C90s video card alternatives

well, this is my first thread here and since I'm an owner of a c90s, i was wondering if there was a guide on which cards would work to replace the god awful 8600gt...

I'm going to start by asking about this one:

ATI AMD HD 3650 256MB DDR3 MXM II

Manufacturer ATI
Series Mobility Radeon 3000
Codename RV620 / M86
Pipelines 120 - unified
Core Speed * 600 MHz
Shader Speed * 600 MHz
Memory Speed * 700 MHz
Memory Bus Width 128 Bit
Memory Type DDR2/GDDR3/GDDR4
Max. Amount of Memory
Shared Memory no
DirectX DirectX 10.1, Shader 4.1
Current Consumption
Transistors 378 Million
Features Powerplay 7.0, PCI-E 2.0, 2 dual-link-fähige DVI Ausgänge (HDCP fähig), integrierter DisplayPort Ausgänge. bis 2560x1600
Notebook Size medium sized

would there be any significant modifications to do to the cooling system?
is that card even considered a decent upgrade?
does the price tag of 179 US on ebay look like a good deal?
anyway. I'd appreciate it if a list of available options could appear. and yes, i am aware of Nightwalker's 9600 modification, however I've seen the card go for over 400 sometimes, and i'd like to make sure there's no other card that could do the trick with comparable results.

 

Here are some threads to look at concerning this issue:

Gophn gives a great explanation here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3627180

Since this card is MXM II, it looks like it may work, but you have to look at the wattage. That 9600 beta mod does look nice

 

i know about the wattage issue. what I'm asking here is what cards will fit the bill? i gave all that info about that other card because the wattage wasn't specified and i couldn't find the answer...

 

why do u feel the 8600m GT is god awful? i think it performs just fine.

 

Face, he has the DDR2 version if I am not mistaken, which when overclocked reaches stock DDR3 territory. When the DDR3 version is overclocked, the stats are quite decent.

 

indeed. i have the 512mb ddr2 card. and it usually operates at 71 Celsius while idle. i reached 107 while doing some mild gaming and I'm really fed up with it.

 

I know you are changing your card, or at least hopefully, but have you tried applying some artic 5 and gotten a cooling pad? I OC my ddr3 and I usually get up to 90C pretty easily, with the cooling pad (no artic yet) I go back down to 80C and I am just using some Antec crap pad

 

i use artic 5 already and using the cooling pads that came with the card itself. either way, the card can't possibly last long with those temperatures, so i consider it damaged already. (it has been running for 3 months almost non stop already). i'm starting to see some artifacts too when playing games like crysis....