Studio XPS, will a dual slot graphics card fit?

Oh one more thing is that PSU just a standard size or is it a special dell sized model, just others have said it needs to be a different size?

Ahh this is amazing news, so I can make this the system of my dreams. Oh how about the front pannel connectors under the graphics card at the bottom of the motherboard, can you leave them in or do you have to remove them?

I'll repeat just to be clear.  There are no issues installing a GTX280 because its 4 inches shorter then a 8800 Ultra = You do not lose any front panel connectors, the card doesn't even come close to the end of the case.

The PSU is not a "special" model. It's a standard PSU I odered from newegg.  The link to the parts I used is in the other thread that I linked above. The only issue, if you can consider it that, is there are a bunch of extra power connectors that I tucked into the 2nd optical drive bay.

Edit: sorry, you dont lost the plugs on the motherboard under the graphics card. There is plenty of space with the GTX280.  The other poster was using an 8800 Ultra which is longer and wider then a GTX280.  I can't promise that any other card will be without issue, but as you can see in the pics I posted, the GTX280 fits perfectly.

Thats cool! To cut down on excess cable I thought I'd get a moduler PSU. These are the two I'm looking at:

 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/700W-Coolermaster-Silent-Pro-Modular-Whisper-Quiet-PSU

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/700W-Coolermaster-Real-Power-M700-Modular-PSU-with-PCI-E-SATA

The second one has a heap more connectors but has six 12V rails at 4@18A 2@28A. The first PSU has only the one 12V rail at somthing like 50A. My question is do you think it would be better to have the 50A over the single rail PSU as 28A might not be enough?

Bugout you say the air is drawn in through the top and sides but it looks to me like the fan is on the bottom of the card? Also what is that loose PCI slot cover that looks like it isn't *** down in your picture?

Sounds like you're calling me a liar :)

The bottom of the card is sealed shut.. The fan is on the inside, and pulls air from the top and sides and blows it out the back..

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 lol, no definitely not calling you a liar, just never held one of these before, not even seen one in the flesh so was very curious as to how they worked. However on this front, was wondering what you thought about putting a Radeon HD 4870x2 in the studio xps? I've heard there shorter than a gtx 280 but that they also have an overheating issue, what would you say?

I also changed to corsair 550VX PSU. The size is same as dell's original one. Bugout's PSU is larger than mine. The Original one working power is 300W, max is 360W. So I think it's not enough for a HD4850.

I installed a HD4870 TOXIC, the space is pretty tight to the buttom, but TOXIC's heater removement is great. I think it's OK. For HD 4870*2, you need to get the exactly width of the card first. After those upgrade, I don't think we can add a second HD to it.

BTW, the fan behind the cpu sometime gets loud sound. The top case is a little hot. Maybe we need to by a larger case and move everything to it?

oh will def be getting a new psu, was going to go for the coolermaster real power 700 as i believe its the same dimensions as bugout's psu except its modular so i won't have to have excess cable stuffed in there, which should help it a bit to stay cool. As for the measurements of the 4870x2 from the details i've found its 10.25" in length versus the gtx 280 which is 10.5" and as for the width they are both the standard dual slot size so should be the same on that front. Its just the heat issue that bothers me with the 4870x2, some have recorded temps of as much as 110c and 90 is the norm, just imagine that cant be good in a case this confined? maybe a new case will have to happen, just would rather not mess with the system too much and of course theres the added expense.

Update:

Well I took the plunge and now its here! I decided in light of the new gtx 295 just round the corner to plump for its ati rival, the 4070x2. I'm still awaiting the arrival of my power supply and a pci blower card, that I hope will make some difference when I light this silicon bonfire, so I'll just list whats now set in stone before i come back with the outcome:

• GPU - PowerColor Radion HD 4870x2 - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/148274
• PSU - Coolermaster Real Power M700 - http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?quicklinx=4QZV
• PCI Blower - EVERCOOL FOX-1 - http://www.evercool.com.tw/products/sb_f1.htm (may not do that much but it was only 8 quid, so hey)

Back soon with results!!

You guys are cracking me up.  Maybe someone can help me understand why on earth you would take a system which so clearly was NOT designed for gaming and that has such poor upgradeability and try to turn it into a "dream" gaming system?  For roughly the same cost (yes, I've priced it out), you could buy a great chassis with 500W+ P.S., motherboard, Core i7 CPU, SATA drive, CD-ROM, etc. etc. and mod it to your heart's content.  You won't really have a warranty, but by the time you're finished swapping out the P.S., graphics card, etc., I seriously doubt that Dell will be providing you with any warranty support.  Other than taking on the challenge, what's the point?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be critical of what everyone is doing.  I'm just shaking my head trying to understand what the motivation is.  It's patently clear that Dell did not design this system to be extensively upgraded.  If you're not happy with the configuration, you'll end up having to do so real surgery to make it work, and at the end of the day, you probably won't end up with as nice a system as you would have had if you'd started from scratch and done it right.

Just my humble opinion...

We bought the studio xps at a very good price. I don't think another one with 500W can get on this price. If the case is not big enough, we can change it.

Umm yea mate cheers, so glad I cracked you up, I mean not rele sure what your adding to this conversation but hey; you're point seems to be that you don't like what I've done with my money, well good news it was mine so you don't rele need to worry. For your information I planned for well over a year on what system I could build myself or indeed if it was better to go with off the shelf. I heard about the core i7 a while back and decided that's what I wanted for myself, so I looked again at what was available and the Dell came out on top. In my part of the world (might be different for you) it was simply not possible to build a similar spec'd system myself for anywhere close to the price of the Dell. for £935 I got a core i7 processor, 6gb of ddr3 tri-chan memory, a blu ray rewriter (these alone cost around £170) oh plus an extra DVD rom just for good measure, 640gb hdd, wireless N, Bluetooth card reader, a 24" 1080P LCD with three a/v inputs including hdmi, a wireless keyboard and laser mouse (these are actually made by Logitech if you spot the cheeky logo just below the laser) and finally a  Ati Radeon HD3650 256mb (not being used anymore but hey not a bad card to have lying around for a spare use). Now I've got the 4870x2 and a 700W PSU in there you'd better believe this thing is for gaming, recommended settings for Crysis, what's that...what did I hear you say 'very high'? Well you'd be right on that one and you'd be right for just about every game on the market right now and make that in glorious 1080P for every one of 'em while you're on it.

I know all the downfalls you'll be ready to list at a key stroke, for example you'll probably start with, oh but it's impossible to over clock. well I knew this before I started with dell and I really don't care, if I think I need more I go for the next shoe size up, I don't fanny about with voltages and frequency's, just aint got the time for it. I can over clock my card if I want with ati overdrive but I won't bother cos I don't wanna risk cooking the thing, it's already plenty powerful anyway.

Next you'll tell me all about how the board is cut down, well yes it is slightly, not in a major way, i mean it's still got all that x58 goodness just misses out on one or two ports and perhaps it could do with another PCIe x16. However it's got more than i need and my plan was always to go super big with the one card, so all's good.

you see my humble opinion is you should be able to do with you're own money whatever you please, within reason, whilst not being attacked by others who have no say over your spending power. you see this is capitalism my friend you go your way I'll go mine, I won't attack your decisions, may I ask that you don't attack mine. Of course you can voice your displeasure with my choices, that would be freedom of speech but don't forget I still have the freedom to think you're an idiot.

My, my.  Glad we're not at all defensive on this one :emotion-5:.  You're of course more than welcome to spend your money any way you want, and as you plainly stated, this is a public forum where everyone gets to share their opinion, as I did.  Interesting to me that your market for components seems a bit different than what we're seeing here (West Coast, US), so obviously the make vs. buy decision might be very different in your neck of the woods.  It seemed such a stretch to try to enable the sort of expandability that most gamers look for with this rather constrained system.  So, I was hoping to draw out some of the thought process that might have driven people to use this system rather than build from scratch.  Sorry if you took offense and took this as an "attack", and by all means... have fun and mod to your heart's content.  I hope it works out for you.  Not sure the name calling was necessary, though.