GPU Upgrade...

Hi!
I am now on the verge of getting a 9600m GT for my laptop, but it has an MSI vbios on it. How would that fare against me putting it in my Acer laptop?
cheers

 

Couldn't you just flash blind flash it if it doesn't work?

 

First off, is the Graphics Card on your laptop even removable?, most laptops have the graphics card soldered on to the motherboard to prevent any upgrading done by the end-customer.

Is the 9600m GT card that you plan to get compatible with the slot in your laptop?

VBIOS's may affect cards, especially if the voltage used on the laptop that the card was extracted from is different, which may lead to the laptop or the card itself failing to start, or even burn the card.

I do not know where you could get ahold of a 9600m GT Acer VBIOS, the best option would be asking someone that has an Acer VBIOS 9600m GT and that would like to share it with you by using a certain tool to dump it from the card into data form, this is called VBIOS Flashing, I won't discuss this issue any further as the process is in a grey area, sort of.

Keep in mind the thermal budget as well, I do not know the limits or the cooling system in your laptop thus I cannot give you an answer.

There is also the voltage issue, if the slot is a MXM slot, then there should be no problems, but if the voltage directed to the slot by the laptop is not enough, the graphics card won't even turn on.

There is a lot involved in updating a laptop's graphics card yourself, especially when dealing with non-propietary hardware, it is definitely not easy, straight-forward and requires a lot of effort and time.

 

yes his Acer latops and most acer laptops have removable GPU's... Secondly , the MSI BIOS will work but u might have higher temps you need to undervolt... also you might need to modd the laptop to properly set the card.

 

How much is this going to cost you? I wonder if it will be worth while upgrading to a mid range card like the 9600m. You should consider a Vidock2 or even a new laptop equipped with MXM 3.0B slot.

 

you can sometimes can find MXM cards cheap for the acers and MSI's and then you dont need to deal with external bits either

 

firstly i wouldn't buy it if it wasn't for the same slot.
secondly, yes i know most of that, and of course it is removable i wouldn't even be thinking of buying it if it wasn't.
thirdly, i'll mod the cooling however is needed/if needed (coppermod, try and fit in a better fan etc.)

ye i will most likely need to mod the heatsink but i am aware and willing. also undervolting will be no probs to me, if i need any help i'll just ask here

Vidock2, never ever ever. the whole point of me having a laptop is so it can be moved around, not cabled in like a borg. considering i am doing ok with a HD2400 xt i think i will be quite happy with the upgrade, especially as its going to cost only the same as buying 2 new games.

The verdict is that the vbios will work, but i will most likely need to undervolt? Sounds like moderately good news to me

 

Good luck with it.

 

thanks!

it's been on the cards for long enough. plus i'll probs be first with an extensa to try it out on the forum hopefully (and probs the last with the age of the models)

 

You could be a forum pioneer...

You could even make a guide if you think it's worth it.

 

nobody would use it. i don't know of anyone with an Acer Extensa 5620 but i'll probs do it anyway

 

I'm sure there are people out there with 5620G's that would be doing internet searches for a GPU upgrade. Remember, you would have to do the whole disclaimer thing, and tell everyone first that most laptops are non-upgradeable, only applies for this model, etc.

 

will do

 

Be the first, that's all I can say. It brings a nice feeling of self-accomplishment. If it doesn't work, I'm pretty sure you could at least get 90% of your cost back selling it somewhere. I wouldn't worry too much about overheating or incompatible vBIOS. MSI's will work since I have an EX625 card in mine as does triturbo. My system and his started off with a much lower watt GPU and both of ours can handle the extra heat. Granted my battery life is horrendous now.

Just a tip, I ran into this problem and stated a failure too early even though it wasn't. Without the proper drivers under Vista, the 4670 runs over 90c idle which causes the laptop to inconsistently shut down while booting as a failsafe. Since you're switching between brands, try to keep an eye out if this happens. If it's completely incompatible, you shouldn't be able to access the BIOS menu. If you see the BIOS screen but it shuts off, then it might be an overheating problem where you need to get the right drivers by using something like a copper shim to cool it down enough to get into Windows. If you have 7, then I think the stock drivers can control the temps already since I only had that problem under Vista.

 

cheers for the tip i have win7 but we'll see what happens....

 

this all depends on whether the chip will even physically fit...

 

i'll make it fit its mxm 2.1 so will have same dimensions. with regards to the heatsink, grinder at the ready !

 

Good luck!

 

Cheers ears! It's been posted, I shall recieve in about a week, in time for the weekend's tinkering I hope then you shall be hearing from me.

 

Anyone here know what are safe temperatures for GPU Ram?

 

thread hijack much.

about 90-100º is the max u wanna go i thought...

 

Not quite sure on that, as a lot of GPU's don't have a temperature diode on their memory, but I'm guessing 90C would definitely be pushing it. Memory is a lot more susceptible to damage from heat than other parts.

 

I have an Acer 9600M GT, that I have flashed to undervolt
I have both the BIOS at stock voltage and undervolted. That should solve the problem if the MSI card isn't recognized

If you need it I can help you out, just send a PM my way, or post here .
I can also help you with flashing the BIOS

Best of Luck Cheese, keep us posted

 

Is there even a temperature sensor for GPU´s Ram? As far as I knew the reported temps were only from the GPU´s CPU.

 

The 9600m GT is an incompatible MXM upgrade for my laptop, the 5920g (the 9600 is incompatible to due a BIOS issue). I upgraded from an 8600m GT to an HD 4650. Thats what I would recommend. (see sig for details)

Many MXM GPUs support temp monitoring of VRAM. In speedfan its usually temp # 3, but it differs card to card. You'd need to research it.

 

good luck spaghetticheese ,

I suppose that you have the potentail to upgrade,and I believe that you have enough knowledge and experience to do it,

by the way,my 8600M GS failed in my hp pavilion since it is a 8xxx card,and I got that issue fixed by paying 280 turkish liras which is like 150-200 Dolars.

I got both the motherboard replaced,since gpu is soldered to it.

Isnt there any way to take out the soldered gpu on mobo,and solder a new gpu?

 

if you got amazing skills, or work assembling them. other than that i think ur done for. plus if the card is in the mobo all the connections would be permanent and so i doubt it even if you have the skillllllzzzz

 

if it fails then i will sell the card on ebay and go for a 4650

 

Why don't you go directly for the HD mobility 4650? It is a better upgrade than the 9600m GT.

 

Actually I think that a DDR3 9600 is faster

 

and also cos i got my 9600m GT for 105 dollars delivered from USA to UK



edit: this could be good timing, as i think my 2400 has finally given up

 

DDR3 9600M GT compared to what? DDR2 or DDR3 4650? If the 4650 is DDR2, then yes, the DDR3 9600M GT is faster, but if the 4650 is DDR3, then the 4650 will be faster.

How so? Artifacting?

 

horizontal green lines appearing all over the place. its not the screen because each window has it's own lines that move about with it. they seem to be flashing.

they started in game, and when i went out of game aero switched to basic, then i restarted and it was ok until i opened a game and put stress on the gpu then lines again

 

Ouch. How long until you get the 9600M GT?

 

HOPEFULLY.... next friday. I say hopefully because i don't know how efficient the american postal service is.

 

Ouch

Hope you get your 9600 before friday

 

cheers, i'll probs get in touch about the bios aswell. what 3Dmark score you get?

 

Stock clocks/CPU voltage/GPU voltage I got this:


For some reason I get ~1500 as a CPU score now
Any ideas why?

Haven't really overclocked much, but I will once my exams are over

 

i'm a bit worried.... the Extensa 5620 seemed to only come with either HD2400s or Intel's GMA built in graphics.
Most important question: Does a bios actually have to have it written into it to support a card/gpu core?

If this is a yes, then I doubt I can actually upgrade to a 9600m GT... (doesn't mean i won't try it)
The Extensa 5630 had HD3650s though, but that has a GM/PM45 chipset. The bios i have in mine now is the latest on the Acer support site for it, the 'v1.35', but the 5630 seems to have a 'v1.36'. Is it possible this is just an upgraded bios of the 1.35 or a completely new one? I'm not sure of risking it because of the fact that the chipsets are different... mine being PM965.

But another thing is.... they only had these with HD2400xts, which have 2 memory chips to the side of the core, yet the heatsink has the area to contact with 4 memory chips, 2 to the side and 2 above as u see in most cards with 512mb or more. I'm not going to take this as a good sign towards upgrading though as i assume it is done so to make mass production cheaper in preperation of making the later Extensa versions with better cards.

Anyway i haven't been able to find release notes for any of the Extensa 5620 BIOS.

If all this fails, i shall most likely sell the parts i can such as T9300, hard drive, screen, audigy 2 pcmcia sound card, HyperX RAM and put all towards gettin a laptop off of here second hand with a half decent GPU.

 

anyone?

 

I don't really understand your question but if your asking whether the mobo BIOS has to have the info of the card to run is an iffy question. Some models from what I've heard outright reject the 9600M GT but are usually fine with any other card. In my case, Acer has never produced a 4670M for the Acer Aspire 6000 series and shouldn't have any card info in the BIOS yet my card from an EX625 works almost flawlessly which has a MSI vBIOS. I say almost since there was a huge heat jump until me and triturbo managed to crank it down.

 

Ye thats basically what i was asking... interesting... cheers

Should be arriving any day now so i'll have to wait n see.

 

FAIL. Mega fail.

That is all.

 

What happened?

 

not good... looks like it didn't work.. what happened?

 

Nothing. No BIOS boot, just 'BEEEEP'

Never mindz....

 

Ouch, sorry. Does the HD 2400 still work?

I don't suppose you'll be williing to try a 3650 or an HD 2600 anymore...

 

i will be in the future yes. i have just bought a cheapo desktop from a friend as a temp pc.... :'(

i'll first try 4650, and if that doesnt work, 3650.

if that doesn't work i'll throw everything in the sea.

 

ouch that must really hurt with all the excitement... i know how u feel... just recently felt like that when parents didn't buy me a new laptop... well i'm in the same position as u... got to try this and that or i'll just throw it out...

 

indeed. i'm on an old school desktop now cos i am getting bluescreen crashes from the gpu locking up. although this desktop does have a 9600 GT XD
never mind....