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

I just got a reply back from zepto... saying the gt 130m is in stock again but a lil bit more expensive...
i just have to figure out how to pay and if and when they'll send it.. but i'm optimistic that the card can be on the way to me this week

@ Kaine:
it looks like what i had. I'm pretty sure the reason is the GPU that has reached the end of its lifetime.

What i did was baking the card in the oven... i did it twice already and made it work again for several months.
I did it at 140°C for about 20-25 minutes... but you have to be careful with that - especially not to touch or shake the card while it is still heated up.

But of course I cannot guarantee that your problem is the gpu and everything you do is at your own risk. It's just a hint^^

 

I have found being direct works well with them. If you already paid the price they wanted for the card then you should not owe them a single dime more. Inform them of this and let them know it is their fault for not having the correct information and/or stock status on this card.

This is more than likely due to the video card having died, or a the bios is corrupted/bad flash. Start a new thread in the forums and I'll post a few suggestions there. Kaliki's suggestions were very good to see if it is indeed the video card.

 

The price is not the problem - they offered me the same one as before anyway - just that they gave me one including shipping.
The only problem is that they dont tell me how to pay...
thats really driving me crazy. If they say - pay per paypal to their e-mailadress and then they'll send the card it would be ok...

but i dont just like to pay without anyone really telling me exactly how, to which adress...
how did you handle this?

 

Whether it says it is for the C90P or C90S it doesn't matter. Both laptops are 95% identical. Having owned both machines and fiddled with their guts I can inform with complete certainty the cards are designed for both machines. I would advise not to buy the DDR2 card if it is not too late and get the DDR3 card from asus e-store it will work 120% in the C90S and give you 20-30% higher performance.

Yup the temps are one one heck of a drop, I am very impressed at the results of such a simple mod. The ace door I did it too has already been mutilated anyways as I have drilled about 60 holes thoughout the bottom area so that my laptop cooler has better effect . I may yet drill the rest of the entire ace door out haha

 

They will give you their bank details to do direct bank transfer. That is what they did with me anyway.

 

Hmm to me they said paypal is possible... i guess ill just wait for an answer...

 

I would use PayPal and pay with a credit card linked to your PayPal account just to be extra safe.

 

Quick question, NightWalker, I know you recommend the samsung chipped 9600m but I was curious if anyone ever got a non samsung chipped card working. I saw there was one guy quite a few pages back that couldn't get his working. Zepto told me they want $240 dollars for a 9600m and while that isn't too unreasonable, there are some on ebay for $150 dollars shipped, like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Nvidia-MXM-...39a4c89e6&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14#ht_6713wt_1033

Any suggestions, should I not even bother and go with the Zepto one? I know the card has to not be "locked" to a specific manufacturer.

 

Hmm.. I can't tell what kind of memory that card uses because the picture is so grainy. As long as the card itself isn't locked to a specific manufacturer in it's video bios you should be able to make it work though. You will probably just have to modify the performance tables correctly as listed in my guide to make the clocks work. However, that card doesn't appear to come with it's back mounting plate which means you would have to try and find one for yourself unless the seller is willing to give/sell you one. Let us know how it goes.

 

@unxconformed

Hi Unxconformed,
I already ordered the same card from the same seller 5 days ago. The brand of memory is Qimonda. When I receive the card I’ll post its pictures.

 

Thanks Angel! I'll wait till you get yours then to see if it works. At least that seller offers a 7 day return option in case the card ends up being locked. Good luck and thanks for trying it first!

 

@unxconformed
Hey! You are welcome. I’m waiting for ATI HD3650/512/DDR2 too. I’ll post pictures of both cards and I’ll share my experience with them.

 

Hi,
I just installed the C90P VGA heatsink...it works like a charm! Temps droped by 30%...(from the aluminium original one+heatspreader)
I would say, it doesn't fit 100% right on the 9600m GT, so you need to be soft with the screw number 2


As you know this heatsink needs no heatspreader, but you need to mod a little for make it fit...
The problem is here:


The underfans part of the heatsink, in C90S VGA is above chipset one. The C90p Heatsink is bigger and it places all that space, so...

There are basically two options...
1 - cut off the new c90p heatsink.
2 - mod the chipset heatsink.

I modded the chipset heatsink, just for one reason, I thought that would be better for keep it cooled.
Is more complicated, but for me went fine, and there's only two steps.
Remove the chipset heatpipe from the part underfans, and solder it in the new VGA one, you would bend it a litthe but still working...
that's all...

ps - need to do more photos...
ps2. - with the aluminium heatsink, with the clocks on 505 / 905 / 1500, temps abaut 100ºC, now with 550 / 950 / 1700 never reached 90ºC

 

Very nice idea with the modding the northbridge heatpipe to join with the GPU heatsink. I simply cut mine down to size lol. +rep
It is a shame the fan behaviour isn't as good as with the C90P. Asus really cured the overheating GPU problem with it as the GPU fan seems to independently move now.

How well did you manage to get the heatsink to fit the 9600M GT? I had problems with it as the large chip that stands off the card near screw 2 means the heatsink can't sit flat across the card. How did you even the rest of the heatsink out so it still made contact with the core and memory chips etc? Really interested! A quick fix could mean easy upgrading for me

 

Awesome. I think I speak for everyone here ..neither can we !!

 

Yes plz do some more photos especially from the mod you've done and maybe a sideview of the heatsink screwed to the card would be nice. What did you mean btw with "it doesn't fit 100% right on the 9600m GT"? Is the heatsink straight on the card or lifted up by some chips? Why did you use another screw on the 2nd?

Like i said some posts above i got mine also working with a non samsung chipped card. Got mine from ebay, too. Think it was quimonda chips but i'm not 100% sure. U just need to do your own vbios to get the full clocks in your c90. Nightwalkers vbios guide is pretty simple and easy but if your not happy with it I'm sure he'll help u or just came back to me to get the vbios

Greets ISoree

 

If i remember correctly you need a slightly longer screw as it sits up higher due to the annoying differing placement of that large chip on the bottom right of the card. In 8600MGT that chip is situated right on the corner on 9600MGT it is further in which creates the problem

 

so that would mean the card is not cooled properly as the gpu is not in full contact with the heatspreader?

 

I will try to upload the photos tonight after work...
The card is right cooled, but the heatsink doesn't fit perfect:


This chip is closer to the GPU than it is on the 8600m GT...


It is placed here, and as you can see in the heatsink is raised in that place...

 

yes thanks king of interns was right and i thought so but needed to clear things up. Maybe i will buy also this heatsink and a new acedoor to get some fresh air in my c90s

Thank you

 

The original copper heatspreader NightWalker's mod is perfect to.
Someone here was offering. I would say it's basic with this card.

This are my clocks:


and here, you can see the MAX temp. displayed after 3DMark06 test.. 83ºC!!


I got over 100ºC with te aluminium original heatspreader, and clocks were 505 / 905 / 1500, as I said before...

ps - clocks were down after test...I don't think you can get that score with the card downclocked...lol

 

Hey Phoenon. Do you think it is possible to attach the C90P heatsink to the 9600M GT heatsink designed by Nightwalker by drilling 3 holes through it so it can be attached "old alumimium sandwich" style way but copper sandwich instead..?

 

Well, course it's possible. As you said you just have to drill the holes. And I'm sure that way you would get the height for that chip fit almost perfect.



It's worth a try. sure you'll get some degrees. But I think we are next to the minimuns for a laptop VGA.
If you finally do, that would be the better way to know.
cheers

 

I shall probably give it a try with the GT130M soonish then Only problem is I am not very experienced as drilling screw holes and they have to be very exact in their positions, worried I will mess it up!

 

consider yourself lucky. i can't modify the custom heatspreader if it doesn't fit on the gt 130m...i have no idea where i could get the job done either. i guess i could buy the tools to do it, but I'm accident prone with power tools...this will be interesting nonetheless.

 

Iam hoping that it fits the original hs without needing to get the custom heatsink lol. Yup pretty lazy I am hehe. I guess once yours arrives your photos will reveal all..fingers crossed for all

I am also looking into getting the AFB0412SHB fans to replace the current AFB0412VHB ones. They are 11,000 rpm vs 9,500rpm fans meaning quite a bit more airflow.

 

Hi phoenon,
I just see your mod, very nice job, really very nice.
I have in mind to make a such thing, but I wonder what you did about :

Please, could you explain what you have soldered ?
Have you some pictures ? Or could you make a little drawing, if possible ?

Thanks alot.
@+

 

Here you are...

These are the front and back side. The quality is crap but I did the photos with the mobile...so you would get the main idea.


The question is that you wuold need to force a little the vga heatsink. There is no problem since the copper is very soft.

Finally all fits perfect..


@ ISoree, that was what I mean. This chip is the only thing that doesn't fit 100%.


hope this helps...
cheers

ps - The thermal pads came with the heatsink...and work perfect!

 

@phoenon

Hey! Thank you for the pictures. I’m glad to see reasonable GPU temperature 83ºC under load. I have two questions to you:

1) What was the ambient temperature when you’ve achieved “… the MAX temp. displayed after 3DMark06 test.. 83ºC!!”?
2) What is the thickness of the copper’s heatsink? (My assumption is around 1 - 1.5 mm.)

 

@Angel
1) IDLE temps abaut 62ºC. (well I wouldn't say IDLE, I'm just not gaming, but using photoshop, IE and other apps. It's more accurate to say power on demand using) I'm from Alicante, here is abaut 24ºC. (edited, didn't undestund before...my bad)
2) you are pretty good, it's 1 mm.

Thank you
edit - IDLE temps...

 

Can i quote here? lol

It´s amazing, your work, tank very much

I live in Portugal, do you know here can i find a 9600M GT 512 DDR 3?

best regards

 

after much research, i came to the conclusion that the first person to actually receive the gt 130m will be the very first person to post a picture of it on the internet. that's quite something. I'd better get a good camera for this, hehe.

but seriously, does no one find it odd that no reference picture can be found anywhere at all? I'm growing slightly scared. the salesman from zepto assured me that the card is almost identical for chip placement as the 9600m gt...but can i really believe him? well, i will know for sure...when the card arrives. when i got my 9600 a while ago, it took about 2 weeks before i received it. the payment was done last Monday, so about a week ago. only 1 more week to wait...I'm sure I'll need everyone's help to make this work.

 

ozi,

Thanks for the kinds words. Your best bet for finding a 9600M GT 512 DDR3 is eBay at this point. Give them a look and see what you can find.

To be honest, and I REALLY hope I'm wrong, I wouldn't be surprised if it took another month before you received the card : / I hope it doesn't though!

 

It was pretty much the same deal with the 9650M GT DDR3 when I ordered it. There were no pics anywhere lol. Makes the wait exciting eh? Hehe. As for getting good camera, you had better dude I have just ordered the big mumma Q9650 for my C90P, so I think I kinda feel the same way haha

 

WOW Q9650, you should prepare the landing lane!! we want report...

@ ozi
I got my 9600m GT by ebay, everything worked fine.

 

Actually I have read that a scanner does a great job for pieces like this, if you have one.

 

Ha ha yup. Got my hands on one for just 150 pounds which is around 50 pounds cheaper than the next cheapest on ebay! Landing gear is out and ready for business!!
Going to have to sell my E6600 quickly to pay back money I used on my overdraught to get it though haha. Good thing there seems a shortage of decent processors on e-bay at the moment. I seems the going rate is between 50-60 pounds for a E6600 which surprised me!
I am glad your 9600M GT works fine. I should be getting an 8600M GT DDR3 card from the repair centre next week, free of charge of course

 

@phoenon

Hey! Thank you for the answers. They are useful for me. I’m making a copper heatsink to fit at both ATI Mobile HD 3650 and NVidia 9600M. The thickness will be 1.5mm or 2mm with improved thermal connection directly to the copper’s pipe.

 

Hi,

@phoenon,

Please, could you explain how you proceed to solder the heatsinks ?

I believe that certain values must be respected.
When the northbridge cooler is screwed, then holes of the VGA heatsink must be exactly aligned with those of the card.
It seems difficult to obtain, but may be you have tips that facilitate ?

Could you say more ?

Thanks alot.
@+

 

Well it's dificult but is seems to be worse than it is...
Keep in mind that the copper is very soft, and you could bend it a little if it's needed. Anyway if you do right it won't be necesary.

What I did...first remove the chipset pipe, and leave it alone(I mean to remove from the aluminium airflow part you can do it with a cutter and pushing the aluminium down, CAUTION I GOT CUTTED MY FINGER!!but no worries I will survive). Then install all that, chipset pipe, vga card, and the copper C90P heatsink. I made a mark on the chipset pipe (white mark), the way it's supossed to be placed, you could do other mark for references(red mark). See the image.


All that with the CPU heatsink removed...(well you'll need to remove it for install/uninstall the GPU heatsink)
Then with that references it's much more easy to soldering, I recommend to warm the copper before start. I also put one of that spongesticker under the chipset pipe, because it's in contact with a chip on the mobo( you can see it in the picture).

That's all, it seems to be more difficult than is it...
Hope this helped...
cheers

 

thanks alot phoenon,

I see what I've to do when I do it, when I've the time.
The copper is soft, can be bended. Yes.

Did you use a soldering iron, with tin?

@+

 

Right I used tin (with soldreing iron)in first place, I wasn't because I wasn't sure of the mod of this work, and this way would be easier for undo, and as it works fine, I'm done...

Good luck!

 

I've a soldering iron, 40W power.

@+

 

That's enough for this job.

 

Ignoring thermal constraints and with a large power brick, could this laptop power up a higher end card?

 

I doubt it there would be space for a mxm 3 card say but I don't think the mxm module would give any more juice than 25 W which is the mxm2 maximum I think. Unless one could severely undervolt a mxm3 card that is very energy efficient so that is falls within mxm2 power capabilities flash the bios with the necessary undervolt and downclock and then stick it in the C90 I can't imagine anything better than either a GT130M or possibly the ati 4650 cards working

BTW peeps is there anymore news on the GT130M front I want to see some pics of that bad boy!

 

-comes out of nowhere-

I just randomly decided to order the c90p heatsink since it seems like that it may be worth it, so I am down. Does the heatsink come with everything (screws, etc)?

 

It come just alone...you could use the screws of the original heatsink.

 

Quality pictures of my NVidia 9600M GT 512MB.

Front & Back / 1237x1320 at 300dpi:
http://www.sineva.net/downloads/Asus_C90S/images/NVidia_9600M_GT_512MB_Front.jpg
http://www.sineva.net/downloads/Asus_C90S/images/NVidia_9600M_GT_512MB_Back.jpg

 

the card itself has not arrived yet. still waiting on it.