Ok so I bought the 8600GTS for my new Dell E520 and I am having trouble installing it. I am not very technical so please go easy on me! I have put the card itself into the PCI-E slot but now I have to connect a "power dongle." It came with a black, brown, and yellow cord thing that I connected to the six pin slot on the card. the two cable coming through now have three pins each. The only spot on the E520 I can find that they plug in to is the 4 -pin which is near the top. The graphics card is near the bottom so they don't even reach! I am so confused as to what to do next and the support guy was waaay too technical. I just couldn't understand. Thanks for your help and patience!

uhhh....

the power dongle thing should go from your power supply to the card.

If your current power supply already has a 6 pin plug, just stick that into the card. If not, then use the dongle to connect the psu with the card.

well there is one wire that goes from the power supply to the two CD drives and then ends in a 4 pin power slotthe graphics card is at the bottom and the power supply is at the top

ok so it looks like i only have one 4 pin slot and the 6-pin y-adapter wants two of the 4 pin slots. the guy at support said I could get by with one but it doesn't even reach from the card to the cords because the 4-pin is also connected to my two CD drives. oy! can i find a longer one?

You can probably go to a computer store and pick up some sort of extension. You said your video card is plugged in at the bottom?

Why dont you post some pictures so we can get a good visual of your system.

here is the link to what they sent me with the card.
http://www.nanosys1.com/cbl-pwr-lp4pcie.html
however it does not reach from the card to the 4-pin outlet and while there are two plugs on the splitter there is only one outlet from the PSU

I seriously doubt the E520's Power Supply is powerful enough for an 8600 GTS.

You'll need one of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6812201004
and your psu will be fine.

thanks! i had already ordered a 4-pin splitter from new egg that will fit into the adapter Nvidia sent but I just ordered this as well just to cover all my bases. They both get here friday so thanks again!