Few questions about upgrading my Aurora R3

I have an R3 with an I7-2600, GTX580 and 8gb of 1333mhz. the 580 card can handle any game out right now and more than likely, any to come out soon. Pricey card at about $500. As far as memory goes, the R3 can handle 16gb of 1333 and 1600. It can handle 8gb of 1866 and the new BIOS update says it can support 2133, I would imagine only 8gb though.

I would suggest GSkill 1600mgz memory and at least a GTX570 card. Those depend on the PSU you have. If you have the 875 you good, if not you would need to look at the specs. The processor should be good but an upgrade to a 2600 would take you far into the future. Hope this answered some of your questions.

How would I go about getting the new BIOS update?

For the RAM, is 1600MHz the highest it'll run at before I have to enable XMP on it? I've read that enabling XMP causes heat issues and whatnot, is this true... or is XMP completely safe and fine to run?

Also, I have a 525watt PSU. Does this limit me on the MHz I can have for RAM? and would I be fine with getting the GTX 560 or 570 with that PSU?

Thank you for your help.

You can get the new BIOs from the download section from DELL. Just go to the support page and enter your service tag number. It will tell you which BIOS is the current one. If the PSU uis only 525 then you will be limited on the Video card option but not the RAM. I would suggest the 560Ti due to your PSU. I know people who have installed the GSkill RAM at 1600 mgz and had no problems.

If Tesla or Morblore read this they can tell you more about the XMP function. I believe you would have to set the timings and XMP in the BIOS if you go above 1600mgz

You should have no problems with the 560Ti along with the other items you mentioned. Dell usually under rates  their PSU's. Good luck and Enjoy!

I think i'm going to get 16gb at 1600MHz for my RAM because i'm not too familiar with XMP and i've read in a few places that it does put a lot more work load on the CPU and just more heat in general. I'd assume that means less computer life for it.

I know the GTX570 is definitely out of the question for my PSU, but will I definitely have no trouble with power if I purchase the GTX560Ti?

I stumbled upon a calculator at newegg that gives you a rough estimate on how much power your computer is using between the CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, optical drive, and hard drive. I put in my specs i want, along with the GTX560Ti and apparently the estimate they gave me is 497 watts.

Not sure if the soundcard I have uses power, but i'm assuming it does? The only extra peripherals I have besides the CPU, GPU, motherboard, RAM, optical drive and hard drive are the soundcard, speakers, keyboard, and mouse. Without the keyboard/mouse/speakers/soundcard they estimated it 497 watts including the GTX560Ti I want to get... would those peripherals put the power over the edge above my 525 watt PSU? or do they use almost no power at all? I'm hoping they dont push the PSU over the edge, i've really had my eye on the GTX560Ti and I wouldnt know which other GPU to get.

I appreciate the help you've been providing, it has really narrowed things down for me so far.

Thanks for all your help. I just have one more question if you don't mind. If I wanted to make a switch to radeon graphics instead of nvidia, would I have to do something special besides hooking it up and installing it? I'm curious on how to make the switch if possible.

You can switch the cards with no problem. Just need to uninstall the drivers for the old and install drivers for the new. Use a driver cleaner to make sure it is all gone before installing the new ones. I am an Nvidia guy myself and have been for years. I think the cards and drivers are better. But I am sure someone else thinks ATI/AMD are better. Go this website and you can compare the cards side by side and judge for yourself.

www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

Thx DaDAWG1