XPS 8300 upgrade to ASUS Radeon HD6950 DirectCU II 2GB (6 monitor solution)

You'll likely have better luck running the HD5870 since the power consumption on that card is lower than the HD6950. I believe even that may push the limits of the XPS 8300's power supply. I'm fine (so far) with the 465 GTX video card I put in place of the ATI card that came with my desktop but the consumption at load (max) is 283W. The HD5870 consumption at load (max) is 295W. (www.tomshardware.com/.../nvidia-geforce-gtx-465-fermi-gf100,2642-11.html)

BTW, I'm still using the stock power supply with the 465 GTX.

Thank you! This is very useful information! Great forum!

I am only concerned regarding the size of these 2 cards.

As far as I know there is HIS HD 6770 GPU in the current XPS 8300 setup, which is 8 inch long.

The ASUS Radeon HD6950 and HD 5870 are 11 inch long, means they are approximately 7-8 cm longer!

Is there enough place in the box to put such a big graphic card?

Here is also a very good Eyefinity 6 review: www.tomshardware.com/.../radeon-5870-eyefinity6,2595.html

Will try to get one of these:

www.powercolor.com/.../products_features.asp

www.powercolor.com/.../products_features.asp

Suppose these GPUs should definitely fit in to XPS 8300

This is a very good one for ATI Radeon HD5870 www.guru3d.com/.../radeon-hd-5870-eyefinity6-review

But it seems it will not fit in to XPS 8300: www.geekpolice.net/t22608-ati-radeon-hd-5870-eyefinity-6-edition-review

(* Your Going to need a BIG case to fit this 11.1" in length)

Hi Guys,

I got my XPS yesterday! Hurray!

It seems there is a lot of space available for any sort of GPUs!!! there is a space up to 14 inch!!! Amassing!

Last 3 days I spend hours by searching through different online stores and it seems the only possibilities I have are:

ASUS Radeon HD6950 DirectCU II 2GB (www.pccasegear.com/index.php)

or

Gigabyte R5876P-2GD-B (www.cnettech.com.au/ProductDetails.aspx)

All other products are out of stock or blow up my budget.

So, I am going to order one of these by the end of this week.

Could you help me to decide which one is the best?

Both cost pretty much the same. I found a lot of positive feedback regarding ASUS Radeon...

What do you think?

OMG, that's beautiful. 6+1 monitors!!!! 

How hard was it to swap the power supply? Looks like it's just the four screws securing the OEM one in place.

The GIGABYTE (GE-P610A-C2) what I've bought is still available on ebay (www.ebay.com.au/.../250845875184) for $112, but I think you could get similar ATX PSU for $100 or cheaper.

To replace a PSU is a 15 minutes exercise really! :)

If you could get ATX PSU with following dimensions (150 x 140 x 86 mm), then it suits 100% into XPS 8300.

You will need only to unscrew four screws and after you replaced the PSU to connect:

24-pin Motherboard Connector

4-pin +12V CPU Connector

(6+2)-pin PCI-E 2.0 Connectors (1 or 2x if you have bigger GPU)

SATA Connectors (2x or more, depends on your XPS 8300 configuration)

I was surprised how easy it is nowadays. Last time I upgraded a PC was probably 10 years ago back in Germany. :)

Have fun!!! ;)

Hullo pw182162,

I have also ordered a XPS 8300 and its a 460w PSU with a Radeon 6770. I was thinking about  replacing the PSU with the corsair TX650w and the 6770 with a 6970. I am worried that DELL might have used proprietary parts and upgrading the PSU might fry up the system.

Now since you have upgraded your system I am assuming that the XPS 8300 doesn't have proprietary parts. Also, the graphic card 6970 being 10 inches long will it fit into the case. The case seems pretty small. You have mentioned that there is 14 inch space available.

Hi,

I think it should be fine. Just check that you get  ATX PSU with following dimensions (150 x 140 x 86 mm).

You might have to reinstall windows from the DELL backup partition, if you have problems with the Catalyst driver or anything else.

Cheers,

Paul

HI I'm getting a corsair HX650 W modular PSU with the following dimensions 150x150x86. Will that work?

it is not breakdown but ventilation