Inspiron 9300 Possible GPU Upgrades

Ladies and Gents,

My friend currently has an Inspiron 9300 with a Nvidia 6800go in it. Well as you can tell the good ole' 6800 is getting a little behind the times with current games coming out. I informed him of the conversion to an XPS2 via the 7800GTX (which I did with mine) but they are currently going for about $500 on Ebay. A little too rich for his blood. The 6800-Ultras I cant even find and would rather not consider anyways. So....
I remember reading somewhere about a possible upgrade path to the Inspiron 9400/E1705's 7800go or 7900GS and a couple of peoples attempts at it. I lost track of it and now cannot relocate the thread. Anyone know if they succeeded or if it has been done? A 7800go can be found relatively cheaply, I just wonder if anyone knows if it will be or can be made compatible with the 9300's BIOS. I know a physical modification is necessary. Any information is appreciated and I'm well aware this is far outside of Dell's warranty service. Thanks in advance!!

 

IT can fit 7800 but the problem is who's gonna sell it. You can look over notebookforums to see more information about the upgrades. All they talk about is oc and moding gfx card.

PS: I thought the 6800 is a beast, I can pretty much all the new games now right?

 

Here's the website of a store that's selling those cards but they're pretty expensive. I think the owner is also a member of NBR.

http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/store.html

 

It wont be cheap, you might get lucky and find a dead or busted system on ebay that you could buy for parts, though if they have a highend card, thats usually the borked piece, or its gutted before being put on the block.

This is probably the cheapest you will find one new, its not a GTX though.
http://impactcomputers.com/uf804.html

 

The only thing is that Dell doesn't use the MXM technology...they use their own modified version of it.

You're only going to be able to upgrade to a card if the 9300 was ever offered with that GPU. And then, you have to get a card that was made for the Dell 9300 and built/sold by Dell. Ice-Tea might be able to help you find the part you need though...he's the MXM master in NBR.

 

Okay, thanks for pointing that out.

 

Really the performance gap between the 6800 and the 7800 isnt really that dramatic, sounds like an awful lot of trouble,fair amount of risk, and a good bit of expense for not that much of an improvement. I'd just sit tight with the 6800 and save up for a DX10 class gaming machine. The 6800 can still hold its own with todays titles, it wont play everythinbg wide open maxed out, but neither will the 78/7900. Has he tried overclocking the card? You can usually get a decent boost with NV cards, I havent had one yet that was a poor overclocker, thats going back to the original TNT days.

 

I don't think it is wise to pay $500 for a gfx update on a Pentium M notebook when the second generation of Core Duos are almost on the verge of getting replaced.

If your friend can't hold till DX10/Santa Rosa, then he can buy a new E1705 for around $1500, that not only comes with a 7900GS gfx card but also with a superior Core 2 Duo processor.He might also be able to sell off his 9300 to save few hundreds from the new purchase.

 

Yeah I agree 500 is too much but thats for the 7800GTX's which I know will work in a 9300 if you flash the BIOS to make it think its an XPS2. I'm looking at a regular 7800go meant for a E1705. I know the 7800GTX can be put in an E1705, so I'm wondering if the 7800go or maybe even the 7900gs could go back to the 9300....I can get one (7800go) for about 150. I dont believe I OC'd his 6800go before I left now that I think about it...hmmmm....Anyways thanks for the advice all!