Question Excessive fan noise & heat

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phoenyx

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Feb 9, 2014
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Firstly, apologies if i have posted this question in the wrong section, I wasn't too sure which forum category it should be in.

I have a Dell XPS 8930 - Intel i7-9700 with a GeForce RTX 2060 & 16GB RAM.
It's relatively newish, as I've had it for just a couple of years and it's a solid machine but it has one issue from the beginning that's become really annoying. It makes excessive fan noise and seems to get quite hot through the top vents, though the side ones are totally cool.

It doesn't do this when performing routine tasks or browsing the net etc, it's only when i launch a game and also, though nowhere near as much, when I'm running Adobe Premiere and watching previews and renders in the timeline.

I only play one game 95% time - Magic Gathering Arena, which relatively speaking is very low spec.
If I hit the windows taskbar while in the game or toggle to the desktop it powers everything down (fans etc) immediately, but then resumes when you click back inside the game window. It even does this excessive fan noise and engagement when I'm just simply on the menu screen of the game doing pretty much nothing in it.

It feels like the machine is going totally overboard and firing on all cylinders unecessarily for tasks that are not exactly high-demanding.
After googling i did see articles that people have had the same issues with Dell XPS machines getting over fired up and noisy, and the solution was to alter the maximum CPU output to about 90% in the windows power settings in the control panel. Unfortunately I've tried this but it has made no difference.

I'm not sure if it is the GFX card that's causing the issue or the CPU but I've had previous older, lower-spec machines (Dells) that didn't do this running the same game and same applications even though they were not as powerful as this XPS, so it's incredibly annoying.

Any help would be much appreciated!
Cheers
 

The case pic above doesn't look very inviting as regards airflow.


Manual above suggests it has only one case fan, apparently no front intakes?

"Mini-tower", quite crowded inside;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjmbohXLxLY



Exhaust fan blows out through a top vent?

Could you install a fan on the lower side of the side panel, below the power supply?

Case has quite a lot of venting, but still may have poor airflow.

It's a weird case design with a "swing-out" panel containing the power supply. See 9 minutes into the above review.
 
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Lafong said:
Case has quite a lot of venting, but still may have poor airflow.
Click to expand...
Easiest way to cut the presumption here would be to open it up. If the temperature drops or the noise lightened, then yeah it is poor airflow.

But yeah, atleast from what i found online those parts are standard ATX sized. Those should bolt into a new case easily. You should be able to put in a new cooler too, but DQMOT. Most OEM boards i find doesnt support this very well without some zipties.
 
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Adobe Premiere Pro will push the RTX 2060 up towards its 160W limit and the i7-9700 up to 65W. I've just finished a 36 hour video render and everything was toasty warm. My CPU was dissipating 180 to 200W and the GPU 160 to 170W.

If you have money to spend and you're confident enough to strip down the Dell and transplant the bits into a more airy case, you'll be rewarded with a cooler system.

As others have said, Dell components are not always standard size, so measure your motherboard and check position of the mounting holes, to make sure it's either microATX or ATX form factor.

Alternatively, if you can't be bothered with all the hassle, simpokremove the side panel and aim a large desktop fan into the PC, during hot weather or intensive gaming/rendering.
 
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Unolocogringo said:
Easiest way to cut the presumption here would be to open it up. If the temperature drops or the noise lightened, then yeah it is poor airflow.

But yeah, atleast from what i found online those parts are standard ATX sized. Those should bolt into a new case easily. You should be able to put in a new cooler too, but DQMOT. Most OEM boards i find doesnt support this very well without some zipties.
Click to expand...
Thanks, yes that seems like a simple and effective way to test it, I'll try that!

Though it seems according to the net, such as in this article - Dell Noisey fans that many people with Dell XPS have had the same issue of the fans firing up and working excessively for no reason and have managed to solve with altering power management settings.

This poster in paritcular wrote :-

In Control Panel under 'Power Options' I chose my default Dell power plan and picked 'Edit Plan Settings' then chose 'Change Advanced Power Settings'. I then went down to 'Processor Power Management' and changed 'Maximum Processor State' from 100% to 90%. I also set 'System Cooling Policy' to 'Passive'.


Stopping the CPU from hitting 100% has stopped the PSU fan from revving like a jet engine. My system is much quieter now during gaming."


Not sure if this will work for you, but it's worth a try.

This pretty much 100% describes exactly the same issue I'm having, only when i tried his solution it didnt work for me unless I'm missing something 🙁

I believe from some wesites that incorrect or out of date BIOS settings may be a cause too, but i haven't tried that yet.
 
I have just found this article here Turbo Boost which says the excessive loud fan noise on the XPS can be caused by the computer using Turbo Boost:-

"The Loud fan noise is caused by the computer using Turbo Boost which boost your CPU Speed up to 4.3 to 4.7Ghz. The computer CPU cores are hitting 100 degrees Celsius which in the long term can damage your CPU cores. So the best way I have found to keep your Loud fan noise down is by going into your Bios by pressing F2 at the dell logo screen and turning off the Turbo Boost ability is locks your CPU speed to the Base clock speed but it keeps your fans down and keeps your CPU for possibly burning up."

Maybe this is worth a shot, provided there's no negative downside to me testing it out?
Thanks :)
 
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phoenyx said:
I have just found this article here Turbo Boost which says the excessive loud fan noise on the XPS can be caused by the computer :)
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You have to upgrade cooling of your system, because of poorly designed cooling/ insufficient for gaming grade components.

A new PC case with mesh front and
a new CPU cooler.

Limiting performance of your pc doesn't solve poor cooling.
 
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SkyNetRising said:
You have to upgrade cooling of your system, because of poorly designed cooling/ insufficient for gaming grade components.

A new PC case with mesh front and
a new CPU cooler.

Limiting performance of your pc doesn't solve poor cooling.
Click to expand...
Ah I see, so it is still really a physical issue with bad case design and insufficent cooling. Ok no worries, thatnks for the advice. Looks like I'll have look into taking it in somwhere where they can do this for me, depending on the cost.

It's not essential as i have had no performance issues with the machine, it's been very good, but the excessive fan noise and heat with such things as games is just very annoying and irritating!!
Unbelievable that companies like Dell pull these stunts, which of course i was totally unaware of when i bought it.

Perhaps next time looking at a gaming PC might be a better option, even though it's video and photo editing im primarily using the machine for - as at least they are more likely to have a better cooling systems and case design! Maybe a different brand to Dell too if i can find some with good reputations :)
 
phoenyx said:
Looks like I'll have look into taking it in somwhere where they can do this for me...

Perhaps next time looking at a gaming PC might be a better option...
Click to expand...
most shops that would be willing to transplant these components would also be available to build a custom system for you.

next time you're contemplating a new system talk to someone there about it.

you could have members here, or somewhere similar, piece together a system specifically for your needs and have a shop assemble it for you.
 
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JohnBonhamsGhost said:
most shops that would be willing to transplant these components would also be available to build a custom system for you.

next time you're contemplating a new system talk to someone there about it.

you could have members here, or somewhere similar, piece together a system specifically for your needs and have a shop assemble it for you.
Click to expand...
Yes that sounds like a really good idea! Thanks very much :)
 
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