M170 gen2 GPU

HI,

I am currently in the market for a laptop. I have done a lot of reading on a few forums. Heres what I was wondering. I was originally going to get the 9400 with a 7800 go.....but now they dont have it available...The m170 comes with a 6800 ultra go graphics card. Would it be possible to upgrade the GPU later down the road to a 7800 gtx go? If so would it need a new power supply. Or would just be a matter of swapping out the graphics card?

 

Unfortunately, you won't be able to do the upgrade. You can only upgrade to the cards that are specifically offered by Dell for your series (i.e. you can only upgrade to cards offered for the m170). The reason is because you have to have BIOS support.

The 9400 should have the 7800 go card in stock soon.

 

I see....so if the card is offered for that model....then it can be upgraded. So if I get the XPS gen 2....that comes with the 6800ultra go, then I could swap it out for a 7800gtx Go later.

 

You can...only if the XPS M170 offers that card. As of right now they do not. If they do come out with the 7800GTX on the M170 without a MOBO switch and the sort, then you should be able to.

Hope this helps.

 

My input. The m170 bios accepts both the 6800ultra and 7800gtx. So it shouldn't void your warranty on the whole machine, just the warranty on the card. And I the ac adapters are the same one the xps gen two/m170. Just make sure that it is the pa-13 ac adapter. All you have to do is just swap out the cards. The i9300/xps gen2/xpsm170 basically use the same motherboard. You are fine with the switch. I would go ahead with it.