stayed at 50%. Cool and quiet! I know, the extra fan was not necessary, but hey, I had it on hand--might as well put it to good use ;-).

 

Hopefully this helps someone who wants to upgrade their Dell 8300. It looks like the same principles apply to the XPS 8500 too. From now on I will certainly be building my own desktops, but this system will now handle a lot for quite a while.

 

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I have the same PC! (Except the i5 version.) Advice for anyone who has this that all the dust ends up in the power supply for some reason (at least for me). So make sure you clean that out every once and a while. 

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My current rig is based on an Optiplex 790 (link in sig).  Only I got the parts and reassembled one in a non Dell case.  A bit of a pita.  How was connecting your CPU cooler?  My Optiplex had a proprietary looking connection so I just picked up a dell heatsink and case fan.

There's something cool here - you just can't see it.

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1 hour ago, Cracklingice said:

My current rig is based on an Optiplex 790 (link in sig).  Only I got the parts and reassembled one in a non Dell case.  A bit of a pita.  How was connecting your CPU cooler?  My Optiplex had a proprietary looking connection so I just picked up a dell heatsink and case fan.

Once I removed the OEM back-plate the cooler attached without a hitch.

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33 minutes ago, nahnah said:

Once I removed the OEM back-plate the cooler attached without a hitch.

I was talking about the fan part.  Sorry I wasn't very specific.  Mine appeared to have a custom connector with a latch on it.

There's something cool here - you just can't see it.

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The CoolMaster comes with a 92mm fan and all the hardware for installation, as well as additional brackets for installing a second 92mm fan if you want. Nothing to it.

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1 hour ago, nahnah said:

The CoolMaster comes with a 92mm fan and all the hardware for installation, as well as additional brackets for installing a second 92mm fan if you want. Nothing to it.

Got that part.  I was talking about the electrical connection on the motherboard.  How it has a 5 pin connector on the mobo with a latch on mine so I didn't try to get an aftermarket one.  Did yours have the same?

s-l225.jpg

There's something cool here - you just can't see it.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi

I wonder if I will get an answer so late after the post was started but it is worth try...

 

Do you think there is a way to switch to any other cooler without dissembling the whole thing and get the old backplate off?

I just want to make the machine a bit more quiet because the stock cooler is really loud...

 

 

 THX

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  • 1 year later...
On 9/9/2018 at 7:14 AM, Flori778 said:

Hi

I wonder if I will get an answer so late after the post was started but it is worth try...

 

Do you think there is a way to switch to any other cooler without dissembling the whole thing and get the old backplate off?

I just want to make the machine a bit more quiet because the stock cooler is really loud...

 

 

 THX

Most of these OEM coolers are made by Coolermaster. They use the same thread for all their screw-down coolers, so just buy another of that type to avoid backplate problems. 

 

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07Q8T2BQT

 

https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/coolers/cpu-air-coolers/masterair-g100m

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