512MB of DDR3 vs. 1G of DDR2

DDR3 no question. You want the faster memory. 512mb vs 1GB is really a resolution question. You don't really get the memory increase benefit until you hit higher resolutions or a very video memory intensive game. And with a 8600GT i don't think you are playing those intensive games.

Stick with DDR3

is it PCI-E 16 or 8? i mean it could be a 16 physical and 8 logical.

Id say 4670.

What model is the dell? Usually you can find a schematic of the dell desktops online and it will tell you. Sometimes it is printed on the board next to the slot.

They tend to give conservative power ratings. That is with a fully loaded system. Here is a link that shows the actualy power consumption of a few cards, 4670 being one of them. And they are using a QX9770 @ 3.2 GHZ. It uses 210W at load. So your system should be fine. You have to consider the rest of your system. the 4670 doesnt suck that much juice. I wouldn't use it on a 250W machine, but I would on a 350W PSU. Unless you have 10 hard drives and an OCed Quad core.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3420&p=6

Here is your diagram, look at page 71
http://support.dell.com/support/ed [...] 350LRs.pdf

it is a PCI-E x16.

Get the 4670

They ALL have 2 DVI outputs.

+1 for GDDR3 over DDR2, especially if you are running a 32 bit operating system over a 64 bit one. (The extra 512 MB of graphics memory will "take more" of your 4 GB total system addressing limit if you are running 32 bit. Thus, if you put or have 3GB+ of system ram, you'll "lose more" with the 1 GB card over the 512.

Cool, thanks for the input guys. Looking at different reviews on the 4670, it does seem to have "more of what I want". So I think I'm going to settle in on a 4670 with 512MB of DDR3. Is there any particular manufaturer I should go with, or are they all pretty much the same.

The HIS card is REALLY REALLY quiet. That is the card I mentioned above and is worth the extra $10 or whatever it is. I believe it is also OCed a little bit.

Don't bother with the 1GB card, unless you are running REALLY high resolutions you won't benefit much. If you look at the higher end cards the 1GB tends to show more benefits.

ok...I got really axious and went ahead and placed my oder with newegg.ca for the 1 gig card. It was on sale, $25.20 off with a $10 mail in rebate. In the end it comes out to about $15 more to double the amont of ram of the 512MB. I'm a sucker for good deals. I may not make use of the 1 gig, but for $15 more, it'll be nice knowing that I won't be wishing I had went with the 1 gig card.

Can't wait for this to come in now. To go from a 256 MB 6800 Geforce to this card...I'm expecting to be pretty darn happy with it.

Yeah I went with the HIS. I didn't like what I was reading about all the noise the other manufaturers cards were making. So it seemed like a solid pick. THANKS BIG TIME for all your help with this. I'll be sure and update you with my thoughts on the card once I get it installed.