Acer Aspire 8940g, trying to upgrade graphic card.

Hey , i own 2x 8940g , one of them bought it new since it came out and the other got it recently from ebay.de USED(for testing and parts) .

So far i tried an Nvidia Quadro M1000M 2GB GDDR5 (from DELL laptop) - laptop is booting normally (i can hear the windows startup sound) but the screen stays black .

Second try , with an Nvidia Quadro M1200 4GB GDDR5 (DELL laptop) - same thing as the first card .


My aim is M2200(if i'll find one to buy) > M1200 > M1000M .

Any advice or help to get this done ?

Thank you .

 

Have you tried using an external screen? The issue seems to be an issue initializing the internal screen

 

yes , i tried and no signal .

Going to try one more M1200 and M2200(seems like i found one) , and i think both of them and the other 2 will go to sale 50% off.

 

I can't any real info on upgrading this, as its a rare machine but here http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...g-gpu-upgrade-firepro-m4000-or-nvidia.794779/

 

That is where i got the info for Nvidia Quadro , it was supposed to be a "plug&play" , but it pretty much seems like not .
gonna come back after trying the other 2 cards .

 

Just tried another card . Nvidia GTX 460M , this time the screen does turn on , but the laptop doesn't seem to detect it .

 

Wow, that's a really old card

 

Well I did get the fire pro m4000 to work and I have just sent an offer on a w5170m on ebay that I am going to try on my 8935g,
also I found a website http://www.tulembedded.com/products_detail.asp?id=68 which looks interesting about mxm upgrades.

quick update just got the W5170m (dell bios) off ebay so I shall post back once I have it installed

 

yep yep it installed just fine boots and shows in BIOS works in Windows but for the life of me I cannot get anything on the internal display, it only shows on HDMI out
I'm wondering if there is someway of forcing the card to initiate the internal display? the m4000 worked p&p

 

Maybe it needs a modified driver, thats what seems to be the issue, as it posts in BIOS. I don't know where to get one or how to manufacture a modified driver, but maybe someone can help you out

 

Well after some research i found that the card does not play nice with LVDS and likes eDP so I tried flashing the vBios to a firepro m5100 as after reading on dell forums found that its basically the same card, however after i flashed it the system will not boot at all I have tried to blind flash it but no dice.....So back to the m4000 until i can land on a m6700/6800 dell which should be able to see it I did backup the original vbios

 

What did you flash the Bios too? Crossflashing BIOS between different GPUs is a BIG NO NO, it will brick the card

 

It was another dell vbios m5100
I have been lurking about and it's looking like im going to have to hot swap it from a breadboard booted dos USB atiflash back original vbios
And start over
I think I shall leave it and pick up another machine with mxm slot of see about borrowing a pcie to mxm riser from someone

 

I wouldn't stay on this machine if you don't have too, too old. MXM to PCIE risers are very rare, and expensive, so its unlikely you find one that someone will lend you for such a cheap GPU

 

Well the 8935g is back on ebay and my new 'Dell m6700' arrived this morning, so I'm going to wait until the wife goes out and take the k3000m out and try the Amd card.
I know that the heatsink might not fit well but I want to see if I can get it back (working), keep it and get rid of the nvidia I am team red really.

 

Hi gents

I am happy to find a recent thread about the Aspire 8940g. !!!


I got same pc, I know it is quite hold, but I’m still happy with it, so I wanna keep using.
However, as you probably cope with, I decided for some revamping/upgrade.

Contextually I went for a GPU upgrade, and since I wish to have the less work as possible to do [ ], I decided for the ATI FirePro M4000 which sounds to be suitable for a Plug-n-Play installation, but only if it is directly out of a Dell (that is the GPU with a vBIOS Dell).

Unfortunately I got an ATI FirePro M4000 out of a HP (that is with a vBIOS HP), and it doesn’t work, as expected [!!!]

So my intention was to integrate the Dell vBIOS (downloaded here by OEM site) into the motherboard’s BIOS of the Aspire 8940g... !! But I couldn’t figure out how to do, even if it sounds possible to do (found here in this forum!)… I found BIOS’s MODding not so much supported as a Tutorial/guide point of view (PhoenixTool, OpROM, etc)

While I was searching for a way for integrating the vBIOS into the BIOS, I came across a BIOS Modded for our Aspire 8940g, which enables for a lot of new features (including virtualization and improving performances through overclocking etc.). Find post here; this is a quite hold thread, but should still work...



Now I have few questions (if you are still with the Aspire 8940g)

1) Which GPU are you using? Is the ATI FirePro M4000 from a Dell? How is working (P-n-P, etc?) Any news about the Dell m6700 ?

2) Which BIOS are you currently running? Did you decide to shift to a MODded BIOS and did you already tested some performance improving and/or virtualization?

3) Anyone managed to integrate vBIOS in BIOS for this laptop? This opens to a lot of more compatibility GPU for the 8940g.


Hope to hear from you soon.


Alex

 

1 - Take a look at my Video here :



2 - I run the ultimate BIOS version for this machine, no modding
3 - I didn't try this...

Cheers

 

I will be putting a firepro m6100 in my machine. If it works a thread will be on the way.

It should work but the tdp is slightly high (75w) compared to the max 50w rating of the mxm slot. I'll need a better charger then.

I'm glad back in 2010 mxm could literally utlize 2x more power with a higher watt charger, the circuits could handle it too. Just look at those clevos that can pull 280w from an mxm slot!

Edit: Doesn't matter lol, same tdp as my plug and play dell quadro 3000m!

 

Sorry to revive an old thread...

But I'm going to be testing a gtx 980m in this laptop.

I already had success with a mobility 5870 with 100w tdp, or so it says. With liquid metal the heatsink can handle the core temp which reached 75c with the fan at max. Memory thermals are actually decent reaching a max of 60c considering there is little to no heat transfer. At this rate the mxm card should survive...

I got a quadro K3100m working in the laptop too . Talk about futureproofing lol.

Also something to note:

VBioses that work with the 8940g:

Dell vbios
Clevo vbios
Msi vbios
Acer vbios

VBioses that DON'T work with the 8940g:

HP vbios - HP is trash and retarded for having non compatible VBioses.

 

also reviving this thread as I'm awaiting the first report of someone getting the quadro m2200m working on the 8940g or 8935g, and finding a way to efficiently cool it. I've come across no success stories for this laptop, but someone reported that they got it working on a Dell Precision M4800, which is only a couple of years younger than the 8940g. It only started working after the vbios was flashed:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-gpu-be-upgraded.792187/page-23#post-10832335

It seems like the m2200m is the latest and greatest of the MXM-A standard. Don't think there will be anymore type A cards. If someone can get this working it would be the ultimate upgrade.

Main challenge is probably the cooling, and the cards pulled from dell laptops are still too pricey for me, about $250 from ebay.

 

There is a 1050Ti in MXM-A format, but they are crazy expensive, usually in the 500$ ballpark.
EDIT:

There is also the 965m(380$):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nvidia-GeF...534114&hash=item2f276baf17:g:ix0AAOSw1tJcBoKA

 

I think m2200m is still the latest, in terms of when it was released, maybe not the greatest.

Cooling is a major issue with these old acer laptops, I think the heatsinks and fans would also need to replaced somehow.

it seems like mxm cards are not completely dead either:

from: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lapto...aphics-coming-soon-from-Eurocom.402301.0.html

 

Good day everyone! I write for those who are the owner of this miracle 8940g, and in vain dreaming to replace it with a more recent and modern laptop. After some testing, managed to squeeze the following out of this old man: Intel I7-920ХМ (accelerates very well frequency 3200 nepredel while in dispersed condition knocks in tests 2630QM easy), RAM 16Gb DDR3 1600 (need to pick up, I have a brand patriot earned), Nvidia GTX660M 2Gb (you can continue to experiment as 660m is not the limit), also this laptop was installed 120gb ssd for Windows 10 and tail 1000gb in the second free slot. In General, Windows 10 loads in 5-8 seconds.

 

Nice config! Max spec mxm card that can be put in is a 980m, with great lapping and liquid metal I see only 70-75c max on the core. I have limited the tdp to 80w and have the core undervolted whilst overclocked...

Bare in mind this mxm slot can handle 3x it’s rated power, very over engineered for its time. I’ve seen the 980m pull 150w in this mxm slot casually without my mods done!!! You just need a higher wattage charger to power the beast.

 

Nice to see another post here. I'm sure there is still many people with 8940g's. I have a 8935g, with socket P, so limited to Core 2 line, motherboard is also limited to 8GB RAM and modding a MXM-B card to fit in the MXM-A slot is not worth the risk for me, and will overheat anyway.

 

Remove the intel ME firmware chip and the overheating issue is gone

 

Redesign the heatsink and I'll believe you

 

And why do I need to put a 980m card, the processor will not pull it out anyway...?

 

It can just about, with a 940xm. Only game that slightly bottlenecks the cpu is far cry 4 and battlefield 5 (the worst optimised of the bunch). With any lower cpu the bottleneck becomes evident...

What really surprised me is that the motherboard can handle all of this, just shows you how well the motherboard was engineered to be. It looks like they planned for an mxm-b slot but at the last minute changed their mind.

 

I'm way under the laptop with a new modified BIOS, tons of features opened up to the laptop after the firmware, by the way I installed the card to test gtx 880M from Alienware 18, but the laptop after some time off the felts of the power supply is not enough or, more likely, the temperature of the rolls, with gtx 660m works great and the temperature in idle 39-41 the graphics card. In General, this old piece of iron is squeezed out very well, given that the matrix is still accelerated to 120 Hz, it looks quite playable even in new products.

 

Has anyone else experimented with the 8940G laptop? On foreign forums I read that you can install a Quadro m2200m or Quadro P600 video card in it, maybe someone installed it or some other analogs share your experience ?

 

If you really got some courage you could try putting in a Gtx 980 non m variant, don’t ask me how you’d cool it I’m sure the mxm slot can handle it. It’s built better than most alienwares and clevos out there for its time!

If only Acer made more models, they would have attracted a lot of enthusiasts for sure!

 

If it starts at 8940g, it will definitely be the final upgrade, since the card is not inferior to the speed of 980m and it is only 50W.

https://www.adlinktech.com/Products/Embedded_Graphics/Embedded_MXM_Modules/EGX-MXM-T1000?lang=en

 

I don't think it will work cos 8940g have only LVDS internal screen connector and T1000 have only digital outputs (eDP) connected. All cards from Pascal family and upwards have only eDP outputs. Max what you could instal in the MXM A format would be 965M and quadro M2200 or in MXM B format up to 980M or M5500M.

 

I think it will be possible if you install an i7-640m processor with the ability to switch graphics, so that the built-in graphics processor is initially loaded.

 

I think this is the final result, no more squeezing. 2 hours of playing doom eternal flight is normal, nothing slows down and the map temperature is no more than 78 degrees.

 

I tried to install a GTX 980M card in an Acer 8940g, it works fine, but in games it turns off, the cooling does not cope.

 

Video card M3000M (custom firmware, with overclocking), CPU 840QM, 16gb DDR 1600, SSD 240gb + SSD 500gb.