Sager NP5760 GeForce 7950GTX no gpu temp, replace card?

System:
Sager NP5760
Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX

No more warranty, and I do not want to "get another laptop".

I have been having graphics troubles recently, and have tried several different drivers, ranging from the outdated 179 to several from laptopvideo2go. Yes I have uninstalled the old drivers, yes I used 2 different driver cleaners in safe mode, etc. I am pretty confident it is not the drivers. I am worried that the card memory is shot.

I have run a memtest through 2 passes, no errors.

My three problems|questions:
1. No matter how many different hardware monitoring apps I try, none are finding a temperature sensor for my gpu. They all find the card, but none will give a temp. Everything else is easily monitored. Is it possible there IS no sensor? And wouldn't this be rather...unusual?

2. I am afraid I will have to get a new graphics card. This is the last Sager|Clevo model before MXM (figures), so those cards won't work, but it IS replaceable. My question is, what other graphics cards will fit in this machine other than another 7950 GTX? Those are hard to find and expensive, so would rather try something else.

3. Am I correct that if I find, say on ebay, another 7950 GTX but it's listed as a "Dell GeForce 7950 GTX", it is the same card, same size, just with a differently shaped heat sink screwed on it, which would be easily removable?

(I was having really bad luck with the search function here, I have spent 3 days trying to get answers to these issues. So if these are covered elsewhere, I will happily go to any links provided).

 

Unfortunately your card is clevo specific so no other manufacturers cards will fit (however alienware machines at the time used clevo barebones, so some of their cards will fit, but might need a vbios update - which can be tricky to find)

 

Hi:

(1) I have 2 7950 GTXs in sli. I remember trying to look for software that would show GPU temps a while ago. None of them worked, and then I found out that they don't have heat sensors in these cards.

(2) Not sure about the Sager NP5760, but I know that in order to use the next mobile Nvidia card up (8800GTX) in my machine (below) that a motherboard revision would have been necessary. Though there were some talk in 2008 that Eurocom was able to get 1x 8800 GTX working in a D900C/D901C without replacing the mainboard (motherboard rev 5.2, and below?), but not 2x in sli. Checking some of the older posts on this forum may help out (most people were talking about this in 2008 I think).

(3) From what I remember Dell 7950 GTX cards had some modification that meant it couldn't be used in other brands. Maybe someone else can confirm this. I'm fairly sure my card specifications are type MXM-HE. I presume they would have used the same in your model.

E.g.: NVIDIA 7950GTX MXM HE on eBay (end time 28-Feb-11 20:47:22 GMT)

If you buy a 7950 GTX you should find out the MXM type your machine uses, and also only purchase the mobile version Geforce Go 7950 GTX. Not sure if there was a desktop version, but if there was, it won't have Geforce Go on the card.

 

@Techno - I know you are trying to be helpful, but your information is misleading. The NP5760 (M570U) DOES NOT use MXM, it is the last machine to use clevo proprietary cards. The 7950GTX is the best card that will ever fit in there, and it has to be clevo/alienware type.

 

Fair enough However I did say I presume that it was the same MXM type, which means I wasn't certain. Also at the end I did recommend that he find out what GPU type his particular model takes. It may have been helpful if you mentioned that information in your first post.

If you read it back again you'll see I was fairly careful with my wording, comparing my model to his without definitively saying anything.

 

It's OK, I didn't mean to have a go at you, just pointing out that what you said could have been misleading.

 

Thank you both very much for taking the time to respond.

1. Techno, thank you for clarifying about the temperature sensor issue. I was really going crazy trying to figure out what the problem was.

2. I do already know, and said so in my original post, that my machine is NOT MXM. Just to clarify

3. My reasons for questioning if other cards could fit in my machine are based on this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/389058-sager-5760-dead-help.html

And also when I look at ebay listings such as this, the picture of the back of it seems to have the same connector arrangement. (Pretty sure I saw one listed as a dell replacement too that had the same apparent back but now I can't find it, it must have sold.)

NVidia GeForce Go 6800 256MB Alienware m7700 D9T D9K - eBay (item 320657071606 end time Feb-20-11 16:34:39 PST)

It also seems that both sager and nvidia have abandoned this Geforce Go 7950 GTX for support and updates with drivers, which is disappointing, to say the least. Another reason to hope a different card could be used.

It all is a bit discouraging, I have had this since mid-2006, have taken good care of it in my opinion, clean it regularly at least once a month, have replaced the hinges and keyboard (keyboard my own stupidity), have replaced the thermal paste a few times, and have had no other troubles with it. I hate to have to give it up.

 

As I said, the Alienwares from back then were actually clevos (hence the D9T, D9K - Clevo D900T/D900K) and should fit your machine but would need the correct vbios which might be hard to get hold of.

 

It's all good mate I was really only trying to give him some helpful leads on where to research this further as he only got one reply (from you), but I didn't say he should get my 7950 GTX MXM type. But if it could have been construed like that, it is good you pointed it out

 

Sorry about that. I missed that part about the MXM

I'm like you in that regards. I've grow quite attached to my machine, but it starting to fall apart a bit, and at some point I will get another, probably when one of the main components go. But for now it can still play all the games I like on it.

 

I don´t know about your specific card, but there is version of the 7950GTX for the M570RU (MXM HE) that HAS a temp sensor, but it was hard to find a program that could monitor it, I used "PC wizard 2008" back then- it read the temperature pretty well.
I can´t imagine how the card would work without a sensor, what about the fans? When would they turn on?

 

I found PC Wizard 2010 and lo and behold it found the sensor. Nice program too, I can get rid of all the others since this one covers everything I had and more.

Heh my thoughts exactly, it made no sense to me.

Thank you very much!

 

I just tried PC Wizard, and confirm it does work with my card (doesn't detect sli though- daughter card?). I remember a thread discussing whether there were heat sensors in the 7950GTX around 2007/2008 and the conclusion was there were no sensors in them. I'm glad to know that there are. Although directed at the OP, thanks for the information. I can't believe I've never heard of this program 'til now. Thanks +1 rep