Can I upgrade my video card? (NP8170)

Hello

I need to upgrade my video card and I was wondering if its possible? I have the 580m now.

Im running the new Tomb Raider on High at 35-40 fps but I would love to run it on ultra at 60fps..Anything I Can do besides sell the laptop and get a desktop?

 

sure thing, current highend options for ur machine would be either the 7970m or the 680m.

quick facts:

7970m provides better bang per buck, ull have no switchable graphics issues since ur machine only has dedicated graphics, overclockable up to 25%, at stock equally fast as a 680m, ull need to have a modded vbios for the gpu to work in ur machine (either buy a preflashed card or do it urself, check my sig for that), hdmi out has shown to be not working anymore in almost all cases.

680m is more expensive, but at the same time overclocks much better than the 7970m (up to 50%), no need for a modded vbios but ull need to install modded drivers which u can find here on the forum or on laptopvideo2go.com, hdmi out works properly.

in any way, u can expect a perf. increase of roughly 50% at stock clocks

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

If you decide to go with the 7970M the screen you have will affect the upgrade. Heres some info Sager posted a while back:

NP8170 (P170HM) w/ NVIDIA or AMD GPU + Hannstar LCD Panel, AMD 7970M is supported.

NP8170 (P170HM) w/ NVIDIA or AMD GPU + LG LCD panel, AMD 7970M may or may not be supported, special EDID Firmware may need to be flashed to the LCD panel. Sager can provide this firmware update as long as the user pays for both way shipping & labor.

 

Yes you can upgrade the card, which they have both touched on.

However, as far as I know there isn't a single Laptop card out capable of doing 60fps on ultra in the new TR. As far as I am aware the 680m will only run around 30 fps on ultra. I would love to be proved wrong if anyone has any first hand experience, but I'm pretty sure my numbers are right.

 

Any idea how much my laptop would go for on eBay? I think its time for a desktop beast...

 

They run about $1,000+ used. Check the NBR marketplace and feel free to ask around in there, also.

 

You're probably right, but something to take into consideration is that it is a brand new game, and that Nvidia cards are not playing nice (again, yet) with AMD's new hair feature. If OP's sole goal is to play at uber ultra settings, then yes a desktop may be the way to go. If OP is ok with waiting a few weeks for the drivers and other issues to be sorted out, there may not be a need to get a desktop

 

Yeah, that is a good point, I just don't expect a driver to add not just 30 fps, but enough fps for it to run stable at 60.

My pessimistic ways. I was just giving OP all of the information out there, Right now there is no laptop card that can run the game on ultra by itself. Since his chassis is single card, he can't play it at that level as of now.

Thanks for adding in my missed bit though.

 

Well without tress effect we could see big improvements as the driver issues are sorted.

 

id expect at least 50% improvement since thats where the 7970m is at right now.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Yes, it should be about that area.

It's not silly to expect that increase when there are obvious issues.