AS 5520G 8600M GS to 9600M GT ?

Ok, so I have an Acer Aspire 5520G. I found a great deal on a brand new 9600M GT card. Both are MXM2. Question is : can I upgrade ?
I`m saying this because I have 2 VGA outs ( DVI + DSUB ), and I wonder if they both will work if I upgrade. Plus I want to be sure they are compatible.

 

Try it out. It might work fine. Never read about a 5520 being upgraded to a 9600M GT, but I remember that a 7720 was upgraded to the 9600M GT. That upgrade worked fine, but don't remember if there were any issues with any of the ports.

 

Well they both are MXM2. Going to ask mxm-upgrade and see what they say.

 

There was a guy (sorry I can remember his name) who reported that he was able to upgrade his 7720 to 9600M GT but I don't think he has given any proof or photos etc. I know though that a number of 5920G users haven't been able to upgrade to 9600M GT so far and I don't think they are any other people who were able to upgrade their laptops (other brands) successfully with the 9600M GT (apart from Nightwalker on his Asus C90S, even though it wasn't an easy upgrade and without problems). My suggestion would be if you have plenty of money, buy it and try it. Even if it doesn't work you can sell it easily for more than £120 on ebay. Otherwise you can wait a bit more for the new Mobility Radeon HD4000 series MXM2 cards or upgrade your hard drive, memory or CPU instead.

EDIT: There are some people with the new acer 69xx and 89xx series that could upgrade to 9600M GT but bare in mind these laptops are newer (so different motherboard) and there are configurations in some of these laptops from the Acer with the 9600M GT

 

Well my video card is the one that needs an upgrade, in rest my HDD is upgraded, and CPU is fine ( dual for 1.9GHz ).
Reason why I need this is upgrade is that I bought an external 22" LCD, and I could use the extra performance on both monitors. Plus this 9600M GT is DDR3, and it`s alot cooler than my actual DDR2 ( or so I hear from the experts ). I just need to make sure it works with at least the out-DVI port.

 

I'm that guy who does have 7720 with 9600m GT. All tough I haven't tested VGA outs yet.

 

And did you see improvements ? And could you test VGA out ( it`s kind of important ) ? I`d be very gratefull.

 

I would love to test the upgrade on my 6920G.
Maybe I could ask Acer themselves for a sample...

 

Haha ... free sample 9600M GTs .... that would be something =)

 

I'll try to test it over the weekend.

 

Hey, couldn't hurt to ask.
Maybe they could start providing the upgrades for a charge.

And if worst comes to worst, I do know the part numbers for the 9600M GTs used in the 6935G...

 

@boruta : any updates ?

 

I’ve tested it with my lcd tv via d-sub and it worked like champ.

 

Thanks for the info.
As soon as the sale is up, getting the card

 

@boruta : could you possibly backup your video bios and give it to me ? I want to be prepaired once I get the board.

 

My advice is not to mess with bios unless you have to. First check device id and subvendor id of your new card (ask sealer). Mine as you can see from the attachment is respectively: 10de-0649 and 1a46. Subvendor appears to be unknown but works on acer. Guy from asus forum got exactly the same card but on his laptop frequency change didn’t work to well.

 

Oh this is getting exciting. I hope everything works and we, the 5920g owners, can upgrade to 9600M GT cards. Sorry Boruta for forgetting your name before.

 

Ok, I got the card, installed it ... bam ... blank screen. I`m pretty sure it`s the bios being non-acer. Any suggestions ?

 

First make sure you have latest bios in your laptop.

 

Well the latest for 5520 are v1.32 and 1.33. I`m on 1.32, 1.33 only has better RAM recognition.

 

Ok, I upgraded to 1.33. What next ? I don`t think this will increase compatibility.

 

I think the main reason and issue with this is that boruta shows in his gpu-z pic PCIE2, and mine is PCIE1. ( pci express mismatch ).
So even if you have the same slot, it`s just a diff controller.

 

The pcie slots should be backwards compatible. A 1.0 card in a 2.0 slot or a 2.0 card in a 1.0 slot, either way should work, but I'm not 100% sure about it. There is huge post about as5920 and overclocking 8600m gt with instruction how to do a blind bios flash. Don't forget to buck up your original bios.

 

Would you happen to have the link to that thread ? There are soo many posts regarding 5920 and GF8600 ...

 

I think this is it http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=160237
Correct me if I`m wrong.

 

That's the one.

 

The only issue now, for me, would be to find a suitable rom for my 9600M GT. boruta, would you possibly be able to give me a copy of yours ?

 

Post #16. File G96 M.zip is my bios.

 

, I owe you a beer I`ll keep you guys updated, have to leave town for a week or less, but as soon as I`m home, I`ll give it a try. Thanks boruta again !

 

@bin_asc
Did you figure out a way to make it work?
Cause I've got exactly the same problem with exactly the same laptop
So it would be really useful is you'd let me know if it worked

Thanks

 

Currently I`m between flashing it with a acer bios or sending it back to get it replaced with a 8600M GT. Tough call.
If I can save the bios with nvflash ... then I`ll do the change. Tomorrow most probably.

 

If you decide to get 8600m GT let me know, because I have one laing around my desk.

 

IT WORKED! I've received my 9600m gt, replaced my 8600m gs and got vista booted with no problem, it didn't recognize the card yet, but at least i haven't got a black screen.

 

Great work! Please post the part number of the 9600M GT you received.
I'd recommend grabbing 179.28 from Nvidia's website to ensure the card is recognized.

 

So Vista now recognizes the card, but there is still another problem...
Before the vista startup, i get an MXM error telling to reflash my ROM (I can't get my USB to boot, but i'll figure it out) So the gpu only runs at 275Mhz max instead of 500Mhz.
I sucks, but it's already better than the 8600m gs.

@bin_asc: You should try connecting a secondary monitor to the notebook when it boots, i'm pretty sure you should see something on that monitor.

@tehsuigi: I don't know what you mean with part number.
Device ID: 10DE - 0649

 

Ok I've got quite a problem, I can't get rid of the MXM error and can't get the gpu to perform at full performance. Reflashing the ROM didn't change anything.
And... i've ran out of ideas.
could anyone help me please?

 

I am having a close ralated problem to you, but i want to upgrade to a 9500M GS its not so bad, perhaps if you don't get it working you should consider this option? Its up to you. Oh and sorry i wish i could help out p512st

 

Dunno, I need to find time to plug the new video card in, flash it.
I can`t find a tutorial to make a bootable USB stick ... I found some but none with luck ...

 

My aspire 5520 now has a 9600m-gt working at full speed, but there are still some downsides: the MXM error before boot is still there (which means booting take 30 sec longer). This I can live with.
The other thing that still doesn't work is connecting a secundairy monitor, it works for about 10 sec before it returns to 1 monitor.
I've tried about everything, but I really need that 2nd monitor.
So... I'm selling it for 180 euro
if anyone is interested my email is: [email protected]

 

P512st, what did you do to get the 9600M GT to run at full speed?

 

Well because of the MXM error, the card only runs at 'balanced performance'.
So I used NiBitor to change the 2D (balanced) clocks into the 3D (perfomance) clocks. Basically just making the card think it's in balanced power while it's actually running at full power.
Instead of the normal 3 different clockspeeds (power conserving, 2D an 3D) you now only have 2 (power conserving and 3D).
But trust me you don't notice any difference.
If someone wants the bios I used I can always sent it to you.
It's a really really great card! It runs really cool, really fast, and it consumes less power than the 8600m gs.

 

Hi Guys
Did anyone try nvidia 9600M GT with different Device ID than 10DE-0649 on acer 7720-6395 ? And did it work. I found one card from Dell XPS ONE and wonder...Thank you