Acer Aspire 8940G GPU UPGRADE - Firepro M4000 or Nvidia ?

Hi guys, short story. I used to have 3 Acer laptops 6930G, done some pretty nice modding on them in terms of RAM, CPU, GPU etc. I always wanted the Acer 8940g 8942G, but as they are no longer made it is very difficult to find one.

I was browsing a local deal website a few weeks ago and i just saw one listen as : Don't working, problem ? Keep restarting at installing Windows. Guy sold it like it was, as faulty !

I have bought it for 200euro, get it back home , install my Samsung SSD 850EVO 120GB on it and install Windows and it boot from the first time. The laptop had a faulty HDD that couldn't boot windows, i run HDTune on it and after that throw it at the bin. ( full of errors )

As the notebook it was in very bad shape, i went to ebay and purchase ( Brand new parts ) :

- Keyboard
- Original Acer 8940g Back Case with speakers
- Original Acer Upper case with Touchpad and all media boards
- Original Acer 8940g Power Panel , Upper Panel

The laptop right now is like brand new, looks amazing, i was chassing one of them since the first day they came out, but didn't have so much money to throw on them. I dissasembly the whole machine to fit the new parts, clean it inside and assembly back in.

Only, it has one problem : The Nvidia GTS 250M is dying, as soon as i install no matter what driver version and ,, activate '' the GPU, i get Bsod 116, TDR, Artifacts, Screen goes Blank. As soon as i start Furmark or any other video Software, computer freeze and Screen goes blank. I guess the GPU has decide to die and because of this i will change to another GPU, i don't wanna mess with Nvidia anymore since people say they tend to die faster than ATI, but i'm not sure about this.

Reading what propolkin said, i know M4000 Firepro pulled from Dell will be a direct plug and play. If propolkin would read this, i would like to ask you first, cuz i don't wanna throw away almost 100euro for nothing. ( ( Already cost me arround 300euro until now )

What would you recommend would be the maximum card that i can put into this machine ?
I was thinking about the following choices :

- Firepro M4000 1GB GDDR5 MXM 3.0a
- ATI M6770 GDDR5
- ATI M5850 GDDR5

- Nvidia GTS280M

Do you guys have any other possible choices when it comes to modding this beast 8940g ?
Cheers

 

The M4000 and 6770 should work, 5850 is MXM-B and most likely wont fit. It is a rare machine and very owners (on a global scale) attempt to upgrade. There was an user that was after the same upgrade, but he never told the story. It's up to you. Upgrading laptops is always like that, someone has to pull the trigger and share the results. I think that it would work, just don't blame me if it doesn't Also if you decide to go after it, make sure that the heat-sink fits properly and wont break something on the GPU. Good luck!

 

Thank for your answer triturbo, as i see, the 5850 it can't be. Alright, I'm left only with the other 2 choices, M4000 and 6770, from what i have read and seen, the M4000 is better and is also for more profesional use than 6770. which i'm after , since i use Video Editiong Software, Photoshop etc ( i'm a photographer ).

Some people said that i should chase the M4000 with the blue PCB pulled from Dell, where i should look for the BIOS chip on the card ? Can you identify the vBIOS chip on these type of cards ?

How about ATI Firepro 5950 Is a good option instead of M4000 ?

 

Better get DELL M4000 (it has vBIOS chip for sure), you can probably find the part numbers in the 5739G thread. I think that there was a photo of where the chip is, but I don't remember. Good luck!

 

Thank man, i found one on Ebay, for Dell Precision, Blue PCB, i see it has the ROM Chip on it, i'll purchase it and post the results here if will work. Thank for your help man !

The card i purchase is this :

http://www.ebay.es/itm/112056081250?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

No problem. I hope that everything runs fine for you and you would share a positive result

 

Hello, filip_pine.

ATI FirePro M4000, ATI FirePro M5100, nVidia Quadro K2100M, nVidia Quadro M1000M (if you`ll be able to find that from DELL), all with DELL vBIOS and ROM chips - should be a plug-n-play sollution.

FirePro`s - better for gaming. nVidia - better for prof. software usage. All cards have X-bracket, that should be removed prior to install them into laptop. Currently M1000M is most powerfull GPU that you can use in MXMIII-A factor. With hardware mod you also will be able to install MXMIII-B cards from DELL/Alienware/Clevo/Sager. But they are way hotter and I doubt that stock cooling system will be able to cool them. And the PSU - the power provided from OEM PSU will not be enough to feed MXMIII-B GPU`s.

nVidia and ATI chips have different chip height - affects mounting of the cooling radiator on the chip. In my case, I needed to install additional copper shim on the GPU chip in order to achive full contact of cooling and GPU. In addition - using copper shim of incorrect thickness can damage the GPU chip. And, because of the component placement on some card`s PCBs, there will be not enough room for placing the cooling pad of the cooling system on the GPU.

That`s why not many owners of 8940G tried to upgrade them - they are way too expensive and rare. What about my - if I would have 8940G, I would try to upgrade it by maximum.

And you`ll need to use very good thermal paste, not less than Arctic Silver 5. And, if you plan to upgrade the CPU, there is no need to use extreme version of core i7, if you don`t plan to overclock it.

Sorry for delayed answer.

 

Hi propolkin, thanks for your answer buddy .

I already bought the Firepro M4000, i left the ebay link with the exact card i purchase . It has blue PCB and it was pulled from Dell, yet the seller listed as Brand New ( doubt )

It should arrive soon. I will make sure to record a video and upload it to youtube, with the whole dissasembly process and installing the new card. Even if i'm a photographer and use Video Editing Software, i choose the ATI, hope it will be a good choice, as i'm ,, afraid '' to try again Nvidia. I had bad experiences with Nvidia cards in the past, they all tend to die faster than AMD. Maybe i had bad luck, but i didn't want to risk again going for Nvidia.

And beside that, what i did wanted they were very pricely, ATI FirePro M4000 i got it for 50euro Free Shipping.

For the moment, i just want to upgrade RAM to 8GB and that's all. I don't overclock as i never did with any of my PC's or laptops. I think that for what i'll be using the laptop, stock it would be enough.

I'll make sure to use thermal pads and of course Arctic Silver 5

The card i purchase it has a ROM chip on it, is exactly this one :


NEW For DELL Precision M4000 AMD 216-0834044 1GB MXM 3.0 DDR5 VGA/Video Card

http://www.ebay.es/itm/112056081250?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

hey guys, just wanted to let you know that i have received and install my New AMD Firepro M4000 in my Acer Aspire 8940g . The card was originally for Dell Precision, but is a direct plug & play for the Acer 8940g. It has the BIOS Chip soldered on it and it has Blue PCB, just for future reference.

Unfortuntalely, i can't get it to work with Firepro Drivers, i had to Install HD 7700m Software Driver to get it to work and get recognized as Display Drivers.

Here is picture with the card

 

Congrats! If you have FirePro option in the menu, it doesn't matter that it is recognized as 7770m.

 

Yeah, it`s real M4000 from DELL. Will work wtih 7770M drivers.

 

Triturbo, yes i do have the Firepro Control Center, i have update to the latest Crimson Driver from AMD.

Thanks propolkin, you really help me with your advices. Cheers guys

Here is a Video i made with the Dissasemble of the Acer 8940g and replace the Video Card

 

Have a nice day. You will be able to backup your notebook BIOS using the Universal BIOS Backup ToolKit. It is necessary to set up the work of the laptop. From the official site does not help, because there, just a little, an update, not a whole bios.