Possible to swap A8SC 8400M to 8600M GT?

When I was installing some more ram to my notebook the other day, I noticed that the graphics card is actually connected via a mini-pci-e slot on the bottom of the notebook, would it be possible in anyone's experience to swap the current 8400M to a 8600M GT graphics card, such as one from a C90 or G1S?

I also see that these are available at some online stores and some e-bay stores; if any one has had success doing so with this notebook or a similar notebook it would be great to find out if it is actually possible, as I would love to upgrade the GPU, imho it doesn't really cut it.

Anyway, I am new here so I did take the liberty of using the search function, so hopefully I won't cause a riot with this post ;/

 

No it is not possible. There are too many things that will probably not fit, like:
-- connector
--orientation and precise location of the heatsink;
--VBIOS compatibility;
-- power requirements
-- handling the thermal output of the better GPU.

 

As E.B.E said.

Not possible
However, it may be possible to jump to the 7700? Not quite an upgrade/downgrade but the 7700 is a far better performer than an 8400. However, there will be alot of other things to take into consideration; case changes, thermal cooling devices, board compatibility, VBIOS and BIOS compatibility.

Basically where no ASUS consumer has gone before...
and if your bold enough, you might make new discoveries(only ASUS tech/engineers would know).

 

Is it that much better? The Go7800 DDR2 s slower than the 8600M GS I believe.

But not too sure, the GF7 mobile naming is strange. The Go 7600GT is stronger than the Go7700 for instance

 

Maybe even numbers are cooler because they are multiples of 2

 

Yeah, well he was talking about a 8400m to 8600m. Now I know there isn't a 8600m GS or GT flavor for the A8 series, however it's predecessor did have the 7700 which under Notebook Check is considered a much better performer compared to an 8400.


8600m GT > 8600m GS > Go7600 GT > Go7700 > Go 7600 > 8400m

 

The GPU for the A8SC is removable? I thought it is mounted on to the mobo.

 

It's pretty much irrelevant It's not upgradeable anyhow.

 

Actually, its theoretically possible. You can definitely swap up to the previous generation's Go7700, which actually is faster than the 8600GS by a ways (but not as fast as the 8600GT...)

The 8600GT is a bit more theoretical and less defined, since though the connector is the same (A8J/S uses the same reverse MXM connector as the F8S, G1, V1, etc), the voltage might be off a bit, and the cooling might be insufficient, etc. However, I think it should work, since the F8Sv has it, and its just an A8S with a case redesign and the better GPU (I'm actually pretty sure that F8S and A8S use the same motherboard...). A couple of people with the old A8Js were interested in trying a swap, but I don't think they actually have done it yet. I'm interested to see if it works, and if I did have an A8J or A8S, I probably would have tried it.

 

If I had a penny for each time people said "well, it might be possible because it's MXM or MXM reverse" or whatever... I have never seen one confirmed case of a successful GPU upgrade on any ASUS notebook besides the C90 (which was designed to do so).

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that it's for sure that it can't be done. I'm just saying I've never heard of it done on any notebook, and there's probably a good reason for that. Or actually, an entire list of possible good reasons. See my first post on the thread.

 

Its unconfirmed, but its theoretically possible.

The reason it hasn't been done yet is that everyone already has a high end GPU in the notebook anyways, and it probably isn't worth the money or the risk to get that few extra FPS. The only place it would make any real difference is with the A8Jr and A8Sc, but there is, in both cases, a model with the higher end gpu and better specs for right around $200 more. Consider the fact that buying the GPU alone from Asus would take $350 roughly, and then you have a good reason for nobody trying it.

And as far as I remember, the Z84J was based on MXM as well, and Ice-tea managed to get a 7900GS into it, from the stock Go7700.

 

I"ve been talking to iced tea about he x1900 mxm3 card, the dimensions are exactly the same as the GF 7700 (unlike the 7900) Only problem i'm finding is whether i'm willing to fork out over 400 bux to try it out.

I"ve also read that the new 8800's would be in mxm3, which would be nice but i'm not holding my breath. I don't play a ton of games so the 7700 i have is alright and mine seems to OC very nicely too.

 

nah man it's not gonna work like some dells laptop. I tried swaping my 76 to 86gt build for C90S , it's not working though it's not like desktop where u swap stuff like building legos

 

Hmm, interesting, thanks for the honest opinions, well I will try one out from an earlier A8 series notebook, there will be one sitting around at work

If not, I'm sure Asus could supply with spare parts.

I will post up to let you know how it goes, if I get around to it; you never know.. perhaps it may be possible..I'm not too keen on getting my hopes up though.