T7100 with X1700? Acer Travelmate 5720g

I like these series of travelmates very much and am looking to buy one. However, i have a budet of about £500 ($1000 about) and i would like to know which one is better for casual gaming, DX9 games only, dont need DX10 or SM.4

right the 2 models are
5720g ----T7300 2ghz processor,ATi hd2400XT gddr2 2gb ram 160gb HD £499

5720g ---- T7100 1.8ghz processor,ATi X1700 possibly Gddr3, 1gb ram, 160gb hd £380

I can get cheap ram no problems. and... in acer laptops do they use either the ddr1,ddr2, gddr3, or the gddr4 varients of the x1700? just wondering. Thx in advance for the answers

 

The travelmate 5720G seems to use MXM-II type GPUs....(X1700 might be soldered and the manual doesn't show anything about the X1700) and the manual shows that only DDR2 gpus are used....

 

thanks for your reply, thats a shame only ddr2 chips are used because gddr3 gives a big performance and cooling advantage over ddr2 .

 

I've had a 5720g for a while now and I love it.

Original spec was the T7300 version with an x2500 (same as x1700) GPU.

Recently upgraded the CPU to a T9300 (T7300 was plenty fast anyway but I was bored!) and took pics of the inside including MXM module, on the motherboard next to it is printed 'MXM1'.

The x1700 has ddr2 on mine.

I don't play games that much but if theres anything you want me to test/benchmark I'm more than happy to help if I can.

Also if you were curious and wanted pics of the internals let me know

 

These are a few pics of the GPU on the TM5720G....and by the looks of it, it is MXM-II....BUT I am not sure if all 3 or 4 of the known GPUs are MXM-II or not....Because if they are, there is a good chance they can be upgraded to a 8600M GT....But it can void your warranty, and if you don't want to upgrade, go for the best GPU available from Acer..!!

 

wow! nice pictures , i think it would have to be MXM II as on the MXM website it does list it as MXM II however the X2500 comes in to varieties, one with a 64bit width bus, (not good for large resolutions), and a 128bit bus (fine for larger resolutions) . Do you know which one yours is lucino?

thx for the replies btw =)

 

I see only two MXMs here....So I would be very careful going about choosing, if you want to upgrade the GPU later..!!

But, here it is stated that all 3 variants come with a daughter board (Acer's jargon or something for MXM)


Here are the full video specs....


I guess the X1700 may have been added recently, so it is not updated into the manual..!!

And you might be able to upgrade to the Penryns as well..!!

 

Mine looks like its 128 bit bus, spec below-

[ PCI Express 1.0 x16: ATI Mobility Radeon X2500 (Acer) ]

Graphics Processor Properties:
Video Adapter ATI Mobility Radeon X2500 (Acer)
BIOS Version 009.012.001.026.025595
BIOS Date 06/13/07,15:04:1
GPU Code Name M66
PCI Device 1002-71DE / 1025-011F (Rev 00)
Process Technology 80 nm
Bus Type PCI Express 1.0 x16 @ x16
Memory Size 256 MB
GPU Clock 459 MHz (original: 460 MHz)
RAMDAC Clock 400 MHz
Pixel Pipelines 12
TMU Per Pipeline 1
Vertex Shaders 5 (v3.0)
Pixel Shaders 12 (v3.0)
DirectX Hardware Support DirectX v9.0c
Pixel Fillrate 5508 MPixel/s
Texel Fillrate 5508 MTexel/s

Memory Bus Properties:
Bus Type DDR2
Bus Width 128-bit
Real Clock 392 MHz (DDR) (original: 400 MHz)
Effective Clock 784 MHz
Bandwidth 12.3 GB/s





I'd actually like to throw an 8600gt in just to see if it would work but looks like the MXM1 printed next to the MXM connector in the above pic rules that out

 

ahhh! very good, glad it isnt the 64bit bus width one =) how is it for gaming?

 

@lucino...Is that X2500 soldered to the motherboard....??

Are those screws for the heatsink..??

 

I recently bought this modelin hong kong, i wonder if i can replace my gpu to HD2600XT, see my signature

 

I am not sure, Best is, you open up your laptop and remove the heatsink to see if an MXM board is installed or not (and upload a pic of it)

 

oko doki, ty man

 

Ah I mainly stick to gaming on the ps3 now, but if theres a particular game you want me to install and test let me know and I'll try my best if you like.

No it's not soldered to the motherboard, yes those are the mounting holes also (sorry my photograhpy skills aren't great!! ). Below is a pic of the underside of the X2500 card if thats of any more use

 

That is an MXM-II slot....You can compare your MXM board here, to know which type it is..!!
I guess you should be able to upgrade to a 8600M GT..

 

@boyciejunior- have you had anymore thoughts on the lappie?

@Andy- thanks for all the help, don't really understand why it has 'MXM1' printed on the MB but from the link you posted it appears the mounting holes/connectors are the same with MXM1 & 2

Going to start looking around for an 8600gt or better MXM2 card I think, might look into the HD2600XT to see which card type it is also

Just a thought, if the limiting factor between using MXM1-4 is the laptops ability to provide enough power and cooling, why not simply build an external powered enclosure with its own cooling and extend the MXM connector outside the laptop?
Or have one internal card for when mobile, with a split switching connector to plug in an external when stationary and gaming for example...

 

I wouldn't do anything external....esp on the laptop since it truly defeats the purpose of mobility....Yet the point is to have a mobile gaming machine - so either you buy a machine at a premium or do all the upgrade stuff yourself....!!
I would never buy a gaming laptop - buy one used or cheap with the min specs and has the potential to be upgraded, or build a gaming desktop (and thats what I am gonna do next )

Anyway, back to the topic ....
I found this bit alongwith one of the BIOS upgrades, and the txt file with it shows this info....

View attachment 21838

So, it states that the 8600Ms and the Penryns are supported, officially

I think the X2500 is an MXM-II card....and the rest as well..!!

You can call up Acer and ask them, which model has the MXM-II slot in it..