Aspire 6930G Upgrade - GPU and CPU

Well, i've had my 6930g for about a year and 4 months now. Specs are below.

Great laptop and runs all of my games very well however I did like the idea of changing the current 9600m GT DDR2 to the DDR3 version as it seems to be quite a bit faster. I also thought about getting a better CPU.

So - I bought a 9600m GT DDR3 from ebay and it has now arrived. I'll likely have to blind flash the bios as it is not an Acer card, but i know how to do this.

Problem I have with the card though is that the screw holes on the metal back plate are too small for the screws i removed from the existing card.

Does anyone know if you can remove this metal back plate?

Specs are:-

p7450 2.13ghz
4GB DDR 667 Ram
9600 m GT 1 GB DDR2
Scorpio Blue 320gb

Also, when fitting the new gfx card in the slot, it goes in nicely at the standard 45 degree angle, but there seems to be quite a bit of resistance to it sitting down flat.

My existing card sits down flat on the heatsink quite easily, but the new card seems to need a lot of force and I don't want to break anything.

My CPU hasn't arrived yet (e8435) but will report when i get it on the results.

thanks for any help.

 

Regarding back-plate...
I had that issue when upgraded from 8600m GS to 9650M GT (from Asus), Just took off the one on 9650M GT and swapped it with one on 8600M GS and it is working very fine for me...

Cheers

 

They tend to be just stuck on.

 

What sucks about some of the MXM II cards, at least in my experience, the HP ones like fx 770m and others don't only have a different backplate but they have a slightly different board... so its not possible to swap backplates like normal, just an FYI to anyone wondering about that... you have to find smaller screws.

In the OPs case it sounds like the one they got with the card has spacers which prevent it from sitting flat, so it would be necessary to change it.
I've done this a lot and some can be a real pain but you just have to systematically use your fingernails or something to pry it up slowly.

 

thanks for the responses. i'm going to try installing it tonight after removing the backplate etc.

i hope it goes ok, always worried that i'll break something. I'll report back!

cpu hasn't arrived yet, might have gone missing in the post unfortunately , will likely have to get a refund.

 

Could consider a HD5770@x2E or HD6850@x2E DIY ViDock. Paired with your e8435 cpu I'd estimate 3dmark06 of 12-14k. Your 6930G is x2E capable.

 

well, the e8435 arrived and i managed to get it in after some hairy moments.

i didnt take the whole laptop apart, just used the 'hold the heatsink up' method and let it fall out.

the original p7450 came out fine with some tweezers.

i then put the e8435 in and all looked good, so i tightened the screw, put the heatsink on and pressed the power button.

absolutely dead.

my face was starting to go red at this point and my heart was beating as i thought i had killed the whole machine.

so, i turned it over, checked the cpu and noticed than one corner of it didn't seem to be sitting in the socket right. arg!

i undid the heatsink and turned the release screw fearing the worst. the cpu came out and it was intact... pheww..

so, i reapplied the as5 and got it all smooth and this time made absolutely sure it was sitting in the socket completely. i redid the heatsink etc. and closed the laptop up again.

turned on and......it worked!! i was so relieved and my face was just a healthy pink glow now.

i'm typing this from the 6930g with the e8435 in it.

i've undervolted a little and my temperatures seem to be about 8-10c hotter than the p7450 - about 50-54 at idle at 70-72 at full load, not bad really. this is with a very moderate undervolt.




As for the 9600mGT i bought i cant seem to get the backplate off. i think i'll just sell it on and get a certified acer 9600mGt that will definetly fit.

after that, i'm done and will keep this rig going for a couple of years i think as long as it doesn't die.


thanks for the responses!

 

further update.

doing some temperature testing with the new e8435.

under full 100% load it has reached an all time high of 86 C at default volts. only marginally cooler with a bit less volts.

with the undervolting I noticed a strange thing. anything less than almost full volts and the chip will underperform in benchmarks.

in sandra, it only runs about 35% as fast in the dhrystone test with undervolting.

so, looks like i need to run at default volts.

now, i know that laptop cpu's are rated to 100C but is the above temp ok?

bearing in mind that the cpu temp is usually about 60C idle and about 75C at full gaming load (i dont do any 100% cpu intensive stuff except when benchmarking)

thanks

PS

Windows 7 Score has went from 5.7 for my P7450 2.13Ghz to 6.6, as has the memory score which is strange

 

final post!

i've now reverted back to my p7450. i just couldn't stand the heat output of the e8450.

i did a speedfan log and it reached 92C during game play. far, far too high.

my p7450 is now back in with a fresh layer of AS5 and i managed to clean the heatsink too.

in the same game, speedfan report 62C as the max temp - 30C of a difference!

i think i'm resigned to the fact that upgrading a laptop cpu/gfx card is pointless. think i'll just get a fast ssd and that will be that.

 

what cpu is that??? i dont know this one

 

Well honestly shouldn't use the Apple processor since they have a either a TDP of 44 or 55 Watts depending on which revision you got. Any 35 Watts processor won't run over 80C. The reason you had such a huge increase in temperatures is cause the P7450 only had a TDP of 25 Watts. You can try any T series or P series Intel processor and it'll run a lot better than what you have. An as for the black plate, it's removable but not fun. It takes a lot of working with a flat head screw driver. But you really don't need the back plate in order to install the card. Not in my experience. If you can get a copper plate then all's good. My current card doesn't have a back plate.