Upgrading 7950gtx go to 8800gtx questions

Hello once again!
I purchased an 8800gtx and was looking to replace my 7950gtx go.
Since I'm a noob at this...I noticed that the old video card was slightly bigger but also has this Foil wrap instead of heat sink video card cage.
The newer video card is smaller but will fit...but its video card cage is not compatible with my D901C.
I guess my question is, is there any place that sells this insulated foil?
Does anyone have any suggestions on what i can do?
Has anyone here upgraded their video card from 7950gtx to 8800gtx can offer some advice?

Thanks to all the knowledgeable people here, I have been using this site as a reference,
Clevo D901c

Thanks in advance for your help.
TJ

Specs are below
I have the following Laptop
pro-star D9C D901c Laptop
5.2a rev Motherboard
H8D900C.13N & D9C_22 Bios
E6750 CPU
4GB of Memory
7950 GTX go

 

Another question, would anyone have a 8800gtx d901c Heat sink with fan and foil that they could sell me?

 

Try rjtech.com. They used to have parts for D901C. Your motherboard appears to be the lates revision so it should support the 8800m cards.I hope you got the right MXM format.

 

Thanks for the suggestion...they have the heat sink and fan....but I don't see this foil stuff...is that stuff important? can I go without it?

 

Hi Kalt, if you look at the 8th post down (by dhs) in this thread :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/474063-upgrade-gpu-clevo-d900c-mb-v-5-a.html

He has pics of his old card with foil and the new one without it (also shown as installed). So I'm guessing that it isn't important. He says he had to widen the screw holes for the heatsink. His new card was a 9800 GT, but I think this is just a rebranded underclocked version of the mobile 8800 GTX. Although the 9800 GTX is supposed to be more power efficient than the 8800 GTX, i.e. less heat.

 

O man, no wonder I have not heard any feedback from you...you're having problems installing!

According to the pictures, you didn't even need the the GPU cage I sent with the video card.

 

Hey Kobe, the issues aren't your fault...just haven't had much time to be on the web...kind of new to all these forums...how do I give you feedback? I guess my tech guy in Chicago was not right about the GPU cage.

Techno: thank you for the link....I was looking for something like that all day yesterday.

Since I don't have much experience with laptops, I want to get people's feedback before I try something...that way I don't kill my machine...but it looks like I'll try installing without the foil...or still kind of look around to see if I can find some.

If anyone knows how to get a hold of this stuff...please let me know.

Thanks again!

 

No worries, and a belated welcome to the forums

There is a lot of good stuff about the D901c on this forum, some of it is years old, and the search engine isn't the most initiative. I do remember someone else asking about the foil, and they were advised not to worry about it. Try going to the main forum and do a search for posts containing "foil" if you are a bit worried about it.

 

It’s not like you have to leave feedback, I was just waiting to hear back from ya. I know it only takes a few minutes to install a video card, so I didn’t know what the holdup was.

This forum should have the answers to your questions. I know there are a few forum members here who know what to do and have experience with that laptop ( PM Rorschach). I will help you search for answers, but this should be a very simple install. Just don’t do anything to burn that card up! Make sure you know the answer(s) before you start that computer up!

Ok, let’s get this installed now.

 

Right away, a internet search provided me with this. I have not looked over all the searches, just this first one because it's important and has the information you need.

I will post all my searches that will be relevant to what you are doing within this post, so expect some more searches to be placed here.

Clevo D901c

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...nstall-m570tu-gpu-into-d901c-please-help.html

How your card should look, so apply some non conductive foil around the card.




Nice pictures of your machine, and the machine that the 8800GTX came from. Just notice how the card should be before placed in your system. Really not much to it, but make sure you have the foil placed on the card.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/356318-ati-hd-4800-series-any-mxm-notebook-read.html

Don't let the titles fool you, I'm pointing out things in each thread that will help you. Although there's a ASUS laptop at the top of the thread, the D901c and M570RU/U comes after the ASUS!

Make sure when you add the heatsink, that it is making contact with the GPU core! If you must, add some copper or something. If you feel this job is too much, ship me the laptop and I'll install the GPU for free. I really feel you can do it with the links I provide you, good luck my friend!

 

Thanks Kobe for the post on helping to install.
Problem is I'm having a hard time finding the foil to put on the card....no one sells it.

Do you have any suggestions on where to find some?

TJ

 

You should be able to find rolls of aluminum heat spreader foil at your local hardware store, just make sure it has a non conductive liner.

 

Good suggetion....didn't think about that.
I'll call them today.

 

Well it was a good try...went to Lowes, Home Depot, and Ace....no one had the foil.

Also tried a Radio Shack...and nada....But I will keep looking!

 

Ha. That stuff is not really necessary.
I haven't seen foil sold specifically with a non conductive lining anyway.

Just make sure you have all the thermal pads pictured here on the heatsink:


Actually there is another pad you should get, that is for the 3rd smaller square, grayish brown VRM off to the side.
It should be 1mm.

The other places that foil is covering does not really need to be cooled but you should do it anyway if you're buying some thermal pads.

 

Hmmm...

I know I have, I use to use that stuff back in the day when I was into desktop modding. It just means that there is one side with aluminum and the other side has another texture/coating. Now if he really needs that? I don't know, but I wouldn't install a bare card, that's just me. You on the other hand seem to be experienced in this type of stuff, at least you sell many laptops that goes through many upgrades or upgraded parts. So your advice should have more weight, and I'm glad you chimed in!

 

Yes, I would not install a bare card either! That is NOT what I said. I would install a card with thermal pads in all the correct places with the correct thickness.

Listen guys.
This is the ONLY laptop that comes with the foil. ALL Clevo laptops come with thermal pads, and these areas are almost always uncovered.

It is definitely NOT for cooling. None of the components it is covering get hot at all. You can see on any picture of a naked MXM card like the 8800m GTX the individual components; there is an EEPROM, a few voltage regulators, and a quartz crystal... simply very standard components. Again on countless laptops there is no foil and they run perfectly and according to specification with those parts completely uncovered.

We must conclude that it is simply isolation/heat shielding material. Therefore kapton tape should do the job just as well.
You could still use normal foil if you want and coat it in kapton tape to give the same effect. Just make sure to do a good job.
I was trying to make a cooler for all of the power components you see, because my heatsink only covers the vRAM and the core. I used copper foil and thermal tape. The tape wore through and shorted a capacitor on the card, sending out a few inches of sparks and tripping my AC adapter safety function.

So there you have it if you were looking for a real life experience from someone who does this a lot.

Thermal pads are 10 times more important than the 'foil'.
Like I said, the small brownish grey VRM above the right mounting hole gets very hot, in the picture there is no thermal pad and there should be.
Also, there are 3 black square components on the 2 top corners which get very hot. In the picture above it looks like the heatsink has aftermarket pads of a darker color ready to cool them.
You need all of these pads. Stop worrying about the foil, because considering you're coming from the 7950 gtx you might not have enough thermal material to use on your new card.

 

Now you're coming alive, I like it!

 

Thanks, for the explanation....I just ordered some thermal pads and hopefully will be here this weekend.
I'll give it a try and see what happens.
Sorry real life has taken me on the road for the past couple of days.

Thanks again

TJ

 

kalt, just make sure you pretest how the heatsink is making contact to the the die/core of the GPU. Mount the heatsink on the GPU, then remove it. Make sure that the thermal compound you're using, has the same imprint as the one shown in the picture from niffcreature (picture below). If it's making good contact, you should be good to go!

Good Luck!