Clevo P150EM GPU replacement, used as desktop

I have a Clevo P150EM that has lived a hard life, and the dGPU has been dead for at least a year now. I'm considering buying a replacement GPU for cheap. I found a Dell/Alienware GTX 770m MXM 3.0a card online for cheap, and considering throwing that in. I already have latest Prema BIOS update.

Questions:
Is it just plug and play as it seems? Stick in the 770m card, and it works fine?

Can I reuse the old heatsinks?

Are there better options in terms of price/performance? My upper limit on spending is a hard $250. My priority is stability and reliability over outright performance.

Will this setup work for the usage scenarios below?

Usage: Light gaming (AoE 2, Dirt Rally, iRacing, WoT, CS:GO etc.) in 1080p at high/medium settings, programming, and writing.

Mobility: Don't care. The chassis is completely broken beyond all repair, and battery is dead. There are too many broken plastic bits, and I don't care to repair it.

Please do let me know what other information I can provide. Thanks for your time and help!

 

I don't think Dell cards work on Clevo machines as its something to do with a fan control/temp sensor pin not being active. Also, you need MXM 3.0b not MXM 3.0a

 

Ah ok. It looked like they were electrically compatible, but maybe not physically compatible? The fan control/temp sensor issue definitely rules it out though.

As an aside: Looks like the BIOS is very picky about that. I tried running it without the card and it went crazy. Apparently, it thinks the GPU is overheating and shuts down after throwing a fit.

I'll continue searching.

 

How do I know if a card has the fan control/temp sensor pin though? What do I need to look for? There seem to be a lot of MSI and Dell parts, but I dont know what to look for in terms of compatibility.

 

Only Dell AMD cards cannot be used in Clevo systems. Nvidia cards are fine. MSI cards are also fully compatible.

With that said, you cannot use the 700 or 800 series from Clevo, Dell, or MSI without special Bios mods. You can use any 500, 600, or 900 series card with driver .inf mods.

For the 1000 series you cannot get a Clevo card, but any other vendor works. Beware that the MSI 1070 is slightly larger than standard and requires some case cutting.

I recommend getting a 970m, 980m, or 1060. If even the 970m is too pricey you can look for a 965m. Dropping down to the older 680m or 7970m is a large performance drop for not much cost savings.

 

Thank you for that. I'll narrow my search to 900 series then I guess.

 

Thanks for clarifying that.

 

Do you happen to know the reasoning behind why the newer kepler don't work?

 

Nope. I think the card needs a minor physical mod too. I'm not sure what it is.

Older dell systems were fine when the 700 and 800 series arrived, but all clevo motherboards were updated or replaced.

If you install one in the p150em the card will be error 43 in the device manager after you install the driver.

 

GTX 970m prices are crazy. Almost cheaper to build a desktop. 965m is cheaper though. Tough choice.

 

Well no... actualy the GTX 970M which is slightly faster than a GTX 1050 TI, costs only a tad bit more than the 1050 TI. Bitminers made building desktops a lot more expensive.

 

On ebay GTX 1060 6GBs are available for ~$250. 970m cards are $300+. Am I missing something?

 

Oh, looks like the GPU used and ebay market have been going back a little. Also you can get 970Ms much cheaper.

Maybe look for a HD 8970M / M290X as well, since they are the best performance / buck ratio cards, also they perform about the same as a 970M.

 

Nice idea about the M290X. I stopped looking at that line for some reason. What about compatibility now? Anything to look out for except avoiding the Dell cards?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Clevo-AMD-...326360?hash=item25f3568fd8:g:emgAAOSwfN5a0CaI

offer this guy 180 bucks or something and see where you get.

many people seem to forget about these cards, makes it really easy to get a good deal since there is barely competition.

Idk should be plug and play in terms of compatibility. I know for a fact that the card works in the P150EM tho, but I don't know if there is going to be some needed driver modding or something, as far as I know it doesn't need it unlike NVIDIA cards, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

Done. Lets see if it sticks. Thanks!

 

@Khenglish

Do you know about any compatibility issues with the AMD HD8970M and the P150EM?

Would like to confirm before pulling the trigger.

 

The Clevo version will work perfectly fine. Dell version will not.

 

Thanks @Khenglish , @Danishblunt

 

Get a 1060...

 

Oops! Too late. Bought the AMD HD 8970M. Are there any known compatibility issues with it? Thank you for your great work and time, and thanks for replying!

I wasn't able to justify the cost of a 1060 for such an old laptop. I don't really need the performance either. My next build will be a desktop when I have more money. It's ultraportable laptop and gaming desktop combo for me from now on.

 

Should be plug and play, also the AMD is already overkill for the things you want to use it for anyways, so you're golden.

 

Agreed, seems like the best option.

 

I couldn't afford it, and I don't think I need the power of the 1060 to justify the cost either. HD8970M should be enough for my modest 1080p medium settings needs for the games I play. The HD8970M arrives tomorrow. Lets see how it works out.

 

I would be beyond amazed if you couldn't max out all the games you mentioned.

 

Best of luck, I hope it works out for you.

 

I had a 8970m(clevo) in my p170em(prema bios) and card worked exactly same as 7970m.
Vbios of 8970m was 975/1425/1.05v and reached about 6400 gs in FS comparing to stock 800-900/1250/1.05v with 5600 gs in FS.
With this budget limit the 8970m is the best choice for you, i think.

 

Installed the 8970M and it seems to work fine. I'll test it more thoroughly over the weekend, but it held up to a stress test in Kombustor. Switching from iGPU to dGPU also seems to work fine. Hope it lives a long life.

 

My GPU just died and I can't swallow needing to spend $400 for a GPU that gives %25 increase over my old one. Just not worth it for myself at this point. RIP trusty P150.

 

I spent $220 on the HD8970M. Decent card. Gets the laptop up and going in all the games i currently play. Maybe a route worth exploring?

 

The HD 8970M is like 200-250USD. What are you talking about?

 

Brand new clevo 4gb 8970m is 269€ here in Netherlands, only i don't know how much shipping will cost.

 

The %25 increase would exclude an 8970M. 8970m is a linear upgrade power wise. GTX 9XX series are 'spensive.

At this point was looking to upgrade the power a bit... though still a viable option it's still too late as I've totally disassembled it to part it for sale, and sold a couple of critical parts already. Wanted to put the potential ~$450 for the parts toward a new machine that would cost roughly $1000-1200, while using the SSDs I already have. Would come out to getting a similar if not better value in performance per dollar, with much newer and more powerful tech, for not that much extra over a 980M.​

 

I don't think you realize that the HD 8970M is around the same as a GTX 970M performancewise now do you?

 

It's about 10% faster at stock IIRC but clocks a lot better.