Dell :: E1705 Cannot Upgrade To 7900GTX

After reading a ton about upgrading my e1705 to a 7900GTX (actually, an FX2500M), I went ahead and bought one on eBay. To my horror, the card doesn't fit.

I snapped off the little plastic parts that keep the left heatpipe from fitting; that isn't the problem. The problem is that Dell seems to have modified the motherboard to prevent such installations (my e1705 is a fairly recent one). At the top portion of the video card, there's a connector that matches a connector on the motherboard underneath. That motherboard connector is too high, which prevents the video card from inserting into its PCI Express socket. In addition, the videocard post on the upper right (where the screw would insert into the thread) is missing. That part isn't so important, but that damn connector definitely is.

1) Has anyone seen this before, on a newer model e1705?

2) The connector appears to be soldered on, so I'm not sure I could remove it even if I wanted to. Does anyone know if I *can* remove it, and if so, how? What is this connector used for? I assume it's some sort of SLI connector, since it has a matching one on the videocard itself?

Pictures will be provided upon request. I'm pretty bummed, as it appears I'm screwed. I'm also steamed at Dell, which has evidently modified their motherboards to prevent cheapskate upgrading.