hm, thanks for the input you lazy bummmm haha
i guess theres no harm in trying to run it w/o a new psu, but maybe ill wait til xmas break when i can afford some down time just in case the psu blows out on me lol

and steve, thanks for the pictures, they actually help me a lot (i like to visualize)
have you considered getting a fan for your 6600gt? ive heard most stock fans on the card are pretty loud, and so i was looking at the zalman vga coolers (keeping in mind id have to cut up the memory heat sink things that come with the zalman kit)

http://www.mustangmods.com/data/17152/zalman_whole.jpg
http://www.mustangmods.com/data/1715...n_ramsink2.jpg
http://www.mustangmods.com/data/1715...n_ramsink3.jpg

 

Ya, I have a Zalman VF700-AICu on the XFX 6600GT. Works GREAT, droped the temps like 15 degrees, and its super quiet. And you dont have to add the ramsinks for the 6600 to work great with the Zalman. BTW, dont get XFX, get another company

Oh, and ignore what lazybum said about the PSU, you definatly need one... I think not using an upgraded one at first is what partially fried my card. And yes, It did have serious crashing issues before I installed the new PSU...

 

Check out these threads...

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...sage.id=129207
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportfor...sage.id=129892

Of course its YMMV, but why spend the money if you don't have to...

If you really want to upgrade your ps, I would go with an antec, if you're gonna spend the big money anyway...

 

I'm not sure how those threads apply to this situation, but yes I did to all the required ressearch to this after installing my 6600gt at the beginning of the year and having major issues with it. I tried several solutions, software and hardware, and the new PSU was the only thing that solved it. Considered Mike has almost the same model I do, he will have simular problems. Plus, I wouldnt trust anything on dell sites for getting modification info anyway I got all my info from http://forums.anandtech.com and http://www.nvnews.net

I agree with the Antec comment though, because everyone I talked to said Antec iis the way to go, and I have to agree with it after my purchase and subsiquent use of one.