Dell XPS 8300 and Radeon HD 7870

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AgtSmitty

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Oct 7, 2013
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I recently tried to upgrade my graphics card in my Dell XPS 8300.

Specs:
i5 -2300 @ 2.8GHz
20.0 GB RAM (16.0 Usable)
AMD Radeon HD 6450
460 Watt power supply

I purchased Radeon HD 7870, which I know calls for 500+ watt power supply. It fit into my tower just fine, and has the correct connection. My problem my monitor gets no signal from the HDMI port.

I am unsure as to if it won't display because I don't have enough power, thus needing to upgrade my power supply? Or is there a compatibility issue, and that it will not work in this computer? Or do I need to connect something other than my HDMI first, and ensure the computer recognizes it fine first? (I admit that I do not currently have the basic monitor cable, as I have used HDMI for so long. Will get one if required)


Update: Graphics card in question is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
 
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AgtSmitty

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Oct 7, 2013
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PSU is factory installed Dell H460AD-00

And graphics card in question is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161404&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
 
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Africa_PC

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Sep 6, 2013
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Unfortunately that power supply is not strong enough. Also, being a registered Dell Partner, I know that they say the PSU is capable however that card needs 500W+ Give that other cable a bash but be careful because the card can become damaged if you keep turning it on and off with not enough power to function correctly.
 
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AgtSmitty

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Oct 7, 2013
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Alrighty, thank you so much. I will upgrade my PSU this week then. In the meantime, the card is safely tucked away in its box. Will update as to if the new PSU is the solution or not.
 
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AgtSmitty

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Oct 7, 2013
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Okay, purchased and installed Thermaltake TR2 600W. No change, do not get any signal to monitor, do not get to BIOS.

I will have access to both a VGA and a DVI-I connections tomorrow, and will see if they yield a different result than going direct to HDMI. Card is back in box.
 
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AgtSmitty

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Oct 7, 2013
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You assume correctly.

I come with a discouraging update as well. I finally got hold of a VGA cable, to see if I could connect it to the build in connection, so I can see what the computer is doing when the 7870 is connected. Dell has it to where the built in VGA connection will not display, unless you do a work around, when there is a video card installed.

I did more research with my specific dell, and became more aware of the BIOS issues that it has. I went ahead and did a check, and I had A03 installed, whilst its latest version was A06. Updating to A06 did not resolve the issue.

With every forum that I have looked through on this issue, I am reaching the conclusion that with new video cards, it is a gamble as to if it will work or not in the XPS 8300.

I will not return the card or power supply. Instead, I now plan on building a new computer around them, by the end of the year. That is, unless someone give me a miracle solution, because I am almost certain it is a bios issue at this point.
 
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Africa_PC

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Sep 6, 2013
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Okay.

Unplug the card, go into the bios and look for your PCI-E setting. Set that to the onboard (It might be on auto) Then plug the card in but leave the cable in the board. See if that works.
 
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AgtSmitty

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Oct 7, 2013
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My bios does not have a specific PCI-E setting/option. There is a graphics option(Graphics Configuration - Intel Multiple Monitor Feature), and under there, there is the option of turning on/off the ability to have multiple displays. It was set to off, so I set to Auto, and it did not change anything.[strike] There was also an option do Enable/Disable Onboard graphics card (Will verify wording after another restart) and it was defaulted to Enable. I disabled it and no change.[/strike] Went back to bios and the wording was "Onboard Card Reader" which would be the media card reader that is built into the tower.

I just found in another forum, where someone else had my XPS 8300, and he was trying to use 7870 Myst edition card. That forum lead to him updating bios to A07 (which was never officially released) and it did not work.

Here is the text of what he ended up doing:

Ok I was able to test it out. The A07 installed successfully but my 7870 Myst was still not being detected and the system wouldnt post. Power color support sent me a non-uefi bios to flash the video card with. After I updated the video card bios on another PC, I installed it in my XPS 8300 and the system booted succesfully. So far everything looks good for me.

From his previous post, he was having identical problems to me, where he would not get anything on monitor. I do not have a second PC to do the step that worked for him.
 
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Africa_PC

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Sep 6, 2013
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Yes this is true. Dell's BIOS does not support that card. Im afraid you will need another computer to flash the bios of a GFX card. There are several ways to do it but the board will have to know that the card is there so that the CPU can read the bios on the card before it can be flashed which is the main problem here.

When you get the chance to do it. It is recommended that you do this in DOS because windows can sometimes execute other processors whilst you update and then this can ruin the update and ultimately the card.

You can do his several ways.

1) Using a floppy boot disk
2) Using a flash disk to boot. They are quite simple to make. You can download the HP Flash utility or even use PowerISO
3) You can also make a CD boot disk

I think this may be the driver that you will need.

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/117796/his-hd7870-2048-120228.html

Good Luck
 
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