Studio 15 Graphics Card

I just got my Studio 15 (specs below) and so far I am quite impressed with it. I've already undervolted it and the temps have really improved. Now my question...is the graphics card soldered to the motherboard or is it slotted? I opened up the back and didn't see anything that looked like a video card...is it hidden under the keyboard on top of the motherboard? Also, if it's slotted is it even remotely possible to put in a HD3650 or equivalent? I don't want to upgrade right away, but if it's possible I really would like to know for the future.

Specs/opinions:
T5750 2.0GHz - wish I could have upgraded, but my parents wouldn't let me spend over $1000
WLED 1440x900 - totally worth it BTW
3GB ram
320GB HDD
Bluetooth
Backlit Keyboard - definitely worth it
Fingerprint reader - actually pretty useful with the included software

Now the only complaint I have about it is that when I took it out of the box for the first time there were scratches on the media buttons. Not very noticible, but still a quality issue. Also, the screen was all smudged up and it looked like it had a scratch, but it ended up wiping off OK. They should really pay attention to this little stuff a bit more...it affects the first impression.

-Dan

 

when you open up the back, you will see the copper heat pipe. It provides heat extraction for the GPU and CPU. if you look near the end of the pipe you will see a chip underneath - that's the GPU chip (the CPU is seated closer to the pipe's middle). The HD3650 is descrete, but isn't sitting on a sisterboard - it's seated on the motherboard.

I haven't bothered trying yet - but if you unscrew and lift up the heatpipe you should be able to remove/replace the chip; whether that would involve having to desolder it I'm not sure....but I wouldn't think so.

I bet someone in these forums has already looked into this.

 

i am also interested in finding this out

where would one buy a mobile gpu anyways......any tips on websites and the like (especially Canadian)

 

I had a link for a place that sells all manner of laptop parts... but it's hiding somewhere in my fileserver - I'll post it when I find it.

But I have seen HD3650M's listed on ebay recently. Most people snap the newer chips up pretty quickly though. I'd love to find a 3850.

 

i know this question is off topic but since the talk of the GPU's was on i tot i'll post here.(apologies to NBR).Recently i had purchased a computer magazine which ranked the ATI Radeon HD 3450 pretty badly.Yes i kno this isnt a high end graphics and cant do much for gamers, but i was wondering how the GPU would respond and will it be sufficient to work on 3D intensive programs like ( Maya , 3DS max, Rhinoceros etc).feel free to correct me if i am wrong but..My understanding is graphic cards are built differently based on the user's functionality, hence the use of Quadro cards in the workstation series of laptops.Obviously a quadro card will provide better performance in this area but i'm very interested to kno if the ATI HD3450 will be 'sufficient' for the needs of an architecture student as i am.

 

I have Maya 2008 installed on my Studio 17 with a 3650M. It's quick enough for me. I've loaded models with 80,000 poly's without problems.
It remains responsive.

The 3650M has 378mil transitors and a 128 memory bus, the 3450M has 181mil transisors and a 64 bit bus.

I imagine that you may be disappointed with a 3450M. If you are thinking of buying - try to talk to a customer service rep first, and see if they can bump you to 3650M instead. Explain that you won't purchase unless you can as you need it for CAD use.

 

Thank you so much for responding.I'm a student from india.i have placed my order already and according to my order status online, my laptop is in the 'Work in progress' stage.i chose the S15 because of my constant need to carry the laptop back and forth from college.Budget was also a concern form me and luckily the studio line came about.I hope my current configuration will not be a 'waste' to me.Will the studio15 be able to support the HD3650?. Any sort of input or help about how to go about this will be much appreciated and i will be very grateful.Thank you

 

It's the same architecture as the S17 - so it would.

? phone up Dell and talk to a custmer service rep. You have nothing to lose, and perhaps they'll be able to do something.

Otherwise, if you are doing simple CAD (Autocad etc...) then the 3450 should be fine. I've seen people with an old Nvidia 6150 GO using Autocad 2009 and it runs fine.

I'm sure Maya and Rhino would work as well, as long as your scenes aren't overly complex.

 

Thanks Steb, thats exactly what I wanted to know. I took a peek again and it is soldered to the motherboard, plus it has been epoxied to the board, so chances of removal are none to none without damaging the board (or using harsh chemicals). And anyways if you somehow removed the epoxy from the board/chip, you would need special, and very expensive, soldering equipment to remove it and put a new one on. All without the guarantee of it working! We have the equipment at my work to do it, but it's a scary process and has to be done very carefully. This is what the chip looks like underneath: http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/encyclopedia_images/_BGA.GIF Not fun to work with!

Oh well, it was worth a try. It runs my games as is so I can't complain, except that the fan goes full blast when I do.

Thanks!

-Dan

 

nah, I've used a simple $20 soldering iron to change surface-mounted TSOP and Flash chips, and all manner of micro resistors & IC's before. Just make sure the iron is under 25 watts. A $5 solder sucker or wick is also helpful. I also use a heatsink (any block of aluminum or copper will do) to make sure the chip doesn't get overheated.

Other than that - it's pretty easy. No real skills needed.

However... soldering in the new chip is a more difficult - for that you may need to brush up on your skills.

 

Heh, that chip is no TSOP! TSOP's are easy with cheap soldering equipment and a nice thin tip for your iron. Been there done that. However, these new BGA chips require you to use whats called a 'hot air rework' station, which heats up the chip to the point where the solder melts on the underside (did you look at the picture I posted?). At that point you remove it from the board. The hard part comes when you put a new one on, as you have to not only heat both the board and the chip to the solder melting temp, but you also have to place the chip in perfect alignment (line up the 200+ solder balls on the bottom). Trust me its not a fun job

 

Sorry for the confusion. As per my first post in this thread, I remarked that the chips were not soldered onto the board - merely epoxied.
I was suggesting that a simple low watt solder iron could be used with a sucker to remove the epoxy without overheating the processor.

 

Ohhhhh...I get it. Thanks for the clarification. However, I still think its too much work in order to upgrade!

 

haha... that's in the eye of the beholder

I've heard of people spending days/weeks tweaking their system BIOS settings to squeeze a few extra mhz out of their CPU .
Taking an hour or two to upgrade your CPU from 2.0ghz to 2.6ghz doesn't sound so crazy in comparison.

 

Very true...and I am one of those overclockers that spend hours in the BIOS ...but at heart I'm a hardware guy, but when I spend $1000 on something I am more likely to leave the hardware alone! Except for maybe the socketed CPU...

 

you can't change laptop gpus. case closed. but, if you try it'd be interesting to see what happens.

 

Hi Ashwin

How is maya doing with Ati HD3450Card...

 

I woud be interested on the stuio 1737 gpu.
If you could hack and flash the bios with what grphics card could you replace the HD3650?...