Clad within the traditional black and unassuming shell, Dell’s 2023 XPS Desktop (begins at $2,749.99; $3,209.99 as examined) is an upscale mid-tower desktop for avid gamers, creators, and on a regular basis customers. The mannequin 8960 reviewed here’s a know-how refresh of the Dell XPS Desktop (8950), which begins at a much more palatable $749.99. (Dell says cheaper 8960 fashions will filter in by 2023.) This newest mannequin is eminently sensible and particularly shines in efficiency, with configuration choices that rival top-shelf gaming desktops. The Dell XPS Desktop (8960) once more earns our Editors’ Alternative award—this time amongst high-end desktops.
Unchanged Outdoors, Turbo-Charged Inside
The XPS Desktop’s most necessary modifications are inside, with upgrades to Intel’s “Raptor Lake” processor silicon and the most recent AMD and Nvidia graphics playing cards. Our overview mannequin has been potently outfitted with an Intel Core i7-13700K CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 GPU, making it a sober-looking rival for Dell’s personal wilder Alienware Aurora R15. It additionally has 32GB of DDR5 reminiscence, a 1TB solid-state drive, and Home windows 11 Dwelling.
(Credit score: Molly Flores)
As famous, this desktop’s beginning worth is excessive on the time of this overview as a result of Dell’s Intel Core i5-based fashions aren’t but obtainable with lesser graphics playing cards, however that ought to change as Core i5-equipped XPS Desktop fashions launch. Anticipate to see Creator Editions as nicely, that are particular fashions with optimized graphics drivers for artistic apps like Adobe Photoshop. Dell says it’s going to present AMD Ryzen chip choices as nicely, which weren’t beforehand obtainable.
The XPS Desktop is nearly unchanged on the skin. It’s a compact mid-tower (14.7 by 6.8 by 16.8 inches HWD) with classier seems than the entry-level Dell Inspiron Desktop. Entrance-panel airflow perforations and XPS branding trace on the energy inside.
(Credit score: Molly Flores)
What’s particularly attention-grabbing about this tower is it is one of many uncommon PCs that may carry out like a gaming desktop with out wanting like one. Certainly, a lower-key look is a part of its enchantment. It is available in Platinum or, like our overview unit, Graphite colours.
(Credit score: Molly Flores)
Ports embedded within the aluminum higher half of the entrance panel embody a full-size SD card reader, a headset jack, three USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) ports, and one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) connection. The USB-C port helps machine charging when the tower is powered down. Our unit doesn’t have Dell’s non-obligatory slim DVD+/-RW drive. (Not too many desktops even present that as an choice anymore, so it is a welcome sight.)
(Credit score: Molly Flores)
Rear connectivity provides two extra USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a sooner USB-C Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) port, two legacy USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet connection, and seven.1 encompass audio jacks. The Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 wi-fi antennas are constructed into the case, so you may see no exterior protrusions. The motherboard’s DisplayPort video output is purposeful however solely connects to the processor’s built-in graphics. In the meantime, the GeForce RTX 4080 has one HDMI and three DisplayPort video outputs, like most playing cards of that GPU class.
The desktop’s left panel comes off for servicing after loosening a Phillips-head screw within the rear latch after which pulling the latch. The latch additionally has a built-in Kensington lock slot for safety.
(Credit score: Molly Flores)
Perforations within the aspect panel present airflow to the huge GeForce RTX 4080, which is securely anchored to the chassis. A 120mm fan simply in entrance of it’s the tower’s important consumption. Air from that fan additionally travels to the 750-watt energy provide. A 1000W energy provide is non-obligatory.
The facility provide fan and the 120mm fan hooked up to the CPU liquid-cooling radiator are all of the XPS Desktop has for exhaust. It doesn’t look like a whole lot of airflow, however I had no thermal-related points through the overview. The followers are subdued and have a tendency to not rise above family background noise besides when the CPU is closely harassed.
As for improve potential, this tower contains three PCI Specific slots (one PCI Specific x16 and two x4), two M.2 storage drive slots, and two DDR5-4800 reminiscence slots. Many desktops this measurement have 4 DIMM slots, however two slots nonetheless enable for as much as 64GB of RAM with two 32GB modules.
(Credit score: Molly Flores)
You will discover two 3.5-inch bays alongside the highest panel for conventional storage, each that includes tool-less caddies. The one potential pitfalls for upgrading the XPS Desktop are its proprietary motherboard and energy provide, however these parts aren’t generally modified out anyway. All the things else seems trade customary. Practically all the things on this tower might be serviced with out instruments or only a Phillips-head screwdriver. All it’s actually lacking are detachable mud filters, however the followers are detachable.
Dell covers the XPS Desktop with a one-year guarantee that features its premium help tier. A one-year McAfee LiveSafe subscription can be bundled as a substitute of the standard trial. Different apps embody Dell Replace for system updates, MyDell for downloading any software program you bought with the desktop, and Dell’s SupportAssist for product help.
(Credit score: Molly Flores)
The value of our overview mannequin contains the $89.99 Dell Premier Multi-System Wi-fi Keyboard and Mouse(Opens in a brand new window). The keyboard has a rock-solid aluminum deck and comfy laptop-style keys with brief journey. You will not discover any backlighting right here, however Dell claims the battery can final for 36 months. The F1 by F12 keys are programmable. In the meantime, the mouse has seven buttons and a form that matches medium and huge fingers nicely—together with adjustable DPI. Maybe the most effective characteristic of this peripheral combo is that it helps three wi-fi connections, so you may transfer amongst computer systems simply.
Testing the Dell XPS Desktop (8960): Compact However Highly effective
As a refresher, our XPS Desktop mannequin 8960 has an Intel Core i7-13700K processor (eight Efficiency cores and eight Environment friendly cores; 24 threads; as much as 5.4GHz), an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 graphics card, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
The $3,209 for this configuration is in regards to the going charge for such {hardware}. The Alienware Aurora R15 commanded $3,699 as I typed this, which is kind of a premium. I additionally noticed iBuyPower promoting its Gaming RDY NTB204(Opens in a brand new window) desktop for $2,599 and the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 for $2,989.99. In brief, you might seize a flashy gaming tower for what the XPS Desktop prices.
For our efficiency comparisons, we put the XPS Desktop within the ring with 4 different highly effective gaming desktops. The iBuyPower Gaming RDY Y40BG202 and the NZXT Participant: Three use the identical Core i7 processor however pare down the graphics with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Quite the opposite, the talked about Alienware Aurora R15 and Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 towers use a GeForce RTX 4080 like our Dell however improve to an Intel Core i9-13900K. The fundamental specs of those models are within the desk beneath.
Productiveness and Content material Creation Assessments
Our beginning take a look at is UL’s PCMark 10, which measures on a regular basis efficiency utilizing real-world productiveness and workplace workflows. It additionally has a storage take a look at to gauge the capabilities of the system’s storage drive.
We additionally run three CPU-dependent benchmarks to charge a PC’s suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon’s Cinebench R23 makes use of that firm’s Cinema 4D engine to render a fancy scene, Geekbench 5.4 Professional by Primate Labs simulates common apps starting from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine studying, and we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to transform a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p decision. Decrease occasions within the latter are higher.
Our closing take a look at is PugetBench for Photoshop(Opens in a brand new window), which makes use of the Inventive Cloud model 22 of Adobe’s well-known picture editor to charge a PC’s efficiency for content material creation and multimedia purposes.
Dell’s newest XPS Desktop trailed the iBuyPower in all of the CPU exams, suggesting its processor could not have as a lot thermal headroom on this association, although it did end forward of the NZXT in HandBrake and Geekbench. The Core i9-equipped Alienware and Lenovo naturally carried out higher, because of their additional cores and threads. The XPS did handle first place in Photoshop, nonetheless, when you’re on the lookout for a photograph enhancing or graphic design machine.
Graphics and Gaming Assessments
We begin this part with artificial gaming simulations, particularly UL’s 3DMark light-weight Evening Raid and the extra demanding Time Spy. We additionally run the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5 to gauge OpenGL efficiency utilizing its 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Automobile Chase subtests.
Along with artificial benchmarking, we additionally run essential real-world gaming exams utilizing the built-in benchmarks from F1 2021 (simulation), Murderer’s Creed Valhalla (open-world motion journey), and Rainbow Six Siege (aggressive/esports shooter). We run all of the video games on Extremely high quality, and we run by F1 2021 a second time with Nvidia’s performance-enhancing DLSS know-how enabled.
The GeForce RTX 4080 inside this 12 months’s Dell XPS Desktop is significantly sooner than the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti within the NZXT and iBuyPower programs, however we knew that stepping into. Naturally, this desktop carried out on par with the RTX 4080 Alienware and Lenovo programs. With that made clear, this technique is greater than highly effective sufficient to plow by 4K video games for years to come back, to not point out energy by many multimedia content material creation duties.
Verdict: On-Development Efficiency, Basic Design
Dell’s XPS Desktop is the quintessential high-performance desktop. It’s not explicitly a gaming tower—one have a look at its easy traces will inform it isn’t about attracting consideration. Nonetheless, huge configuration choices allow you to configure it as one. Conversely, you might organize one as a finances or creator-focused mannequin. This Dell desktop covers practicality with aplomb, with a number of ports and Wi-Fi 6E, and is extremely upgradable. The Dell XPS Desktop (8960) is our Editors’ Alternative winner amongst high-performance desktops for dwelling as much as all the things a high-end tower needs to be.
Dell XPS Desktop (8960) 4.0 Editors’ Alternative (Opens in a brand new window) See It $2,299.99 at Dell (Opens in a brand new window) Begins at $2,749.99 Professionals Gaming desktop energy with office-ready seems
Ample port choice and Wi-Fi 6E
Respectable improve potential Cons Proprietary energy provide
No detachable mud filters
Excessive beginning worth (for now) The Backside Line Behind the low-key seems of Dell’s newest XPS Desktop is a strong, succesful mid-tower PC for gaming, creating, and all the things else.
