Thinking Out Loud - 6920G Upgrade to 9650M GS?

As I discovered with the Aspire 6920G service guide, the 9500M GS is installed in an MXM-II slot.
And that got me thinking - what if the Aspire 8920G had an MXM-II slot, too? That meant that the 9650M GS could be installed in a 6920G, thermals permitting, thus giving a decent boost to anyone with the smaller system.

So I had a look at AcerParts.com to check something first.
Take a look at the part numbers for the 9500M GS in the Aspire 6920G and Aspire 8920G sections. They're identical.
http://www.acerparts.com/product_info.php?cPath=561_562_21150_22386&products_id=35439
http://www.acerparts.com/product_info.php?cPath=561_562_21152_22387&products_id=35439
Which leads me to believe that this link below is the 9650M GS.
http://www.acerparts.com/product_info.php?cPath=561_562_21152_22387&products_id=35428

Of course, the best way to check my theory is to post the 8920G Service Guide, and see what it says.
Does anyone have it?

 

post deleted

 

o no, someone else who seems to Think out loud
ha ha ha

 

OK...says the 8920G is "Acer MXM compatible"...good start, means that at least it's not fixed to the motherboard.
The 9500M GS listed in the FRU Parts list IS an MXM-II, but it has a different part number than the one from AcerParts.com.
The 9650M GS listed there has the same part number, but the description is just "VGA MXM BOARD NVIDIA 8ESEH 512MB W/ HDCP."

Keeping in mind that an MXM-III slot could take either II and III cards, we can't conclusively say whether the Aspire 8920G has an MXM-III slot, and more importantly, whether the 9650M GS is an MXM-III card.

The only other way I could see this issue being resolved is if someone with an 8920G, the 9650M GS, a screwdriver, a ruler, and too much time on his/her hands opened up the system and measured the MXM card.

If the GPU is 35 x 35 mm, and/or the upper-left screw hole is 55.3 mm from the bottom-left corner, it's Type II and the upgrade is possible.
If the GPU is 40 x 40 mm, and/or the upper-left screw hole is 60.5 mm from the bottom-left corner, it's Type III and 6920G users are stuck with the 9500M GS...for now.
Measurements are from here.

EDIT @hoggie: Yes, but this is for the good of the community and all Aspire 6920G owners. I think you could tolerate me for that.

 

You've seen this already? http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/types.html

 

No, but I did notice this - I guess it helps if you look on the boards. DERP.

Prof. Jacko's 8920G review mentions that it's an MXM-II card.

Which means the upgrade is totally possible. Anyone have 250 Euros to give it a try?

 

But 8920 SG says MXM II/III..so I guess this means 8920 is compatible with MXM III too..

 

Well, it might be - the Oracle known as Acer Canada's product catalogue does mention an 8920G model coming out at the end of the month with an ATi Radeon HD 3650 512MB card, which AFAIK is an MXM-III.

EDIT: No wait, nothing's been solved yet - Notebookcheck is listing the 9650M GS as an MXM-III card.

Hoo boy, we are back to square one.

 

TehSuigi mate if you need any links or something found on the net, im your man

 

this is another good site for checking the spec of mobos.
http://www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66_81

 

Thanks for the help, hoggie. I might take you up on that.
You've seen that the 9650M GS has been mentioned as an MXM-II AND MXM-III card.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to discover once and for all which it is - and if more than one version exists, which resides in the 8920G.

Should be locate the 8920G Lounge topic and see what that says?

 

its ver 3.0
http://blog.laptopmag.com/nvidia-unveils-eight-new-mobile-gpus-hybrid-sli-physx-support-by-q3

 

Version 3.0 doesn't make a lick of difference, actually - I'm referring to the type & size of the MXM card itself.
Type IIs are smaller than Type IIIs.
From here:
MXM Type Width Length
MXM-I 70 mm 68mm
MXM-II 73 mm 78mm
MXM-III 82 mm 100 mm
MXM-IV 82 mm 115 mm
MXM-HE 82 mm 100 mm

 

all the info you need here.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-8800M-GTS.6934.0.html

this post will self destruct in 15sec's.

BANG

 

well so far all the moans have come from type two owners about the lack of support, and every one with type 3 is moaning how it kills battery life and the heat issues.

 

Heh heh. You can't always get what you want.
This is still going to puzzle me for a while - until someone actually opens up their 8920G and measures, the world will never know for sure.

 

there are five different 8920G's.
all with a different spec sheet so if you have one i will need the code: board name and type

EDIT: this is good fun running around the web

 

Well, in theory it shouldn't matter what model the 8920G is because the MXM slot should be identical between models - it's the graphics card that's in said MXM slot that we care about.

Any model with a 9650M GS, if you please.

 

this one has the MXM3 9650m gs.
and cost three camels and a cow

http://www.acernotebooks.co.uk/Acer...2D_T9300,_4GB,_9650M_LX.AP70U.068/version.asp

 

Where does it say the 9650M GS is an MXM-III card?

You think a new topic asking 8920G owners to open their systems for the good of us 6920G owners would be a wise idea?

 

ask one to open his/her beloved laptop and pull thinks to bits. Good luck

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9650M-GS.8837.0.html
full spec says mxm3

ive just cross referenced about twenty pages/tabs. and found some strange laptop set-ups for the Blue.

 

Yeah, no kidding. And I get the sneaking suspicion that Acer Tech Support would not be able to divulge this information to me.

I noticed the NotebookCheck page, and to be honest, that's enough for me to say case closed on this for now.
No MXM upgrade for the 6920G...yet. With a new generation of Nvidia GPUs to be introduced soon (the TRUE 9M series, so to speak), we can hope that one gets released for Acer with an MXM-II card.

 

Hi, Look at this site http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/606/1 new 5930G has 9600mGT with ddr3 memory, just take a look at last page of this review and the benchmark from 3dmark 2006. I don't believe that acer put MXM III type to this acer 'couse I have 5920G with 8600m GT ddr2 and it's getting hot like a toster while playing. MXM III needs more power then MXM II tpye. So on market there are two types of 9600m GT ddr3 like in 5920G and ddr2 6920G. It's marketing new look, new style, old **** inside or rewarmed 5920G (59 30G) cnetrino 2

 

Keep in mind the 6920G has a 9500M GS, not a 9600M GT.
The first is the 8600M GT rehash with DDR2, the second is a faster core with GDDR3.

Good find though, Shamtu.
It means that an upgrade is at least in the pipeline.

 

just run your 9500m gs @ 9650m gs
475/950 @ 625/1250 (core/shaders)

my 9500m gs runs fine at 650/1300/475 (core/shaders/mem.)
after 20 30minutes in crysis i got 61ºC in core =)

but..
i think 9650m gs uses a 55/65nm die shrink, 9500M GS uses G84 @ 80nm...
and 9650m gs uses GDDR3... :/

ok, i think you can't get a 9500M GS @ 9650M GS, but you can got a 9600M GT performance easy easy...

if you push more you can get a:
8700M GT (625 core / 1250 shaders)
8700M GT uses the same die shrink as 9500M GS; G84 at 80nm...
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-8700M-GT.3987.0.html