fx3500 or 7950GTX should I get?

I have 2 Dell Inspiron 9400 since a year and a half, still with original parts. Warranty over...

I'm looking to buying a better GPU than the Go 7900 GS I have for two reasons.

1. I play computer games (not much, but still...)
2. This fall, I'm returning back to school, in computer engineering.

So, I would need the best GPU for my studies (might I need to run cad softwares or stuff demanding a good gpu), but also very good for games.

I look for the best, wich is a fx3500 or a 7950 GTX in a Dell Inspiron 9400. I will probably buy 4 gb of ram as well, and of course, buy a new power adaptor. I currently have a T7400 CPU so I don't see the need for upgrading to the T7600. I'm running in Windows Vista Ultimate (32 bits but that migh change) with a native resolution of 1920X1200.

What I want to know, is wich of the two GPU I should get? Or better yet, what are the pros and cons between these two cards...

All I know (as of right now), is that the fx3500 as better OpenGl support, and that this card is a professional hardware part....

It might seems quite obvious right now thath I should take the fx3500, but will it suffer a little in the games... Because as I understand it right now, FX3500 is the best for my studies, but 7950GTX is better for games. Wich gap is the less? The one with FX3500 running games or the one with 7950GTX running 3D application.

Or maybe I'm all wrong....lol

Money is not really an issue...

Thanks for any help or suggestion you might give me.

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Jeremfg, new member and first post on this GREAT forum!!!!!

If the BIOS is the only difference, wich BIOS should I get in that case (provided I can flash a 7950GTX to FX3500 or flash a FX3500 to 7950GTX)

Ok then, since I shouldn't notice a difference in games, I'm guessing that if there is a difference in applications like cad, it shouldn't be huge....

I will look for any of the two (fx3500 or 7950GTX) since money is not an issue and I want the best of the best. And as of right now, I won't flash it either way since it seems to have no benefits... But might do it in the future if I find a good enough reason to do it...

Thanks a lot for your advice...

Yeah, I've read that too. That's one of the main reason that led me to make this post about comparison between 7950 GTX and FX3500. However, and you may correct me if I'm wrong, OpenGL is less and less used over DirectX in games, isn'it? However, it's the contrary with softwares.... And this is where my dilemma is...

But as I guess Games will require more GPU power than Softwares, and that the 7950GTX still has OpenGL support (just not as optimised) and is more spreadout in households, should have better support... So I'm going for this card...

By the way, I might have a 7950 GTX by the end of next week. I will conclude this thread when I get my card.

Thanks to all for your advice.

Well, thats great...

That would make it the only card of the nVidia 7 series certified hdcp, isn't it?

So I'll be able to play bluray movies on my laptop whitout the need to "defeat" hdcp. However, I've just read that the display also has to be hdcp in order to read bluray movies. Is my screen also HDCP? If it helps, I have a WUXGA screen with resolution of 1920 X 1200 on my Inspiron 9400.

If my display isn't HDCP, it won't matter if my gpu is. I will still have to use a programs such as anydvd HD.