GTX 480 question

Well I embarrassed myself in an earlier post I made. So now that I have my terminology correct, will a GTX 480m fit in the slots previously occupied by 9800m gts/260m/280m and run properly? Im thinking yes. The 260/280 can replace 9800ms therefore shouldnt a 480 be able to replace a 9800m and 260/280? If so my Area 51 M17x has ALOT of life left Long live the last all Alienware lap top!!!!!!

 

Don't wanna shatter your hopes but the chances are big fat O. Not only your old system has an older MXM version 2.1 (correct me if I'm wrong), while 480M is MXM3.0b. You'll also need 2 more things to make it work : cooling (modified heatsinks, stronger fans, etc) and a BIOS support for the card to be recognized. Also, a stronger PSU might be needed.
You could ask MXM-Upgrade for the best GPU upgrade option for your system... Nah, not a chance, sorry.

 

Unfortunately it wont. The GTX 480M is MXM 3.0 type B while the Area-51 M17x can only hold MXM 2.1 type cards. The best it can hold would be two 9800M GTXs in SLi. You could try a single ATi MR4850, MR4870 or GTX 280M or if you're lucky, try to see if dual 4870s from an Asus W90 or dual 4850s from an Alienware M17 (not M17x) would work in your system.

 

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm interesting....So the GTX 280 works, someone on here has it running on an AREA 51 M15x. So Id thought that if the 480 could fit where the 280 was that itd fit where the 9800m was. Well a gtx 280 will stil extend the life of my baby anyway. Thanks for the info!!!!

PS the old girl still plays the newest games pretty well, so no rush.

 

How do you find out what a card is? I just did a search on Google and it came back with a site to buy a GTX260M MXM3.0B card...so if it is, then a GTX480 would theoretically work. Plus, the reference GTX260m is a 75w card, where the GTX480 is 100w, is that diffrence enough to require more cooling than what the 260 uses?

 

470m (75 watt) should theoretically be a drop in replacement, and all the math I can do keeps showing it as being faster than the 480m.

Seems like a superior alternate.

-Ash

 

Interesting...good to know.

 

WOW ok, again this just seems like an all around WIN. I buy the 470m than, it works and I have an up todate machine. Albeit nolonger SLI but, 2gigs!!!!! And if it doesnt work I sell it off on here. Ill keep you guys updated.

 

Look. No card from the 400m series will work. Not. A. Single. One.

The Area-51 m17x can ONLY take MXM 2.1 cards.

The GTX 260M and GTX 280M were released in both MXM 2.1 and MXM 3.0b variants. So the MXM 2.1 cards WILL work.

No card from the 400m series is going to be released in MXM 2.1. Therefore, NONE of them will work. None of them will even FIT. Full stop.

 

Love the knowledge on this forum.

 

Again how do you tell what version a vid card is? I have the M17X R1...

 

it's MXM 3.0b

 

But judging by your stats your system is the M17x R1 not tht Area 51 M17x R1. If you have 1 gtx 260 card you might be able to upgrade to the new series of cards.

 

i got ati 5850 gddr5 and i think its mxm3.0b
can i use 480m instead? do i need to replace anything/
i'm using gx640 from msi if it matters
and oh, where can i get 480m? xD

**edit
can i use crossfire/sli?
those VGA *mobility version* are single chip? or do they need 2 slots?

 

5850's are awesome, if you have one already just purchase another one and run crossfire and be good to go for at least another year. The 480 "should" fit mechanically but the verdict is still out on whether the M17x R2's Bios and power can handle 2x 2gig cards.