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    Upgrades for G73JH

    Discussion in 'ASUS Gaming Notebook Forum' started by blahteeb, Jan 13, 2011.

  1. blahteeb

    blahteeb Notebook Guru

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    I'm not big on all the tech stuff. I know the basics that it's mostly impossible to upgrade a GPU on a laptop.

    But there are still very few instances where upgrades are possible.

    With that, does anyone know whether or not the newer GPU's fit/work with the regular G73JH? The new ATI 6900 series look real nice, but will they fit and stay cool enough? What about Nvidia's newer cards? I assume anything xfire or sli is out of the questions, but maybe a single card upgrade would do?

    Thanks for any help. :)
     
    blahteeb, Jan 13, 2011
    #1
  2. mite_jan

    mite_jan Notebook Deity

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    don't tell me you are not satisfied with the 5870?
    if you are a gamer freak then you need a desktop not laptop
    reputation -1
     
    mite_jan, Jan 13, 2011
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  3. josh22

    josh22 Notebook Consultant

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    I agree...the 5870m should kick butt for many years yet... :)....it is a heck of a mobile card... :)
     
    josh22, Jan 13, 2011
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  4. mite_jan

    mite_jan Notebook Deity

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    i am planing to use that video card for 4-5 years minimum and he is going to change it :D :D :D
     
    mite_jan, Jan 13, 2011
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  5. DCx

    DCx Banned!

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    You'll have to wait and see the details about these new cards - power draw, form factor, etc.
     
    DCx, Jan 13, 2011
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  6. Typecast

    Typecast NBR's Tamed Zombie

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    So you are saying that 5870m is still powerful than 6000 series?
     
    Typecast, Jan 13, 2011
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  7. DCx

    DCx Banned!

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    Nope. But it might be more powerful that SOME of the 6000 series cards.
     
    DCx, Jan 13, 2011
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  8. mite_jan

    mite_jan Notebook Deity

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    mite_jan, Jan 13, 2011
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  9. Typecast

    Typecast NBR's Tamed Zombie

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    Is this right? Its now amd, not ati? huh?
     
    Typecast, Jan 13, 2011
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  10. mite_jan

    mite_jan Notebook Deity

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    AMD bought ATI
     
    mite_jan, Jan 13, 2011
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  11. Jody

    Jody Notebook Deity

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    They bought ATI quite a while ago but they recently changed the name of the product to the AMD Radeon instead of the ATI Radeon... I think they did that just before the 6000 series came out. That is a really strange product line. The lower end and mid range 6000 series is not as fast as a 5870. I remember reading about it on Tom's hardware. It was more of a marketing thing combined with a product tweak than a whole new card series.

    It really caught my attention when it first came out since I have a 5870 in my desktop and laptop. When I realized that most of them weren't faster than my cards, my interest in the subject was lost. I have the attention span of a gnat. :)
     
    Jody, Jan 14, 2011
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  12. dark_nerd

    dark_nerd Notebook Consultant

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    you could upgrade the cpu to a sandy bridge i7. they both have the same rpg socket right?
     
    dark_nerd, Jan 14, 2011
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  13. Typecast

    Typecast NBR's Tamed Zombie

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    Typecast, Jan 14, 2011
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  14. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    No you can't, it's a different socket, see yourself:
    First gen i7: Intel® Core? i7-720QM Processor (6M Cache, 1.60 GHz)with SPEC Code(s)SLBLY
    2nd gen i7 aka Sandy Bridge: Intel® Core? i7-2720QM Processor (6M Cache, 2.20 GHz)? SPEC ??SR00W, SR014

    PGA988 vs. FCBGA1224, FCPGA988

    You can still get a i7 920xm... a real beast which even beats some of the new i7 when used with throttlestop...
     
    svl7, Jan 14, 2011
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  15. mite_jan

    mite_jan Notebook Deity

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    isn't it too early for upgrades for the G73J???
    do you really think you are using all of your processor????
    or just you want to be the sandy mandy man
    look at meeee i have the coolest processor
     
    mite_jan, Jan 14, 2011
    #15
  16. blahteeb

    blahteeb Notebook Guru

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    Well I have enough dough to upgrade. IF its upgradable. I can still sell me 5870m if and once a new one is installed.

    How much higher watt does the new card have to be in order to NOT be compatible?
    As I understand, the 5870m is 50 watts. I'm not really sure what the limits are. Is 55 watts to much already?
     
    blahteeb, Jan 14, 2011
    #16
  17. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    The 5870m is rated at 75W TDP as far as I remeber, but that's just a number of the heat dissipation and not actually the power consumption... I've never seen actual numbers about the power drain of mobile cards so far.

    At least your cooling system is pretty tough and will be able to handle cards with similar TDPs, but I don't think there's any other card available that will fit in your Asus notebook.

    Asus uses MXM cards, but as far as I know the connector is inverted, so you can't just buy a different card from Dell or clevo... besides, there's no card on the market that will fit your TDP requirement and clearly beat the 5870m.

    As a marginal note, another problem would be the bios compatibility...
     
    svl7, Jan 14, 2011
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  18. @tilla

    @tilla Notebook Evangelist

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    Imho 5870m is rated at 65W+ total TDP. 50W just for the GPU and plus X for PCB and GDDR5.
     
    @tilla, Jan 14, 2011
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  19. <MarkS>

    <MarkS> Notebook Village Idiot

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    Very marginal IMO. It's extremely unlikely the BIOS is hardwired for a certain display adapter on the PCI bus.
     
    <MarkS>, Jan 14, 2011
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  20. DCx

    DCx Banned!

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    It depends on your power supply. Like all power supplies, the listed power is not a maximum, but a guaranteed draw. If you exceed that by 5 watts, you're probably still fine - likely it'll support the increase, but not guaranteed.

    Like overclocking - you buy a chip, and it's guaranteed at 2.1ghz. Likely it'll do a 10-20% overclock with NO problem at all, but if it doesn't, you can't complain it's defective.
     
    DCx, Jan 14, 2011
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  21. blahteeb

    blahteeb Notebook Guru

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    Now I understand it not being compatible with Clevo and that, but I read a fews years back that Asus tends to make things compatible with other Asus notebooks. Is this true? Doesn't all Asus GPU connect pretty much the same, given that they are the same MxM and all?
     
    blahteeb, Jan 14, 2011
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  22. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    Unfortunately not that unlikely... The OEMs don't implement the MXM standard completely otherwise it wouldn't be a problem...

    When for example the VBIOS of any MXM card somehow can't access the System Information Structure (MXM-SIS), the card will not work.

    Just one of several possible BIOS issues, and that's just because the improper or incomplete MXM implementation of the manufacturers.

    Well, as far as I know, Asus has the stupid habit to invert the MXM connectors... so it might work with another Asus card, but I'm not sure, I don't know to much about Asus and their MXM card.

    However, at the moment there isn't a better mobile GPU available on an Asus laptop than the 5870m as far as I know...
     
    svl7, Jan 14, 2011
    #22