Upgrade dell xps 435mt graphic card

[jeffgonth]

Hi. I recently bought a dell Xps 435mt i7 and I want to buy a good gaming graphic card (mine is currently a HD4350) and power supply. Since the case is small, I'm afraid that whatever graphic card I will buy will not fit or will cause excess heat. I also need advices on a new power supply. I have a pretty flexible budget. I just dont want to have to modify the case. Oh and i don't plan on overclocking.

So any suggestions would be appriciated. Thanks

 

[jeffgonth]

I have a 24 inches 1080p dell monitor (dont remember the exact name) so I beleive i would need a card that allow very high resolution

 

[jeffgonth]

Thanks. For the psu i was thinking Antec earthwatt 650 or that one: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004. For the graphic cards I might go with one of these

Nividia http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133268
ATI http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359

I might go with the ati since it's shorter and it will be easier to connect

 

[jeffgonth]

I made my decision but before I buy I would like to know what other people think about it.

XFX HD4890
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359

Corsair 550vx
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

Any reason why i shouldnt buy those two?

 

[erisutter]

Please let me know how that setup works for you. I'm interested in doing the same thing. The only concern I have is the size of the power supply but if a standard size power supply works, it'd create more options.

 

[jeffgonth]

According to some people, the size of the power supply in the Xps 435mt is 150 mm X 140 mm X 86 mm. So far I haven't found a lot of PSU that have that dimension. Only the Corsair vx500 and the antec earthwatt 550. Once I receive and install my order I'll tell you how it went.

 

[Wiinston]

I am also upgrading a recently purchased Dell XPS 435MT. I also ordered an ATI 4890 card. I went with the Antec Earthwatts EA500. power supply over the Corsair.

 

[Wiinston]

I received the power supply today. Installed with no problems whatsoever. Tested, and runs like a champ. Just need to do a final tie down of wires, and it is good to go.

 

[jeffgonth]

Finally i bought a antec earthwatt 650. It's a bit longer than the original psu but it fit. I also installed a servo gentle typhoon 92 mm case fan and my xfx hd4890. No problem during the installation (except i could'nt remember wich side the fan goes. The card was a bit tricky to install because of my big hans but in the end it work great.

My only trouble now is that i think my computer is too hot. I was playing the witcher enhanced edition and at some point it got really laggy and the screen went black and then a blue screen appeared telling me that there was some problem and to reload the computer.

No sure if its the heat or the game but to be sure i bought a vantec tornado (119 CFM vs 41.7 for the gentle typhoon). It's supposed to be really loud but my fridge is right beside my compute desk and I have a A/C unit running most of the time so the noise will not bother me. I ordered it yesterday so i should receive it during the week

 

[Deleted member 244471]

@ jeffgonth. I have same computer, would love to know how your install is working out. Any more problems? Is it still running really hot?

 

[jeffgonth]

Well now that I installed the vantec tornado I realize that the noise will in fact bother me (it's like having an Hairdryer next to you ears) so I'm looking to buy a fan controller to manually adjust the rpm and since we dont have any 3,5" bay avaiable, i have to look for a 5.25" that will take my 2nd cd drive slot. There was a ZALMAN FAN MATE 2 Fan Controller with free shipping today so I bought it. I'm pretty sure it will not work but at this point i can afford to throw 6.99 cnd$ out the window. What would be perfect would be a Vantec nexus but I cannot find one anywhere.

As for the heat, I reallize now that the heat i felt on the top of the case is probably just the heat emanating from the power supply which is physicaly touching it. But now that I reinstalled the stock case fan the heat my case run a bit cooler than with the gentle typhoon (should have done more research about the stock fan before buying a new one) but is nowere near as cool than when I installed the Tornado. To the touch my case was almost cold. Since I don't really play much computer right now (no really good pc game, work a lot and I have an Xbox and Ps3) I haven't really tested my computer except for the crysis demo and a bit of witcher. No problem or excessive heat to report. I think the overheating problem i reported was either a bug in the game or My gentle typhoon (Dont buy if it's your only case fan) was not moving enough air.

Anyway i'll try to update as soone as I find a good fan controller

 

[thesilverfox]

This is exactly the same thing I want to do. I have the Dell 435mt setup, with the ATI 4350 graphics card. And I'm wanting to upgrade to this card (MSI GeForce GTX 275)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127429&Tpk=msi%20geforce%20gtx%20275

I read some reviews that this card is large (10.5 inches long) and needs at least a 500 PSU.

So, what should I do? Upgrade the power supply and buy the card, or is my current power supply sufficient for this setup?

 

[jeffgonth]

If I were you I would buy a new power supply. the one that comes with the 435mt doesn't have (i think) the requiered power cables for high end cards. I think it had just enough power for a 4850 but nothing more. As for the lenght of the card, that's the reason why I chosed the 4890. It's 9.5 inches long so I was sure to have enough room.

On the dell forum someone posted a picture of his 435mt with a gtx280 wich is the same lenght as the gtx275 : http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19243577/19388896.aspx?PageIndex=5

just scroll down a bit and you'll see it

For the power supply, I read that some people had troubles with corsair psu on that setup. The most recommended psu is the antec earthwatt 650. It's the same width and height as the stock psu but 10mm longer. That does not matter since there is enough space behind it.

 

[Hardac]

I just got my 435mt and I was thinking of getting a HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 1gb card (or really ANY of the 1gb cards, what's everyone's opinion on who's would be better?) Would I need to upgrade my PSU or could the stock one handle it? Can a double slot card actually fit in a MT? That last question seems alittle silly because I think the one jeff posted is a double sized monster...

 

[deadcell]

Hi. I recently bought a dell Xps 435mt i7 and I want to buy a good gaming graphic card (mine is currently a HD4350) and power supply. Since the case is small, I'm afraid that whatever graphic card I will buy will not fit or will cause excess heat. I also need advices on a new power supply. I have a pretty flexible budget. I just dont want to have to modify the case. Oh and i don't plan on overclocking.

So any suggestions would be appriciated. Thanks

I have the same machine and this is what I would highly recommand. For GPU, I bought the BFG Nvidia GeForce GTX275 OC 896MB from Best Buy. Now, there are many versions of GTX275 by multiple developers. Go with the BFG, you can't go wrong with it. Also, the one in Best Buy is the OC (overclocked) version. This card also can be overclocked to OC2 or OCX with the right driver and cooling system. The card uses 2 6-pin and one and the only 16X PCI-E slot on your MOBO. jeffgonth, our machine is unable to do SLI or Crossfire due to only 1 PCI-E 16X limitation. However, any single card will fit just fine and you would have plenty of room, even for proper venilation. Don't go with the ATI 4890. GTX275 will sweep the floor with this card in almost all high end graphics games, including Crysis. Too much research went into me saying this. There is also a GTX285, but due to overheating and graphical problems, its now an outllet item on the Best Buy website. Simply put, this card was performing higher core clock than stated on the box and result in many users to reduce the clock speed to lower setting to be functional. Long story short, the GTX275 is as good as the GTX 285 and costs $50.00 less with no factory defects that I know of. The GTX275 is $229.00. Big bang for the bucks if you ask me. Also, your GPU is as good as its installed driver. Do not install the one that comes with it. For the maximum performance, install Forceware 185.66 vista 64-bit beta driver. This driver will increase the performance of your card to its best capability. With this card, your powersupply must be upgraded as well. The 360W already installed is not going to get you anywhere. I bought the Thermaltake 850W TR2 RX (Black Widow Edition) powersupply from best Buy as well. Plenty of good clean power with minimum heat output. This will fit your 435MT Perfectly with no modifications. It was on sale when I bought it for $149.00, but its back to $179.00 now. Excellent PSU value and perfermance. Also, don't overclock the 920, its already fast. Overclock the GPU if you want, but in small increments and you may have to provide additional cooling to prevent overheating. Finding a card that can be overclocked easily with no defects is just a luck of the draw. Hope that I was somewhat of a help and let me know if you have any addional questions.

 

[rdm3]

I have the same machine and this is what I would highly recommand. For GPU, I bought the BFG Nvidia GeForce GTX275 OC 896MB from Best Buy. Now, there are many versions of GTX275 by multiple developers. Go with the BFG, you can't go wrong with it. Also, the one in Best Buy is the OC (overclocked) version. This card also can be overclocked to OC2 or OCX with the right driver and cooling system. The card uses 2 6-pin and one and the only 16X PCI-E slot on your MOBO. jeffgonth, our machine is unable to do SLI or Crossfire due to only 1 PCI-E 16X limitation. However, any single card will fit just fine and you would have plenty of room, even for proper venilation. Don't go with the ATI 4890. GTX275 will sweep the floor with this card in almost all high end graphics games, including Crysis. Too much research went into me saying this. There is also a GTX285, but due to overheating and graphical problems, its now an outllet item on the Best Buy website. Simply put, this card was performing higher core clock than stated on the box and result in many users to reduce the clock speed to lower setting to be functional. Long story short, the GTX275 is as good as the GTX 285 and costs $50.00 less with no factory defects that I know of. The GTX275 is $229.00. Big bang for the bucks if you ask me. Also, your GPU is as good as its installed driver. Do not install the one that comes with it. For the maximum performance, install Forceware 185.66 vista 64-bit beta driver. This driver will increase the performance of your card to its best capability. With this card, your powersupply must be upgraded as well. The 360W already installed is not going to get you anywhere. I bought the Thermaltake 850W TR2 RX (Black Widow Edition) powersupply from best Buy as well. Plenty of good clean power with minimum heat output. This will fit your 435MT Perfectly with no modifications. It was on sale when I bought it for $149.00, but its back to $179.00 now. Excellent PSU value and perfermance. Also, don't overclock the 920, its already fast. Overclock the GPU if you want, but in small increments and you may have to provide additional cooling to prevent overheating. Finding a card that can be overclocked easily with no defects is just a luck of the draw. Hope that I was somewhat of a help and let me know if you have any addional questions.

Will the BFG Nvidia GeForce GTX295 fit into the Dell 435MT Studio XPS as well without any overheating problems? I'm planning on upgrading to a new power supply and this graphics card, but I'm fairly new to this stuff. Thank you very much.

 

[deadcell]

Hello rdm3. Thank you for reading my comments. Sometime has passed since I wrote the previous comment on the GTX275 and I no longer have this card in my machine. Strange enough, I returned it to get the BFG Nvidia GeForce GTX295, exact one you'r interested in purchasing, and I would be the one who can best answer your questions on this upgrade. Yes, the GTX295 will fit the 435MT perfectly with some proper venilation availability. I know this because I have purchased and installed this card in my 435MT. The GTX295, believe it or not, has the same exact dimentions as the GTX275, but it weighs more due to its duel internal GPUs. As for proper venilation and overheating issues, here are some usefull informations and recommendations; This card fit into the 435MT leaving only 1/2 inch distance from the bottom of the card and the floor of the tower. The fan mounted on this card will be facing down towards the floor of the tower and be blowing the hot air out. This leaves some space for the heat to dispence, but not much. For this reason, I removed the side panel. I would only recommand this if your machine is in a clean dust-free enviornment. My 295 is been running great with no overheating issues what so ever. I monitor the temp. and it always reads 45 degrees C at idle (normal operating temp) and 65-70 degrees C under heavy load (when I am playing Crysis). Overall, I have done much research on the GTX275 and the GTX 295 and the 295 does an impressive job cooling the duel GPUs. Actually, its rated as one of the cooler running cards out there, even under heavy load. This card is simply too advanced for its time and will provide high performance for years to come. You will be also upgrading the power supply, as the 360W that comes with the 435MT will not even jump start this 680 watts minimum required card. As I recommended previously, I purchased and installed the Thermaltake 850W TR2 RX (Black Widow Edition) power supply. Best bang for your hard earned money and fitts as if it was built for this machine. Or I also recommend the PC Power and Cooling 920 Silencer, which will provide up to 1000 watts of clean continous power. They may be almost the same price. In any event, I wouldn't recommand anything less than 850 watts for this beast. I hope that this helped you in your upgrade and please let me know how things went and if you have any other questions.
p.s. Download and install "EVGA Precision 1.8.0 Advanced Graphics Tuning" for monitoring and overclocking your card
deadcell
Intel i7-920 @2.67 8MB L3 Cache
Intel X-58 chipset
Vista SP1 64-bit Home Premium OS
6G Tri-Channel DDR3 @1066MHz
BFG Nvidia GeForce GTX295 1792MB
Thermaltake 850W TR2 RX (Black Widow Edition)
WD 500Gb HDD @7200 rpm SATA 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache
SB X-Fi MB (Panzer) HI DEF Audio App. 1.0

 

[rdm3]

Thanks so much for the detailed information. I'll let you know how things turn out. Does the Nvidia GeForce GTX295 require 1 PCI Express x16 slot or 2 to operate. The one featured on the Bestbuy website says that 2 PCI Express x16 slots are necessary for their version of the card. As far as I understand, the 435MT has only 1 available PCI Express x16 slot available. However, I think I've read that certain versions of the card only require 1 PCI Express x16 slot. If I'm reading it correctly I think this is the article I'm referring to: http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-295-single-pcb-review/

Also, my computer room is somewhat dusty and I'll probably not be able to run my PC with the side off. Have you run your rig with the box closed and had overheating problems? I'm worried it will burn up in there.

 

[deadcell]

Hello again and You'r quite welcome. The BFG GTX295 only requires 1 PCI Express x16 slot. I don't even think that there are duel cards out there that occupy 2 PCI-E x16. The Best Buy website specs on this card is confirmed incorrect. Look up BFGTech.com for very detailed information on this exact card, since its designed and developed by them. Our motherboard only has 1 PCI-E x16 and this is the only way we can run SLi on 1 graphics card (SLi on the GTX295 takes place internally). Either this or we have to replace our motherboards with one that has 2 PCI-E x16, and this wasn't one of my options at this time. Now, if our MOBO had 2 PCI-E x16 slots, I would have gone with and recommended 2x BFG GTX275 OC 896MB. Running these in 2-way SLi WILL outperform even the GTX295. They previously tested 2 BFG GTX275 OC's in 2-way SLi versus the BFG GTX295, and the SLi 275's came on top. Considering the price of 2x GTX275s being just $20 more than 1x GTX295, this will make a great setup for those who do have 2x PCI-E x16 slots. In any even, the GTX295 is one of the most advanced cards out there and buying an extra one in the future will allow you to run quad SLi with just 2 cards with insane performance (as your MOBO and CPU will allow for this much computing). Best investment overall. Just for the records, the BFG GTX295 sweept the floor with the so called ATI 2x4870 Crossfire-X. We shall see how the ATI 2x4890 stack up when it is released soon.
As for the side panel issue you think you might have, I don't think you will have a GPU overheating problems of anykind if you leave the side panel attached. I know this because I have ran mine with the side panel closed and carried good temp. throughout the day. No overheating what so ever. You see, the GTX295, believe it or not, operates at lower temp. than any other cards (not including liquid cooled) out there. Thats impressive considering it does have 2 GPUs in a unit that usually occupies only 1. Excellent internall fan and overall design let this card run cooler. I averaged 45 degrees C on idle (normal computing) and 65 to 70 most under heavy load, playing Crysis in max settings, etc... Those numbers are with the side panel open but I can't imagin the numbers increasing too noticibly with it closed. Let me know what temp you are running. Thanks again for your response and feel free to let me know how things go. I hope I was somewhat of a help today. deadcell
My future investments with this rig
-Upgrade case to Cooler Master HAF 932
-Than upgrade CPU Cooler to Thermaltake Spin-Q Universal

 

[rdm3]

Just got the EVGA GTX295 installed today and so far so good. System is running at 50-55 degrees on idle and got up to 70 after an hour of Crysis at max settings with the case closed. I ended up going with the Thermaltake 750W WO229RU since it had a mail in rebate on Amazon. Also, the video card came with the new Batman game for free. Overall everything seems to be working fine and I'll update this post if anything changes. I'll admit, the power supply wasn't easy to get into that case with the size of it and the thick cords it comes with. I actually had to bend some of the metal mounting pieces on the side of the case for it to fit, but it's working fine and in there firmly now. Thank so much for your assistance. Left 4 Dead and Chronicles of Riddick look great as well.

 

[deadcell]

Hi. EVGA makes good cards. I also like their classified X58 MOBOs. Those are good temp you are running. The GTX295 does operate on lower temps. The Termaltake 750 should provide plenty of power for the card and the rest of the components with some leftovers. I had the same difficulty installing the 850W TR2 RX. I too had to bend the metal mounting piece to make it fit securly in place. I would say, they are the biggest PSUs we can get away with in our small chassis. We should invest in a bigger chassis in the future. I am actually going with the Antec 900II soon. Its a good ATX case, which also eventually will support the ATX X58 Pro-E I will be getting later on. I am happy that everything worked out great for you. Seems like you got pretty good deals. Once I install everything in the new chassis, I will let you know how it went. I am also changing the cooler to Thermaltake Spin-Q, now that the case supports such a massive cooler. I am expecting some major temp drops. Again, I will keep you updated on the built. Till than, take care...

 

[dippindivin]

You guys are going to flame me but I put a 5870 in my Dell xps 420. It has a 425 watt psu and its been great since the day it came out. I even over clocked the GPU for a few days and it ran great.

I did roll the GPU back to default settings but it maxes out Aion and Crysis ez sauce

 

[Puma]

I went onto Dell.com and looked at their PSU's. I found an OCZ Sealth X Stream 600W PSU with the required dimensions for our XPS 435mt cases. I will be installing it today to let you know how it goes This discussion was of much help to me when looking to upgrade my PSU. Thank you all for your input

 

[Puma]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I installed that PSU tonight. Fits Perfectly with no modifications! Lots of extra cable though A little tricky to get it all stuffed away in our limited case. But after a little juggling I finally was satisfied with the results. It runs super quiet and has a large 120mm fan. My CPU and GPU are actually running a little cooler because of the fan on the PSU.

 

[g00se216]

Hey deadcell,

I was just wondering if you ever upgraded your CPU cooler to the Thermaltake Spin-Q Universal. I was thinking about upgrading my cpu cooler and had a few questions about how you changed the brackets on the motherboard. My research tells me that it would be very difficult.

Thanks in advance.