Today I called Dell and asked if I could order an XPS 8500 with an nVidia GTX 660 graphics card and Windows 7. The answer was no. Then I asked if I could order it with Windows 8 Pro and exercise my downgrade rights to install Windows 7 (or install a dual boot with Windows 7 and 8) and was told that the GTX 660 won't work in Windows 7. The rep didn't know why. There is another post in the Dell Community where someone in chat told the poster virtually the same thing.
So, if this is true, what is the reason? Dell has a Windows 7 driver for the GTX 660 on its website, so it can't be a driver issue. Both Windows 7 and Windows 8 use the same A09 BIOS, so it can't be a system BIOS issue. There are posts in other threads about after-market "retail" GTX 660s working in Windows 7 on the 8500 but I can't find any threads about the Dell OEM nVidia GTX 660 and Windows 7.
Apart from some underclocking, the only difference that I am aware of is that current retail GTX 660s don't have UEFI-enabled firmware. Does the Dell OEM GTX 660?
I'm assuming it does because before Windows 8 was released, Dell started offering two versions of its GeForce GT 640 and Radeon HD 7570 cards (different cards, I know):
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 1GB GDDR5
NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 1GB GDDR5 for Win 8
AMD Radeon HD 7570 1GB GDDR5
AMD Radeon HD 7570 1GB GDDR5 for Win 8
The ones labeled "for Win 8" cost $75 more. The Tech Specs for the 8500 still show this "for Win 8" designation. No explanation was given for the difference but I later found out the Win 8 cards were UEFI-enabled to support Windows 8's Secure Boot feature.
If the Dell GTX 660 has UEFI-enabled firmware like the above cards, surely there must also be a legacy VGA BIOS on the card, right? And even if, for some strange reason, there isn't, Windows 7 supports UEFI booting if it's installed using UEFI mode, and the XPS 8500's BIOS supports both Legacy and UEFI boot modes. So why wouldn't this card work in Windows 7?
Is there a compatibility issue between the Dell motherboard on the 8500 and Dell's OEM GTX 660 that would prevent its working in Windows 7? Or are the telephone and chat reps just misinformed on the issue.
I can buy a retail GTX 660 and swap it with the stock card if I have to, but I'd prefer to buy the Dell card.
Source: http://en.community.dell.com/thread/20230548.aspx
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