Upgrading Mobile Graphics Cards - ***Read Before Posting***

@seervi, answer is no in short. if you want to switch the entire motherboard, it's gonna cost you more than 50% of what the laptop cost.

 

Guys,

Looks like i am sutck with a HP DV9010TX with a dead nvidia 7600... I just ran out of warranty too...

Am i eligible to buy warranty now???

Can HP replace the dead board with other boards that have better GPUs... [with / without warranty]

Just a note... I am from India and they are charging me $ 640 for replacing the dead board. Paid almost $ 2200 for the laptop back in Jan 2007 .

 

I have a lenovo T60p with the FireGL video card. Is there any way for me to replace it?

 

As far I know, no sorry. http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Notinthelist.html

 

manuel said it can be upgraded to newer graphics cards. anyone know where i can buy these cards, and if its limited to only certain ones. and is it even worth it?

 

i don't think you can upgrade your GPU

 

yeah you can. it even shows you how to do it on the alienware support website.

 

You can upgrade to the maximum possible GPU that your current model has used before.
What that is , I don`t know...

 

well i've never upgraded it before so it is ATI raedon 128mb 9600/700 series.

 

shame on me)) lol

 

Definitely not worth it even if you can upgrade to something "better". The laptop is too old

 

can you even find a card? AW are definitely not selling it.

 

You can probably upgrade to something like a 9800, which is still totally outdated and rubbish by modern standards and would cost a fair sum. Best get a new laptop if it's increased performance you're after.

 

yeah i've found the card.

 

After reading a lot of threads about how the 8600GT m is not the great of a video card for serious gamers, I was thinking about taking the 8600 out and putting in an upgrade in. My question is how can I find a video card that will fit and work in my dell 1520.

 

I'm pretty sure that the graphics card in the inspiron 1520 is soldered to the motherboard and not modular, meaning that it can't be swapped out for another model.

 

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1520/en/sm/graphics.htm#wp1179839

According to this site it is not soldered which has hope

 

pray that the mobo can take a 8700m gt and lightning cat, err thundercat, u will not be able to replace the card because u need to get a dif colling solution, get a cheap desktop and upgrade it, way better idea.

 

i highly suggest you dont waste your money, and just get a new laptop, it will not be worth it in the long run, and will probably not be much better then ur current card

 

i must agree with narsnail.

 

First of all wywern the THUNDERCATS was a bada$$ show in the early '90s and secondly i do agree with you on the cooling but upgrading to a 8700 would be that much of a difference as far as generating heat?

 

kevin wait for a little bit and get the Asus XG station.

 

interesting i wouldnt do it but, interesting,....none the less

id opt to save and build your own desktop

thats what im doing...mine will cost me around 1300$ after all upgrades are done and that for a triple sli machine witha 3.0ghz 45nm core 2 duo.

dude it takes a while to save money for it but its much easier to do.

 

Do the Area 51m systems even have express card slots?

I can't recommend external graphics solutions until they come up with a new connector that allows them to display the graphics on the screen and not an external monitor.

The investment for maybe 5x performance gain over integrated graphics just isn't worth it. You're spending 600 bucks on something that is only going to improve your GPU by 5x over the GMA 950. Not really worth it unless you don't plan on upgrading for years.

Believe me, I wish they were doing better, but the express card interface just can't handle it.

 

It's not soldered to the motherboard, but the 8600M-GT is the highest card offered and there are no upgrade options.

 

Quite disheartening to find out that notebooks' video cards cannot be upgraded

 

what about a hp HDX dragon? from a ATI 2600 XT to the other option, the 8800 GTS? would that be possible

 

I have a 1500 Vostro coming in the next few days and I'm going to have a look at the layout in detail.

I accept that Dell has voiced they will have or have no immediate plans to make the 9600 series an accessible upgrade path for 15xx users but the mxm format (even if slightly moddified for Dell) makes the 86xx and 96xx potential 'sisters' using mxmII. If there is a method, whether it's a bga mod or simply replacing the pci-e card and reworking the cooling or casing slightly if it's possible I'd like to clarify it.

I've spent the last few years modifying and designing cooling applications for cpu and gpu PC systems, including refrigerant based methods, direct and indirect. Fabricating a new heatpipe cooler isn't really that complicated a job, and I have the tools needed. Bga tools can be made available.

I need to confirm what package I'm looking at as far as mxm goes, and then I can find out whether driver compatiblity is going to be a serious problem.

Going to have to source a complete 9600 or 9650m kit, for whichever laptop, and see how much the design varies and confirm it's mxm package as well.

What I'd like to try to find out over the coming weeks is;

Are the 96xx and 86xx mxm packages the same?

Do the board dimensions/layout change and by how much?

Is there a significant increase in it's wattage and/or a need for alternative heatpipe cooling?

If there is no possibility for the 96xx card to fit, is there a chance of the gpu being upgraded as the bga socket should be identical?

Will existing drivers be potentially compatible if the correct gpu is selected?

If gpu replacement is possible with the correct tools, and the bios was either somewhat compatible or a bios programmer could make that possible, would an 8700m gpu be used?

If there is no upgrade path as such, but a GPU could be sourced from Nvidia dirext that is a 8600m gt gpu, but 'factory overclocked' to the speeds of the 9600 series (and that appears to be the biggest difference in performance) as the 9600m gt only has 25 more stream processors, but runs phenomenally faster and brings it into the 'high end' graphics playing field. Could an existing card have a new GPU and a bios flash and be everything that the 9600m is?

I suppose coming from an overclocking background I was never all that happy to accept 'impossible' right away. After seeing what can be done to equipment after it was brought below zero was a real 'eye opener' into the potential for all processing units.

I saw an article stating that the 9800m gts gpu was being used on the newest 8800m gts cards, both mobile and desktop potentially.

If the modification of a 96xx card isn't possible to fit then the upgrade of an existing 86xx card should be possible. Nvidia should be able to supply one that's compatible, and at worst a bios should be able to be made by altering the existing one.

I've never been much of a user of Laptops but circumstances have now made me 'mobile' so the Vostro 1500 was my choice for a variety of reasons.

Dell Vostro 1500 'Business Notebook'
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5ghz 6mb cache
Nvidia 256 MB GeForce 8600M GT
15.4" Hi-Res WSXGA+ Ultrabrite Screen 1680x1050 native
4gb 667 - wifi - bluetooth - 320gb 7200rpm - DVDRW - 8in1 card reader

I read another artice stating the construction of the Vostro was slightly different. Plainer, but mag/alu alloy or something to that effect was used. It's also squarish and slightly thicker than the 'shaped' m1530 XPS and also much more 'empty' so the airflow is less constricted.

That brings me to the '8400/8600 heat death' syndrome. I suppose to me, the 8600m series is 'adequate'. I'm not a huge gamer but I do like to have a decent time of it when I do. The Vostro 1500/1700 were not referenced in the ones listed as 'having issues' but I have a feeling that the general construction has a lot to do with it being 'capable' enough to use the standard cooling system wihtout the use of constant fans as the bios mod on the 1510/20/30 with these gpu's clearly does.

If the 8600m GT weren't a 'suspect gpu' then I probably wouldn't care so much, but knowing that I'll have to replace at least the gpu occasionally (at $150 it's not really ''that'' hard a hit tbh) or potentially have the entire motherboard die out of warranty, so with it being a possible problem I'd like to see if I can research it myself now.

Besides, if a small and hopefully not-too-expensive an operation could increase gaming prowess AND lessen the potential 84/86xx 'death syndrome' then sign me up! I know what everyone thinks about synthetic benchmarks, but if a 3DMark 06 score can be increased from about 3500 to 5000 in that benchmark then I would say that is worth the expense if it could be $100 to $200
for the parts at most. I know how people feel about thier warranty and technical support on the issue but this is about potential upgrades, not politics.

That's why I posted here instead of Dell's support site about it. I think if it's approached as a general upgrade question instead of looking to Dell to make it happen from an upgrade point of view is key. I'm not concerned about paying for it, if it's price could be reasonable and worth the expense for the performance increase then you could feel good about having it done.

Mine is coming with a 1680 x 1050 native res, and I suppose that the other half of the reason for looking at the possiblity of an improved graphics solution. That resolution can start to be 'taxing' for the 8600m GT where the 1440 x 900 might be better and 1280 x 800 would need nothing more than a 8400 or 8600 at best.

It's a great litle laptop with only this one 'question mark' about it.

With the potential 8600m death syndrom looming overhead and the card being relatively underpowered for the native resolution in 3D gaming, can something be done to prevent any issue with heat related problems and increase graphic and gaming performance significantly?

I hope so, by one of the 3 methods I've talked about in brief. New card, new chip, or just cooling and overclocking, one of them should be able to defeat the potential 8600m GT issue.

What do you think?

Gray

 

Anyone know of any company/supplier/mfg. that can sell a single mobile video card, preferrably a 9650m gt. From what I know, only rockdirect.com produces a notebook with that card and they haven't responded yet. I'm looking to upgrade my Sony SR's radeon 3470, but so far my only choice is a 3650 available on ebay. This was the only mobile card I found at all.

O, and the 9650,9600,9500, 3450(70), 3650(70), all share the same mxm-2 form factor (the 9700+ and 3850+ are larger), which technically means they can be swapped. The bigger problem is that I can't find video card bioses for these latest cards, making it impossible to flash the motherboard with the new chip's bios. But hopefully this will change in time.

 

I have an HP 8510P which appears to be MXM Type II

I have a HD 2600 Mobility at the moment. I e-mailed MXM-upgrade.com and never recieved a response.

I wanted to know if this unit was upgradable.

Some part of me is hoping that the 4650 mobility will be Type II when it comes out.

Thank you in advance.

 

HI there,

I am a complete newbie, so please quell your wrath at my question. I've recently been on the phone to a Dell sales rep who, whilst trying to flog me a high spec xps m1530 assured me that the already somewhat dated nvidia geforce 8600m COULD be removed and upgraded to, for example, the 9600m. So please clear this up ... Is Clement from Bombay spouting baloney, or would this genuinely be an option?

Thanks in advance for all your advice and forbearance

 

The video card of the XPS M1530 is soldered to the motherboard so it can't be removed/upgraded.

Greetings to Clement-from-Bombay.

 

This is an awesome post.. requesting sticky!

 

Hey!

I have an Acer Aspire 5104wlmi. I am dual-booting with Vista Premium and another operating system(let´s call it operating system 2) on this machine.

My graphics card(Ati x1300 mobility) is not fully supported in operating system 2, I only get a resolution of 1024x768, so I´m trying to find out if it is possible to upgrade it.

I´ve heard that it is possible to replace the Ati x1300 mobility with Nvidia Gforce 7300 go, which is fully supported in operating system 2(with the right drivers).
I know it´s possible to upgrade the x1300 on certain dell models to Gforce 7300 go.

Is there anyone here who can give me an advice on this?

Thanks!

-Ztardust

My machine:
Acer Aspire 5104Wlmi AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56, 2 GB ram, ATI mobility Radeon X1300, Audio: Realtek HDA ALC883, Ethernet: RTL8139, DVD: MatshitaDVD-ram UJ-8505, Bluetooth, Airport/Mini-pci Wifi: Dell 1395, Harddisk:160 gb HD internal

 

It seems to be soldered to the motherboard.



Have you tried updating the BIOS to the latest version ?

 

Someone please sticky this!

 

Is the Dell studio 17 gpu upgradable,it seems it's not sloderd http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=322247&page=3

 

It may be, but it's certainly not MXM, and if you have an Intel integrated GMA, no upgrades are possible anyway.

 

The Guide should update a bit
Acer 5920/5930G/4920G can upgrade their cards to a different one, hell most 8600M GS on ebay sold is using Acer's 8600M GS MXM card

 

anyone have any idea where to buy GeForce Go 7950 GTX or 7900+ Series?

 

These notebooks have MXM cards and fall under " Exception 2: MXM standard format", which is covered by a site linked on the first page.

Table of known MXM laptops

 

I have a acer aspire 5715-4740 with a x3100, i am having more and more problems with this card. Can I upgrade this one? if so where can i find where i can purchase? someone told me i could go to a T8300 (2.4 GHz)? is this true?

Please help Thank you.

 

No, you can't upgrade the graphics card. And I don't think you can upgrade to that CPU either - I think your laptop has a Core Duo, and that one is a Core 2 Duo.

 

We are all waiting for the day when we can upgrade integrated cards and have external video cards to improve with ease gaming performance, we will never know what the future holds.

 

omg , i just checked the "table of known MXM supported laptops"
there is no DELL in there? what the heck

 

Dell uses their own modular format in some of their notebooks, which are listed on the first page.

 

I've got a Dell XPS M1530 so I'm not sure if it falls under the M1520 list but it is, obviously, a 15" computer. Is it possible to upgrade the graphics card from the stock 8600 to anything else? Or even get another motherboard that would fit, if any exist, that would allow me to do so? I'm worried about the gpu melting down on me since apparently its a common problem and I've only had the computer for a year. If its an impossibility I'll just stick to gaming on my desktop and only use my laptop when I need to.

 

That falls under a huge category that should be called "Mission Impossible".

Your video card is built into the motherboard, and there is no motherboard with a more powerful video card for your notebook.

 

Lol that blows. Not even that new Nvidia GTX designed for 15" notebooks? Or is the architecture for notebooks specific for each notebook and doesn't follow standards like desktops. If it really is impossible I guess I'll just ride out this gpu until it dies and then get a better notebook with a warranty in the future. I'm satisfied with the 8600's performance (primarily stick to MMORPGs) just want something that wont melt down on me.

 

The video card of the XPS M1530 is soldered to the motherboard, you can't replace it. That's about it.

Moreover, even if it was replaceable, which it isn't, you still wouldn't be able to upgrade it as Dell use their own standard and they don't offer a better video card for this notebook. That's actually the case with the Inspiron 1520, which you mentioned in your previous post.