Toshiba Satellite Radeon 3650 Upgrade... Help

All,

I searched hi and low, and am scratching my head . I have a perfectly fine Core 2 Duo based Satellite A305 with a Radeon 3650 in it, thats about 2 years old. Its a 15.4 incher, so just about any hardware boost will be sufficient. I've been trying to figure out how to update the GPU for about a year now, and I am befuddled at how nearly impossible it is to both find cards, and figure out what to do. Any help is sincerely appreciated

First, does Toshiba use a "standard" MXM device
Next, has anyone done an upgrade on this chassis
Third, where in the world does one actually find cars

I'm not religious about ATI, although they have served me perfectly in both laptop and my gamer rig. I'd be fine with Nvidia too.

Any help truly appreciated

 

Ok first off you have way too many spelling errors to make any sense. Are you trying to update the graphics card drivers or the actual physical card itself for another card? Graphics update can be obtained at ati website or go to guru3d.com and as for changing out the card itself that cannot be done unless you are willing to buy a whole new system.

 

Thanks for the reply! Can't find any spelling errors actually

I want to update the GPU with a HD4XXX or HD5XXX card if I can find a method that will work. Really need to know if an MXM type card is whats in there now. Drivers I'm fine, no issues, a mobility modder user for years.

I think I can change out the card actually. I've done plenty of surgery on laptops and this one is no different. Was just wondering if anyone has done this yet as I know there are lots of Satellite owners who bought the 3650 who want more power

 

You can't update the graphics card, it's soldered to the motherboard. The BIOS also wont support the new cards. It cant be done. You will need to buy a new system if you want a new graphics card.

 

Ahhh.. I see you are have the same machine. I was afraid that updating would be a challenge, oh well. For the moment, its playing everything pretty well, but sometimes I get a slowdown in certain types of scenes, and I usually don't use AA or AF in most cases (I usually test first, sometimes it works ok)

I might try overclocking the thing just for grins, but if I need to get a new machine for more juice, then so be it.

I already did some things that gave it more juice... I put a WD black 320GB drive in it (HUGE improvement over the lame tosh drive that was in it. Also changed 32 bit to 64 bit Vista and that helped a small amount. Might try an SSD in the second slot too. I have the C2D T8300 (2.4Ghz) so CPU is not my issue...

 

Not true, good sir:

http://notebookcritic.com/2008/09/14/review-toshiba’s-satellite-a300-02c/
http://notebookcritic.com/2008/10/12/what-ever-happened-to-mxm/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=299636

The mother thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446467

It has MXM II, but it is extremely hard to access.

I have been planning on the upgrade for a while myself. The most common MXM II cards are the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650, 4650, and the 8600M GT. You may need to take apart the notebook to verify whether it is proprietory MXM or not.

 

I stand corrected. Though since the A300 is fairly old now, its probably best to just get a new laptop rather than spend money on a new video card and risk screwing up the laptop.

 

It's not all that old. If it's out of warranty, I would probably give it a try, but only if I had a back up machine, to use in the interim in case I mess it up.