Why does Sager charge SO MUCH for GPU replacement??

I have a Sager NP8170 that has a GPU on the fritz and Sager finally quoted me some prices for a GPU downgrade and upgrade from my 485m

560m $390. (way worse than mine)

580m $895. (only slightly better)

Seriously???

Found a 580m on ebay

Alienware NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M 2GB DDR5 Laptop Graphics Video Card GTX580M | eBay

$350. I mean I was figuring the Sager price would be 1.5-2x higher, but seriously?? Almost 3x the price? Seems like robbery to me. It would be cheaper to just buy a 580m on ebay and get my local pc place to install it for me for $65. That or just do it myself.

This seems like really horrible customer treatment, and borderline extortion. Pretty pissed right now cause I don't have many options here as I have NO CLUE on how to replace it myself.

If I sent it to Sager, the grand total after shipping, diagnosis fee, repasting and return shipping would be like $1010!

 

No one makes these parts anymore so hard to find. Prices are high because of this. Clevo is specific brand, so maybe not all 580m fit? I am not sure. Is someone good with this?

 

Yea and I can't seem to find a single NP8170 GPU replacement tutorial, so I would really be going into this blind if I did it myself. Can someone enlighten me if alienware gtx 580s work with a sager np8170?

 

dell/alienware cards will not work in clevo's so be carefull what you order on ebay.

 

Sad as it is to say, sometimes it's LITERALLY better to just upgrade than to fix what you've got. When my now retired D900F had its keyboard broken 3 years into its life cycle, it was $50 USD for the keyboard + another $20 shipping to the USA (or $90 to my country; totalling $140 for a simple laptop keyboard) and nobody else had the specific model. I just gave up on it, and resolved that it'd be better to get a new one entirely than to simply swap out parts and keep that one up with the times. Also remember you do have some age on it; it'd be better to sell that (at least for the good parts) and get one of the new special editions for $1500 or so. At least you'd get a good return on investment if you make $600-$800 off of what you already have, and it'd cost less (in total, considering your money back) for a new machine with a 770M and a 750GB hard drive with 16GB of RAM and an i7-4700MQ CPU than it would to change your GPU from the 485M to the 580M through sager.

 

Yep. this is exactly my thoughts, unless you guys could tell me if this GTX 485m would work on my Sager?

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M N12E GTX A1 2GB DDR5 MXM3 0 Type B VGA Module for Laptop | eBay

I just opened up my Sager and it looks the EXACT same as that, the tag even said it was a N12e-GTX (not sure about the A1 though).

It really doesn't seem that hard to swap it out now that i opened mine up and looked under the heat sink. After this though, I would never buy from Sager again. Seriously, just over 2 years from paying $1957 for this laptop and it bites the dust. What a joke.

If I still wanted to support sager (which I don't) I could get a way better 17 inch Sager for $1500.

 

Well that sucks then, as all I can find is GPU's from Alienwares. I am seriously disgusted with this whole situation right now. At this point, really my only option is to try reflowing it in the oven, or getting raped by Sager by paying $1000

 

Would this Radeon work in my NP8170?

AMD Radeon HD7970M GPU with Heatsink for Clevo P150EM P151EM P170EM Laptops | eBay

 

my 9800GT on my 6 year old m860tu died just over 2 years into use but was replaced the same day under warranty with a better 260gtx and the lappy is still going strong today.

many many posts ask the question each year is the upgraded warranty worth the money. well i always recommend it just for situations like yours. a smallis outlay within the first year can certainly save you some serious money at a later stage of its life.

this company is in the uk but its worth a try as even with overseas charges it will most prob be cheaper than what youve been quoated so far. worth a try clevoweb, the one stop source for all clevo and clevo brankded product spares and repairs

 

Unfortunately I am in the US. Is there a US based retailer, or should I stick to Ebay? I am seriously considering an HD7970 now.

Only thing that worries me is my Sager is a P!70HM, and that ebay listing above says it's for a P170EM

Is that actually something that matters?

 

The problem with other cards not working in clevos is the V-Bios. If its not clevo, it wont even turn on.

Right now, there are 4 options, 2 of which are good:
1.) Ask Mythlogic (US-based reseller) and XoticPC about replacement cards
2.) Create a thread in the trade section on this forum, maybe someone can sell you their working card (if they wanna upgrade)
3.) Sell the laptop for parts and buy a new one, current gen
4.) Take the risk and buy a card yourself, blind-flashing a Clevo V-BIOS on it and installing it yourself (risky, you need to read up on the tutorials here)

This doesent help you much, but at least that are the options from my point of view.
Personally, I would take option 3.)

 

Upgrading major components are usually never cost effective on notebooks. Parts are just too expensive and scarce.

Like @b0b1man said ... i personally think option 3 is your best bet. Part out the machine. If you're going to spend $850 on a new card might as well sell what you have and start with a new generation one. That's my advice.

 

Threads like these get me all nervous. I'm fortunate in that I haven't had any major issues with my machine 10 months into ownership. Does anyone know if you can extend your warranty? I bought directly through Sager

 

I recently upgraded to 7970m, this is where I ordered from. Laptop Video Cards :: ATI HD 7970M 2GB Mobile Video Card - R&J Technology, Clevo Barebone Notebook kits, Laptop and desktop system builder I had some issues loading the vbios on the card at first but haven't had any problems since. Only gripe is losing hdmi output. Check this thread out http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-7970m-modded-vbios-clevo-p1xxhm-laptops.html

 

I'm pretty sure Sager's warranty extension period is either 60 or 90 days.

 

You can upgrade the warranty up to 90 days after the original ship date.

 

Because CLEVO have become huge d**ks! They stop the manufacturing of cards to so you can't get them anymore obviously. Forcing you to upgrade your system since next gen hardware don't work on previous models anymore. Once 680M is all gone, it's gone. So the only way to upgrade your GPU now is to get a new system.

As for why so expensive? Because mobile gamers are the biggest chumps among computer users. We don't seem to care that we are paying twice for half the performance of desktop counterparts. We don't seem to care that we pay far less for phones that have 10x better screens. We don't seem to care that while tablets and other mobile devices remain competitively priced, high end laptop parts remain obscenely expensive. We're idiots, we're morons.

Also screw Sager if you want to get GPU upgrades. Seriously, asshats. You need to go with Eurocom. They will provide you the entire kit for far less. And if you can find elsewhere cheaper, Eurocom will match the price. That's what I did. Sager doesn't seem to stock on up parts and are CLEVO's minions to ensure their current customers have no recourse in upgrading but to buy new systems. Luckily Eurocom stock up on a lot more parts and sell them cheaper.

When my piece of crap 7970M garbage died, the only thing Sager could offer me was 670MX at $350. What a ripoff, and this was with the discounted price I got from Larry who is an incredible rockstar when it comes to customer service. It's robbery is what it is. The only replacement they had was something that was 3/5 the performance of old card? Really? According to Sager if I wanted something at same performance I would have to buy an entire new system with 770M or 8970M. I really don't get the point in buying a CLEVO anymore when you can find parts for cheaper and easier with MSI and Alienware and they support upgrading your system with next gen hardware.

 

A lot of the price comes from cherry picking of cores which always command a premium, higher quality power components due to limited PCB space and also much lower numbers meaning fixed costs are higher per unit.

 

Sigh.... sounds like we may be better off buying Alienware or Dell, since there are more parts out there.

 

Wow yea, I agree with everything you said. I am boycotting Sager/Clevo from now on, and i may possibly file a BBB complaint over this as well as give them bad publicity on my youtube channel. Even though it won't really do anything, it's the only power i have in this situation that completely ripped me off of the $1957 i paid just a little over 2 years ago for this laptop. I understand pc tech is ever growing but seriously? I'm screwed out of my $1900+ laptop just over 2 years later? **** you Sager!

 

Did you see webjeff04's post above. Looks like he put in a 7970 for $475.

How much would a AW 7970 cost directly from AW?

I also do not see what Sager is doing that is all that wrong. You might think a old card should cost less. Maybe Sager bought a bunch when they just came out. So they paid full price, just so they could stock them for the ones that really needed them.

Seems they would get better customer ratings if they didn't even sell the card.

 

I dont wanna lose HDMI functionality, and I can't afford a 680m.

 

I looked through about 17 pages out of 31 pages and didn't see anyone else mention HDMI. So it might just be a problem with webjeff04's card.

I would post the HDMI question in that thread, along with your model, and see what they say. But it looks hopeful to me. Here is another related thread, Excellent upgrade : P150HM with 7970m

I haven't read through all of it... late here, 2:30AM...

 

I'd keep an eye on the members market here.

 

It is a hassle using dvi/audio out but not too many options without shelling out a lot of cash, unless you luck out and find someone selling their used 6990m or 580m.

 

This seens to say with the Dell vbios the HDMI works.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/686766-7970m-p1-0hm-hdmi-not-working-any-wiz-sort-out-8.html

 

I am gonna just try the baking method on my 485m, and if that doesn't work I'm just gonna say screw it and save my money to buy a beastly desktop this spring.

I am still going to give Sager bad publicity as much as I can for this. Some could argue it's not Sager's fault since the gpu is what died, but what bugs me is their policy of not supporting only slightly older laptops with replacement, and upgrade options.

 

That pricing isn't unique to Sager. RJTech has the 485m and the 580m for $900. They all probably have to special order it from Clevo.

 

If you're going to pay 1k for a GPU I would do:

Sager Clevo NP8150 P150HM Gaming Laptop i7 GTX 580M 16GB RAM w Warranty More | eBay

lol whole laptop for that price with 580m and decent CPU and still under warranty even.

But I agree the prices suck, but Sager sources the parts from Clevo and not being in production anymore has it's toll, plus keep in mind systems like the above under warranty they need to keep some parts for which impact stock even more.