Dell XPS 8100 Fan Replacement?

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Bardock518

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Dec 6, 2013
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Hi guys,

I bought an XPS 8100 with an i7 processor back in 2010 and was looking to upgrade parts. I bumped up the PSU from the stock 350W to a Corsair HX 750W and am receiving the Sapphire R9 290X GPU in the mail by Monday.

Primarily, I wanted to replace the PSU because the 8100's fans (I am not sure which one) seem to be blowing extremely loud when playing games or videos etc. This issue has been going on for years and I am finally fed up with it.

I am not sure if it is the GPU installed as of right now (Radeon 5770) that is making the noise but if it is the Case Fan, or the Heatsink Fan, can I replace these items? And if so, which do I pick from?

Please keep in mind that the case fan and heatsink fan are the stock ones.
 
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looks like a 212 should fit although it would be a bit of a tight squeeze. I don't think you will be able to overclock anyway because Dell locks down their bios. the stock heat sink should suffice. if you want something with more cooling power that will for sure fit in your case maybe look into a Noctua UB9. (its a tower cooler with 92mm fans)
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if you want your computer to be quiet the 290x is a bad option right now it is a very hot and loud card and i don't think that case has enough fan slots to cool it. how many fans are in your case now and can any more be added? I would run a cooler GPU in a case like that if you don't have many options for fans. if you want to run that 209X I would fill all of the fan spots up. (if you want quiet case fans get noctuas or corsair AF series)
 
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Hmm I am definitely going for the 290x, regardless of the noise, as it is already coming in the mail and I plan to use it for mining. Was just wondering what fans I could replace? if there are any recommendations for replacing the case fan, heatsink, etc. I just replaced the PSU but that did not help in terms of noise.
 
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290X is a card for gaming at high resolution. are you also using this as a gaming machine?
it appears you only have a 92mm fan to work with (im pretty sure your CPU heatsink fan is the same size)
just so you know this machine will be loud and id recommend you get a fast case fan because of your 290X (nothing ridiculous though you should'nt need a Delta server fan). only 2 fans is going to have an effect on cooling. if you think your case fan or CPU fan is going bad just Google them (Dell xps 8100 case fan/heatsink)
 
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So this means that a "Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan" would be too big for my dimensions? Yes I will be using my computer for gaming as well.
 
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looks like a 212 should fit although it would be a bit of a tight squeeze. I don't think you will be able to overclock anyway because Dell locks down their bios. the stock heat sink should suffice. if you want something with more cooling power that will for sure fit in your case maybe look into a Noctua UB9. (its a tower cooler with 92mm fans)
 
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looks like a 212 should fit although it would be a bit of a tight squeeze. I don't think you will be able to overclock anyway because Dell locks down their bios. the stock heat sink should suffice. if you want something with more cooling power that will for sure fit in your case maybe look into a Noctua UB9. (its a tower cooler with 92mm fans)
 
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Solution


Thank you for the great answers! Turns out last night I went and bought this Zalman cooler which is also a tower cooler with a 92 mm fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118128
If I would have seen this sooner I might have went for it but it seems pretty heavy being 2 99 mm fans. I also went with this 80mm rear fan as a replacement as well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835999057
Hopefully everything goes smoothly in terms of cooling for the new graphics card I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.
 
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I just bought a 212 EVO fan for my Dell XPS 8100, only to find out that a mounting plate must be installed from the back of the motherboard. This is a big problem, because the cover on the motherboard side is riveted on. Is there a reasonable solution for this, or am I just screwed?


I didn't realize the stock CPU fan was so crappy until my pc kept shutting down while trying to do a restore from system image to a new hard drive after the original Seagate hard drive crapped out on me. But I always knew it seemed to rev up an awful lot for no apparent reason.
 
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you will have to take the whole motherboard out and mount the heatsink on the processor (clean off all of the old thermal paste with rubbing alcohol and a lint free cloth and repast (put a dot of thermal paste in the middle of the processor the size of a BB) then mount the new heatsink as described in the manual. this will have to be done with the board outside of the case then just remount the mainboard with the new heatsink on
 
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dell_studio_xps_8100_motherboard_t568r_dh57m01_2_lgw.jpg


Motherboard is removable, I know what you are talking about, it is a big job.

What concerns me is EVO 212 - it is 120 mm cooler, would it fit under cover, it seems to be too tall, check it first, or you are risking not to be able to close your PC side panel!

 
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It's definitely a space hog. Even if I could get it in, you couldn't do much of anything else around it without removing it every time you want to check a cable or something. I'm going to look for something different that is a good bit smaller and easier to install.
 
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please create new thread and drop link here for my convenience.

I have my resources and will look for good and cheap substitute.

Please do one thing before sending 212 back - take back plates from the package and measure you motherboard holes and compare to 212 back plates. Dell is known to use Universal size, like one fits all, for all CPU coolers.
I have AMD based Inspiron, however it uses LGA 775 sized holes for CPU cooler, and most Inspirons have the same, no matter which CPU socket they have. XPS can be the same.
If you would know exact and correct LGA size, you would be able to find easy solution, if not you would have to remove motherboard anyway!
 
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This thing is definitely too big for the Studio XPS 8100 case I have. I put a ruler between two of the outside edges of the case and put it up against the cooler, holding it in as if it were installed (give or take a mm or two). It would be close, but the brass nipples over the copper pipes put it way over the top. I guess it would work if you don't want to put the side panel back on, or if you want to cut a hole in it.

212evo.jpg

212evo2.jpg
 
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I don't know if this helps or not I took a photo of the plate over the CPU where you can see the holes. Kinda tight for taking any measurements with my big hands.

plate.jpg

 
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Good photo, now go and download EVO 212 manual, or check yours http://www.coolermaster.com/xresserver01-DLFILE-P1302180416de94-F13082600809a6e.html
Take a look at section describing Intel Socket 1366/1156/1155/775, next take a close look at picture 2 you can see circle with screw locations related to specific socket. It seems to me, that according to your picture, Dell is using LGA775 (the closest to metal square frame part of back plate) screw hole locations, am I right? If I am right, it means that Dell is using LGA775 setup on all platforms (almost all Inspirons have LGA775 mounting socket), funny.

How original heatsink was connected to motherboard, did Dell used removable back plate, similar to EVO, or something else?

Thanks a lot for your input.
 
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Just found a good huge picture of your original CPU cooler

kartei.jpg


How is it connected to motherboard, does it has attached screws, if yes, does Dell motherboard back plate attached from behind the motherboard by glue, or I am missing something? Or you already removed original backplate?
 
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It has those crappy plastic pins. I can't access the back of the motherboard without removing it, which I really don't want to do. Can't take off the mobo side panel because it's riveted on.

I cleaned off the old crud off the CPU and original cooler surfaces and applied some of the cool master heatsink stuff and it's actually running hotter then before. I checked thoroughly to make sure the fan is secure. Very frustrating. I still have my little bathroom utility fan blowing into the case.
 
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I believe you're right about the LGA775 holes, but it's hard to see for absolute certain. It almost seems like they're a little in between. It's hard for me to see inside the case with the naked eye while holding a flashlight holding wires back and stuff with the other hand, and I don't want to take the fan off again until I need to. But looking at Dell exact replacement coolers online that seems to be the case.

 
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Overheat.
Have you cleaned up both surfaces prior to applying thermal paste?
Those are the ones I am always using, you can also find them in local store like Fry's or RadioShack Arctic Silver 5 including cleaning solution http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-Thermal-Compound-ArctiClean/dp/B001FVI91U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397627218&sr=8-2&keywords=arctic+silver+5

And proper application method http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html I don't know what your CPU is so you have to check and choose the most appropriate one.

Since you are not overclocking, but need just a better cooler, than what you have now, you can just simply get anything LGA775 with plastic pin downs.

Here are some examples http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100008000%20600035312%20600035305%20600035306%20600035308%20600035310%20600338010%20600035362%20600035371%20600110698%20600110699%20600035368%20600418162%20600035373%20600035363%20600035370%20600035356%20600035366%20600291733%20600291732%20600035361%20600335651%20600456361%20600413948%20600418200%20600456464%20600035327%20600035357%20600360497%20600110700&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Pagesize=100&Page=1. First remember that 120 MM cooler would not fit, so you are looking for 90mm-110mm at most, mostly 90mm, 92mm, 95mm (that one could be flat.

This is what you must avoid for 2 reasons, first it has implanted screws, so unless you want to remove motherboard, no go, and second, you can not change fan on those
Picture, avoid that one and similar

35-150-083-06.jpg


Below is the most preferable type, you can use any fan, since it is not proprietary http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119158

35v2_1.jpg


You can see use of pins, so you don't have to remove motherboard.

Those are just examples. Which one is good for you, well take a look around. The list I got is not everything good, there is Cooler Master Hyper TX3
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-TX3-RR-910-HTX3-G1/dp/B0028Y4S9K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397755133&sr=8-1&keywords=Cooler+Master+Hyper+TX3

41B9%2BrpBaKL.jpg


Look at mounting possibilities

51AOdIhkllL.jpg


And as you can see, it can use any 92 mm fan, which is very good.

Now a little bit about PWM - software fan control. I know for fact that Dell Inspirons do not have user fan contorl, only BIOS preset. XPS can be the same, so I would buy that CM TX3, take away that fan and install 92 mm fan with dual connectors,
Like this one http://www.amazon.com/CityNet-CFS-92-SB-92MM-Case-Fan/dp/B00757E0B6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397755571&sr=8-1&keywords=citynet+92mm
So total cost would be $8 for extra fan + $26 and shipping, I think it is most reasonable in your case, combining with Arctic Silver 5 you should sleep well.

31EdqbeepGL.jpg


Here you can see 2 connectors, smaller for motherboard, and larger directly to power supply, this way you will override BIOS settings, your fan will work at 100% speed, a bit noisy, but very efficient, I had this exact setup a few years back, I survived, and I was cooling down 125 watt CPU.

31KaAotnR5L.jpg


Anything else I can help you with?
 
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I did clean the surfaces with denatured alcohol before applying the new paste, the same stuff that came with the 212. Maybe it's not a good match. It's all I had.

I actually had that same T3 cooler in my cart but was still weighing options and making sure it would work, so I'll try it.

 
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Save me some time - how many pins are on your motherboard for CPU fan connector, is it 4 pin? If yes, 4th pin is PWM wire, so if you use fan with small 3 pin connector, you will override PWM settings and your fan will run at 100%.
TX3 has 4 pin connector, no good, so you will need another fan most likely.

Edit: Where do you buy hardware?
 
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