CPU and GPU upgrade on Acer Aspire 6930G

So I decided to give you an idea how to change the CPU (the GPU is easy) in 6930G.
First things, first.
This is a vague guide and quite clumsy so I have no responsibility whatsoever if you damage your laptop or you lose your data or anything bad happens to your laptop or you etc.
I have to mention though that there is another guide written by lucino but unfortunately he hasn’t finished it and there are no photos. His guide looks more appropriate and safer than mine which is a bit risky but much quicker. Here is the link. lucino's guide
I am not sure if there is an update or if he is planning to include photos and finish the guide.
You will need a cross-head screwdriver around 3.0mm (you don’t say!!!) but also a flat one
Please use some kind of protection from ESD (electrostatic discharge) like an antistatic or grounding strap or gloves. This will prevent the static sensitive components from being ruined (memory, video card, motherboard etc).
Sometimes I don’t use it but I know how to discharge myself (i.e. by touching a metallic surface) before touching the laptop.
Then you will need some kind of thermal compound for the CPU and the GPU, I use Arctic Silver 5 (AS5).
You might want to use thermal pads as well for your graphic card’s memory (I don’t) so buy some before you move on.
You will also need good quality cotton swab, ethanol and a pair of tweezers (preferably plastic ones)
REMOVE BATTERY AND POWER CABLE
Turn laptop upside down. Unscrew the following screws and lift the lid (photo 1).
Now you see the heatsink for the CPU and the graphic card (GC) sitting on top of the other part of the heat sink.

To remove the GC, unscrew the four screws and gently lift the GC from one side (the one opposite the MXM connector) (photo 2). It is lightly stuck on the heat sink (HS) but you can pull it upwards gently. Just make sure you have totally loosen (or even better remove) the four screws otherwise it won’t be lifted up. Then you can slide out the GC and you can replace with another GC. Before putting the new GC though, clean the HS surface with mild organic solvent (like 95%-100% ethanol), remove any thermal pads or traces of them, wait to dry and replace them with new. Apply some AS5 or thermal pads on the GPU core and on the memory chips as well. But don't put thermal pads and thermal compound together. Now you are ready to slide in the new GC at 45o degrees and then push it down gently and screw back the four screws.

Now the CPU
That is more difficult than the GC.
You need to loosen the four screws that are holding the HS down on the CPU (photo 3). Then lift up gently the HS and underneath you will see the CPU. The HS cannot be removed at this stage. If you want that you will need to do the whole laptop and lucino guide might be more helpful. As you hold the HS up gently, slide it to the left or to the right so you can loosen the screw of the CPU socket (where the arrow in the photo 3 is pointing) by using the flat screwdriver. Usually a ¾ turn is enough. I have attached a photo from another laptop where the screw can be seen more clearly (photo 4). You will see the whole socket with the CPU on to slide slightly towards the screw. Again I have a photo from another laptop (photo 5). On the left part is the socket unlocked and on the right locked. The CPU is released and you can remove it. Now that is not easy as the HS is in the way. So what I did, I turn the laptop upside down again and place it on a high surface. Have the laptop on the edge, almost half of it hanging out so you can see underneath it. Pull the HS down, shake the CPU or use the tweezers and it should fall on the HS (photo 6). Now with a pair of tweezers you can catch the CPU and gently pull it out, carefully not to damage the pins.
Turn the laptop upside down again. Deep the cotton swabs in ethanol and by holding up the HS try to clean the surface of the HS that was touching the CPU. Try to remove any traces of previous thermal compound or thermal pads. Be very careful not to touch any other surface and spread the thermal compound all over the place. Look at your hands as well and wash them if they are dirty.
Now you can apply some AS5 on the new CPU and then by holding the HS up you can slide it carefully and gently back on the socket. There is a gold arrow (triangle to be precise) on the CPU (bottom left), when you place the CPU on the socket try to match it with the triangle of the socket (photo 7 and 4). I would suggest you not to use thermal pads instead as Acer does with the laptops. You will see the CPU dropping on the socket as the pins fill the holes of the socket. Then you can tight the screw of the socket so the CPU is locked on the socket. Be very sure the CPU is in place before you tight the screw because if not all the pins are in the holes, you might damage the pins as you tight the screw and thus destroying the CPU. Finally place the HS on top of the CPU, and tighten the four screws on top. While you tighten the screws, try to hold still the HS and not letting it slide left-right because you will spread the thermal compound unevenly. That’s it, now you place the lid cover back in place, put the power cable and the battery back and hopefully the laptop will come alive as usual.

Just to remind you, I think the 6930G with the new BIOS 3236 is not compatible with the 8600M GT. It is working fine with the 3121 BIOS. I haven’t fully tested the card though but it plays games fine and you can overclock it as well.

The upgrades I did were the CPU, from T5800 to T9300, the graphic card, from 9300M GS to 8600M GT, and the memory, from 3GB to 4GB.

 

The maximum photos I could put in the previous post were 6 so the 7th photo is here

 

Can't find 3121 in Acer's site? Where can I find?

 

You can look in the European ACER Support site.
(I couldn't put the link because it was unavailable at the time)
Both BIOS are there. Or you can look in the FTP site.
ACER FTP
In the European FTP site only the 3121 Bios is there.

 

Hi

Forgive me for asking, as I don't know much about these things, but would the 6930G support a GPU upgrade from 9300M GS (256MB) to 9600M GT (512 MB)? Acer ships this laptop with both of these cards, mine has the 9300M GS, and I'd rather have the 9600M GT! I gather I'd probably just need to flash the BIOS, and make sure that the 9600M GT had an MXM-II connection, have I missed something here...?

Cheers
Chris

 

Welcome to the forum mate.
The 6930g will support 9600M GT DDR3 or DDR2 (DDR3 is much better than DDR2) and as far as I know, in most cases, you don't need to flash the laptop's BIOS but you might need to flash the graphic card's BIOS (vBIOS). If the 9600M GT has Acer BIOS on it, then you are safe. Otherwise, you can install the card and if it's not working then you might need to flash the card. Of course the card needs to be MXM-II, but I am not sure if there are other types of MXM for the 9600M GT. In other words, I don't think you are going to have a problem with the MXM type of the card.
Another card that you might find interesting to install is the ATI Mobility HD 4650 1GB DDR2 (link). That also is compatible with the 6930G. Regarding performance I think the ATI has the edge but both are quite good. It's a shame there isn't an ACER ATI 4650 DDR3 MXM-II for the 6930G, that would have been awesome.
If you have any other questions, feel free to come back to this forum. If you do manage to do the upgrade, you can let us know how it went, if you have any problems, how much more powerful is your laptop etc.

 

Thanks for the excellent info nklive, and great tutorial by the way. I didn't know that the ATI 4650 would be compatible - that's really interesting as it looks to be a more powerful card than the 9600 GT. So you're saying that the 6930G is able to accept both DDR2 and DDR3 graphics memory? I thought it was not possible to interchange these, although I'm guessing the DDR connections are on the GPU itself and therefore won't affect the motherboard.

Cheers
Chris

 

Triturbo managed to install the ATI 4670 DDR3 MXM-II in his laptop 5920G. He posted the result of his achievement today. He probably got his card from MSI directly (disappointedly, he doesn't want to reveal his source) and then managed to installed it in 5920G without any problems.
I would suggest you to wait for a couple of weeks or even a month before you buy any card. You might be able to get yourself a much better card. However if you want one now, 9600M GT DDR3 is a very good option compared to the 9300M GS you have now.

I didn't quite understand your question regarding the type of DDR memory on the graphic card. In Acer 6930G you can install either the 9600M GT 512MB DDR2 or the 9600M GT 512MB DDR3. That doesn't mean it can accept any MXM-II card that has DDR2 or DDR3 memory.

 

That's brilliant, thanks so much nklive. Yeah I reckon I'll probably just go for the 9600M GT as that should be sufficient for my needs, and I know for sure that there are stable BIOS versions for the 6930G and cooling shouldn't be an issue.

My mistake about the DDR2 / DDR3 question - that would only apply if I were to try and change the memory on the GPU itself, which I definitely won't be doing! Seems to me that the 6930G would be a pretty easy laptop for upgrading the GPU, relatively speaking.

I know that I'll eventually be limited by the performance of the CPU (T5800 2.0GHz) but for anyone reading this who wants a quick and easy gaming framerate increase on their 9300M GS, just turn off all PhysX settings (through the control panel) - I practically doubled my framerate just doing that with NO loss in visual quality.

 

Just note that it's GDDR3 that you want for GPUs. In a nutshell, the HD 4650/70 GDDR3 > 9600M GT GDDR3 > HD 4650/70 DDR2 (no G, just regular DDR2) > 9600M GT DDR2. Make sure of the memory type on the GPU before you purchase since you cannot change it yourself. Btw the T5800 should still be fine for most games since even the HD 4650/70 GDDR3 would still be limiting.

 

It might not be the best place to put this question but:

Abbout the real memory from the 6930g, mine came with 3Gb DDR2 can we upgrade it for like 4Gb DDR3?
Other quastion i have is: The CPU u installed is especific to mobile computers or a regular CPU?
One more question: Where is the best place on-line to buy a Graphic card to this laptop?
I'm in Portugal, its like the rear-end of the world and even having so many tecnology stores they don't realy sell laptop produts, only the laptops and acessories....

Great post and thanks for the help!

 

1. No, you can only use DDR2, but that's OK, since DDR3 runs at higher clocks, but with worst timings
2. Laptop CPUs only.
3. Depends, what GPU you want, though in most cases it's eBay.

Don't worry, it's like that in the rest of the world. It's pretty difficult to buy a laptop part, excluding RAM and maybe HDD.

 

Thanks for the help,

It's kind of dificult to get around things alone in here, thank god for the Internet...

I already pimped out mine in the HDD part, since our great laptop has a second HDD enclosure, although i had to buy the specific cover for it in a on-line Acer part shop, so now i have 250Gb (main HDD) and a 320Gb in the second one...
One last question: I'm looking for a GPU like the Geforce 9600GT, because i have a friand with the same Acer model (6930G) with that GPU and it's better than mine (9300M GS)...
And i already flashed my bios to the latest version so i probably all like the one in the guide...

Once more thanks for the help, it realy makes a diference!
Last time i forgot to apologize for my inglish, sine i'm in Portugal i do not have a lot of training...

 

9600M GT DDR3 is definitely a notable jump over your 9300M GS. You can buy it over eBay pretty easy

 

Hi again guys

Just a progress update - I've successfully swapped out my 9300M GS for a 9600M GT using the simple guide above, and it runs like an absolute dream! Literally just made sure I wasn't static charged (just kept one hand against the inside case of an earthed, but switched off PC), took out the old GPU, put some Arctic Silver on the new GPU core and memory, screwed it back in and it worked first time.

For anyone interested I got the 9600M GT card off eBay from China (risky ) for about £80 incl. shipping, and the thermal paste was about a fiver. So really, this is an easy and VERY cheap upgrade to get a massive graphics upgrade on the 6930G. As I said in my first post, I've never changed a GPU before (hell I didn't even know about static charge) but still found this a nice easy upgrade.

So, thanks again everyone for your help!

 

Hello,

Did you know wich socket is for the Acer 6930g (6930-6496) and if the T9500 is a good CPU for this laptop ?

Thank you

Ken

 

Hi Kenontheweb, and welcome to the forums!
The 6930G uses Socket P and the PM45 chipset; this means it can actually use 1066 MHz FSB CPUs.
The T9500 is a decent pick, but there are better out there - the T9600 (2.8 GHz), T9800 (2.93 GHz), and T9900 (3.06 GHz) are faster.

 

Thank you verry much for your precious information ;-) ... Now i can look on the ebay store and wait for a good - good - Deal... the price of USED CPU are idecent

Ken

 

TehSuigi typed the words right out of my keyboard!

Just an update, my 6930G is holding up well. One thing to note, my original battery was toast so I had Acer Support replace it for me. It's nice not having the system hibernate after 10 minutes

 

Hello,

I need help,
i have just install a GPU Nvidia 9650M GT on my Acer 6930G (6930-6496) Bios 3121, and i can install the driver for it.

I want to flash my graphic card, but i can't find the bios for it, can you guide me please.

Sorry for my english, i'm french (Belgium)

Thank's very much for your help

Ken

 

...why would you want to flash the card if it works?.....

The vBIOS has to be extracted with GPU-Z first and then altered with Nhibitor and then reflashed using a USB bootable drive stick.

 

I have return the card.... thank's for your respons, but the card doesn't work proprely.

Ken

 

Hello ECHOSHADE i am interesting you configuration acer aspire 6930g.
You have installed in your notebook ati radeon 4670? he is correct? it is DDR2 or DDR3.
I also must do ACER 6930g CPU t5800 2ghz, nvidia 9600m GS ddr2, and I want to update the GPU by one but powerful, the 4670 are possible?

thanks

 

Hey, this is a really good thread can't believe I didn't come across it. I want to upgrade my RAM, CPU, GPU and hard drive. For the hard drive I want to find a HDD that is 320GB or more and spins at 7200rpm or faster (if there are faster for laptops) can Acer take on a 7200rpm hard drive? I want 2 upgrade from a T6400 to a T9500 as well (I got the latest Bios from Acer, they had my laptop for repairs and didn't fix the problem). Is it possible to also upgrade my laptop to a gforce 230m gt (performance seems very slightly better), or a 9800m gt (performance is better). I want to increase my RAM from 3 to 4GB. Current graphics card is 9600m GT 1GB. Thanks in advanced

 

Tiz-12, 7200rpm hard drives are literally the same form factor as 5400rpm ones - the two can be swapped without any problems. There are tons of 320GB 7200rpm drives out there, and Seagate and Hitachi have 500GB 7200rpm models.

Why bother with the Core 2 Duo T9500? The 6930G can handle any dual-core Socket P Core 2 Duo, and that includes the ones that use a 1066 MHz FSB. Aim for a T9600, T9800, or T9900 instead (2.8, 2.93, and 3.06 GHz respectively).

Unfortunately, the GeForce GT 230M and 9800M GT aren't available in the MXM form factor that the 6930G uses. Take a look at the Acer MXM thread to see what your options are, but I'd say that the GeForce 9600M GT 1GB you've got has only two real upgrade options - going to a 512MB GDDR3 version of the 9600M GT (faster video RAM better than more), or migrating to the ATi Radeon HD 4650 1GB DDR2.

 

hi mate. uve got the same laptop as me and as exspected my parents bought me the crappest model for my birthday/xmas. i have the 9300m gs (terrible) 3gb ddr2 (bad also) T64000 CPU and i know im getting another RAM piece but do u know a good card that is not too expensive that i may buy? u obviously know what to do with this model, which is great because ive tried to find someone capable. i dont think i will take my PC apart so will look for PC World or something to do it. thanks for all the info!

 

hahah just the same as me, i want maybe a 9800m gt or something that will play mw2/cod 4 on high settings. need some1 to give me concrete info before i go out buying!

 

Hi QzKi, and welcome to the forums!
Unfortunately, you won't be able to go to the store and grab an MXM card for your machine - they aren't meant for end users to install. So eBay, part stores online, or the excellent MXM-Upgrade.com are your best shots.

Second, you won't be able to stuff a 9800M GT into your machine; those things are MXM-IV cards and far too large and power-hungry to work. The 6930G uses MXM-II cards, which means means the fastest you could go would be a Mobility Radeon HD 4650/4670 or GeForce 9600M GT/9650M GT.
If you're looking for something that will play MW2/COD4 on high settings, sell the 6930G and go buy a desktop.

 

Ok thanks that has made me realise just how bad I am at understanding computers I don't think I will sell my 6930g because I love it. But thanks for the help!
QzKi

 

It's my pleasure, QzKi. We all start knowing very little about computers (for the longest time, I thought my computer's throttling issues were due to something called audiodg.exe), but if you stick around, read a lot, and contribute when you can, you'll become a valued member of the community in no time.

 

I have a problem I have bought t9400 and it does not work to me, in the bios me GENUINE INTEL 2,5GHZ my bios is 3238 is compatible.

t9400 Q4HQ 2,5GHZ

Sorry mi english

greetings

 

That's because your Core 2 Duo T9400 is an engineering sample, and not a regular CPU. Regular CPUs have a CPU specification that starts with "S," just as "SLAYY," while engineering samples have a number that starts with "Q" like yours.

Engineering samples are not meant for use in final systems, because they may have instabilities and other problems that would be fixed in the final regular CPU. I would contact the entity you bought it from and ask for a full refund.

 

Is there a difference between t9900 SLGKH and SLGEE?
And will both fit in the 6930g?

 

Hamzie, the SLGKH is a BGA processor - that means instead of pins to be fit into a socket, it has small balls that are meant to be soldered onto the motherboard. I did see some pics online of the SLGKH with pins, but I'd consider those risky.
You want the SLGEE version - that's the one that comes with pins naturally, and can be found inside pre-configured laptops.

And yes, the T9900 is fully compatible with the 6930G. One of our members, EchoShade has one in his! Ask him via private message if you want to double-check what SLGxx code his CPU is.

 

Thanks for the help. Thank god i didnt buy it just yet

Ill PM him

 

Thanks for the help,I have found in micro ebay this serious compatible one with my to do 6930g?

Thank you very much by your aid


Intel® Core?2 Duo T9600 / E8235 2.80Ghz great value on eBay.ca (item 130462264002 end time 03-Jan-11 19:14:00 EST)

 

I have found this other CPU that this bad one of price is not compatible with my to acer aspire 6930g?




Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile Processor T9600 CPU SLG9F 2.80G - eBay (item 190475718886 end time Jan-02-11 01:58:23 PST)

thanks

 

This is the one you want - note how the auction page says "OEM Version" below the images. That means it's the same CPU that can be found inside official systems. Also, the Core 2 Duo model type (T9600) and full specs (2.80 GHz/6MBL2 cache/1066 MHz FSB) can be found on the bottom black sticker on the CPU itself.

The other CPU, the E8235, is actually from the Apple iMac; and since it's meant for use inside an all-in-one desktop PC and not a laptop, it might be incompatible.

 

E8335 here and runs fine on my 6930g, make sure you get an E0 revision though, they run alot cooler then the C0 revision and undervolted mine to 0.987v @ 2.93ghz.

 

Itself in it looks for a compatible CPU with my to do 6930g I am in auction of this processor intel core 2 duo t9600 step SLB47 AW80576T9600,in theory this if he is compatible no? you pardon for being so annoying already it mistakes to me before and I am making sure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As it is possible that this so good price?
Intel E8435 SLAQD 3.06G 6M 1066
Only the bad thing is his to power 45W but it gives desire me to buy it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Intel-E8435...=190475718886&ps=63&clkid=6179947344736222728

greetins sorry my english

 

Don't get a C0 revision chip they run hot, if you want an E8435/E8335 go for a SLGEA (3.06ghz) or SLGEB (2.93ghz) these are E0 revision and run alot cooler.

 

Hell o I already have the micro ones installed, works the portable one to 2,93mhz perfectly, thank you very much. : p

 

For the 6930G the CPU Socket is PGA478 and whats the Socket for the GPU (graphic card) or theres no socket?! Where i can search NVidia's Compatible with the 6930G??

EDIT : What CPU's of the image will the 6930G MotherBoard Support?



About the Graphic Cards i think the NVIDIA 9600M GT is the best for the 6930G compatiblity!

I have a CPU Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz and 4 GB Ram DDR2 and NVIDIA 9600M GT but it is 35-50 FPS playing Call Of Duty Black Ops, and i just want a nice CPU to play Call of Duty Black Ops Without Low FPS.

*NOTE*Sorry for bad english im from portugal!

 

X9100 is the fastest CPU available.

Make sure you get an E0 version! It's quite a bit cooler.

And the best gfx card is the 4670 but gl finding one

 

I know the X9100 is the fastest CPU but i can use it in my 6930G it will support it without problems it isnt too much fast for 6930G MotherBoard??

ATI 4670?? Why is it hard to find?? 9600M GT is a NVIDIA GPU it isnt the best?

 

The x9100 works in a 6930g, biossupport etc.

4670 DDR3 is a lot faster then an 9600M GT DDR3 but it's almost impossible to find.

And no nvidia isn't better then ati, depends on the model (and performance/price)

 

Ok i will spend 290€ in the CPU and ill spend some in the GPU hmm but just the CPU upgrade will let me play COD:Black Ops with no lag right??

And hmm so i need a ATI 4670 DDR3 for Notebooks and a Core 2 Extreme X9100 for Notebooks (mobile, i think), right?

 

Please don't sped 290€ on an outdated C2D.

Which cpu/gpu do you currently have in your laptop?

 

I think ill buy this CPU : Intel Core 2 Extreme X9100 - 3.06 GHz E0 QS QHBQ | eBay

And this GPU : ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670 MXM Type A 1GB DDR3 UK | eBay

At the moment i have : CPU T6400 2.0Ghz, NVIDIA 9600M GT and 4GB RAM DDR2.

The Core 2 Extreme X9100 and the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670 will let me play COD: Black Ops without problems and low fps?

 

The 4670 won't work, you need an MXM 2.1 type II, thats an MXM 3.0a card.

And the X9100 isn't worth the money, T9600's seem really cheap and only 266mhz slower (huge upgrade from your T6400 - cache - fsb)

Is your 9600M GT ddr2 or ddr3? (check using gpuz), the 9600m gt ddr3 is the best available option since finding a 4670 is just impossible