2021 Dell XPS 17 9710 Upgrade! And How YOU Can Too! 

FOR ALL THOSE UPGRADING: You do NOT need to remove the battery to replace the drives. The two screws at the top (used by both the battery and the drives) are all that need to be removed. The drive brass cover plates and the drives themselves will slide out from underneath the edge of the battery. you do NOT need to unscrew the rest of the screws around the battery and shift it down

Please keep posting 9710 videos! You're the only RU-vidr doing it right now!

I love seeing the insides of these machines! It's always fun learning how they work and how they can be improved.

I love how you can upgrade the SSD and the Ram in dell laptops!

Maybe some gaming would be nice so we can see what the 3050 can do in the XPS.

I followed your XPS 17, 9700 upgrade video last year and increased my ram to 32GB(original 2x4gb). I did not add the second storage card because I already had 512gb SSD as my base level with the installed graphic card version of the laptop. I like that I did not have to remove the battery on that version. The computer runs well and is fabulous to look at. Again, thank you for demonstrating the upgrade for the laptop!

Thanks, this gave me the confidence to upgrade the RAM on my newly purchased XPS17. Very happy.

I just bought the 17" with the i9 and 32GB of RAM. Found your video because I was looking to upgrade to 64GB. Thanks for the video and great content!

Cheers dude ! Really glad you did this was hoping you would :) Many blessings from New Zealand.

Many thanks for this video. Watched it several times doing my own upgrades.

I just purchased the tool kit and 32gb of ram you suggest here, can't wait to upgrade this beast of a laptop

I want to know how to: 1. Clone Internal SSDs 1st SSD 1TB to 2nd SSD 1TB 2. Boot off 2nd SSD a. After Cloning b. Disable 1st SSD 1TB in CMOS c. Only 2nd SSD viable 3. Will Use Samsung Magician

Would love to see the gaming capabilities on this thing. Stellar video as per usual.

Watching this on my XPS 17 9710 that arrived today :)

I think the answer to your question about removing the battery to access the parts is found on the battery (Disconnect the battery before accessing any parts or devices). It's most likely to avoid possibility of short-circuiting the computer during upgrades.

Hi, I've just ordered a Dell New Precision 5760 i7. It is basically the same as the XPS-17 9710, except it has an RTX A2000 GPU. It won't be delivered until late September, I can't wait. Like you, I have an 64GB/2TB upgrade kit to fit when it arrives. I was glad to see that yours came with the heatsink for the second SSD. My build list does not have one the second SSD heatsink on it, so I may have to purchase that part after the laptop arrives. The Dell Precision 5760 can be spec'd out with i5/i7/i9/Xeon processors, up to 128 GB RAM and up to 4 SSDs. With Thunderbolt/USB-C 4 ports and a PCIe 4 bus for the SSD's, these things can really rock and roll. Great review, keep up the good work.

I NEED A POST-UPGRADES VIDEO!!! would love to see how this performs on thermals as well as benchmark plzzzz

Love that you put in Low density RAM. The original RAM was high density. Keep up the great work

You are doing everything perfectly

Fyi, I've got the 9710 with RTX 3060 and i9 H (not HK), 4k screen. In 30 mins of playing Control at HD res with DLSS and ray tracing on, I saw no battery drain and was getting (I'd estimate) 30+ fps, good enough for me! The graphics were incredible to me, I even turned on most/all of the ray tracing options. The human models were in uncanny valley territory where I wondered if I was looking at a prerendered video or the real time. I was very, very pleased with the gaming performance as a casual gamer. The fans run more than I'd expect when sitting at desktop with a couple browser tabs open, though, even with dells power config and windows battery slider set to quiet. It's not at all bad but I thought it would be quieter considering the impressive cooling system. It was also louder than I'd want while gaming but I expected that since it's not a pure gaming machine. That's when plugged into a dell dock. When unplugged, it was silent during hours of web browsing. Seems like dell still has some power tuning to do. So that it can be silent when plugged in with web browsing load.

You can also check thermal limitations. Just use aida 64 extreme it lets you stress cpu GPU and even SSD you can see the max temp of your cpu and GPU .

cant wait to buy it!

Looking forward to a comparison Between XPS 17 9700 and 9710.

I have been thinking about buying the XPS 17.

SNAFU on initializing drive actually useful....'cause I could have done that too. Thanks for leaving it in.

100% enjoyed thanks for your time. Thanks to you im going to upgrade my XPS 17. 🙏🔥🚒 Wish me luck

We need the benchmark of this laptop for suree, also would be good to know about the power drain problem if is fix

You should get an anti-static mat to prevent scratching of your lid.

Good video, helped me to upgrade. Word for those who are going to do the same - getting the bottom case off can be difficult, follow the seam to the front clips, they popped easier for my laptop. Felt like I was going to break it at times but it didn’t. So if you feel that way, it’s all good. Dell just made a solid machine 👍

I like those series! I would be interested about the battery life, compared to last years model.

You don't need to remove the battery to install an ssd. Just remove both screws and push the left corner of the copper heatsink forward.

Oh and I enjoy your content...really enjoy it

Nice job, thanks

GREAT INFO THANKS 😊

I feel your pain I have to wait until early August for my precision 5760 to arrive buying without a review to compare it to, in just hope it doesn’t thermal throttle under dual gpu cpu loads

Figured it out myself

Sigh. As I watch this on my 16" MacBook Pro, can't be upgraded at all.

Could we see some export/render tests for video editing in adobe premiere? Like the ones you did for Davinci -- thanks!

Hello from Poland!

I would love a benchmark for video playback dropped frames and render times with your iMac M1, XPS 9710, Razer Blade 14 and if you still have it your MacBook Air M1.

Gary, you should mention how Dell XPS laptops are infamous for the screws securing the bottom plate (maybe in the description). The screws are made of soft metal, entirely too small, and often over-tightened. I had to send my 2020 XPS 17 back to have the bottom removed and replaced and then still almost stripped a screw on the replacement! I am dreading going back into the new XPS 17 I ordered to move my work drive - ugh.

I know it sounds pretty dumb but could you test the gaming capability on the xps ?

Nice, I am planning to get one but It looks like it still has the 130w power adapter and I will probably be getting the i9/3060 one. Do you experience any battery drain on your model?

Just finished upgrading. Turns out, if he can figure it out , i CAN figure it out!

Useful video

Was looking into buying the XPS 9710 this summer! When you do your testing, can you test the following please: 1. Can the PC still charge while running the CPU/GPU/RAM at max levels simultaneously? I know last years 9700 had some problems with this 2. Is that odd trackpad issue where one side is clicky and the other side not, normal, or an issue? 3. How long does the battery last at full load (similar to #1)? 4. How hot under max load does (both charging and not charging) does the PC get (overall and at different locations/parts)? 5. How does it compare in speed tests for the CPU and GPU compared to last years 9700 model? Thanks for posting videos about this laptop! Solid work :)

Heyho, timespy 3D Mark benchmark would be nice to see. I got 8800 points with my Razer Blade with a rtx3060. So a comparison would be nice.

Removing the back cover is a pain in the neck, I almost scratched the screen in a fresh out of the box 9710. Owned previous models of XPS 15 and the back cover is very easy to remove. Seems these laptops are getting more and more compact and harder to disassemble.

those "fraction of a cent" add up for dell for the m.2 screws!

Has the trash 1R x 16 RAM that Linus recently made a video about.

You should take out label from SSD

Could you find out what chipset the XPS 9710 uses? There is nothing about it on the product page...

Hey man, can you share what was the preinstalled SSD brand (model) and RAM before you made the upgrade? Thanks! Again great video!

Could you stress test it and see if it still has that battery drain issue?

The battery design makes you disconnect all power supply (you can't turn off the battery) that way you don't fry the SSDs

Could you make a video with keyboard replacement?

0:20 Gary, did you forget to add the zoom-in?

some gaming benchmark, please!

From what I can read, must keep the RAM voltage to 1.2V... so the choices are 3200MHz@CL22 or CL20, 2933MHz@CL17, 2666MHz @CL19. I know that higher CL and higher MHz is faster, but what is the fastest combination?

Battery life for normal coding and light editing on the go

Do a gaming test! (even though it's not a gaming laptop)

Davinci resolve as well as maybe the windows 11 developers beta?

please provide the specification of the ram module

Lost count how many times you said I'm an average guy, everyday dad/Gary etc etc 😂

Hey man. You're very lucky!! I used the 32GBx2 HyperX and got the yellow flashing light on boot. Won't work with the sticks installed

Can you please mention which toolbox you are using for upgrading it?

You don't disconnect the battery first?

Any insights about the charging issue under full load? Meaning on the previous (well specked) model, being under full workload, the battery would still drain while the charger is plugged in! Unfortunately, this was a no-go for me... Is this issue been addressed and fixed? Thank you so much for your video, I appreciate it a lot!

Would like to know if this model is suitable for AAA gaming.. Especially on the noise and thermal performance... Please do some review.

In mine opinion, I didn't see a big difference between 16 gb ram and 64 gb ram i think this is only for a market. But the difference in process & graphics power

will you be posting video of upgrading memory for xps 15 9510 soon ?

Could you test temperature and in game mode

i"m having a real hard time finding out what brand of M.2 NVME was originally installed in my 9710 model. I bought my laptop as used, and i checked the model in the Disk Storage, and it's a WDC SN730 NVMe. I have a feeling this is not the original SSD

Thanks for this video. Very helpful! Is it possible to upgrade the wifi chip to 6E?

What was your battery life? I use data consuming applications, I do trading in the financial markets and the new Apple MacBook M1 Pro is only giving me 5-6hrs of battery, at 50% brightness (Same setting for which apple claimed 14hrs).

You must've replaced your previous dell 9510, it's supposed to be 86whr battery on your unboxing vid now it's 96whr plus the dent is gone.

why would people dislike this video?

The Slot for the 2TB SSD is "S-ATA PCI-E" and the other for the 500GB is "PCI-E" Can you make Speedtest on both? Is the S-ATA PCI-E Slot much slower?

Is it better to update the xps before turning it on and setting it up or after the initial setup?

The SSD INLAND...i've never used that brand..usually i trust Samsung SSD. Will be interesting to see how that SSD performs. Also the RAM is only a 2666Mhz vs the 3200Mhz from Dell speed - how much of a performance fall back is that going to cost?

X16 RAM?, the slowest possible, in a hi-tech, high priced flagship laptop, unbelievable

I would like to see some gaming on it even if it's not a laptop meant for gaming

How much faster does it run after the upgrade?

Did you get the fhd or uhd screen?

You forgot to disconnect the battery 🤦🏻‍♂️

Dude use something soft benith the top when you flip it to avoid scratches

Hi there, first time subscriber and I have a question for you. I just bought the new xps 15 with 16gb ram and 1tb on board. What is the max amount of ram and storage I would be able to upgrade on this computer?

So you can add the one with 2TB or 4TB in the empty slot? The XPS 17 I bought comes with 1 2TB

Thanks for this amazing video, i have the same laptop with 1TB is it possible to add another 2 TB or i need to add same storage capacity which is 1TB?

I do not see in the video... Did you disconnect the battery before you changed ram and ssd?

What's the main difference between the XPS 17 9710 and 9700?

Try out rendering softwares

Can you also upgrade the ram on the 15" and 13" models?

I recently found out that the i7-11800H can take up to 128Gb of RAM. Maybe someday somebody will try to do that?

are the new RAM sticks running on XMP profile?

Hello, I was wondering when you open the bottom cover, did the pry make any damage to the plastic bezel of the laptop?

So I attempted this upgrade and bent one side of the black component outward a little bit that is opposite of the battery and pushed it back. Didn’t notice anything usage wise. Is this something I should have replaced, or will it be ok left alone? Any responses are much appreciated, thank you everyone.

what if you cant figure it out?

Do a gaming test

Does this laptop need Throttlestop to run cool and quiet?