Aspire 7730G GPU upgrade (MXM-II)

Hi, I have an Aspire 7730G, Win 7, DualCore T5800 (upgrading to T9900 soon), with 9600M GS 512mb (DDR2), 4gb of RAM. Iam looking for a GPU upgrade. I am squeezing everything out this computer right now

So, my question is, which MXM-II should I take? is the 9600M GT the way to go? or Radeon HD XXXX? I've lurked around NBR, but nobody seems to have done a GPU upgrade to 7730G. I have some money to spend and I am not afraid of getting my hands dirty.

Regards, brusilus

 

there is a nvidia gt240 m in mxm2 format its rare but its there

i have it in my acer aspire 7730 and it runs smooth
i dont know about the ati, i dont have any experince with them

 

raserdk, thank you for your reply! I looked GT240M up and just as you said it is very rare. Did you put it in yourself and was it hard?

I put in my T9900 3.06 GHz yesterday. The difference is amazing! I am still looking for some options for a new GPU

 

no it was very easy, all you need is a copper shim to put between the gfx and the cooling *thingy *(lost the word for it)
congrats on the cpu upgrade
i have a q9100 for mine, but i cant get it to work with it

 

The words Heatsink

If you really want to get that Quad working, head over to the HP forum and start exploring the HDX dragon owners lounge. A member here actually got his system to boot with a Core 2 Quad on the pm965 chipset which officially does not support quads or 1066mhz FSB.

BTW, there are actually a few even rarer cards you can use. Most noteworthy is the non reversed Asus GTX 260m type II. However, it may require you to solder an EEPROM onboard.

 

Do you have some picture of the GPU installation on the 7730 ???

I would like to try, but I prefer to see some picture before.

Thanks

 

Good luck finding one

 

@niffcreature- Thanks for this info. Getting a Core 2 Quad to work on a PM965 is so cool.

 

I seem to remember that the PM965 can run 1066MHz with a hack (the chipset must be fooled into believing it's running at 800MHz), but not quad-cores, as quads use a different pinout (within the same physical socket - however, some "NC" or "reserved" pins of the original Socket P were redefined as data or power pins for quads).
However, the 7730G is IIRC a PM45 system.

The GTX 260M is obtainable from Asus service and spare part centers (Asus P/N 60-NX5VG1000 and 60-NX5VG1100), the bigger issue is modding your heatsink to fit it, as it has the same 2-hole heatsink mount system as Asus' RP-MXM cards.

 

sorry i dont have any pictures,
but it is very easy, you take the bottem cover off, and the gfx is there with 4 screws, you take them out lift the card and pull it out

yes the 7730g is on pm45 chipset and should support a quadcore q9100
but the laptop does not start at all, it does not go to bios or anything,

so i dont know if you can mod a bios or its simply impossible

 

PM45 doesn't automatically mean quad-core support - the socket has to be wired correctly for quads to work. PM45 only means support for 1066MHz FSB & 800MHz DDR2.

 

ahh ok, i have just seen alot of pm45 chipsets that support it, and allso according to intel it should support

this means hardware modding is needed

the wierd thing though is that there is a guy in here who has got his acer aspire 7730g to start up with a quad core but he says he has a modded bios,

 

PM45 can support quad-cores - but only on boards that were designed to hold quad-cores.

 

Is the modded BIOS a solution for the PM45 to be able quad core or are there other thing that need to be done?

 

Seriously, read back in this thread. Quad-cores can ONLY work if the socket is wired correctly.

 

Here's my full video report on the experience of "upgrade" ACER ASPIRE 7730g with INTEL Q9100:

Watch it in max.resolution.

 

That looks like a power issue - perhaps Vcore drops too much on startup. You may need to upgrade some power components responsible for Vcore.
(However, that probably won't fix the problem of only 2 cores recognized - it will only make it start up on the first try, and not shut down when the full Windows is started.)

 

NetRolller 3D, thanks for the answer, now I'm pretty sure Q9100 for 7730g - just wasted money.
Not long ago, I re-tried to upgrade my ACER 7730g from P7350 to T9600.
I love the processor actually - after P7350 (with usual temperature = 63 degrees), the T9600 has just 48! This is very strange and incomprehensible - after increasing by 10 watts - a decrease in temperature. I think this is because from the beginning laptop came with a T6400 - apparently it was made for the T series, and not P - perhaps that's why such a high temperature determined with P. Could this be the reason?
The only thing - there's a new "surprise". After starting Windows, the laptop has become a dead hang with this new processor once in 4-5 minutes. This occurs for no apparent reason, although most - when playing video (MPC, WMP, YouTube). I decided to update the bios: from v0.3611 to v0.3636. The laptop now is working without problems except for one - it has the same dead hanging, but now it happens once in just couple of days. I tried to reinstall Windows (other version, other newest drivers) - the same result - hangings ones in couple of days. NetRolller 3D, do you ever faced such a problem?
I can still try the latest bios - v0.3810 - but as I remember my past testings, it is buggy - it does not turn off the laptop to the end, always getting stuck on the "Windows is Shutting Down".

 

The 7738G shall remain king of the Acer CPU and GPU upgradability world with full quad support and MXM 3A (3B with mods).

 

I was advised on one of the computer forums to disable CX STATES in modded Bios:
First it was:

then I made as I was advised:

As a result, 2 weeks - complete stability, no freezes, clocked in most start ups to 3.2 - without a single problem:

I don't even see any sense in CX states. Once deactivated it, with portable power scheme, the clock frequency of the processor falls to 782 Mhz with no problems:

The problem is solved now, maybe someone will be interested in this experience.

 

sorry for asking, but what modded bios are you using, i never found any modded bios for the acer aspire 7730g