Upgrading MSI GT640 laptops graphic card

I was recently given an MSI GT640 laptop and would like some guidance with upgrading its graphics card. The existing card is a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M and I would like to replace it with a card that supports DX11. I understand a replacement would have to be relatively similar in terms of power consumption and with an MXM3 interface - But that is pretty much the limits of my knowledge with these things.

I don't need an absolute brute of a card, I have a quad core extreme, GTX 570 sli workstation for image editing so the laptop specs aren't too essential, all it really needs is a similar performing card to its GTS 250m - but with added DX11 capabilities.

I know there are bios concerns and I'm not exactly certain of the exact MXM type either, I am 99% certain its an MXM3 type but even then, there are different types of MXM3 cards too seemingly...

If anyone could offer any guidance on this I'd be extremely grateful.


Regards,

Tommy

 

its been a few years since I have heard any questions about this lappy lol. I think the best you can do in that laptop is a 5870m or a 455m/540m. Those will work with that stock cooler i believe from what I heave heard in the past, not sure if the lower 6 or 7 series will work in that slot or not. The 540m def works with direct X 11, but I would do some more reaearch just in case you may need to mod the heatsink.

 

Hi, yes the laptop is a fair vintage alright..but I got it for nothing and it still beats my existing laptop (just a bit) but its not for modem games as such, I don't really play 'pc games' but i do emulation and the old msi specs are fine for that but couple of more recent emulators do need dx11, hence the req for such a card. The 5870m u mention consumes almost twice as much current as the gts250...if the laptop can handle it ok then, yes, I'll go with what I can get away it's re performance. Many thanks for the quick reply and for the help with this. I'll have a look around for what u suggest and let u know his things go. p.s..the bios? Would I have to do do anything re bios flashing with a replacement card?

Regards,

Tommy

 

Msi GT640 have heatsink for mxm 3.0 A card. There is place for longer B type card but heatpipe and heatsink will not be sufficient to cool down those cards. Look around for ATI FirePro M4000. That's one of the bests card mxm 3.0 A type. It's even slightly faster then 5870m, I think. Sometimes it can be found for about 100$ if You are lucky.

 

That's sounds promising, esp that Fire Pro card. I checked it out and I def want one of those! A quick search shows that they can be got via ebay UK (I live in the UK) and there is one from a Dell Precision - I presume this cards bios is specific for Dell machines? I'm sorry for the q's but just a thought, I'll see what I can find on ebay or phone around locally, UK residents get absolutely hammered for US import or I'd get one from the states (more availability) but see what encounters. Least I know what I'm actually looking for now and many thanks to darnock and halo god for all the help, its been essential.


Regards,

Tommy

 

Guys from Acer forum put this card to their Aspire 5739g and it work then I don't see the reason why it would not work in GT640. At this price it's steel. It have vbios chip onboard then no modding is required and You can always flash it with different vbios.

 

That's one thing I wanted to avoid - gpu bios flashing - it would be a 1st for me, I've modded couple of laptops to eventual destruction in the past but never flashed the bios of a graphics card, so something to research into.

I'll let you know how things go as soon as I get the card, again many thanks for the help to the both of you.


tommy