The Official 1722/GX720 Lounge

I modified the one it came with. The 3870 is a mxm-3 card, so my modified 9800mt heatsink should work... However, the 3870 has different ram placement.

 

If you decide to sell your GX720 1722 with the 9800m GT let me know how much you want for it..

 

I am actually planning on selling them. How much did you want to pay? It would be a barebone (no cpu, ram, hd). Well, i actually have a few spare hds I don't need.

Also, if anyone wants the Super Special 9-Cell 7800AH battery, I am selling mine. Most places only sell the 7200AH version. It cost me like $150+. I will sell mine for $75 shipped.

I also have a brand new 180W targus adapter I don't need that I will sell...

btw, if everything goes according to plan, I will be a happy m17 owner! (not m17x)

 

M17, is it the 4850 xfire or 3870's? I will let you know a price..

 

Lol, not 4850. i am trading my qx9300 + some other stuff for a m17 with crossfire 3870. I don't need the "best". 3870 crossfire will suit me just fine.

If you buy my gx720 and get the 9800m gt working..... don't tell me

I can promise you that heat will not be an issue. 2d-3d (non-gaming) modes all operate between 50-60C. The same as my 9600m gt. I know that it is possible to undervolt the 2d-3d clocks from .85v to .75v with no problem. Of course I flashed back to the original bios after my failed attempts to get it working at full clocks.


edit: Actually, I can give 2gb (1gb x2) memory with the gx720.

 

Ok I got my heatsink put it all together and nothing. The 3870 I think is dead. The screen does not come on. I need ideas on what could be the problem?

 

Well, I am not getting the m17 anymore (financial problems atm).

 

seems like the barebones suddenly dried up. there were 5-7 1722's on ebay a month ago when i snagged mine. ive been looking all week now on ebay to build one for my boss, nada.

 

Unless the price is good, I'd honestly wait for GT725's to show up on tiger direct and elsewhere refurbs, open boxes and close outs.

I've seen GT725's show up on newegg 3x now as Open box for ~$985.00.

I'm sure, like the GX720 @ $699.00, Tigerdirect and similar will get a rash of refurbs at a good price.

 

bane lemme know about that battery, ill take it off your hands gladly, make this badboy a little more juiced for the roads. 75 is a fair bargain,
as for anyone camping out this laptop, dont fret if the 720 series is drying up, im sure that the 725s will go through the same loop here in a bit, market is always recycling old barebones for the new goodies that come down the line, as the other one drops i might even consider getting a 725 myself or the next thing up as they become available... Either way though, the machines great at doing what it does, dont be afraid if you dont have the best of the best video card, the 96 is more than enough to handle most games at a decent framerate and have it look goregeous, lost planet, bioshock, fallout 3, all the steam games, cod5, all look fantastic on this machine.

Mxm is a nice idea and hopefully not a fad, as it becomes more mainstream itll be a nice idea, however different slot types, different heatsinks, and proprietary video card pcbs will get in the way of making this system truly modular at this point and is more for those of us which are diy or have a nice bit of luck coaxing that extra bit out of their machines or make that battle to hold under their belts a victory at a triumpant pricepoint. this machine by no means is a weakling and as a plethora of options for expansion, with overclocking being one of its strongpoints as well as a fantastic bit of cooling. And as youre aware if you follow the forum, if you are unimpressed with your machine, theres plenty of people out there hungry for this little bad daddy.

regardless, have fun with this or any of the other barebones laptops as this market becomes truly diy in the way that the pc market became when it was blossoming,

 

second dibs on battery lol. beat me by 8 minutes jack lol. i'd been thinking about it since i read your post last night darth.

 

heh im all about extra go time for this beast, though i dont expect it to be the ultraportable solution, though anyone thats curious, apc still sells their external batteries that should work with this laptop, a good meaty battery offering a max of 8hours, for the most conservative machines, and prolly 4-6 for our little speed demons.

 

the bios flash to a 9800m gs didn't work I am at a lost.

 

Are you talking about trying to get the part directly from MSI? or from a different place? Thanks for responding btw.

 

sold my gx720, farewell!

just ordered gt628 from frosty!

 

damn i wanted to buy the graphics card off you.

 

Looking forward to receiving it Darth.

The army of WoW machines has commenced....

 

just put my gx720 for sale. darn this economy!

 

i am also thinking about selling mine, i need to invest towards my first car, and I think my current config can net quite a bit of money.

 

This is funny, I am thinking of selling mine, I just put a ATi mobility HB 3870 in it and it works great. It will be sold with the 3870 in it. The 9600m GT that was in it is sold and shipped out.

 

Why would you want to sell it? If I had the 3870, I wouldn't have sold my gx720. anything 9,000 + 3dmarks is a keeper. Not to mention you have the wuxga resolution, I would have loved that.

But I am going to be very happy with the extra portability of my gt628.

 

Yes I said I am thinking about selling it. I tend not to keep laptops very long. The 1651 is very good for the price. I was looking at it on RK's site.

 

My laptop history:

Dell E1705 -> Hp Dv5t -> Hp Dv4t -> Gx720 -> GT628

 

hey cobra, lemme know if you plan on getting rid of that badboy.

 

is there any way to flash the 9600m gt to a 9700m gt? I see it online, but not a straightforward guide?

 

just use nibitor and use GPU-Z and save your bios and edit the clocks to a 9700m GT, but first make a back up of your old bios. Its very easy to do, I did it to my 1722 also. You can use Nvidia system tools to and it will load your clocks to what ever profile you have it set to..

 

how exactly? I want to get this right so i won't have to buy a new graphics card

 

9700M is a overclocked 9600M (32 shaders, 128-bit bus). You aren't going to see a massive increase in performance versus something like a 9800M GT (96 shaders, 256-bit bus) or even a 9800M gts (64 shaders, 256-bit bus)

The 256-bit bus and double or even tripled shader count is huge in regards to gaming performance.

But it never hurts to eek out every little bit you can get.

 

btw electrosoft, you might want to let people know of your discovery in case anyone was thinking of purchasing a 260m or something like that.

 

What is the discovery, I was thinking of getting a GTX 260m in the future.

 

Ah yes, forgot the exciting results.

I bought Darth's 1722-ID2 with the 9800M GT and the case of the lower clock speeds.

Had a bud with a M17x r1 with 9800M GT SLI's and after promises of free red vino and food, we spent a few hours breaking everything down and running some tests. I also "borrowed," my daughter's 1722-ID1.

Here is a list of tests:

Booted 1722-ID1 w/ 9800m GT. As expected, clocks were low (383/767/301 ) vs. (500/1250/800) (Core/Shader/Memory). Runs fine, but just with reduced clocks. One plus from the lowered clocks is it runs insanely cool.

Installed 9800M GT from ID1 in M17x-r1 and it ran at full clocks.

Installed 9800M GT (One originally in M17x-r1) from M17x-r1 into ID1 and as expected it ran with reduced clocks too.

So both 9800M GT cards ran at reduced clocks in the 1722, and both ran at full speed in the M17x-r1.

Tried the 9800M GT in the 1722-ID1 and it, too, ran at reduced clocks.

Bud then busted out his array of volt/multi-meter equipment to measure current/load while stressing cards (achieved by running DX Realtime, back of the unit off, sitting on its side).

It seems the max output present was ~58-60W, while the 9800M GT requires a minimum of 65W. The PSU used didn't make a difference, as even my Targus 180W did nothing. Also, swapping in a 25w CPU made no difference, as my daughter's 1722-ID1 currently has a P7350 in it and the 1722-ID2 has a QX9300 OEM.

Tentative conclusion.....wine is great....er oh yeah and the card downclocks due to lacking ~8-10%+ of required Gcore power requirements. It may default to a quasi battery mode/ reduced power mode. The card is flawless and works as expected in the M17x-r1, but the power supplied isn't enough. In MSI's defense, the fact the slot supplies ~60W for an MXM-II card spec is pretty nice, though. It also explains why the 4850 (45-55w) and 9800gs (60w) work with MSI's MXM-II spec. 65w is just too much for the 1722 to handle. But at least it works, just at reduced clocks.

Another thing is even at lowered clocks, it's 3x shader count (96 vs. 32) and 2x memory bus (128-bit vs. 256-bit) still puts the smackdown on the 9600M GT and you get a seriously cool running card to boot.

Swapped 9600M from ID1 to ID2 just as a checksum, ran as expected.

We were going to try the 9600M in the M17x-r1, but, well, what's the point? :-D

This also proves the 8800M GTS (50w) I had months ago I tried in my 1722-ID1 was GBios locked, as it was an HP field replacement card and refused to boot, but worked fine in the HDX.

The beauty of the 9800M GT from Darth's 1722 is that it is a true OEM part and isn't locked and if your system supports it, it will run fine.

Darth's heatsink was, um, interesting, but it got the job done for some testing and kept the card ice cold. For me, I would need a 627 GPU HS or custom built one with a bit more stability for day to day use.

I listed the 9800M card on eBay, and if it finds a buyer before I track down a 627 GPU heatsink (or build one myself with some 10-14 gauge copper sheeting and my trusty dremel and soldering iron), cool. If I track down parts or the heatsink before it sells, I'll keep it, since even at lower clocks it beats the 9600M GT and it runs insanely cool to boot due to the lower clocks.

I do need a extra 9600M 1722 GPU heatsink assembly if someone has one for sale along with a 627 GPU heatsink assembly. I contacted RKcomputers earlier to inquire about the individual parts.

 

Cobra, the 260M is a 75w card. I can almost guarantee it will downclock or might not even boot at all with such a high power requirement.

 

the heatsink from the gt735 should work, since it's for mxm-3. but the ram placement might be off.

 

That stinks. My 3870 runs great. Its 55 watt and OC's pretty good with cool temps. I wont waste my time then with a 260m. Thanks!

 

Yeah, I was looking at the GT735 heatsink, but it is off, especially with the different heights of the parts on the 9800 card. The 627 heatsink will fit it exactly, as the 9800M GS is structurally identical to the 9800M GT. I would just shave off the vent tubing clamps from the top and either install another clamp set or solder on the the 9600M GT vent tubing.

The 627 GPU heatsink definitely is the ideal solution for the 9800M GT card in the 1722.

Either that or I've been tracking down mats and parts to custom build a heatsink for the 9800M GT, but I'd hate to have to re-create the wheel if I can just order a 627 heatsink.

I definitely still need a 1722 heatsink assembly for a 9600M GT too if someone has one.

Hopefully RKComputers can come through.

 

No problem man. Glad to save you the trial and error.

It was a 4hr wine/food palooza.

BTW, Cheddar Combos and Banfi red vino is a wicked combo.

 

I know that you can order one from msi. $15 bucks + shipping.

[email protected]

Just email him saying you want the 9600m gt heatsink from gx720. he will send you the order form (a pdf)

 

Yeah, Tom is real nice guy. I had the chance to meet him person. I was looking for the usb board for my ms-1722 GX720 and couldn't get Tech to help me from MSI. I drive truck across country and happened to be in the LA area and stopped in to inquire about buying the usb board. The receptionists called Tom to come see me and he was more than willing to help me and was very professional about helping a MSI customer.

To make this short, he took my e-mail address, name, phone number and said he would e-mail me the part number, how much it would cost and send me a pdf order form to fill out and send back to him. An hour after he took my information, I received a e-mail from him with exactly what he said he was going to do. So, I filled the pdf form with all the critically information needed to order the part and sent it back to him. The next I received another e-mail from Tom saying the part has been placed on order for me, how much was being charged to my CC and would ship out this coming Friday. I'm more than pleased Tom from MSI, when all hopes getting the replacement usb board was gone, he came to my resecue. lol

 

Hey electrosoft have you by chance done any testing with the 1651? The 9800m gtx doesn't seem to work at all in my 1651, but I'm rather curious about how much better the 9800m gt was than the 9600m gt while underclocked? A cooler more powerful gpu sounds great to me for my needs.

 

so electro the card was stable then, even with low clocks, and the jury rigged cooling option? it sounds like an interesting alternative, i might consider that, also as for anyone inquiring at getting a newer nvidia spec card, beware that in most cases the performance is significantly lower than the desktop brother, given mobility cards are usually limited for obvious reasons, there are siginificant disadvantages this toms hardware review says it all. just remember to keep that in mind. The nice thing here too is you get a feel for the card being used in our big brother, if you are considering that.

I for one am halfway tempted to get the 98 you have for sale electro, but i dont really have the tools id need to get the modding done, the hardware stores around here kinda suck. in any case, would it be possible for either you or darth to describe what the rig job looked like?

 

Rorshach:

The 9800M GTX is a 75w part (like the 260M), so I'm not shocked it won't boot. 65w on the 9800GT is about as good as it gets.

Automatik:

I was able to order a 627 GPU heatsink that will be here next week, and I have an extra 1722/9600 vent tubing from Darth's setup, so it will be very straight forward to connect, since the 627 GPU is a perfect fit for the 9800M GT. Easiest way is to, literally, just attach the 627 GPU heatsink then use electrical tape to connect the tube to the plate. More, "professional," would be to create either a few cross clamps with the pre-existing connectors for the 627 tubing or solder it on. In the end, the 9800M GT runs cool enough that both will work and with the clocks it is probably overkill.

It is a race between someone buying it versus me getting a chance to use the 627 GPU heatsink. I went with 3-day select, and it ships on Monday, so it will be here Thursday next week.

As previously noted, you can not order the 4850 (725/729) GPU heatsink, but you can order the GT735 (3850), GX720 (1722) and GT627 heatsink assemblies.

As for the old heatsink....hmmmm. Let me reconstruct it (I broke it down for the memory heatsinks) and take a pic, but it was definitely a, "proof of concept," type design that got the job done, but a polished 627 heatsink is designed for the 9800M form factor, unless Darth has a picture of it.

 

any chance for some benchmarks with the 9800m gt in underclocked mode?

 

Definitely. Let me get the other heatsink in which is more of a permanent and everyday heatsink everyone would use (GT627 Heatsink + 1722 9600M vent tube/exhaust), as that GPU heatsink is made for the 9800M form factor.

Looking at a 1722/9600M exhaust pipe and the GT627 Heatsink, it looks like you won't even have to alter the clasp mechanisms that might get in the way, as the 9600M tubing will thread right in between them. A couple of small metal bands will work to keep the vent tubing in place. Luckily, Darth's makeshift heatsink included the original 1722 9600M tube and exhaust piece, so I'll use that to attach to the 627 GPU Heatsink.

I also ordered a 1722/GX720 GPU heatsink and a GT735 heatsink just to get a good look at it. I did notice the GT735 heatsink is silver and smaller like the 1722 heatsink versus the 627 heatsink which is copper and much denser to handle the potential higher thermals of a 9800M class card. With the lower clocks, I'm expecting the 9800M GT to run relatively cool. I'll definitely give it a OCCT beatdown and the 9600M and compare temps and run a slew of comparative benchmarks.

It makes me wonder how a 3870 with q 55w consumption level and higher clocks would fair under an OCCT or DX diag real time stress test with that heatsink.

 

I got 6.2k in 3dmark06 with a qx9300 with the 9800m gt underclock. Of course, you're not going to game at 1280 x 1024 with the 9800m gt. The 9800m gt underclock will stomp the 9600m at higher resolutions.

 

well i guess it depends on the games, ive been running my 96 at native and the games are actually running really really smoothly. i was just shy of 5k with this card with no clockage.

 

Yeah, a Vantage GPU run will show the real difference.

I am curious to see how the heatsink from the 627 affects anything, as I noticed Darth's heatsink wasn't making 100% compressed/flush mounting against the 9800M GT GPU last night while going over it with a fine tooth comb and there's no way to get it to fully mount flush and firm against the GPU. Now we're curious to see if the downclocks were a result of perhaps initial heat generation at full clocks, as the voltage is insanely close to spec (~60W vs. 65W)

I'm tempted to see if I can find a shim for some Q&D benchies, but I'd rather wait for the 627 GPU heatsink, since it is made for the 9800M form factor.

In other words, I wish the 627 GPU heatsink was here today.

 

hey is it possible to suplly more power to the 9800 gt threw the spare bit of chip that doesnt sit in the socket ...heres a pic

 

Sure in theory. The HE extension is there solely to supply more power to a card that is not receiving enough in the MXM slot in which it is installed.

 

Crazy USB to GPU power extention ftw?

USB outputs 5v isn't it?

How else could we rig it up?

 

usb ..lol thatd be hell gd.. il look into it and see if theres a possible way to hard wire it