XPS 8700 nVidia GTX video card upgrades,

I am interested in buying a GTX-960 for my XPS 8700. What brand is recommended?

Thanks for your help, anything is appreciated.

Sorry for the ignorance, i see some of the cards are 256 bit-interface or 524, and the GTX-960 has 128.

What do those represent? seems like the higher the rank, but pricier they are. 

I suggest reading some of the reviews. They explain new architecture and the bus width fairly well. Tech power up is pretty consistent.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/?category=Video%20Cards

As far as individual brands, from what I"ve read, the 960s seem to perform similarly across most brands.  I would look at price and warranty and the support of the Mfg. This starts to get more opinion based.

I own MSI, (GTX 760 and 770) and have no complaints. I've read EVGA customer support is top notch, but at the time I bought the MSI cards were on sale for about $50 less.  

128 is fine since it uses advanced compression algorithms, so its still slightly faster than a 660 ti or 760.

Thanks for the reply. I am settled with the GTX960, now deciding on MSI or Asus.

There's also the 6 or 8 pin difference in the cards.

The OEM PSU from dell has only 6 pin? Do we have to buy a special 6 to 8 adapter, or they come with the card by default? 

The OEM PSU from dell has only 6 pin? Do we have to buy a special 6 to 8 adapter, or they come with the card by default?

Many come with a six to eight pin adapter. Check the details when you order.

Comes

pic with side panel on

i finally did my upgrades i bought a Corsair CX750M PSU and i decided to go with the MSI Gaming GTX970 Golden Edition so heres what it looks like all installed i started by removing the video card that was in it originaly then installed the psu pluged it in ,installed A10 bios and finally installed the GTX970 and it works like a charm (cool little thing about the MSI is that the logo that lights up, lines up perfectly with the vents ;) )

Nice looking card. I had one just like yours but decided to switch to the MSI 980 gaming because of the 3.5GB fiasco since Newegg were willing to take my card back and they gave me a full refund. I ended up paying for the difference between the two.

Just to let you know, I never experienced  one single problem with the 970, I had no stuttering even in the most demanding games. I decided that since Newegg were fine givng me a refund that it was time for me to make the switch. I couldn't get pass the blatant lies that Nvidia came out with and they tried to cover these lies for over 4 months.

Anyway. You have a great card, super cool looking. The 980 from MSI barely fit in the Dell case. I had to modify it a little because it is a bit longer and the two 8 pin connectors are right in front of the card so I had to remove a little bit of metal in order to be able to install the connectors.

yeah i see what u mean but it still has 4gb just splited 3.5gb and .5gb as backup mem but yeah like you say i run everything atm no prob in 1920x1080 maybe in 2k or 4k that would be a problem but atm im satisfied i wanted a 980 at the begining but when i looked at benchmarks i figured the slight difference wasnt worth the extra 250$ but hey dude post up some pics :) lets see that beast (maybe show the casing mods so poeple that want to upgrade have an idea ;)

sweet thanks man

Exactly.

Yeah if I can find the time on weekend, I'll post a few pics. It's nothing fancy but it got the job done. Otherwise, the MSI 980 would not fit. Like I said, the 970 is a fine card and never had any stutter gaming with it. I couldn't pass the Nvidia lies and that was a big deal for me. I also though about how future proof the card would be since so many people posted on the Nvidia forum that they had all kind of weird stuttering with it. But a lot of people have no problem with the 970 so it's kind of a mixed bag.

Why wouldn't the MSI 980 not fit? Length? Width ?

yeah that little metal sidewall right?