[NW] Upgrade the C90S to a 9600M GT 512MB DDR3 [FIXED!]

You should not use thermal paste on the VRAM you should use thermal pads, and if your card has upper and lower modules, it should be cooled both sides.
Cheers

 

I'm not the best with tools. I was wondering if anyone could make me a heat spreader for the c90 that would work with the 9600M? I would be willing to pay for the work.

 

Well if anything can be said about the c90, is that after several years, there's plenty around and even with all the particular quirks and problems it had(s) it's been flexible enough to see some excellent modifications/upgrades... albeit not by ASUS. Now I think I need to start cutting my copper sheet I've had sitting here forever...

Awesome work Angel and of course Nightwalker.

 

Angel,
Your drawings are ASME A4 and ISO? What is this world coming to? =P
Is the 1.25 surface finish really necessary?

Very nice drawings either way. I'm gonna use 1/16" for my strips instead of 1/32 and see how that goes. My gap was too large for 1/32" on my card thanks to tolerances. Bleh

You should get an ATI card, ATI now has Mobility support on all their catalyst drivers 2000 series+.
It's really nice, and NV has been having driver problems on desktop as well lately.

 

I build a 9600m GT with Samsung DDR3.
DevID: 0649
Sub Vendor ID: 10DE
Sub System ID: 0567
BIOS Version: 62.94.1F.00.08
in a Gericom 1st Supersonic PCI-E (Quanta KN1) Notebook. Problem: GPU only in Throttle mode. After flash bios from nightwalker i get the MXM-structure warning, than WindowsXP load... and 2 seconds before the blue "Welcome" screen, the screen get black.... i have installed the NVIDIA 196.21 driver with modded inf.
And i modded my vbios same like nighwalker's howto. Same problem, black screen with nvidia driver before windows is on the desktop. without any driver, the card work in 2D.
Any idea?

 

This is the exact same problem I was running into until I changed the performance tables correctly. When you say "After flash bios from nightwalker" are you saying you flashed my modded bios file onto your card or that you manually changed the performance tables yourself? It sounds like either the bios flash did not flash correctly or you editied the performance tables wrong manually.

It is also very possible that your power adapter may not be supplying enough voltage to the card. Try lowering all the clocks by about 100-150mhz and reflashing the card to see if it can boot up like that.

Reflash the card again, double check your performance table entries, lower the clocks, and report back. Good luck!

 

For all of you who installed a switch, where did you put the switch? I considered drilling a hole from the inside of the battery compartment to the outside between the right speaker and the IR lens. To remove the necessary half of the case, I need to basically disassemble 90% of the laptop according to the assembly guide. How did you guys do it?

 

Well the voltage regulator on top of the potentiometer works. The fans are variable controlled. However, somehow in the process we changed something and now my laptop won't even boot up from PSU brick =(. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

"I'll try yo post a photo here once I get a chance" It's almost unnoticeable, located to left of the right speaker about an inch from the tray seam

 

I essentially undid the mod my friend did, and the laptop still won't turn on by battery power or AC adapter. I guess I'm boned now since the laptop won't turn on and I'm out of warranty sigh.

My guess is we burned something out without knowing it. My friend is adamant we used a voltage and current regulated power supply when testing so it shouldn't have, but the fact that after undoing the mod the laptop won't power up is pretty damning evidence. Anyone with ideas would be appreciated.

 

Hi everyone,

first time posting on here...so hello. I'm the proud owner of a 3 year oldish
c90s. Bless it, it has been through the wars. I live in the UK (it is not sold here) and had to actually chop bits off to get a power supply to fit it

Anyway - here is my question. About a year ago my gfx card went (suprise suprise), I upgraded to the 8600M GT. Everything was peachy, but now... I'm getting the occasional sreen flicker, kinda like static on an old tv set. Me thinks my card might be about to go again. This is bitter sweet coz Ive been waiting to try the mod at the beggining of this post... but at the same time want to keep this running til I'm ready to put something new in. So my q's are as follows:

1) could this be driver related. Ever since I upgraded to win 7 - things havn't seemed quite right (not to mention turbogear doesn't work)

2) if my card is on its way out - is there anyway to prolong its death.

3) has anyone figured out a way to control the fans independantly? As far as I can see the fans will only ever kick inwhen CPU gets hot, but will leave the graphics card to melta hole in the floor....which means to keep the laptop cool - one has to push it (seems the wrong way round??

many thanks

 

1.) It is most likely not driver related however uninstalling the current drivers you have and then downloading and installing the newest drivers won't hurt. As for turbogear; download turbogear extreme it is the newest incarnation of turbogear and works perfectly with win 7. (However if you have a processor that runs at 2.93ghz or higher on stock turbogear will not work with the C90S you will have to use setfsb to bump up fsb manually)

2.) You can bake it in the oven. Essentially a basic solder reflow. This often works at least temporarily. To do it. Get an oven tray cover it with aluminium foil. Then prop your 8600M GT on several tiny balls of foil and place on the tray with the gfx core facing downwards I believe. Preheat oven to 195-200C (make sure your oven is at that temp with a thermometer) then put the card in for about 8 minutes, 10 max.

3.) Only via hardware mod. A few people have done it I believe most notably ziggo a couple of years back. Quite hard to do for those like me who have zero soldering experience and therefore little confidence to give it a go.

Hope this helps. I also own a c90 in the UK and yup the going is tough keeping these beauties ticking over here, I have had so much trouble with the gfx in my C90P that I sometimes wish it had onboard graphcs

 

It does, thanks!! Yeah my biggest problem was when my power adapter went. I got one from asus europe that was the 'correct' size - but when the actual casing got in the way. Had to get saw the back of the case off!!

Not sure about the oven thing... goes against my common sense approach to things

I notice you say no gpu. where are you at/what are you trying to do?

I had turbo extreme installed BUT found it hard to pull up the GUI. There was the option to change to turbo gear in windows power options, but not way to change settings within turbogear? weird, will try again:/

 

I managed to do a pretty nice Hardware fan control with a voltage regulator from Texas Instruments and a Variable Potentiometer, BUT in the process we burned something and now the board won't power on. I would show you pics but i'm swamped and want to get it booting again first.

 

You shoulda come to nbr before I could have sent you my spare power supply lol before you hacked up ye case

What CPU do you have. As I mentioned before if it is the X6800,E7500 or any other processor that exceeds 2.93ghz turbogear will not function as that clock speed is its threshold. Similarly 3.15ghz is the limit for C90P turbogear but you can reach further in both cases with setfsb.

 

"You shoulda come to nbr before I could have sent you my spare power supply lol before you hacked up ye case"

if that is a real offer, id love it!!! wanna keep this thing going for at least another year and so have ordered a new case (and a 9600 and a new battery, which is also dead) and so would love to not hack up my new case. How much would you want for it. whats the wattage?

so who the heck is charge of my fan speed if Im not and asus is not:/ Since I have installed win 7 - I struggle to get my fans to kick in like they used to. loud noise seems to upset most people but it re-assured me!!!Might just be bad timing but it worries me.

 

small update on the GT130M:
even with nibitor non-compatible with it, you're all aware that i was still able to change the performance table entries. instead of waiting for a supported release, i decided to try and find a way to edit those entries into custom clocks.
after taking out the 4 available entries and comparing them in hex editors, making a LOT of trial and error, i finally managed to enter the clocks i wanted.

so i lowered the clocks to the same speed as a 9600M GT DDR3. the results were surprising. i got about 95% of the performance i had with the card at full power, BUT in exchange...my top temps under heavy loads are now topping at 68 degrees. i do not know why the temperature difference is so huge, since the clocks aren't that far apart.

difference in speed:gt130M->9600Mgt
core speed:600->500
Shader speed:1500->1250
memory speed: 800->800

oh and now doing a 3dmarks i land a respectable 5896. more or less 100 points less than at full speed. if anyone buys the gt130M, i'll be glad to send my new bios file to them.

 

Ive been reading through these pages with great interest. have another question. since I need a new battery, case, gpu thought I might as well upgrade cpu as well. I do like to tinker and abuse my c90s with photoshop and design programs, but am not a huge OCer or gamer. I want the fastest coolest system possible. Is there a general agreement on the best GPU/CPU for a stable system at the moment? You guys all seem to be pushing your c90's to the very edge. I want to push it abit further than it is now....but not to the edge

 

I believe the fastest GPU now is the GT130m by Atvaark, or the quadro fx 770m by Toaster 54. ( All these require mods in the GPU's BIOS, and the heatsink upgrade to handle the added heat. ) You can search for them in this thread.

The fastest CPU right now for the c90s is the e7500, again requiring BIOS mod. ( But u can search the thread for the BIOS file in these threads).

RAM unfortunately we might be limited to 3Gb max only...

 

Fastest GPU for c90s = GT130m by Atvaark, or Quadro fx 770m by toaster.
Requires GPU BIOS mod and heatsink upgrade to handle additional heat.


Fastest CPU for c90s = e7500
Requires BIOS flash... ( search on ASUS threads... I forgot the thread )

Quite a number of c90s users already have them in their c90s without any issues... Stability I think is mainly affected by overclocking. So if no o/c, most likely ur system would stay smooth and stable.

 

Thanks mate!! Will prob go 770m route. I saw that toaster posted that the c90p heatsink doesn't require any mod. What is difference between c90s and ps heat sink. If I get a c90p heatsink will that do the trick? Also how are those fans working put for you king?

 

Hi,

Look at here for link to bios mod.

I'm currently installing a Seagate 320gb@7200rpm and Windows 7 64bit.

Soon, I think so, I'll mod the gpu and cpu's cooling by using "C90S Unleashed” by Angel Marinov .

Enjoy the C90S.

 

Hi,
You're wrong!
Yes the c90p heatsink can take place on a c90s,
BUT : you have to take off the northbridge heatsink, and soldering it to the c90p'one.
Just look here : http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=316079&page=35

@+

 

Thanks for input 9800!!Do You know if the 770m has the same config to work with nightwalkers template?

 

Seany, I told you by PM, if you're going to buy C90P heatsinkh for GPU, you have to buy the C90P heatsink for chipset

 

thanks toaster, i posted the q on here before I asked you YOU de man. IN FACT you are all great- for keeping the ever fading star of what could have been... the greatest notebook ever, flickering through the night. Thanks

 

Fading? Me thinks not ! I think the C90 can still battle with the best 15.4" laptops.

 

I suppose. Just the ram limitations (although I knew about that when I got it) and the distinct lack of MXM II options (esp in the UK) and the fact Asus gave up on it after about a week :/

 

i agree on one point. imagine if asus gave us just a little more support...i dunno, like more bios updates with manual fan control, or being able to properly switch between performance tables in newer video cards...just this would have made the c90 even better than it is. then again, it's asus we're talking about. after market support doesn't mean squat for them...they sold us the product, why invest more?

 

Sorry, I don't know anything about.
@+

 

Having just upgraded from a 8600M GT to a 9650M GT 512 DDR2. I now have a pretty stable system using driver 179.88 (3D Mark 06 scores = 4300).
My question is ..... my GPU reaches 103C after running a 3D Mark test, IDLE is about 65C. - Are these temps OK ?

 

I'm afraid 103C is quite high for the GPU. Try doing the vicious mod + notebook cooler. ( This lowered my GPU temps -10 C ) I have 8600m GT ddr3, 65C idle, 80C Max under load, +/- 4000 3dmark 06. ( this is vicious mod + notebook cooler )

 

103 is a bit on the high side dude!!! If your laptop is able to boil water somethings wrong somewhere Didja use decnt thermal paste?

See this be what Im afraid of. NW orginally stated that a 9600 upgrade would result in a a cooler and more effecient system and yet my temps are close to pogitz (without a cooler), 4350 3dmark06, running an 8600m. Right now having a system that won't melt (for longevity) is my top priority. Perhaps I should stick with 8600??

 

also sjwent (and somebody with a bit more know how might want to confirm this) but if you JUST upgraded, depending on what kinda of thermal compound you used, it may be part of its 'break in' period. It may take several thermal cycles to acheive max particle to particle conductivity.

??

 

My C90S is sitting on a Zalman 1500 cooler ! .... and I used Artic Silver thermal paste. Once the 3D Mark test completes, temps do drop quite quickly.
The only thing I can think of that would cause these high temps is that I replaced the thermal pads covering the memory modules & the new pads were noticably thicker than the old ones, so perhaps there is not as good a contact with the upper plate.

Can anyone recommend good thermal pads ?

 

103 C with notebook cooler is unusually high ! Maybe the thickness of the pads u used is preventing good contact with the heatsink. Try using thinner pads and check to make sure heatsink( or heatspreader ) is making good contact with the GPU. Im almost sure it shouldn't reach 103 C if ur already using a cooler.

 

Did you drill holes in the C90S ace door ?
So that the air flow can refresh the gpu.

 

No there's no holes in the ace door, I'll look at this over the next few days.

Am i right in thinking that once the thermal paste has been applied and everything screwed down, if you then remove the GPU (ie break the seal) then the paste will not work as well ?

 

I think your thermal paste has been correctly applied.
I had the same issue before I got the zalman, just have a look here.
That's why your 3dmark score is rather poor, I think so.

 

Can anyone give a me a definative answer. The orginal claim is that the 9600M upgrade will run cooler than the 8600, but it occurs to me that nobody has done this without modding their heatsync/drilling holes in the case/sticking a cooler under it (I need my c90 for work and cant lug a cooler verywhere I go). Does anybody think that an 8600M with a decent copper heat sync (not the rubbish that comes with c90s),may in fact yield cooler results than the more powerful cards? Or is that the 8600 is made poorly and therefore not a matter of the amount of heat produced as it's gonna die anyway, and more the 9600 is better made and although it will produce more heat, it will last longer anyway and can be cooled 'adequately'?

Hope that makes sense

 

Hello Guys !

I have been following your C90S mods / tuto for a while and I wish to thank you all for sharing all theses upgrading tips, well it seems not that easy but you brought a lot of answers since Asus forgot us.

I now have a few questions and I hope I could get some answers.

- If I keep my 8600GT and upgrade to a E7500, may my 8600GT overheat ? What temp will it get ? (I am now at 79°C for GPU and 55 for CPU at idle).

- I have found both 9600GT and 9650GT on ebay. The 9650GT is an Asus made and seem to be similar to the 8600GT (for holes and chips).
Here is the link :
http://cgi.ebay.fr/nVidia-GeForce-9...mQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_71?hash=item439e285194

Do I need to mod the plate ? I wish I do not need.
Do I need to flash the card then ?
Will the value be correct ?


And here is the 9600GT :
http://cgi.ebay.fr/Nvidia-MXM-II-Gr...emQQptZPCC_Video_TV_Cards?hash=item439e115e7b


The mod at the beginning you did is about a different 9600M where holes and plate are differents, on this one there is no plate and holes are bigger and it seems we can use the same pieces as the 8600GT, am I right ?

Thank you all for your help
Jerome.

 

@SeanyP321
I think 8600m GT would be a bit cooler with the same copper heatsink, at stock clocks. But the 8600m GT DDR3 and 9600m GT DDR3 would reach very similar temps. The main thing is you have to take care abaut your processor temp to, and perhaps the thermal compound, you could try something better. And same caonfiguration in two C90's could have diferent ressults. You should never pass the 90ºC , with a decent copper heatsink + thermal compound (like AS5), without drilling holes (but drilling is recommended).

@jsengir
You can safely upgrade to an E7500, since your temps are very low.
9600 is faster than 9650, since it's DDR3. If you're looking for performance / 3d score, you would take the 9600m. The only diference between mounting plates are the screws needed, but if you plan to install the copper heatsink that wouldn't be a great trouble. The performance It's worth it.

cheers

 

Hi there ppl,

Week ago, a 9650GT was installed on my C90s, cause the old 8600GT delivered is soul to the creator. Yes, the 9650 runs hoter and MUCH better then the 8600 (Avatar runs at 1680 x 1050 with settings ultra high and antialiasing X4, like fish into water, without boiling it! at 64Cº!!!). No need to change the cooler or have a drilled C90s! Need to make some electronic hardware tweaks (the dificult part) to improve the air flow of the fans, so they turn much faster and noisy too. If you ppl wish, i may post a detailed article with fotos of the mod i made. Must say also that install drivers on the 9650 is a bit tricky too, but no major problem.
I bought the card very cheap here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/nVidia-GeForc...raphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW?hash=item5190d4107d

Excellent and fast delivering dealer. Took 4 days till the request and have it at my place.

Regards to all C90S users of this good old "hottie" machine,

 

I know its not a real benchmark but out of curiosity... what scores are 9600 ppl getting from vista/win 7 point system?

 

Hi, seanyp321

I score 4563 in 3dmark 6

Asus C90s - E2160 - 2GbRam Twinmos - GForce 9650GT 1GbDDR II - Windows 7 x64 RC full updated

 

3DMark06 6821
Well here you are a screenshoot of a E7500 running at 3,25 9600m GT DDR3 Benchmark.
Forceware 195.62 maxed me for the moment.
81ºC without cooling pads, but with a hole in the back case, and C90P copper Heatsink.
cheers

 

phoenom,

UUUhhh man, that's better then my Asus C90s - E2160 - 2GbRam Twinmos - GForce 9650GT 1GbDDR II - Windows7 RC x64.

Glad you do that score with a C90S
Greetings, gud tune!

 

Guys have a question that is probably better suited somewhere else, but I'm starting to trust the sound judgement of my fellow c90 owners. As well as signs that my gpu my be about to die, there are other weird things happening.

Im getting intermittent lag on everything. a random click on a button in any app sometimes results in a few second delay. Sometimes even when typing, letter get missed due to lag.

First thought, spyware/malware. But everything is coming back pretty clean. Then I check my CPU performance cia task manager (win 7) and my cpu usage is jumping from 4% to 100% (more time on 100 than 4) for menial tasks (not gaming but web browsing/virus scans).

Do you think this has something to do with it? Is my cpu on its way out too

I run a pretty tight ship but if you can think of anything that might be causing i'd love to hear it. The big Q for me at the mo is... does GPU + cpu + case + heatsync = the price of a new lappy :/

 

You have an E6600 in a laptop which will be pretty powerful for QUITE a while.

My overall heat sink materials = ~$40
ATI HD 3650 = ~$80
Man-hours = ~10+ LOL

Why do you need a new case?

That's a lot cheaper than any laptop out there.

Your alternative is to do what I did for a while:
Take your E6600 and build a desktop (LGA775) for ~$300. RAM prices are 4x what I paid, but you could still do it cheaply.

 

@SeanyP

I have win7 64bit with e7500 cpu and 8600gt. You say that your cpu usage is near %100 sometimes for web browsing? I had a problem a couple months ago with facebook. It would literally freeze my computer for a second or two whenever I received a facebook chat message and also skyrocket my cpu usage to 100%. And this happened everytime. I no longer log in to fb chat and the problem has gone away. I dunno, but that may be the issue.