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    1720 vid card options?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Dink7898, Mar 20, 2010.

  1. Dink7898

    Dink7898 Newbie

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    Hello,
    I'm new to the board and was looking for a little info. I've done some research and I am a little confused. I have a Dell Inspiron 1720 with the 8400M GS (128) card. I am in the market to upgrade but I was under the impression that the biggest card I could use would be the 8600M GS (256). I have seen some people metioning the 8600M GT (512). But, all the pics I have seen of the GT look nothing like my card. I am confused what the MXM is which is what some of the sellers on Ebay list the GT as. How can I use this card?
    My system specs are as follows
    1720
    Vista Home
    2.5g T9300 CPU
    4gb Ram
    8400M GS card
    Bios - A09
    Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.
     
    Dink7898, Mar 20, 2010
    #1
  2. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

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    Dell does not use MXM. Dell uses proprietary connectors on their video cards. I believe the best video card that the 1720 was sold with is the 8600m GT, so that would be the best you can upgrade to.

    However, both the 8400m GS and 8600m GT suffer from the solder issue. You are potentially upgrading to a card with a limited lifespan.
     
    Lithus, Mar 21, 2010
    #2
  3. SomeFormOFhuman

    SomeFormOFhuman has the dumbest username.

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    The 1720 does not use an MXM card, and as I have mentioned before, whether or not the solder issue exists on the 1720, its hard to predict, as (1) there is no known massive failure of the card amongst 1720 users, (2) it's not under Dell's list of defective Nvidia cards and thus no warranty extension, and lastly universally designed to run cool for the 1720 under 70*C. Many users with 8600Ms in their 1720s have been known running constantly for 3 years till today, and that includes mine.

    But whatever it may be, if I were you, you're better off buying a new notebook. Just a suggestion.

    This is a typical MXM 2.0 8600M GT/8400M GS card:
    [​IMG]

    And this is the 1720 8600M GT/8400M GS proprietary card:
    [​IMG]

    Note the size of the card and its connector differences, screw position and layout etc.
    The 8600M GT is a 256MB DDR2 variant for the 1720.

    With the heatsink and spreader included, it should look like this:
    [​IMG]

    Hope this clears your confusion. But well as I say again, the 8600M GT is a 3 generation old card, and I just well recommend to save up a new notebook with better more powerful GPU options instead.
     
    SomeFormOFhuman, Mar 21, 2010
    #3