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If you play games like Counter Strike: Source, TF2, or WoW than going from a 3850 to an 8800GT won't make a noticable change. But if you play the newest most graphically intense games you can get your hands on, an 8800GT would be an awesome card for you.
Depends on what games you play...
Try using only one monitor, it should work with 2 monitors but maybe one of the DVI ports is buggy or something. IDK I don't see why it shouldn't work, I recently just had my 8600GTS die for no apparent reason just because I shipped it to someone. Video cards sometimes do unexplainable things
Memory sinks aren't required, but they do work to keep it a couple C cooler, it's really up to you. Some will say you need RAM sinks if you overclock, I personally haven't seen the memory get any hotter with an overclock, but the vcore does get hotter.
I have my XFX 8800GT with the Zalman...
Good pick, that Gigabyte has a nice HSF, the reference ones are crap. I was about to recommend a Zalman VF900 or S1 but that Gigabyte should be more than sufficient.
If in the future you had more money and want to get out of using your Dell, all you need is a new case, new motherboard, and new PSU. You could take your CPU, RAM, HDD, Video card, DVD drives, etc. From your dell and into the new rig.
The benefits of doing that is
a) You can overclock
b)...
http://techreport.com/etc/2006q2/ecs-factory/index.x?pg=1:eek:
I thought this was just mind blowing the amount of work that goes into manufacturing systems. I never thought the factories were this big!
Whats the rest of your system specs. CPU, HDD, RAM, does your power supply have a PCIE power cord, does your case have room for a 2 socket PCIE card (my old Dell E521 didn't)
If you'r looking for a true budget card, I would suggest the 8600GT, 3850, or the 8800GT 256 Meg.
But don't buy...