After hours of searching, and comparing sizes and reviews. I made the leap of faith and found myself correct that a 8600M GT 512Mb GO card will work in the alienware area-51 M5500 for thos out there that might have one, can extend your laptops life in the gaming arena. tested QW:ET at normal setting @ 40+FPS. next to test is Bioshock.

this is a Asus 8600M GT C90S video card. Only set back is at boot up the system will beep about 15-20 time but will power up, like normal and correctly. More then willing to stand that for the extra GFX HP.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

Whatever floats your boat. How much did this card cost you?

a small fee of 139$
so going from a Go6600 to a Go8600 with 512mb is a jump in a half.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"