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    Theoretical question - laptop graphics chip

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by link101ooh, Jun 17, 2011.

  1. link101ooh

    link101ooh Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok, so I know that the great majority of laptop graphics chips are soldered onto the motherboard and removing/replacing/upgrading is almost never an option. So now that I have that said here is the theoretical question.

    Say you have a laptop with a GT 415M or GT 520M were able to remove it (using reflow/rework procedure for example), could you replace the 415M or 520M with a 425M or 525M/540M respectively. (Assuming of course you had a way of reattaching the chip back to the motherboard)

    They are all pretty much based on the GF108 core and if you look at solder points in the back they all line up.

    I know that there would probably be other issues such as available power, bios support etc...

    Wanted to see what other people thought about this.
     
    link101ooh, Jun 17, 2011
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  2. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    Even if the pin were the same (electronically), BIOS support would be the biggest issue. Systems with the GPU soldered on have the vbios integrated in the system bios afaik.
     
    svl7, Jun 17, 2011
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  3. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    Were it 'technically feasable', the cost to do so would be far greater than buying a used mobo as an upgrade/replacement.

    It might even be more expensive than buying the correctly configured laptop in the first place.

    SMD hand-work (yes, soldering a new GPU counts as this) on 6-7-8 layer PC boards requires fairly high level of practiced skill as well as some specialized equipment.
     
    newsposter, Jun 17, 2011
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  4. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    True, but this can't be done by hand at all, the GPUs are BGA soldered.
     
    svl7, Jun 17, 2011
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  5. link101ooh

    link101ooh Notebook Enthusiast

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    I was assuming that a correctly configured laptop with the more powerful GPU was never available, hence the need to do your own replacement.

    Yes, svl7 is right about it being practically impossible to do that by hand without specialized equipment since the GPUs are BGA. I know that there are places that will do BGA rework for you, such as fixing faulty solder points for Xboxs, PS3s and laptops.
     
    link101ooh, Jun 17, 2011
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  6. whitrzac

    whitrzac The orange end is cold...

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    its really not that hard to do BGA stuff... ;)
     
    whitrzac, Jun 17, 2011
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  7. link101ooh

    link101ooh Notebook Enthusiast

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    So after getting past the difficult (or not so hard according to whitrzac ;) ) part of removing the soldered gpu and soldering a new gpu in its place, we get to the next road block which is the vbios.

    Can't the bios be modded as well though? I mean I am running a 590 sli board that has a bios mod to allow for AM3 support. I think this might actually be easier than the above since there is a larger community out there that helps to mod bios.

    I really think the hardest part might be actually getting a separate gpu chip let alone a completely different one, but theoretically it sounds like it is possible.
     
    link101ooh, Jun 19, 2011
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  8. ramgen

    ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --

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    If you have the necessary equipments then yeah, not a big deal. The hard part is to find those equipments.


    --
     
    ramgen, Jun 19, 2011
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  9. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    True, with the correct tools it's possible, I only said it's not possible by hand :)



    Like I said, as far as I know, the vbios is integrated in the system BIOS when the GPU chip is directly on the mobo.
    You would have to extract the vbios of the system BIOS and exchange it for the other one (and make it work somehow, lol)

    The needed equipment and especially the time that all the work consumes will cost much more than simply buying a new laptop. BIOS modding needs some serious skills and a lot of time.
     
    svl7, Jun 19, 2011
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