Best/cheapest place to purchase Laptop Video Cards/MXM

I am getting the Acer Aspire AS6530-5753 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115546, but I am not too thrilled about its ATI 3650 MXM card. So I want at least a GeForce 9700M GT, I just realized how hard it is to actually shop around for MXM cards. Newegg nor pricewatch seem to have a category for them. So anyone know where the best and cheapest place to buy MXM cards?

Thanks

 

mxm-upgrade.com or ebay.com.

 

You are not too thrilled with the 3650? With only a 16" WXGA screen anything better than a 9600m GT will go to waste. Just overclock the hd3650 when you get it. Also you will probably not find a 9700m Gt for sale as it is extremely rare to find those high end parts for sale, also the 9700m Gt is mxm-III which will probably not fit in your aspire.

 

Great, so I find a great laptop and I can't even even use the latest video cards. I think all this MXM stuff needs to be standardised, it is so frustrating to find what you are looking for. Yeah I am not an ATI or overclocking fan, I just want extremely good Nvidia video MXM card. I run a very demanding application that puts most games requirements to shame. So how do I find out what kind of MXM slot this Laptop I am going to get has?

 

It is standardized, somewhat. The 6530 uses an MXM-II slot, one of five different form factors for MXM cards (I, II, III, IV, and HE).
You can use MXM-I or II cards in your system, but not III, IV, or HE.
The 9700M GT is an MXM-III card, and thus can't be used in your Aspire 6530.

Since you haven't bought the thing (if I read you right), why not go for the Aspire 6935 or 6930 with the GeForce 9600M GT?
Or the Aspire 8930G, since that DOES have the 9700M GT?
Or why not forget Acer, and go get yourself a nice Gateway P Series with a blisteringly-fast 9800M GTS?

 

Yeah I haven't bought it yet. But what I mean is you should be told what you are getting in every description. Like in the specs it should also list MXM slot type under the slot. Just like it is done for mother board description. That why there is not guessing or wondering if you have can upgrade in the first place and if so what you can and can't get.


All of these are nice, too bad they all have Intel CPU's. Why couldn't AMD buy Nvidia instead? ^_^ I guess I'll have to stick with the one I want to get, it is blue, AMD based, has nice webcam, 4GB RAM, it has a good MXM slot right, and a very nice price. So what is the best Nvidia MXM Type II card I can get? I wish this was as easy as easy when I am building desktops.

 

The GT130M will be the best, once it's available. It's basically an optimized, higher clocked 9650M GT. It'll probably perform on par with the 9700M GT anyway. 600/1400/1066 @ DDR3 is great clocks, compared to the 9700's 625/1550/800 @ DDR3. You'll already have it beat by nearly 300 on the memory, and the core/shader can be clocked even hiher.

 

I would wait to see how ATI offering(mainly the hd4670) performs before claiming that.

 

Both of these are MXM Type II?

 

The 4670 will utterly dominate even maybe the 9700M GTS, but it's also 35w, which I believe = MXM-III. Correct me if I'm wrong.

If it is MXM-II, then the 4670 will be the best by far.

 

We'll see when it's out. Where did you get that 35w figure?

 

There's also the issue of backwards compatibility - just as the 9600M GT is having problems working on platforms that originally had the 8 Series GPUs, I foresee that the GT 130M will have similar issues of not-working-ness.
Especially since Acer's BIOSes are notoriously limited in what they'll accept for graphics cards.

And then there's the whole matter of the new MXM form factors - A and B - which are COMPLETELY INCOMPATIBLE with the current five. If ATi and Nvidia make the jump with the 100/4000 Series...

 

I made a mistake with the TDP I stated. These specs came out during CES:



So I think 28-30w fits it into MXM-II.

The 48xx cards are 100% confirmed as MXM compatible with current standards. 3.0 won't be out until maybe Nvidia's mobile GT200 series.

 

Okay this thread is out of control. I'll just ask the same question in a new thread and hopefully this won't happen again..... "hopefully". ^_^