XPS 8600GT in Inspiron 1520?

So a friend with an Inspiron 1520 and the 8400 GS mentioned the other day that he was thinking of upgrading to the 8600 GT GDDR3 that comes with the XPS 1530 - thinking that, since it's a Dell card, it ought to work in the Inspiron 1520 as well. Seems a logical enough argument, but I thought if there was anywhere a definite answer could be found, it would be here. So...has anyone tried this, or does anyone know for certain if it would or would not work?

 

the card in the XPS is soldered in

i think a lot of unhappy inspiron owners have conceived this idea yet i've yet to read of a successful transplant.

 

impossible, u might even need a different motherboard for it, since the xps's one is a DDR3 and inspiron's is DDR2, also 99% of laptop gpu's are soldered on.

 

Read this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=86864

Looks possible actually:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1520/en/sm/graphics.htm#wp1179839

If it works you owe me like 1000 reps!

Haha, j/k

 

Hmmm, it does seem that you can't directly order the XPS 1530 graphics card from Dell. The 1520 GPU is not soldered on, and is upgradable - I don't know if the DDR2/DDR3 thing makes any difference in upgrading. At any rate I wonder where said friend saw an XPS 1530 GPU for sale if they're soldered on. Maybe eBay...

edit: X-Post with Meatloaf13 (cool name, btw). Seems it is impossible then.

 

it has nothing to do with ddr3 or ddr2, they'd both work on either board. it's Dell's proprietary slots that wont allow you to swap out for a different card other than the two stock cards Dell cut specifically for the inspiron.

uh no... it's not even 99% of Dells. all inspirons and XPS 1730's aren't soldered in

 

Actually, per those links, it seems like it would be possible (by my quick read...gtg good luck!)

 

not really.

it just means the inspiron card comes out. it doesn't mean a 1530's will or that it or any other card will fit in the inspiron outside the ones Dell cut specifically for the inspiron.

 

I'd think you could at least get a 8600 DDR2 card in.

Bye bye for reals.

 

^^ the thread starter wanted to upgrade.

ETA: yeah he could, but that would be max. i wish Dell cut ddr3 cards to fit in the inspiron.

 

It would be a nice upgrade as far as gaming goes...expecially with an OC

 

Or just buy a gaming laptop in the first place. Saves you all the hassle.

 

Not everyone can dump XXXX$ on a notebook at once

 

This is true. But upgrading a laptop piece-meal will typically be more expensive (and more restrictive) in the end, in comparison to doing so with a Desktop. So, if Mr. Man has a little patience, counts his pennies, and sits on a good deal, he could get a MUCH better machine.

...then again, he may be able to sell his old 8400 to offset his cost, maybe.
...then again and again, he'd probably get more bang for his buck by selling his entire rig in order to offset the cost of a new lappy (and generally the longer you wait to sell that lappy, you get increasingly less for it)

 

Then you save until you have the money to do so. Laptops aren't like desktops where I can by low specs now and throw in a great video card when I can afford it.

 

It totally depends on technical ability.

Take my Inspiron 500m for example which I had bought almost 5 years ago.

LCD screen upgrade: XGA(1024x768) -> SXGA(1400x1050) cost:$45 Ebay
CPU upgrade: 1.3GHz Banias -> 1.8 GHz Dothan cost:$40 Ebay
Wifi upgrade: 802.11b 11Mb -> 802.11g 54Mb cost: $35 Ebay
Ram : 384MB -> 1GB, cost is market price and less than Dell's initial price
HD: 20GB -> 40GB, cost is market price and less than Dell's initial price


And, also take my Vostro1500 which is less than 1 year old

Ram upgrade: 1GB -> 2GB, cost is $35 vs higher initial price of Dell.
HD upgrade: 120GB -> 250GB cost is $90 vs higher initial price of Dell plus I have an extra 120GB external disk now.
GPU upgrade: 8400M-GS -> 8600M-GT, cost is $125 vs $100 initial cost but I can sell the extra 8400M.
Turbo memory upgrade: cost is $32 not an option at Dell.
CPU upgrade is planned in the very near future.

 

Regarding the original question about using an XPS 1530 GPU on Inspiron 1520, the first answer is correct. The GPU is soldered on 1530 motherboard and there is no graphics card that can be upgraded. See the pictures at the link below.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsM1530/en/SM/cpucool.htm#wp1084976

However, it is sometimes possible to swap graphics cards between two different Dell laptops such as Vostro-1500 and Vostro-1700. See the link below.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=197906&page=2

 

While there are upgrade pathways, it is extremely limited compared to what you can do with a desktop. You might have a video card upgrade possible, but most likely not.

 

Someone needs to just dive into the 1520 and end all this "I'm right; No, I'm right" crap.