I've read some interesting things lately, like "gamers don't buy workstations," and there's really not much difference between a high-end workstation graphics card and a high-end gamer card, except stabile drivers, the ability to render OpenGL, and the price, the price, the price!

Well, I like the stability, longevity, and support of a business computer, so here I am with an Optiplex 755 w/ Wolfedale E8400 Core duo 3.0MHz, 6M L2 cache, 1333 FS bus. It came with 667 MHz memory instead of 800, but seems like 667 DDR should be able to feed the 1333 FSB well enough. I just upgraded to the max 4G RAM w/ 32bit XP Pro. Not too bad a machine, until I investigated putting in a graphics card. I should say that I am not a gamer, but would like to try some games, maybe FlightSim. I  plan to do video editing of family videos, and I want quality output and fast processing. I have been known to dabble at being a hardware geek from time to time.

I knew that the PCIE-16 slot was version 1.0, so operates at 1/2 the speed of 2.0. I somehow thought the graphics card would determine the speed, but that was a pipe dream. Someone told me PCIE 2.0 cards would not work at all with a 1.0 interface. (There's also only 1 slot, so no Crossfire or SLI.)

So I started looking at about the fastest PCIE 1.0 gaming cards, the 8800 GTS 320M and 640M. However, I'm worried about 2 basic things - fitting the card in the machine, and not frying the machine. The slot in itself is marked 75 W. All the graphics card reviews I've seen lately start at 130W power consumption at idle and go up to perhaps 250W+ at load. What gives? Can someone please explain to me what the Optiplex 755 PCIE-16 75W restriction means, and how I know which cards satisfy it.

Also, I came to realize after a while and reading some post here that the mobo is effectively upside down in the Optiplex 755 mini-tower. If you look from the front of the computer, almost all the time - all other Dell's and most computers I've seen - the motherboard is on the right. In the Optiplex 755 it's on the left! This means that the graphics card has to go face up in the PCIE slot. That in itself makes more sense, that hot air should rise off of the heat sink, instead of getting trapped under the board (see Zalman heat sink solutions). However, the Dell engineers put the PCIE slot at the top of the expansion slots. That means no double-height cards, which are better cooled. There is also the enormous CPU heat sink/fan shroud and relatively shallow case, which makes it probably impossible to get a 9 or 10 in. card in the machine. Goodbye 8800 GTS (unless it could fit and there are single height ones - prob 320MB - that run cool enough)? Opinions, please!

I did find an excellent bargain in a workstation card - ATI FireGL V7200 - with total memory bandwidth 40GB/s+ and with a removable card extension, so the length of the card would be good. But guess what, it's double height! If only there was a way to hack off the grilled second slot cover, or somehow bend it to fit in the case without voiding the warrantee! Very frustrating!

So it looks like I'm stuck with the 8600 GTS, unless someone can tell me otherwise - please! 512M GDDR3 is important, but total memory bandwidth is key - at 32Gbytes/sec, at least it's half that of the 8800 GTS.

So the next concern is the heat dissipation. When the heat comes off the graphics card, hopefully it will drift away from the CPU and not get drawn by the CPU fan over the CPU heat sink! Or rise to kill my memory cards! What's your opinion on this worry? Should I/can I put a case fan nearly opposite the CPU fan? Talk about cross-purposes! What about an expansion slot fan? Underneath the graphics card, I'm not sure how much good it would do.

I did find the solution to the power supply. It's a PC Power and Cooling 500W special Dell edition, with 2 metal slots that are required to support the PSU from the top of the case. I don't think it's possible to suspend the power supply just from the screws? So that limits your choice of PSU. I had looked at other PSUs, like OCZ / StealthXStream / 600-Watt, but I wonder if that will be suspended correctly. Also, maybe the PSU fan on the bottom of it would be a good thing? - drawing the hot air from on top of the graphics card into the PSU? Maybe a bad thing, but case airflow in general is supposed to be good.

Then again, if I get the 8600 GTS, I may not need a new PSU. I found a post here that says the 305W one I have has 12V rating of 18A. Oh well, 8600 GTS needs 30A. BTW, is XFX a good card? - that looks like what I'm headed for - lifetime warranty! I guess EVGA is an alternative, but I can't find an EVGA 8600 GTS 512MB DDR3 cheap.

I'm eager to hear feedback and suggestions on a graphics card - under $200, please! Thanks.