Asus G73JH-A2 With Dead Gpu. Replace with 5870m or upgrade to 7970m?

After reading over some of the posts on this great forum I figured the best way to get an exact answer would be to just ask. I recently picked up this computer for 150 Canadian, knowing it had a dead VGA and no hard drive, hard drive isnt a problem ill likely put an ssd in, but im not sure what to do with the gpu. Ive attemped a reflow with a hot air rework station but unfortuantely im still not getting any results, so ive come to the conclusion the graphics card needs replacing.

My 2 questions are, 1 Is there a chance it could be something else? Laptop powers up and fans spin, both heatsinks get warm but no picture on the display nor though hdmi.

Second question, Asus will replace the gpu out of warranty for 169.99, which would be the way id do a 5970m, or else i can get a 7970m from overseas for 280 shipped, but what would that entail. Ive heard that the heatsink needs to be cut, which wouldnt be a problem, but also that a power supply upgrade is needed, and they seem to be about 100 dollars for a 230w power supply. The last issue is I cant reflash a bios as i have no other laptop, just a desktop and ive heard that certain gpus (clevo) need a vbios flash to function correctly. Thanks for the input and sorry for the long wall of text.




TL DR How do i install a 7970m into a g73

 

bro,its simple just go with hd 5870m no huss and no fuss

 

As much as I like the G73, it did have a lot of issues till I fixed them all thx to the forums here. I feel it will be most stable with a 5870m since it's gone several testing already. Upgrading to a 7970m may bring about unpredictable results. Also, 7970 uses 28nm technology while 5870 uses 40nm so I don't even think it would work out. I could be wrong though

 

I think the 770M is a better partner due to it's lower power consumption.

 

Do the 770s require much modification? Or do they just drop into the laptop?

 

Both system bios and video bios needs to be modified for 770m in G73jh to work, Definitely not for beginners.

 

Hmm okay, I dont have a problem flashing a bios but i dont have a working card atm, so i wont be able to see what im doing. Thinking ill just get a 5870 installed by asus for 170

 

If it's only 170 bucks to get it working again then that's not bad.