XPS 8940, RX 6650 XT, encountering issues

Not sure what to tell you?

AMD video cards have been basically error free, other than 2 times I recall a BIOS update hit them and fixed almost immediately by Dell.

The card does draw 132W of power and the minimum PSU suggested is 450W, but you do have to take into account the rest of the power requirements.

It could be at some point it could be power starved or even heat throttled? Hard to say?

Is it possible to turn off Secure Boot in BIOS?  Unless I missed it on the list, that's about the only thing not tried yet.

I'm finding solutions that mention "setting the power setting to Maximum Performance" in the NVidia control panel, but I can't find anything worded similarly in AMD Adrenalin.

Also I'll try turning off Secure Boot and reporting back.

@Teireida​ 

Like I said, not many non-BIOS AMD card reports I can remember.

The Secure Boot remedy is for booting. Only booting. Nothing to do with once you've booted.  Usually good when a device driver was not properly signed and Windows will not boot. This is NOT the problem you are seeing.

Do you have a UPS? Mine has a Utility and I can see the power draw that the UPS senses.

I have an RTX-2060, 165W is the rated power draw, and a 500W PSU or if a high draw CPU is on the PC, 550W.

Now, I opened up MS Flight Sim and then my UPS utility and this is what I am drawing AT this time, with only the browser open

One half my PSU is probably in use.

As I fly, and the scenery gets more complex and other things in the PC start up, it might rise.

Now my 8940 isn't a large draw CPU, just an i7, and only 32GB's of RAM. It does have an SSD, and has 4 disks, 2 SSD's, on SATA Hard drive, and one External Hard Drive.

However, just sitting here I'll draw 160W's or so.

Surprising to me that your card is rated at a lower PSU draw than mine?

Suspect the RAM amount on the card could play into this.

Also, Dell does have Nvidia cards, mostly made for them from MSI. That is so they can be used in 500W PSU systems.

When I got my card with the 8940, it did NOT physically look like the Retail MSI card at all, or any other vendors Retail card. They all had 2 small fans... and mine one large one, and I can see some cooling fins behind the fan. I suspect some design changes were made along the way to reduce the power draw as well.

I just purchased a new Dell Tower Plus. It includes an RTX-4060 6GB GDDR6 card. Nvidia recommends 550W PSU, but the PSU in the new PC is only 460W's?

I don't know if any 'suggested' power is the true one, but I wouldn't think Dell would ship something that would have continual problems either?

So maybe it is on the 'edge', but I'll be adding some internal and an external drive for sure.

Again, I suspect, and others have suggested this as well, that the video cards are made for them, and designed to draw less power?

So, I'd still suggest you look at the power draw.

Determine exactly when the PC freezes... always the same, i.e., just closing a desktop window or opening one. Coming out of sleep? Playing a specific game or games?

This might give you an idea what to look for and why.

Nope, I don't own a UPS, so I can't really monitor the amount of power going in my computer. In any case, my computer should be consuming a lot less power than what the 500W psu offers. I currently only have an 11th gen i5-11400, 16gb of RAM, 1 SSD and 1 HDD, plus the 6650xt gpu. If it is a PSU issue, then I would have to build a new computer, right, since Dell don't make anything higher rated than 500W.

I tried finding out what causes my pc to lock up, but it really does seem random. I've had cases where it would crash when I only have a temp monitor running, other times, it would crash when I'm browsing firefox, and some other times it would be completely idle, with no programs running and still crash. I have also tried doing stress tests with Cinebench, to find no issues during the test.

I tried checking the apps running in the background to see if that was the cause, but it's really only Discord, Logitech, Steam, Microsoft services, etc.

I'd suspect then a heat/power issue. Either could cause truly random issues. 

Your spec's seem to be reasonable, and less of a draw with an i5 and 16GB's than mine, and less drives.

Check your fans too, both running? Do you hear them ramp up? If running and not ramping up, then probably not heat related?

Oh, yes, at least on the Dell Tower Plus, there are many power options, and one is 1000W's and even lower ones:

Temps should be fine, I've even recently replaced the thermal paste a few weeks ago. CPU doesn't go above 85*C during stress tests. Here's a photo of the temps I had when a system freeze happened.

And yeah, doesn't look like the XPS 8940 has the luxury of going over 500W in terms of power supplies according to the manual.
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-ca/xps-8940-desktop/xps-8940-setup-and-specifications/power-ratings?guid=guid-62a71595-e1bb-408f-86e0-f3e450812e4b&lang=en-us

I don't think PSU is the issue.  With a 132w card, there's plenty of power left over for other things.  I wonder if it's a compatibility issue.

Secure Boot isn't good for just one thing.  Asking if you tried it comes from experience other users had.  An RX 6400 in an Optiplex with 180w PSU often doesn't work unless Secure Boot is off.  Toggling Secure Boot is often suggested by our other Rockstars (some more experienced than I am) if a GPU card is not working, yet all other specs says it should.

Here's a list of compatible GPU cards tested and validated by Dell to work.  If none on the list meet your needs, please let us know.  XPS 8940 Setup and Specifications

@bradthetechnut​ 

The OP's card is working. The problem is that at some point the card locks up/freezes. 

As for your link, that is meaningless. That was created probably before the XPS8940 even shipped in 2019. It details ONLY what Dell SOLD. It is only what Dell Supports, not is known to or would work in the PC added after purchase. The highest powered RTX card is a 5700 card, and nothing higher and those all were 'optional' discrete cards Dell sold. For instance RAM sizes do not list 48GB's of RAM, yet many users here have posted it works. Same goes for the Storage, it lists the size as up to 2TB's. Why are these limits listed, because of the keyword, supported. 

I don't doubt the OP has a real problem. PSU capability is more than likely an issue. At least wattage wise.

Even on this forum, it seems at least one other tried using a card in the same series as the OP, see https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/xps-desktops/xps-8940-could-i-upgrade-to-radeon-rx-6600-xt/647f95aaf4ccf8a8de83a143?msockid=3b94aade9d9e6dfb30e8bf1a9cc96c48 but never came back with status if it worked or not?

Even now, 3 or 4 years after the 8940 was purchased, people upgrade with newer h/w. For instance, I removed the Dell Wireless M.2 adapter and replaced it with an Intel BE200 M.2 Adapter. I now have WiFi 7 capability, and it works just fine. Support? I am not supported, but Dell has also released the DRIVER for that adapter.

I also wonder if the correct power is provided to the card? Are all the cables correct for the card? Is it cable pin-outs the same for both card versions, the one that OP had and the new card?

Since the problem appears to be Random with no easily identified cause, it could be a voltage/power issue to the card even?

I looked at the card Spec's, https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-rx-6650-xt.c3898 and it was released shortly after the XPS8940, another reason it wouldn't have been on the above link to what Dell supports.

However, in that spec is the possible reason the OP is having a problem? The PCIe interface the card requires --> Bus Interface, PCIe 4.0 x8 and the 8940 has a PCIe 3.0 bus. Well, not ALL of the 8940's. I know there is a Motherboard, last one released, that DID have PCIe 4.0 on it. Don't know the card code, but it was released late in the sales cycle. Another Rock Star had his motherboard under warranty replaced and got the newest release and tested it and found PCIe 4.0 worked.

Quite possible the reason for OP's problems, but I did find this page, https://www.hardware-corner.net/desktop-models/Dell-XPS-8940/ and it lists AMD RX 6600 at least, Odd part is in the comments, an Adapter is required, Dual SATA to PCIe adapter, but not sure why?