Are either of these 285M GTX cards compatible with the D901c?

The two here. I know it doesn't say they are, but I've been told the 9262 can up upgraded to the 280M. I just don't know the differences in the card.

 

No. 10char

 

All GTX285M's are MXM 3.0B so physically incompatible with the D901C. The max it can take is the GTX280M and that MUST be MXM 2.1

 

Thanks. Why on earth are the 280Ms so much more expensive?

 

Outdated.

Also one thing to note: You will be unable to run SLi GTX 280m in a D901C.

 

I wouldn't plan on SLi-ing them anyways due to their ridiculous cost.

 

So I don't have to make a new topic:

I got a PM in my buy/sell/trade topic regarding the Quadro FX 3700m. Anyone ever heard of this card? Does it even work with the D901c? Performance?

 

I just bought one of those today, I think it's close to a 280m, but a bit slower.

3700m is 550/800:
Notebookcheck: NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M

280m is 585/950:
Notebookcheck: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M

285m is 576/1020:
Notebookcheck: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285M

But the 3700m is 65nm while the 280/285m are 55nm.
So the 280m might run slightly cooler and performs slightly better.

The 3700m is probably going to be a lot cheaper.

 

Yeah, it is a ton cheaper. I just want to make sure that it is compatible with the D901c before I get one. How big of a performance boost will I see from the 8800M GTX?

 

A decent increase. The 8800m GTX is 96 cores where the FX3700m is 128 cores. The 8800m GTX is comparable to a 9800m GT (Exact same cards). The 9800m GTX is comparable to a GTX 260m (112 cores) and the GTX 280m and FX3700m are 128 cores

Those extra cores make a difference in cuda apps and 3D performance in newer games. Unless I am mistaken, the FX3700m can be flashed as a GTX 280m?

 

I've heard that that FX3700 is not really designed for gaming. Is there any way around this, or would it really affect newer games that much?

 

It is the EXACT same hardware. The driver is what sets it apart. The Quadro drivers are optimized for 3d business apps where the geforce drivers are optimized for 3d games. Both can do both but each does better where it is optimized. The quadro cards also have ridiculously unbelievably awesome support for the 3d business and productivity stuff. That support is why they cost so much more than the geforce counterpart (usually). The vBios just gives the card a name so that the drivers know what to install (also keeps one set of drivers from loading on the other cards)

If you have a problem in something like Maya, nvidia will literally write you a custom driver in like 2 days to fix your problem. At least that is the case with the desktop $2500 quadro cards lol

 

So would Gefore 280M GTX drivers work with the Quadro?

 

No. Unless you flash it to be a GTX 280m. The drivers check the device ID of the card when you start the installation. Even though they are the same hardware, in the vbios they have different device id's so as far as the drivers are concerned they are different devices completely. Quadro drivers will still offer 3d performance in games but will not have all the optimizations that the geforce drivers will have - alot of people using laptops like the Precision M6400 from dell and EliteBook W8740 from HP use quadros to game, it is very doable - fear not

 

Yes, but how is the performance hit? I don't want to drop $180 on a card that barely makes a noticeable difference.

 

That I do not know unfortunately. You should see a gain, I am confident in saying that.

 

Using rivatuner you can change the device ID in windows and use the gaming drivers. But I don't know if rivatuner will support this card since rivatuner is a little old.

If rivatuner doesn't work, I think you could change the device ID in the registry.

So you should be able to use the drivers you want.

Also you could overclock the card to 280m or maybe even 285m clocks.

And maybe this will help you:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...how-make-your-quadro-geforce-driver-side.html