Dell XPS M1730 video card upgrade

It's possible that I will both need and want to upgrade my video card soon. The system came from the factory with two 8800M GTXs installed. I'd like to stick with nVidia, but I have a couple of questions.

What are some solo nVidia cards that are better than dual 8800M GTXs in SLI? I'm assuming anything in the 400M GTX line, but what about the 200M GTX series?

Is it even possible for me to upgrade in this machine? I can access the GPUs and remount them thanks to instructions in a YouTube video, but I don't know which cards would even be compatible and fit into the system.

Finally, if there is definitely a card that is compatible/will fit/is an upgrade, how would I go about finding one? Where do you buy new video cards for a laptop?

Thanks for reading. Again, this is an M1730 laptop I'm talking about running Windows 7 64-bit (in case that matters).

 

Im sorry to say that the best cards you can put in that machine are the sli 9800 gtx's and performance wise they aren't much better than what you have.
None of the current nvidia cards will work (200m, 400m).

 

You cannot upgrade to the GTX 400M line. You can upgrade up to 9800M GTX SLI, which is the highest option. The m1730 uses a proprietary card, and thus isn't MXM like all other notebooks. The 8800M is still a good card to game with will not provide any significant performance boost from 8800M SLI to 9800M GTX SLI.

The GPU of the M1730 looks like this. It's a unique card that has two cores on a single PSB design. It's currently the only notebook to posses this design.



Ebay is the only place to buy it.

 

You can put an Nvidia 9800m GT SLI or Nvidia 9800m GTX SLI, in the m1730. Check eBay for them, or call Dell.

Here's a page of for sale m1730 video cards: m1730 video items - Get great deals on Graphics, Video TV Cards items on eBay.com!

 

Thanks for the quick responses. I was just inside the system for the first time today to remount and clean the card and the fans (I think it's overheating because the display sometimes turns off and system locks up), so I see what you all are talking about. I just thought that if my GPUs need repair or replacement, I may as well upgrade. But, I'm satisfied with the performance of the 8800M, so it's not a big deal if I can't.

 

Dust build up in heatsinks throughout the months and years pose overheating dangers especially GPUs, which is critical. It's generally recommended to do cleaning maintenance every 3 - 5 months for M1730, and as there are 3 fans in the machine.

 

Edited, don't know how to delete.