Currently I own a recently bought XPS 8500, and I've been thinking about upgrading the graphics card. It came with a GeForce GT640 but I'm looking forward to get an AMD HD 7870. Is it viable to look at that card? What other options are there available for the XPS 8500?
Hi dFlash8,
You can upgrade to AMD Radeon HD7870 video card.
You can upgrade to any video card which is compatible with PCI Express x16 card slot but you will have to check out for the power supply unit compatibility with the video card. In case you go for high end video card you may have to replace the power supply unit on the computer to suit the video card by checking the system requirements of the video card from the manufacturer’s site.
Dell XPS 8500 is shipped with 460 W power supply unit.
Thanks and Regards,Ravi Chandra BC#iworkfordell
Hey Flash-The 7870 is an option or at least used to be when you ordered a 8500. I have read here about problems with the card and the XPS's 460 watt PSU. Both the 7870 and 7850 recommend a 500 watt PSU. That being said, The 7870 has a draw of about 175 watts and should work based on DELL's selling point the machine has a video supply of 225 watts. The 7850 has a draw of about 150 watts and may be less drain on the PSU. Of course you could always stay with Nvidia and go with the GTX 660 which uses about 140 watts. Nvidia recommends a 450 watt PSU.
What OS? I was told by Dell that GTX 660 works only on Windows 8. Of course, that begs the question of how do you exercise your downgrade rights (if you purchased Win 8 Pro) to Win 7 Pro?
Mele, I find it hard to believe that Nvidia would make a card that works only with Win8. Here is a link from nvidia for the current driver's. You will see it supports Win8, Win7 and Vista. www.geforce.com/.../49949
I think the "Windows 8 cards" have firmware that supports UEFI, and so can be used on Windows 8-certified computers that use secure boot. I think these cards can be used on non-UEFI and non-Windows 8 computers without any problem. See http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3156/session/L3RpbWUvMTM1Mjc2MTM0Ni9zaWQvUFZDMTE3Ymw%3D.
GTX 660 works fine under Windows 7 with the XPS 8500.
More information here:
http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/xps/f/3681/t/19474677.aspx
Hi dFlash8 - if you don't mind my asking, what I/O ports did your XPS 8500 with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 card come with (e.g., HDMI, DVI, VGA)?
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