Wednesday, June 25,2008 @ 4:45pm
Dell launches 8800M GTX upgrade card for notebook
Dell recently began offering the GeForce Dual 8800M GTX upgrade kit to users who purchased the company's XPS M1730 notebooks before the end of January. The chip can now be purchased separately and turns the portable PC into a more viable gaming and entertainment platform, with features such as smooth HD video playback, dual DVI ports, and a maximum 2560x1600 external resolution support. Before now, and since January, the only way to get the XPS M1730 with the 8800M GTX was to order it as an option in a new notebook.
The 8800M GTX cards are rated at 400MHz clock speeds, and up to a combined 1GB of GDDR3 video memory. The PCI Express 16x interface card also features an HDTV encoder for analog TV output up to 1080p resolution. Apart from the DVI outputs, also included are component, composite and S-video connections.
The stand-alone card is currently available via Dell's online store for nearly $1,100, while the card with an installation can be had for about $1,220.