Can I add a Video Card?

I was wondering if I could add a Graphics Card to my laptop

its a Gateway® P-173X FX Edition

I know that most PC laptops cannot add or change graphics cards but I am not sure about this one. Any help would be Great!

also, is it possible for me to add the 9800M GTX to it? (sorry if this is a stupid question, Im not that informed about computers)

 

Nope. Not upgradeable.

 

lol! read the gaming and graphics section stickies please.

 

is it (my computer) at all upgradable?

 

yes, you can upgrade the optical drive, CPU, RAM, hard drive, and the screen, as well as the wireless card(maybe) and smaller things. just not the graphics card(it is soldered on the motherboard)

 

Doesn't it only support 4GB of RAM?

And where would be a good place to shop for CPU's and RAM?

 

im just saying you CAN upgrade it, although there is no reason if you allready have four GB.

ebay is a good place for CPU's

 

OK,
I have two final questions...

1) Is it possible to go past the four GB limit if so how?

2) what CPU would you recomend to speed up my computer for gaming
(I couldnt help but see your "SuperCoolExtremeCPUclub" under your name, and I figured you know a thing or two about them).

 

I got the X9100 and it works great, got it off of ebay for about 400 bones

 

doesn't your lappy already have a 2.4 or 2.5ghz c2d? I doubt you'll see much if any gaming improvements going beyond that. GPU is the real bottleneck in games and its not upgradeable on the gateways.

faster hard drive will help load times in games...

 

afaik nobody went beyond 4gb on a gateway, so you can be the first.
as far as cpus : x9000 is the top dog for your machine, the x9100 is not compatible.

btw all these questions had been answered many times before, use search use google use your fingers.

 

there is no reason to go past 4gb, i doubt under any regular circumstance you would ever use over 2gb.

i think you should stick with the CPU you have, and then if your not happy upgrade to the X9000, otherwise dont upgrade at all.

 

There is a provision in the ExpressCard standard to support ExpressCard graphics card that would drive an external monitor. The ExpressCard slots are x1 and it is expected that any ExpressCard graphics card would be a downgrade from whatever you have in your laptop. Neither the powerbudget nor the throughput of Expresscard slots is adequate to power the last two or three generations of GPUs. I do not even believe anyone makes such a card right now.

So it is possible that in the future there may be a low-end grpahics card that you can put in your Expresscard slot to drive an external monitor, but it would in NO WAY be an upgrade.

 

does any one have any pics of the graphics card in their or in the 7811 i thought their was a tread were a guy took one apart and had pics but i dont remeber what it was called...

 

would the QX9300 be compatible?

 

Even if it were removeable (99% of laptops are NOT), 100% of the time companies like this use a proprietary format for GPUs. There is no upgrade path.

 

no. we told you x9000 is the best you can support.

 

ok, thanks

 

I believe that external GPU's exist. Although, I doubt you can SLI the internal and external (assumign external is even nvidia). So you would probably have to use one or the other. And then there's the question of whether the cable/port that the external GPU uses will limit it. A hairy subject.

 

There is indeed an external video card that Asus came out with. Its unfortunatly limited to a midgrade desktop card (8600gt if i'm not mistaken) and its connection is an Asus only hook up

Last i heard is they are trying to redesign it to be more compitable with other computers as it barely works on the Asus's themselves.

So its not exactly a "good" option, but it is there. Hopefully in a year or two we will actually have working external vid cards so this wont be a large issue anymore.

 

Yeah, and someone else has a system that allows you to plug a PCI-Ex1 video card into a box that connects to an ExpressCard so you could use an off-the-shelf x1 video card. The ASUS is also an x1 card. It's aimed at folks who bought a laptop with integrated graphics (like the Intel flavor of the month integrated graphics).

The problem with putting graphics in an ExpressCard is that there is limited space, limited power and limited throughput (at least from the point of view of a video card)

 

OK, thanks for the Info guys.

If I where to upgrade my hardrive, would my games run more smoothly? Right now I can run Crysis on high settings with 15-30 fps, would a better hard drive help. I was told on this thread (page 1) that it would.

 

It would help with load times. Not with actual fps.

 

yep, just load times and overall system snappiness, nothing with gaming though.

 

How could I improve my FPS (besides upgrading my CPU)?

 

Most games are GPU limited, meaning you need to upgrade the graphics card, which in most cases means "buy a new computer".

 

lower the resolution, other then that there is no way, you have what you have.

 

play older games

 

LOL. Doom should run quite well. Even including, but not limited to Doom 3, and PacMan.

 

Oh i'm so going to get an external Floppy drive so i can load up a pacman game.... i'm betting on 26,000,000 fps at native resolution

 

OK, this might be the most stupid thing ill ask on this forum, but...

Is it possible to buy a different motherboard (such as a dell motherboard wich can upgrade graphics cards) then buy a better mobile graphics card, and switch the two with the motherboard I have now (along with the parts on my computer). If I could it could save me a lot of money but is it possible

 

Or.. just buy a new computer?

 

wow honestly what do you want? build a desktop if you want upgrade ability, this is a portable powerhouse.

NO comment.

 

I certainly hope that we can make GPU upgrading in notebooks in the future MUCH more accessible, especially with external graphics solutions like the hopefully-not-vaporware ATI XGP.

 

well their idea with the Puma platform, having the PCI-E adapter outside could work, if implemented properly. have not heard much about it though.

 

lol its too complicated to up the gpu on a lappy...

 

everyone laughing etc, why? Let me set the record straight. Funny how Ive had a lappy for 2 wks and I already know this. (lotta time on hands lol) In some cases card upgrade is easy and rewarding. I guess gateway doesnt use MXM? Some Asus do. see
http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Notinthelist.html (and homepage). So I had to post since so many here are outright dismissing it. the reality is that gpu upgrade is not common, but if you happen to get lucky and your lappy uses MXM, AND a good upgrade becomes available in the next couple of years, it might be as easy as desktop upgrade (if sink fits etc). You just take lappy apart and plug it in. But its not really meant to be done, industry makes no effort at all to support it. (you just get lucky sometimes) I think they are MISSING out on revenue. seriously. if Nvidia made an effort to get lappy makers to use same set of MXM slots (for at least a couple yrs), they could release faster cards using same heat/power envelope. these could sell to many people that like the lappy, dont want to go find a new one, but would like the upgrade. Im sure Nvidia has thought of this and its just too hard to get makers to cooperate, but MAYBE things may move slowly that way as lappy sales continue to grow vs destops.

 

lol this will never happen, they have been implementing this for over 2 years now and its has completely diminished. The only laptops off hand that utilize this *WITH* cards to upgrade to are the Sagers and the Asus C90.

we dismiss it because it is not in the best interests of manufacturers to utilize it, cause it costs them much more in the long run to have it working properly.

5% actually, probably much less, buy a laptop to game on, there is not a large enough market. you need to shell out much more than for this gateway to have the possibility of even upgrading.

 

MXM was designed more for the manufacturers benefit so that they could offer the same motherboard with 2 or 3 discreet graphics options. Its a lot cheaper to manufacture 6000 motherboards, and 2000 each of three different MXM graphics cards than it is to manufacturer 2000 each of three different motherboards. The graphics cards are more expensive to create, but hopefully this is offset by cheaper motherboards. For some of those laptops that use MXM, you do need to remove part or all of the case, keyboard, and/or motherboard to get at the MXM card. Also, as you can see here, there are actually 4 different MXM card dimension specs comprising 4 different thermal specs, two different maximum gpu die sizes and two different MXM slots (different number of pins). MXM, as a "standard" isn't as standard as one might think.

No one here would argue that it would be great FOR US if manufacturers made laptops that upgradeable, but the reality is that very few laptops are sold with highend graphics and we have taught the manufacturers that there are a number of us willing to pay a very nice premium for "gaming" laptops and they aren't likely to sacrifice a short term gain in the upgrade market in exchange for comoditizing the laptop market. They did that on desktops and margins are now razor thin there. They've learned their lesson, and they aren't going to do that to the laptop market. Yes, Sager and XoticPC sell configurable laptops and allow you to upgrade graphics, but look at the price they charge for them. E-wrecked paid $1700 for his and that was without memory, without hard drive and without a CPU.

 

narsnail:"we dismiss it because it is not in the best interests of manufacturers to utilize it, cause it costs them much more in the long run to have it working properly." fisiks:"They did that on desktops and margins are now razor thin there."
intelligent posts-better than casual dismissals. I hear what you are saying. But I can't help but wonder about it in comparison to destop market. thin margins for graphics cards? I dunno, but I dont think u r saying that desk card makers would be happier if upgrading never came to be. I seems to me lappy cards are an untapped market, or at least may become so, as lappy power and market share gains on desk. "..costs them much more in the long run to have it working properly." this could be addressed by a move towards more standardization. like 2 or mabye 3 size forms and thats it.
I see how its kinda not in the lappy makers interest, but it is in gpu makers interest. But being able to buy a lappy for less now knowing upgrade was already out (like in cpu) would open lower market some. Card makers would like that. retailers that offer service would like that. Cpu upgrading is getting pretty standard it seems. [with Fusion etc
I still think at some point gpu might be as upgradable as cpu's. Or maybe cpu/gpu will be same chip. but thats getting a little out there. give it 5 yrs and see]. gpu's now help do encoding etc..I dont think its so clearly a case of the current situation being exactly how everyone planned it, seems more an organic result.... there are cross currents

 

Yeah, XGP, another good idea not getting put on. Maybe it will at some point. It would work for a lot of people to carry around battery friendly etc then come hojme and plug in. I was just talking to someone who said they wish they could get that. But of course XGP is proprietary ATI. what is really needed is a PCI-x 16 bus equivalent of e-SATA.
People WOULD buy that. I think its one of those 'build it they will come things'. Imagine if even one major lappy maker came out and said 'with this little jack you can plug you lappy into ANY externally powered video card' (sli or xf boxes to be announced lol)
It's a natural companion to the external monitor they plug into -that market. thats what
ATI is thinking. I think stuff like this is more about political-economics between companies than it is what is good for everyone (including the proprietary aspect). I'm kinda worried about eSATA. It's great for bandwidth but are lappy makers going to eventually think USB is all most people want? Those 2.5 USB powered drives are way cooler than the 3.5 externals unless you are bandwidth freak (video etc). And USB 3 is coming. I actually think external PCI-x would be at least as cool as eSATA to average user.

 

No, no, desktop computers have razor thin margins. Back when average desktops were over $1k, anybody with a screw driver and a 4th grade education could buy decent components with solid drivers and put one together for less than you could buy a POS PackardBell. And once people realized they could upgrade components instead of buying a new desktop, the price of desktops came down not just to compete with other desktops, but to compete in the upgrade market as well (Sales line goes like this "Sure you could upgrade your hard drive, processor and memory for $400, or for $50 more, you could have a brand new Banana Jr 2000!"). Laptops have nice fat margins (comparatively speaking), particularly the "gaming" laptops, and laptop manufacturers don't want to destroy those margins by opening them up to the upgrade market. If you could upgrade your old laptop, why would you buy a new one?

IIRC, when IBM first introduced the Thinkpad, you could get a docking station that had two ISA slots in it. You could put a sound card in one slot and a VGA video card in the other. There was also a bay for an extra hard drive, among other things. At one point, they had a docking station that even allowed you to install a half-high CDROM drive. So, it's not like some of these things haven't been tried.

 

I just want the ATI XGP to work. I was gonna wait and get a laptop with the the PUMA external PCI Express slot but then i waited and waited and came to the conclusion... it really is too good to be true. As everyone is saying, Laptop makers would lose too much money if there was an affordable and easy way to upgrade your gpu. So i picked up this beast and couldn't be happier! Hell i'd be just as happy (almost ) if all they did was make an external graphics solution that housed desktop cards and you couldn't upgrade. at least then u could run around with your laptop with integrated graphics then plug into a beastly GPU at home and not worry about heat b/c it has it's own encloser. (one of the highlights already stated for ATI's XGP)

 

guys can i add a graphics card in my laptop configuration in my sig..

 

no

10 char..