Interchangable Video?

I just spent a day taking apart my old Inspiron 8600 - part of the process involved easy removal of the video card.

My question is and I'm sure the answer is no... but are the video cards interchangable in the Asus series? For example I'm the owner of an A8Js, could the card be removed and given to an A8Jp owner?

(I ask this hoping I can take video from a future A8J model and get Dx10 support).

 

No...you cannot upgrade the GPU. Even if upgradeable, Dell uses Dell-specific designs that will accept nothing else.

 

In general, GPUs on laptops are not upgradeable unless they are MXM designs which means there might be a slight chance that there's some sort of hack which will allow you to upgrade. You can get a bunch more info here.

~ Brett

 

i guess that will be possible once Asus standardizes all of its MXM type GPU. Asus is now pushing for standardization on the GPU. We might see sth interesting in the next several months.

 

Another thing about Dell is that not all their models actually let you change them, and the ones that do don't really let you change it very much. If you go onto their configurator, while they give you choices as to what GPU you can use, you generally get only integrated, consumer-level of one GPU, and the professional-level of that same type GPU (ie: for nVidia, Intel integrated for basic units, nVidia GeForceGo for consumer, then nVidia Quadro for the professional. Or for ATI, Intel integrated for basic units, ATI Radeon Mobility for consumer-level, then FireGL for professional.) It's rare to see a model that lets you freely go from ATI to nVidia and vice versa except maybe the A8 and the F3 on the ASUS side, but even then that would be voiding your warranty.

In any case, ASUS has been moving towards a modular GPU design, but it is NOT MXM. It still varies between models. One of the main reasons they're doing this is probably to avoid the need of scrapping an entire motherboard simply because the integrated GPU was getting artifacts.

For the nVidia ones, I remember seeing a site saying that they had followed MXM to a degree but the pins were inverted.

The main problems are that each model has a custom-made card:
- space considerations (parts might not physically line up with components or might not actually fit in the chassis),
- electrical compatibility (pinout, power draw),
- thermal dissipation capacity (small vs. big heatsink).

So in other words, unless very special considerations are made:
- a compact laptop would likely not be able to take a desktop-replacement laptop's GPU at this point since compact is likely to be shaped in any way they can to get it to fit on that model,
- a laptop with an entry-level GPU like a X1450 would probably not likely be able to be replaced by a X1700 due to power and heat dissipation differences, and
- going from an older generation to a newer generation might not be possible if the newer unit has a higher power draw than the older one (happened often that older desktop systems with newer GFX cards needed supplemental power from the PSU).

 

Asus uses MXM in a number of models (A4/Z81, Z84, C90) and has used the MXM connector in the A8 but flipped the card upside down (inverted, if you will)

 

Even if ASUS (like Dell) doesn't conform to a video card standard, the cards themselves should be swappable and upgradable as long as the new model doesn't change too much.

I bought an early 8600 from Dell, who used different video cards until the model was phased out. I was able to upgrade to a later video card that wasn't available at the time I originally bought the laptop.

Has this ever been done on an Asus? Are their different models in the same series (A8, etc) that different so as to prevent this?

 

i know for a fact, A8JS video card is different from the A8JP video card and cannot be swapped...trust me I have tried. haha