G73JW GPU & MXM standard

There has been a lot of talk about the GPU of the 460m and the MXM conformity it, but I have never seen any pictures of the connectors or the layout of this card so far, so I thought I post this here.

As a friend of mine asked me to upgrade his G73JW from a 740qm to a 920xm, so we decided to also take a look at the GPU to answer all our questions about the much discussed GTX 460m used by Asus.


Here's a comparison of a standard MXM 3.0 Type B Nvidia GTX 260m (pulled from an Alienware M15x) and the "Asus style" Nvidia GTX 460m from the G73JW.







The Asus card is huge. It's easy to notice that it hasn't a lot in common with the MXM standard card. The only thing that seems to be exactly the same is the connector. At least physically a standard MXM card will fit. Whether the pins are electrically the same is a different question, but my guess would be they're the same.

Take a look at the layout of the holes and especially at the position of the die. Even if a different card would work somehow there's no possibility to cool it unless you have a custom heatsink.

It's really a pity Asus doesn't apply to the MXM-standards.



Here's a last picture which shows the chewing-gum like paste Asus uses on the vRAM modules and other parts of the card. I was a bit shocked about this mess... I actually expected thermal pads. This made me curious about what you guys who repasted used on the vRAM? Thermal pads?



The heatsink of the G73JW isn't perfect at all, there's not much pressure on the die and memory modules at all, even when every screw is tightly in its place.

If anyone's interested, I've take a couples of photos during the disassembly procedure, let me know when you're interested in something specifically. I don't think there's a need for a disassembly guide as the whole official Asus guide is already available in this forum. (It's really a pain to take this beast apart imo )

A big thanks goes to NeoConker89, the owner of this sweet system who let me take it apart and upgrade it.

 

really interesting research dude, thanks for the nice pictures

 

Nice pics, added to sticky. Here's another one for comparison (from the G73Jh): http://forum.notebookreview.com/asu...asus-g73-benchmark-thread-13.html#post5877549

 

I was under the impression that the JW TIM works pretty well. Alot of people argue that you have to use thermal pads on GPU memory to make good contact when the evidence to the contrary is staring you right in the face. Please, correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: Forgot to say that this is a nice thread, though I have that one small gripe.

 

Nice thread.

The answer is simple, huge PCB has less layer.

 

Made me curious as well, has anyone repasted a 460m? What did you repaste the vRAM?

 

I used AS5 on the die and the vRAMs !!

 

Yes, I didn't open the system for a repaste at all... just for a CPU exchangement, but while the system was already open we decided to peek at the GPU as well, pure curiosity. The standard TIM worked perfectly. Of course I had to renew it once I lifted the heatsink... I expected thermal pads, not this crazy stuff. Fortunately I had some new thermal pads laying around.

I used 1mm thermal pads on the vRAM and AS5 on the die... but I guess in this case thermal paste on the die and the vRAM as well my be the better solution. As I said, you can't really apply pressure with the heatsink, even if the screws are completely turned in. The pads get barley compressed.

Nice. May I know what your temps are? (idle/gaming/max)

 

Hey guys,

sorry for interupt this thread.

I've just done it.
I replaced the ASUS (JH) 5870m with a MSI 5870m.

Load:


Idle (after load):


So, a stock MXM 3.0b 5870m is working in a G73JH with little afford.
The vBIOS is modded to 700/[email protected].

Only problem by now.
The fans are running fullspeed all the time.

Maybe I will open another thread for this.

I've also done some pics of comparison.

Edit: Please follow here.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/567898-g73jh-running-msi-5870m.html

 

Yeah, better start a new thread, else this gets confusing... it's all about the G73JW here, the JH has a different GPU layout as far as I remember.

 

So now idle :around 42°C/Gaming : 68°C/Max : 74°C (Furmark ) !!
Before idle : 45°C/Gaming : 74°C/Max : 78-80°C !!

 

Well, that's nice, great temps. I guess we will disassemble the G73JW again and put paste instead of pads, haha. If only it wasn't such a pain to disassemble it.