Replacing Geforce 8400m GS GPU on a Vostro 1400?

Yes, the external ports are exactly the same. I have Intel one and I confirmed
If you see the motherboard and fan assembly parts on ebay/google,
you'll understand the difference.

edit: I'd invest on an oven so I can bring it back alive anytime or whenever it's dying again, plus good meals /cookies LOL
but yeah, an Intel mobo is a good choice too ( as long as its cheap)

 

Well, I just took apart the motherboard on the Vostro 1400, and it wasn't too difficult (just a lot of screws...), I see the difference between the Intel and Nvidia fan assembly. I can get an Intel motherboard off eBay for about $110-120 and the fan assembly for about $15.

I guess I could bake the motherboard now, but chances are the problem will come back. It would cost me some $$$, but an Intel graphics board replacement is probably better for the long-term. Thanks for the help on identifying the inputs and fan assembly.

EDIT: Changed my mind, since for some reason the speakers don't work now. I think I'm just going to sell the laptop part by part and put the money into a new laptop.

 

@shadou

How do you sell your vostro part by part?

I have a broken thinkpad that I would like to sell as parts too.

 

If you aren't under warranty don't waste your money letting Dell repair it. They will put in the same defective Nvidia chip and it will fail again. I'm on my 2nd motherboard and I can tell the GPU is starting to fail again. I'm still under warranty so I will keep sending it in until I can get them to replace the computer. It really is a shame, I love my Vostro 1400 but it's toast because of the graphics chip. I agree that you should put your money into a new computer.

 

Has anyone successfully replaced the nvidia motherboard with an intel one??
help is dearly needed! thanks.

 

I didn't really take everything apart, I just sold the battery, adapter, and RAM separately. I then sold the laptop without all that stuff.

I just got the Acer Timeline 4810TZ recently and while it's perfectly acceptable for my uses (the price was also half what my 1400 cost), I also miss my 1400. It was built like a tank and handled everything asked of it. The keyboard was also one of the better I've used. If only I had bought it with Intel Graphics rather than Nvidia (or at least put a Squaretrade warranty on it or something).

I'm pretty disappointed in Dell because I spent about $800 on a laptop that lasted only a little over 2 years. So the lessons I've taken from this is always spend as little on a laptop as possible (that suits your needs) and stick to using a PC for gaming. These are just personal opinions, as I know different people have different expectations.

At the same time, I'm not going to be spending much money to get a Dell ever again. This doesn't mean I'm spurning the brand (Acer isn't exactly much better), but I'm going to stick towards the sub $550 range of Dell laptops when shopping.