Has anyone replaced their d901c motherboard by themselves?

I'm looking at future options for a gaming laptop (my current system is in my sig).

One of the options I'm exploring is replacing my motherboard in my 9260 with a V6.2 board. This would give me access to quad core processors (Q-range) above Q6700, 45nm LGA775 socket-type desktop processors (e.g. E8600), and Nvidia GPUs from 8800m GTX (sli) to 280m (non-sli?) I believe.

The only place I've seen selling D90xC motherboards is RJtech:

http://rjtech.com/shop/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29854

Although the GPUs are fairly expensive, this should not be a big problem if the 6.2V (9262?) board is back compatible with the 7950GTXs, which I could then replace with second-hand or new 9800m GTXs as the money becomes available. Though for the time being the sli 7950's are still fine for current games I play (my 3dMark06 score: 8440; standard settings) - but they get quite hot.

Has anyone actually done a motherboard replacement themselves? How easy / hard is it to do?

I've done some basic work on my D901C over the last three years such as:

(1) Video cable replacement.
(2) LCD screen replacement.
(3) Reapplied new thermal paste to CPU/heatsink.
(4) Hard drive upgrades (+ X2).
(5) vBIOS + KB BIOS + system BIOS flashing.
(6) Keyboard replacement.

Is a motherboard replacement a totally different ball game, or does it just require perseverance?

Oh I found this site for mobile GPUs, but I'm not sure what MXM version they are. Also, the single and dual GPUs seem suspiciously cheap compared to other places:

Dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX w/1GB (total of 2GB) DDR3 in SLI

Remember I'm just tossing the idea around at the moment. I'm aware that in the end it may just be cheaper to buy another laptop when the time comes, or start from barebones chassis/board.

Thanks

 

The technical and economical lifetime of our D90xC is expiring because new, better and in some cases more affordable systems are or will be available soon.

I replaced a motherboard of my Sager 8890, not a very different ball game, once because I was lucky to get a replacement for a small price but this system was soon outdated and has barely been used since then. We might be a bit emotional about our systems, not willing to "let them die". That's not forbidden but not always wise either!

 

Okay, translation: it's probably a waste of time and money!

 

That's what I needed!

Yes, that would be an expensive project if he'd actually pay that much just for the motherboard. But if he can somehow find the parts for cheap, it would be so much fun putting it all together.

Just perseverance, it's a piece of cake!

 

You don't need to upgrade your MB. You can still get a quad core working (the FSB will work at 1066Mhz insted of 1333Mhz) , and a new GPU like the 280M (not SLi). Don't waste money in a new MB.

 

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.

As I said before I'm only toying with this idea as an option.

@ hanko panko:

Yeah I've not really done the math on it but in the end I could probably end up spending as much money as buying a new system (which would have better specs). However, this is about cash flow. Buying a £1500-£1800 laptop in one go would be less feasible than gradually replacing my essential 9260 components on the new board and when cheap parts become available.

At the moment the E8600 and some of the Q-series quads (above Q6700) are going at a reasonable price. A single 9800m GTX (sli capable - if that's possible) is about 5000 above my current 3DMark06 score (I know this doesn't totally translate into real gaming experience, but 84000 to 14000 it's definitely going to make a difference). Plus having Dx10.

@ kobe_24:

Yes it would be a great project Sounds like expensive fun, doesn't it. So have you replaced your motherboard at some point then? Is it simply taking out 100s of screws and remembering where everything goes back?

@ dhs:

As I understand it, there was motherboard revision from 9260 (mine) to 9261 (yours) to allow the use of quadcores, stably. So I could still use the Q6700 which is the quad equivalent of my E6700, but I don't think there is any performance gain from this - possible overclocking with q6000 or q6600?

Not sure if buying a quadcore above my 2.66GHz Q6700 (Q8000 or Q9000 series), which would be limited due to my 9260 board to approximately 2.0GHz max(? if it works at all), would give me any increased performance - barring multi-thread apps. I think if I tried this I may face major stability issues.

Can anyone familiar with the 9260, 9261, and 9262 tell me at what stage the motherboards were upgraded from 1066Mz to 1333Mz. My knowledge of the chronology of all these upgrades (board and/or BIOS) is incomplete.

My knowledge so far:

(1) 9260

Can use Go 7950 GTX (and other series 7 GPUs) and 8700GT. Also can use desktop core2Duo LGA775 socket-type processors up to E6700. Can get q6700 quadcore and below to work, but Clevo said there were long term stability issues with this and replaced 9260 with 9261 board to address this issue + BIOS update.

(2) 9261:

No change to GPUs that can be used compared to 9260. Can now use 1066Mz quadcores (q6700 max). Possibly a ram change from DR2 667MHz to 800Mhz? No idea what was actually done to the motherboard to make quad use stable.

(3) 9262:

Only change that I know about is to allow the use of 8800m GTXs, which neither the 9260 and 9261 can do natively. I think I remember Eurocom saying that they could get x1 8800m GTX to work on the 9261 with a mod? Possible that the processor 1066MHz to 1333Mhz change was introduced here too.

Things I would like to know: When was there a hardware change on one of the motherboards going from 1066Mz to 1333Mz processors? I read somewhere in this forum that there was a BIOS upgrade to use the E8600, but I can't see this any of the BIOS update descriptions.

 

(2) 9261:

Well that's my system and after a Bios upgrade it accepts the Q9650. I think the 9260 doesn't do that?

 

@Techno


I’ve been through that procedure so many times, that it really is just about the screws. I can do most if any without the maintenance manual, but it does help if you have the maintenance manual/schematics in front of you on your computer screen. I’ve flashed BIOS chips, switched motherboards due to bad graphics chip, replaced/upgraded motherboards because the user want dedicated graphics solution over built in and last but not least changed AC/DC power jack. So yes, I’ve replaced several motherboards at some point. That is why in most cases, I rather have something I can mess around with over something new. I’m that way about mountain bikes and I’m sure I will be that way about cars.

You might not have to do that to your system, but it will be fun if you did. Just take your time, and be very careful with screw placement. I’ve seen many drive screws through their motherboards, without even knowing. So making sure you put the right size screw(s) back in place is very important!

 

What is your MB revision?

 

I've never checked my MoB revision.

I strongly assume that I have ver 4.x as I bought my 9260 before 8700m GT and any quadcore options were even available for it in 2007.

As I understand it:

9260 = 4.x rev MoB
9261 = 5.x rev MoB
9262 = 6.x rev MoB

However I will check the RAM when I have time to make absolutely sure.

@ hanko panko:

Do you still see a performance increase despite the Q9650 underclocked to 2.0GHz, from your previous cpu?

@ kobe 24:

Thanks for the advice. Sounds like a doable challange.

 

Just checked my motherboard version and it's actually ver 5.1A, not ver 4.x.

I'm a bit confused. I am sure that I have read a few different threads on this forum mentioning rev 5.1A is the 9261. My system is definitely a np9260 (still have the receipt). What revision MoB does the 9261 have then?

@ dhs and hanko panko:

You both have 9261's. What MoB rev do you have?

@ pkhetan :

Hi. That sounds very interesting. What are your credentials? Obviously I wouldn't hand cash over to someone I'm not familiar with on a forum. Are you a Clevo reseller?

 

I was expecting that . There are several last 9260 with the first’s revisions of the 9261. In this case you can use any Quad core Cpu for socket 775 the only problem is the downcloking because of the FSB 1066Mhz, and you should choose one that the TDP don't go over 95W. You can also use 800Mz mem. And for last you can have ONE 280M (2.1) or 260M or 9800M.
I have the same revision that you do.

Don't waste money on the motherboard...in my opinion of course.

 

I still don't get it. Why would a company sell a D901c 9261 (5.1A) as a 9260 (4.x)?

Look at this thread by XoticPC when the 9261 was just becoming available:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/171202-sager-9261-updated.html

According to that thread the 5.x ver MoB is definitely the 9261. However, it mentions that the 9261 is suppose to allow FSB 1333Mhz motherboard processors. I think they must of got their MoB rev numbers wrong (though another reseller (eurocom?) also stated the same in another thread). If we did have 9261's we should have 1333Mhz boards, which means your quadcore shouldn't be underclocking to 1066Mhz.

With the information available I would say the 9260 motherboards went from 4.x rev to first/second 5.x rev (whatever that was)? This first ver of 5.0 rev allowed for the use of 1066Mhz quads/processors, and another 5.x ver (5.2A according to the linked thread above) allowed the use of 1333Mhz processors. Something obviously odd happened here, I've never heard anyone on this forum say they've actually had a 4.x rev board. Do they even exist?

Does this mean we actually own a 9260.5? My feeling is that there have been lots of other little tweaks to the MoBs overtime (hence the x), but we were only told of the major ones.

dhs is your MoB a 5.0A, 5.1A or higher in the 5.x version range? Is there any independent way to check what the front bus interface is (1066 or 1333Mhz)?

@ pkhetan:

I haven't decided on a MoB upgrade yet. If you don't mind I'll PM you about prices among other information to see how feasible this option is. Thanks.

 

My D901c 9261 has a Version 5.2 Motherboard (shown near the memory slots). Sager told me this version 5.2 as well as a Bios update (version 22) should do the job!

My Q9650 does run the full 3GHz, no downlocking here!

 

It's logical that the 5.0A and 5.1A MoB rev are therefore still 9260's.

Will the real 9261 please stand up : MoB 5.2A rev with front bus interface of 1333Mhz.

Both 5.0A and 5.1A must still only have the 1066Mhz interface, hence the underclocking with 1333Mhz Quadcores, and presumably 45nm 1333Mhz dual cores.

 

Yes that's me and I think you are right: this version was able to handle Quads like Q6600 and Q6700 and the new 45nm processore like E8400, Q9450 and up. I only needed to update my Bios to handle the Q9650 but it just works fine.