Dell XPS Desktop 8950 Review: Intel 12th Gen Tower Of Power

by Zak Killian — Tuesday, April 26, 2022, 01:31 PM EDT

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Dell XPS 8950 Desktop: Final Thoughts And Our Review Verdict

We were reasonably impressed with Dell's XPS Special Edition 8940 when we tested it back in February of last year. Even though that machine was configured a bit more capably than this year's 8950, with an RTX 3070 and double the RAM, this year's model is a marked upgrade in every way otherwise.

It's larger, making it easier to work in and improving airflow, and Intel's 12th-Gen Core CPUs are much faster than 10th-gen Comet Lake. The new chassis is even easier to access, and it's more upgradeable, too. Thanks to the improved airflow, cooling is better, and the new 750W Platinum-rated power supply will support just about any graphics card you can throw at it, all the way up to Dell's top-end Core i9-12900 config with a GeForce RTX 3090.

Make no mistake though, even saddled with slower memory as it is, the new Intel Core i5-12600K is still a beast. It will rip through gaming workloads with aplomb, and the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti on tap in our config is no slouch, either. It's capable of full-resolution 4K gaming in a great many titles, and resolution scalers like DLSS can allow it to run the rest.

blacknwhite — *The XPS 8950 also comes in black, if you prefer your PCs without feet.*

The new Dell XPS 8950 desktop starts at just under $1000 and scales on up to over $3000, depending on the options you select. The model we tested would run you $1797 on Dell.com. That's a decent chunk of change, but for what you get, it's a reasonably fair price. We priced out a comparable self-built system and came out to about $1200 before adding the cost of a graphics card; so we're in the ballpark here.

GeForce RTX 3060 Ti cards are still pretty hard to come by, so when you factor in market prices for the GPU, as well as Dell's warranty and build services, we'd say it comes out a wash. Besides, there's still something to be said for swiping your card and unboxing a brand-new computer without having to spend an hour or more screwing parts together.

Of course, what you give up for the convenience of a plug-and-play PC are all of the things that come with a custom-built computer. Some folks may not care about significant portions of those benefits, like potentially slightly improved performance, or the option to bling out your system. That said, Dell's design choice to employ proprietary power supply and motherboard form factors is more objectionable.

Not objectionable enough to keep us from recommending the XPS 8950, though. It's a solidly-built desktop PC system with clean, understated styling, strong performance, and considerable versatility. Whether for a hardcore gamer, a content creator, a streamer, or a quadruple-display developer, the XPS 8950 should serve admirably, and it won't require a second mortgage on your house to do it.


Strong all around performance GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is plenty capable Whisper quiet, even under load Tool-less entry and no-fuss chassis Extremely tidy cable management Clean, understated exterior, if that's what you're into Lots of front I/O connectivity	Non-standard motherboard and PSU limit upgrades Very limited overclocking options Memory speed is below Intel peak spec Semi-bland exterior styling