Acer MXM Models and Cards

The people that sold me my M5950 told me I could have 10% off since it was wrongly advertised or I could send it back for a full refund. I asked for an exchange. I'll let you know what the guys do for me with my GDDR3 card.

 

Guys,
Hello. I'm new here. Please, help, I tried to find a solution reading a lot of threads here, but could solve my problem.

I think the post above is very related to my problem.
I have a Asus C90S with 8600GT which failed 1 time already and I'm not going to buy another one, which is more likely to fail again after a short period of time due to defective G84/G86s.
As far as I know the Asus C90S has an "unlocked" MXM II socket and can accept any MXM II cards.
I got a FX 770m card, which I heard is good for CAD and that's what I do.
This is the same exact one. It's an HP 580214-001
Lot HP 8730W 8530P Quadro FX770M MXM 512mb card Acer 8730 Acer 8730 8920 8930 | eBay
The problem is that later, after ordering the card, I was reading a lot about this card and found some interesting things. I sisn't know that some MXMs do not have a VBios chip onboard.
Seems like this card is really missing one.
My question is:
As far as the card is missing a VBios chip - what will happen when I put it in my Asus C90S?
What can I do to make it work in case it doesn't boot up due to the lack of the VBios? I assume that my laptop should practically accept all the real mxm cards that DO have the VBios onboard, is that correct?
And if there is no chip - I'm screwed, right?
Thank you very much for any kind of help!

PS. I'm sorry to be posting in Acer division, but you guys at Acer have most MXM powered cards and my problem related posts.

Thanks!

Anybody, please...

 

I know this card quite well - it does have a VBIOS chip onboard. The "missing" chip is an HDCP ROM; used for DRM purposes on other cards. All it means is that the card doesn't support HDCP and some other oppressive DRM schemes - not a big loss IMO.

However, when you first put it in, it will only give output through a VGA or DVI display. To get the internal display to work, flash it to the VBIOS found on TechPowerUp.

 

Thank you so much!
Today I received another HP MXM card. Which has part number 502337 and it seems to be ATi FireGL V700, based on the HD3650 core.
I installed it in the laptop and it didn't post at all. My Asus C90s keeps shuting down spontaneously. It is blinking a couple of times the HDD LED, and does some POST stuff, even if you press the caps-lock, the light comes on, etc. Actually it did the same on my supposedly dead 8600GT. I hope it's a graphics related problem and nothing else.
The laptop has sufficient power, because if you press the reset button underneath, the fans, all of them, start ramping up at full speed and the laptop is not shutting down. I'm not sure, but I hope it's a video problem. Please, if anybody had this kind of problem, tell me what is the exact cause.
Thanks

This is the actual card that I do have on hand now and it's missing a bunch of chips somehow. The only 8 leg chip that I see is close to the socket contacts and it reads "APL5915"

---------- UPDATE: Please nevermind about the laptop being shutting down. This was because the battery was not providing enough power.
For now, I can't check wether I have image on DVI or D-SUB, cause I don't have a cord to hook it to my TV.
In case I have image on external monitor - what should I do to make it work on the laptop's dedicated LCD?
This ATi FireGL V700 card has 256MB of GDDR3 (I don't need more actually) and the fact that it is a 55nm GPU makes it more attractive compared to the FX 770M. Less heat will mean less problem to my old C90S.

 

yes i overclocked it through msiafterburner . you are correct it doesnt support more memory bandwitch. default is 790mhz

I applied silver 5 thermal past the temps doesnt improve much as compared to the normal thermal past which i borrowed from a friend and he bought it less than a £ .

Ah, here we go:
550/1190/968 (1936 DDR)
Were my max clocks it seems. Have you tried loading the bios up on nibitor?[/QUOTE]



@maeker : what is nibitor and what do i use it for ?

 

Can somebody confirm for me which card is this , looks like 2gb amd type A if i am not mistaken
HP ATi MXM3 A V224 AX Viper 2GB Video Card 646633-001 | eBay

btw here is my 3dmark6 scores after oc http://3dmark.com/3dm06/16404560 and now it doesnt shut down anymore after applying thermal past

 

LOL, thats the one without the eeprom!

Some of them have it but I think its the same HP part. The chip should be right below .................here (depending on your browsers fonts)


Its normal for cards to have missing components, but when you've seen the exact same card with an eeprom in the empty space its obvious thats why its not working. I've had 3 of those ATI HP cards and 1 had the missing EEPROM.

Your not screwed, you just have to return the card, or solder an EEPROM onto it (if you can do that casually).

 

Lol, you got that much correct.

I think its a 6770m but its DDR3 for sure. Also it says "audio disabled" :/

Considering its an HP card and not a firepro its probably used on an HTPC which is a good reason for it to have issues on laptops.

 

Its a 5730 and it wont support audio over HDMI.

 

Man, I'm the lucky one.
I got it now.
Got a question regarding the EEPROM chip
If I unsolder the chip from my dead 8600GT will it work?
I mean it will still try to boot from what the EEPROM is programmed, but, will it just let me flash the card with the proper VBIOS?
Do I understand it right that the "presence" of chip is required to let the circuit close and proceed with boot (even with VGA or DVI)?

Overall, what do you think is the better idea?
Keep working on this ATi FireGL card (if I knew what part number is that chip (I'm good with soldering)) or wait for an HP 580214-001 card (FX 770m), which .NetRolller 3D was saying that the card is OK with VBIOS chip?

Thank you very much, guys, for all your advices! I appreciate your attention!

 

The 8600M GT chip will likely cause problems - AFA<!-- -->IK ATI card's don't support MX25L512 chips (the usual chip on Nvidias), and even if they did, the Nvidia VBIOS would lock up the system during POST upon failing to detect an Nvidia card.

You need an AT25F512AN, ST M25P05A or ST M25P10A chip for an ATI card. In addition, some 10K resistors need to be added around the chip to get it recognized (see the instructions for Toshiba HD4570 and HD4650 cards).

 

Thank you very much.
I will probably wait for the FX 770m to arrive.
I took a very close look at the picture of nVidia card and could see "MX" on the IC. That means that it has an Macronix BIOS chip on it. Awesome.
I would have done that stuff to this ATi FireGL if I haven't ordered nVidia already, though it's real pain in the butt.
Anyways, when I get the FX 770m I will get back and report my experience.

 

@maeker : what is nibitor and what do i use it for ? [/QUOTE]

Its a utility that you can flash the nvidia bios chip!

 

Unfortunately its not that simple for these HP cards - there is also a 2nd smaller 8 pin chip missing that is present on the cards with an EEPROM. I don't know what it is but I'm sure its absence would prevent the card from working.

 

So apparantly its not been confirmed which card is it ? assume whatever it is either one of you correct or both wrong ,

What if we can get this card flashed by one of the model above after finding out which card it is, will it work ? lets assume we flashed it by 6670's bios or 5730'bios will it work ?
i am not that much experienced sounds stupid question but wanted to know if possibility exist

Its a utility that you can flash the nvidia bios chip![/QUOTE]


Do i need to flash my card's bios ? for what purpose one would flash bios ?

can you tell what is advantage/disadvantage of flashing the vga's bios ?

 

@niffcreature: The 2nd chip is likely the HDCP ROM, or a 10K resistor network equivalent to the 3 separate resistors of Toshiba cards.

 

Do i need to flash my card's bios ? for what purpose one would flash bios ?

can you tell what is advantage/disadvantage of flashing the vga's bios ?[/QUOTE]

Lol I just looked at the size of the core and mem, totally failed to miss the bus.

It's an MXM II HD3650 (well the firegl version of it).

It wont fit in an MXM III machine.

 

So this would make it even more difficult to do.

As for the EEPROM itself however - ATI/AMD cards do support some Macronix chips as my 5850 has a mx25l1005. I don't see why it wouldn't be supported if the pinouts are the same.

My AMD reference 4860 gddr5 however comes with an SP brand EEPROm or something, and can't be recovered with a blind flash at the moment. Not sure what to do about that.

 

Still have one of those laying around, not detected by my Aspire. I noticed the FX770M's from HP come with different part numbers that look rather different as well:



Would they both work in an Acer?

 

I wonder, so if anything is wrong with EEPROM's or resistors should an MXM card still give output on VGA or DVI? If the EEPROM is only for LVDS than a card with no output on VGA would be defective in general.

 

If the card recieves no bios info it wont know how to start at all.

I found this on ebay and talked to the vendor:

ATI FirePro M5800 Mobility Laptop Graphics Card 1GB MXM Half-Size | eBay

It's an HP MXM-A card with DDR3.

 

The one on the right has all 8 leg chips on it so has a good chance.

 

That's the one I have, unfortunately no sigar
But I haven't given up yet. Maybe I'll find a way to get the card detected somehow.

 

@hupster: 502338-001 will work out-of-the-box (but beware, it is known to have a high failure rate). 580214-001, the "workstation card", works once flashed to the BIOS of 502338-001. Again, the missing chip on the 580214-001 is a HDCP ROM.

@niffcreature: A HDCP ROM is not required for the card to function; only for HDCP support. Its absence doesn't mean the card gets its HDCP parameters from SBIOS (that is forbidden by the HDCP license agreement - the HDCP ROM link has to be physically isolated from the rest of the system, and must be routed through a "deep" layer of the multi-layer PCB to prevent tinkering); but rather that it doesn't support HDCP at all.

 

Absolutely not. LVDS is a very small part of vBIOS. Cards will NOT function AT ALL without an eeprom/vbios unless you have a vBIOS built into your sBIOS, which is only found on some HP and Compal laptops.

Nice cognitive thinking - however, the 1 8 legged chip on the left card is clearly a Macronix (MX) EEPROM. The card on the right is known to have a very high failure rate.

Jesus, and you learned this from the MXM 2.1 spec?

 

Well that's mostly from the requirements of the HDCP spec.

 

Okay, i bought X9000 cpu, it works and gave the perfomance that i wanted.

Next i bought ATI 4670 from ebay, BUT.. It doesnt fit on 8920g. I took some photos from 8920g´s original 9500m gs and the 4670 i bought.

I know that 4650 fits, or atleast some version of it in 8920g. Does somebody know that what version of 4650/4670 will fit on 8920g?

Here is some pics

 

You need MXM type II cards, you bought an MXM-A card.

 

Ok, thanks. This type II seems to a bit hard to find. Nothing on ebay atleast.

 

Hi to everyone,

I bought an Aspire 7720G in early 2008, it came with a 8600M GT "up to 1280 Mb", which has broken (fried) reciently. I cant spend too much in a new one, so I need to replace my GPU.

I'm not too much into hardware, but I'm used to try and test, may be any of you can help me if I need (I'm sure I'll need).

Mine came with:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5450
1,66 GHz, 667 MHZ, 2 MB L2 Cache
3GB DDR2
Up to 1.280 MB Nvidia Geforce 8600M GT Turbocache Chipset: G84-600-A2

I've bought one new 9600M GT 1GB GDDR2 Chipset: G96-630-C1

I hope it is compatible, I'll know it soon.

Greetings from Spain and sorry my English

 

It's gonna be compatible, but it won't be as fast as most 9600M GTs - it is DDR2, while the good ones are GDDR3. OTOH it will overclock rather well (rev. C1), but it won't help much, given that the card is already RAM-limited.

 

Thanks .NetRolller 3D, if it is compatible, it's enough for me. I'll post the result when the card arrives.

 

I bought the M5950 as well and just returned it recently because of the GDDR3 memory. What did you exchange it for? The company offered me the Quadro 2000M but I wasn't sure my notebooks cooling system was adequate.

 

I was going to exchange it for a GDDR5 model, but they don't have any in stock any more. I kept the GDDR3 model as they gave me a percentage back. It's faster and cooler than the 4670 it replaced.

 

I have a HD Mobility 5850M so using the M5950 with GDDR3 actually made my system slower. I am looking at the Firepro M7820 but there are different versions of it. I think that not all versions of it are the GDDR5 kind and some don't even fit in an MXM socket. There is very limited data on them. Glad yours was still an ugrade from what you had and that you enjoy the card.

 

Why would someone with a 5850M look at the 6770m?

 

less heat? im not sure. so any news on latest mxm cards from AMD?

 

what laptop you have?

 

You seem to have some major misconceptions about what a laptop graphics card is. The model name "m7820" does NOT indicate whether it is MXM or another proprietary interface. It only indicates the GPU core and sometimes the vRAM type.

The rest of the PCB of the graphics card is not manufactured by AMD and therefore varies depending on what laptop it was made for.

I have a gddr5 HP firepro m7820 which I will test soon, it seems to be standard MXM. Lenovo cards should also be standard MXM, I'm guessing the Dell cards are the nonstandard ones you are seeing.

 

hi all, i have a acer aspire 6920g-934g32bn bought in november 2008.I cosider of buying a new GPU to replace the old 9500m GS that is too slow and i wold like some suggestion.i saw a 9600m GT as well as a 9650M GT on okazii.ro (btw im from romania and the site is similar to ebay) links:
Placa video laptop mxm nvidia 9650gt 1gb128bit (video card, graphic card, GeForce Nvidia) - Okazii (60634558)
===[ PLACA VIDEO 9600M GT ]=== nVidia DDR3 512mb pana la 2Gb - Okazii (60197232)
Placa video nVidia 9600M GS 1GB M50V-9PGE2 08G2015MM20Y - Okazii (60367119)
cost in euro=100€
any suggestions?

 

Hi, no one upgrade 6920g to asus 9650m yet, but considering that others acer laptops upgrade to 6950m were usually succesefull, there's great chance that it will work. About 9600m gt from second link, it's advertised as 9600m gt ddr3, but photos are showing ddr2 version of 9600m. You have to contact seller and ask him if photos showing actuall card. Third link is showing asus reversed mxm 9600m gs card , look closer and compare with previous cards - it will not fit in your 6920g. I will recomend You from this same site 9600m gt ddr3 (this one is for sure ddr3 version): PLACA VIDEO LAPTOP NVIDIA 9600 GT DDR3 - Okazii (65298323), which will work, with modded bios, in your laptop(look first page) and it is faster card then asus 9650m gt ddr2.

 

thanks for your suggestion and fast reply, i will see what i can do. So basically you tell me to get the 9600GT and mod my bios?

 

Hi i am looking for help to upgrade my acer aspire 7738g mxm a card.. will ati cards work from hp computers? i specially looked radeon hd 6570m.. or should i go safe and upgrade hd 4670m which seems to work according info on front page.. however my big question is why ati radeon hd 4570m from acer 7535g only gives screen "with lots of graphic errors" after removing battery for 30min

 

7738G sleeps around and should work with anything.

I had a 6770M in it.

 

Yes, try to buy 9600m gt ddr3 version. It's the fastest card. Before to swap You have to first flash the bios from this page: http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/575866-acer-mxm-bios-mods-discussion-x920g-vs-9600m-gt.html#post7461594 and it will work flawlessy.

 

Nope, the fastest card is the GT 330M.

 

Thanks for info.. was all mxm cards from acer laptops that you tried?

 

No, I had dell cards mostly (since Acer no longer use MXM).

 

Yes, fastest from the widely available on the market, but 9600m gt is fastest available for him to buy on auction site he mention.

 

Hi, can you help me about Aspire 4720ZG ?

it had 8400, on list you also have only 8400 is there any other card compatible with this laptop model?