Question Seeking to buy Pre-Built PC For Work

[Spartagus423]

I have been looking everywhere to purchase a pre-built PC for work...

I wanted something similar to my current Dell XPS 8930 currently and we updated the main drive to m.2 drive 1tb and second Hdd is a SSD 990 Pro 4TB but Windows Update cause my internet to come to a halt. It runs so slow now and I updated my Drivers and everything to make it work but we are plugged into the internet via Ethernet and the internet runs so slow now.

I reformatted the pc 3 times stopping the windows updates and it worked fine but then the auto updater just auto installs windows system update and causes issues on all three times so we decided to just buy a new pc.

What desktop do you all recommend? I looked into Dell XPS 8960 but I hear they might have heat issues and I am mainly doing .pdf, Emails, Some video editing at times, and mainly looking for something to replace this current machine but everything cost so much.

I notice a lot of the cheap pre-builts ALL use integrated graphics... Wouldn't it be better to have a video card?

Any recommendations? Also not sure how to check if my current PC has issues I ran the Dell Support assist to check and found no issues. Is there a way I can check if my Video Card is failing on this machine as well? I have to always turn my monitor on first and hit power button and walk away for a bit because my monitor will just be black screen for a long time and blink on and off and then it comes back after awhile. Not sure if it is swapping from Integrated graphics card to Nvidia Geforce 1660 Ti.

Sorry a lot of information here.

 

[Ralston18]

I would not be so quick with regards to buying a new PC.

A bit more information and troubleshooting may discover the culprit(s).

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Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

List of all connected peripherals.

Wired or wireless network?

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On your desktop look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any error codes, warnings, or even informational events that correspond with the halts and/or times of slow performance.

Also look in Update History for any failed or problem updates.

Use "dism" and "sfc /scannow" to look for, find, and perhaps fix problems.

The built-in Windows troubleshooters may find something.

 

[Spartagus423]

How can I easily provide you full system specs? It is the Generic Dell XPS 8930 with replaced Main HDD - SSD Samsung 990 Pro 4TB & ST1000DM010-2EP102 (1TB) as second HDD. Wired Ethernet.

Windows 10 Pro x64 22H2 is the Windows we use.
I found a post online about Killer Network Service which I disabled and it fixed the internet issues completely but it would still be nice to check to see if my pc is working

Device Name Home
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400 CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.81 GB usable)
Storage 932 GB HDD ST1000DM010-2EP102, 3.64 TB SSD Samsung SSD 990 PRO 4TB
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6 GB), Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (128 MB)
Device ID ""
Product ID ""
System Type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

 

[garioch7]

I looked into Dell XPS 8960 but I hear they might have heat issues

I purchased my Dell XPS 8930 SE in December 2019. It is still working flawlessly. I was amused by that comment. The 8930 series were nicknamed the "easy bake ovens" because the case cooling was considered subpar by those in the know. I have never modified the cooling.

My 8930 SE has the 850 W Gold Standard PSU. I believe that the standard 8930s shipped with a 450 or 475 W PSU. I am running a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (6 GB) GDDR6 300 MHz discreet GPU. I have 32 GB (4 x 8GB SK Hynix DDR4 @1333 MHz) (2666 MHz) RAM, and my CPU is the Intel i7-9700K 4700 MHz.

My 8930 specs were selected because I do a lot of video editing. An i5 CPU is not ideal for video editing, and 8 GB RAM would be a real issue. HD video editing is one of the most resource-intensive tasks a computer can be assigned.

Both of my Dell computers (I also have a 2020-vintage XPS 15 7590) run Windows 11 Pro, with the latest updates (26100.4946). I am a Dell "Tech Expert" on their Forums, on which I have been active for many years.

Enough about me and my computer. I am unaware of reports similar to yours on the Dell Forums, which I visit daily. You could have a hardware or software issue. Dell computers have a pre-boot hardware assessment utility: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/...t-diagnostics-supportassist-epsa-epsa-and-psa.

I would run that first. If nothing show up, I would recommend running SFC and DISM . . . Scan Health checks on your Windows installation, as well as a CHKDK /f on the boot drive.

I have the following internal drive configuration:
NVMe Intel 1024 TB
Seagate 2 TB, SATA-III
Western Digital Black 4TB

There are so many possibilities as to the reason your 8930 is running slowly. Have you ever changed the CMOS battery? Has the computer been cleaned inside of dust bunnies and such? Are all cables and components securely connected? What about junk files? How much disk space is being used on both drives?

I would also consider upgrading the RAM to 16 GB. Windows 11 says it will operate fine on 8 GB, but it does not say how fast! I have 16 GB in my laptop. I would never purchase a computer with less than 16 GB, considering how "active" Windows 11 is.

I have a fiber internet ISP. My internet upload/download speeds are rock stable at just under 1 GB/s. It is the sites that slow me down! 😉

I think you can restore your 8930 to acceptable performance, if you don't have an underlying hardware issue that would be too expensive to cost-effectively resolve.

Let us know what the pre-boot assessment finds and what the SFC and DISM scan shows. Have you tried the simple trick of shutting down the computer, unplugging it, holding the power button the "ON" position, and then reconnecting the computer to power and then turning it on? That solves an amazing number of weird and wonderful problems.

In any event, these are just my initial thoughts as a fellow 8930 owner.

Good luck, and have a great day.

Regards,
Phil

 

[artk2219]

How can I easily provide you full system specs? It is the Generic Dell XPS 8930 with replaced Main HDD - SSD Samsung 990 Pro 4TB & ST1000DM010-2EP102 (1TB) as second HDD. Wired Ethernet.

Windows 10 Pro x64 22H2 is the Windows we use.
I found a post online about Killer Network Service which I disabled and it fixed the internet issues completely but it would still be nice to check to see if my pc is working

Device Name Home
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9400 CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz
Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.81 GB usable)
Storage 932 GB HDD ST1000DM010-2EP102, 3.64 TB SSD Samsung SSD 990 PRO 4TB
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (6 GB), Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (128 MB)
Device ID ""
Product ID ""
System Type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

I think your biggest issue with that system is the criminal amount of RAM. Yes you could also use a CPU upgrade, but only 8GB of RAM HEAVILY limits the performance of your system. I'd recommend getting at least 32GB, and up to 64GB if you think you have the workloads to justify it.

 

[garioch7]

@Spartagus423 ,

To add to what @artk2219 said about the RAM, with which I totally agree, uninstall SupportAssist and Dell Update. Both are riddled with issues. I always uninstall them both from my Dell computers when the warranty ends. They are resource hogs and inaccurate. Use your Service Tag, and check weekly on the Dell Support website for new drivers/BIOS updates.

Your BIOS should be 1.1.31 , which is the current BIOS. To update it, if necessary, use the Flash Update method via F12 and a FAT-32 formatted low-capacity USB flash drive, not SupportAssist or Dell update or Windows Updates. Turn off Capsule Updates in your BIOS. Each BIOS update will reenable it.

Make sure that "Fast Startup" is turned off and "Hibernate." I can provide instructions if you want.

Killer is a "killer" of Internet speeds, so you need to disable Window Updates to your drivers, or they will turn its services back on. Check Services.msc to make sure the four Killer services, other than the Killer driver itself, are disabled.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Phil