Which videocard fits? (Inspiron 8500)

hi
Since last weekend I've got a used (and broken) Inspiron 8500. The videocard is broken: in text mode it is almost impossible to ready anything on the screen, because it's full with ascii-chars. In higher graphic modes it's full of blue bars and other stuff. As this stuff isn't only visible on the LCD but also on an external monitor, I came to the conclusion that the card is broken.
Now I'm searching for replacement. I searched on ebay and found a lot of videocards for dell notebooks. Most of those cards are sold by one and the same dealer (btw: talking about Germany). Only one of the cards is declared to be for the 8500: a radeon 9600 pro board.
But this costs around 350€, while all the other boards are around 100-150€. And my 8500 came with a geforce board. So now I wonder if it isn't possible to buy one of the other cards (declared to be for the Inspiron 8100 or 8200)? I hope someone can help me with this problem and tell me which cards will fit and support the high resolution of the 8500. thanks

Thomas

 

http://impactcomputers.com/dellpart...8500-parts-internal-parts-and-assemblies.html

they have cards for your model from 129 to 349 us, the 129 card is an nvidia 32 meg gf go 440, if gaming isnt a high priority I would go with that, if you end up spending 400 bucks on an obsolete vid card, you would be better served just bying a new notebook
http://impactcomputers.com/3y187.html

you can only use cards that were made available for your model notebook, cards that werent available wont work due to lack of bios support

good luck

 

Thanks for the links. Point is that I'm now searching for a shop in Germany which gives that much information about the cards. I don't need much graphics power, it must only be capable to provide that wuxga resolution.
And I wouldn't spend more than 200 bucks for the card because the notebook would be my secondary. The only reason I want to repair it is the display
Could you tell me a bit more about the BIOS identification? How does it work? Do the videocards have a special number which is read by the bios? (this is how it works with some ibm notebooks where you need special wifi cards) Or is it just the graphic chip which has to fit (for example: bios could handle every ati 9500 and every geforce 4 go 440 or something like that)?

 

it would have to be a part specifically used by the model in question, any "9500" per say wouldnt be guarenteed to work as there are space/heat issues to deal with and laptop makers dont use the same build designs

 

K, that's clear it has to fit physically into the notebook including the cooling parts. Are there differences between the cards for the 8100/8200 Inspirons and the ones for the 8500? Because all Geforce 4 go models I find in the german shops seem to be for that series, and the dealer does not tell the original sparepart number.

thanks for you help and patience.

Thomas

 

I honestly dont know, I would try contacting the dealer for more information