Upgrading one graphics card to another

I've seen it mentioned that this is impossible 90% of the time.

I know it's possible to switch from one 5650 to another 5650, but what about a 5650 to a 5730? They're identical cards I think except one is binned higher.

I assume the 6650 wouldn't fit (or whatever equivalent)

 

aslong as it's the same MXM version and fits in your laptop should be fine.

 

I remember seeing a topic about MXM versions... where can I find this information? I'm sorry if this is in a sticky but I couldn't find it... perhaps it got lost in my tabs somewhere.

 

It depends on your laptop more than the card. Even the high end cards like gtx 260m are not MXM and soldered to the motherboard by some manufacturers like gateway.

Although in your case I believe the card can tell all, the ati 5650 MXM has not been released yet, or its very rare and not in any laptops. So I don't think its possible.

Also Sony has never used MXM AFAIK

 

Good to know, thanks Not a problem for me, the graphics card hasn't bottlenecked me yet except maybe for crysis.

 

Why do you need a 5730? they're the same card like you said so you can just overclock your 5650 to the 5730 clocks.

 

You can't upgrade your particular laptop, the chip is soldered onto the board. You'd need an entirely new motherboard, and Sony doesn't offer one with the 5730.

 

Without voltmodding I'll never get as high as a 5730, with voltmodding I'd have to get a low binned 5730 labeled as a 5650.

Good to know! If this gpu ever becomes the bottleneck (I play a lot of games that are more CPU heavy than GPU heavy and this hasn't even come close to a problem) I'll voltmod. I already overclock way past the 5730.

 

If you had a SMT machine you could maybe do it. Considering its the same card.

 

That wouldn't do anything. It would still show up as a 5650 and run at the same voltages and clock speed.

 

But it would be a higher binned card so you could overclock it more.

I know, really not worth it.