XPS 410 Video Card Upgrade (Help and Suggestions)

Thanks for the reply.  I may just go witht he 512 as I will only be running a few games and probably will not need the extra 512 to push most games.  I am reallly just wanting to future proof it for a few more years...hopefully Diablo 3 worthy.  I have a: Core2Duo 6700 2.66Ghz, 4 GB Ram, 350GB HD, Windows 7, 7900 GTX 512 and stock Dell innards so far.  Newegg also has this deal with the 512 and a power supply for $100 after rebates.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-SlickDeals&cm_mmc=AFC-SlickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&ItemList=Combo.454591

So with this info in mind, I may just pull the trigger on the GTS 250 (512mb) vs the 1GB version...if its really not going to provide too much differences.  Or when are the new cards coming out, do you happen to know that?  Thanks for the reply...im leaning towards the 512, unless you think it would be benefical to grab the bigger card....also, does that bigger card still run on the same wattage/voltage as the 512?  I have to keep in mind the stock 375 PSU i have in the XPS 410.  Thanks again!

That combo deal is not too bad if you don't mind waiting for all the rebates.   By the way, HERE is a post from someone running the 9800 GTX+ or even the GTS 250 on the XPS 410 with the stock 375W unit just fine so you can feel more at ease.  I think the 512MB card will be fine as the chip is so much better than your older 7900 GTX.  The power difference between the 1GB and 512MB card would not be significant.  Amps is a more critical area, but you should have around 30 amps on the 375W unit and the GTS 250 only requires a 24 amp PSU.

If money is no object, then the EVGA GTS 250 1GB card is the one to go with even though the XFX card does have a nice cost to it after the MIR.  Generally, there is little difference in performance between the 512MB and 1GB cards unless you are running more than one monitor and high resolutions.  I have an EVGA GTS 250 512MB running on a 1920 x 1080 resolution monitor.   Any resolution above that and you would definitely want the 1GB.  There are some games that require more video memory and more to come in the future so if you can afford the 1GB, that would be the way to go if you are looking at buying a card today.  I have had mine for over a year now and it has been a great card which I got for only $79.99 after rebates.   If you can wait longer, Nvidia is coming out with their new GTS 450 Fermi card sometime in August which replaces the GTS 250 and will outperform it probably using less power with the new technology.  I think they are looking for it to beat the ATI HD 5770 which already beats the GTS 250.   I have always had my card running on a 500 watt or higher power supply and I currently have a 650 watt.  However, it should work on the 375W and you can always give it a try and if you experience any problems like game crashes, PC shutdowns or low FPS based on what you think you should be getting, then you can always upgrade the PSU.  Therefore, you may want to consider the less expensive card just in case you need to spend additional money on a new power supply and the fact that your system is going on 4 years old.

thanks so much JMICHAEL...i dont know if i can rep you on these forums, but if i could, id max you out!

Update - I just pulled the trigger on this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150365&cm_re=gts_250%2b-_-14-150-365-_-Product

And will have an additional $13 off as well. so making it around $77 after all is said and done.

That's a good deal.  Make sure you register it online with XFX as soon as you get it so you get your lifetime warranty.  If it happens to go bad sometime in the future and there are no more GTS 250's to replace it with, you might get that GTS 450 if XFX decides to come back and make any 400 series cards since right now they don't because they seemed to have fallen for the red team when they used to be exclusively Nvidia.  

WOW, Newegg was extra fast delivering that to me...i just received.  I will install after work today.  Any tips on installation...sorry I'm a noob at this, so i want it to work the first time.  I am actually excited to play the COD4 that came with it.  I will most definitely post if its a success and if i see much improvement. I should, as i went up 7 tiers on that toms video card hierarchy.

Ok, so the new card arrived and I installed it, but I am experiencing some issues with it.  It appears to, at times on  some games, freak out and looks to have some sort of display/power glitch.  When this happens, i see my DVI icon on my monitor, kind of letting me know the power was lost then returned and when it does the framerates tank.  L4D2 runs great, as well as TF2 and even Just Cause 2, but Alien Swarm, COD4 and sometimes Borderlands (this ones depends on the resolution the game starts with...once I adjust to higher settings after it loads with lower settings, its stable)  I do not want to buy a new PSU, but I am wondering what it might be.  I have ran benchmark test after benchmark test and they all pass....never fail, with no errors.  I dont know if this is a windows 7 issue and the GTS 250 or if  i need a clean install of windows, etc.  I have posted my issues on the NVIDIA forums and received a bunch of help, but nothing really worked, other than clearing out all the old NVIDIA drivers.  For those of you that have the GTS 250 in a XPS 410, please chime in and let me know what you guys are going through or went through.  thanks