Dell XPS 210 upgradable graphics

[XanRonin]

I have a DELL XPS 210.
1.86 Intel Dual Core. 2Mb L2 1066FSB
2G at DDR2667
250 SATA II HDD
TV tuner.

I want to add in a graphics card but because of the small form factor I have to find a low-profile card. I have narrowed it down to two cards. x1600 pro vs. 7600GS

7600GS
GPU NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS
Graphics Bus PCI Express
Memory size 256MB DDR2
GPU/Memory clock 400/350MHz
Memory data rate 700MHz
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory bandwidth( GB/sec.) 12.8
Fill Rate(billion texels/sec) 6.7
Vertices/sec (million) 700
Pixels per clock (peak) 12
RAMDACs (MHz) 400
Connectors HDTV / Dual link DVI-I/ D-Sub
Multi-Display Yes

x1600pro
SAPPHIRE
Model 100167L
Interface
Interface PCI Express x16
Chipset
Chipset Manufacturer ATI
GPU Radeon X1600PRO
PixelPipelines 12
Memory
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR3
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
OpenGL OpenGL 2.0
Ports
HDMI 1
D-SUB 1
VIVO No
Other Ports SPDIF

Both are about the same price. The 210 has an Intel® G965 Express Chipset so I;m not sure if that makes a difference. If anyone has any credible knowledge about the topic please respond. Thank you.

 

[M733mhz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130073

Get that before either of those cards, If you're gonna spend money on a video card right now, The 7600GT would be what to shoot for, For a mid range card. Not to mention it's got a rebate on it.

 

[XanRonin]

That card will not work because any card I get has to be a low profile card. A normal size card does not fit in the xps 210 case. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Jorsoft]

Make sure you've got a psu powerful enough to run these cards, at least 350 watts. Dell is notorious for including crappy, proprietary power supplies in their computers, especially their small form factor ones.

 

[M733mhz]

Wouldn't the GS be the same size as the GT though?

 

[The General]

They make video cards with HDMI outputs now? Why? HDMI = encrypted DVI. Why would anyone want to encrypt their data stream with a key that is not known to them?

Get the 7600.

 

[Jorsoft]

They make video cards with HDMI outputs now? Why? HDMI = encrypted DVI. Why would anyone want to encrypt their data stream with a key that is not known to them?

I'd say it's just so people can hook them up to their LCD TVs easier./ Like an upgrade from S-Video.

 

[XanRonin]

Why the 7600? The x1600 pro has a slight advantage I think. I am more of an Nvidia person but I am willing to get an ATI GPU if the ATI is better. Other than the Nvidia vs. ATI discussion does anyone has any technical knowledge of which is better would be helpful. Thank you.

 

[Jorsoft]

According to Toms Hardware they benchmark pretty much the same, the 7600 is usually slightly faster. I actually would have though the x1600 Pro would've been better but the benchmarks say they're nearly the same. May as well go with the 7600 then, I think.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?modelx=33&model1=531&model2=557&chart=231

 

[ricanflow]

The catalyst drivers suck, theres way more you can do with the nvidia forceware, and i own both a radeon 9600 and a geforce 7300gt so i speak from experience.