can i put a 280m gtx in my d901c??

iv got 2 512mb 9800's in there at the moment and was thinking bout an upgrade.

also why cant i find any laptop gfx cards anyware fore sale?!

 

Going to go with a no on this one. You might be able to SLI FX3700Ms.

 

37s dont have a sli connector. there is a 280m for the d901c mxm format but that one is very rare and doesnt have a sli connector either. best you can do is 2 9800m gtxs.

 

I didn't think it did, but thanks for clearing that up.

 

cool thanks, so the max i could probably do is 2x 1gb 9800mgtx... will i see a vast improvement from what i have now???

were do you buy laptop gfx cards?!? i cant find them anywere?!?

 

As it turns out, you CAN put a 280m in a D901c

http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/D901c.html

They also stock the card, needless to say it is pretty expensive. And you need the Mobo that supports it, namely the same one that supports the 9800M GTX.

 

It does, but not in SLI.

 

The OP didn't ask to have two in SLi.. he only wanted to know if it was possible.

I'm not sure if it's worth the price though

 

The 280M GTX is 550 USD in US...
Add 21% Belgium VAT on it and the transport and you end up with a 500 euro card. So if the guy who imports it also wants to make a living, he adds 10% on top of it and you end up a 550 euro card.

So the price overall can be justified. Is the performance gain justifiable. With such a price I think you are better off saving the money and buying a new laptop.

 

ok cool thanks everyone, now the op wants to know what his best option is to upgrade from what he has now lol

 

what about 2x 1gb 9800m gtx's ????

 

It is possible, yes and this is your best option.

 

brilliant thanks for your help... lol now where on eath can i find them???

 

Your best bet would be either sager, rjtech.com or another parts vendor of that kind.

Don't try ebay except for maybe a last resort.

 

I would exchange my two 8800 cards for one 280m, if I new it would work.

 

It does work, a couple of months ago, when the 280M was what, someone on this forum successfully managed to put a 280M in his D901C (johnksss).

 

Yup, however 1 280m lags behind two 9800m GTXs in SLI. If you're out for top speed the 9800m GTXs are your best option.

 

edit lol answered

 

and IF (and this is a big if) i decide to do whatever to my laptop, anthuzad you would like one of my 512mb 9800m gt's??

 

yes i would buy it right off of you =)

i think the new graphics cards would come with a new heatsink and fan too so if you have spares i would buy one heatsink and a vga fan off of you as well. That would allow me to go SLI with my machine too =)

 

You could upgrade to a single GTX 280m, and you could use one of your old 9800m GT GPUs as a dedicated PhysX PPU. That would own for PhysX-enabled games. Even better is that you wouldn't have to worry about SLi issues.

 

hmm good point ettornio, i didnt even think about that. but if you take out physx, how would the 280m+ one 9800m GT compare to 2 9800m gtx sli performance wise?

 

I think in a PhysX-enabled game, a 280m+dedicated PPU might very well rival 2x 9800m GTX in SLi or even beat it. In Mirror's Edge, my 9800m+8800m (PPU) was amazing. Dual 9800m GTX SLi only wins slightly due to being able to max out everything, including 8x AA. I couldn't go higher than 2x AA on single 9800m + 8800m (PPU). I don't really notice a difference in anti-aliasing quality above 2x. I just enjoy maxing everything out (who doesn't?).

In UT3 on the Tornado PhysX level (probably the best example to showoff PhysX to someone IMO), I got slightly better performance with the 8800m as a dedicated PPU. This might be due to SLi problems or compatibility, I don't know. This was with everything maxed out (even in the advanced settings).

I only tested the 8800m (PPU) in Batman: AA for an hour or so. That game is very well optimized, and the difference in performance with 8800m PPU vs 9800m GTX in SLi is minimal, unless you crank up the anti-aliasing. Then the dual 9800m GTX setup wins.

The only problem with a dedicated PPU is that only PhysX-enabled games will take advantage of it. That's why 2x 9800m GTX in SLi is better; it works with games that don't use PhysX (assuming SLi compatibility is there). Also the 9800m GTX SLi wins out if you are totally against the idea of even one slightly jagged pixel being on screen. Otherwise, main GPU+dedicated PPU is really good.

 

well i rang clevo uk today... they want £1400 for 2 x 1gb 9800m gtx's so unless i find a pair seeeeeriously cheaper im either gonna stick with the pair of 512mb 9800m gt's iv got or i might try the 280m + the 9800m gt as mentioned...

physx is industry standard now isnt it, dont all games have it??

 

So far, only Unreal Engine 3 games have it enabled (except for a select few titles). I'm really hoping it becomes standard. I think if Rockstar somehow managed to fit it in GTA4 for its physics engine, it would run so much smoother. It's so nifty to see PhysX in action. I hope the people who develop the Euphoria physics engine can work with Nvidia to incorporate GPU acceleration. Heck, even ATi. Or both of them. That would be nice.

 

The 280m option might be the cheaper one, since that card should be quite a bit cheaper than the 2 9800m GTXs. Do check rjtech.com and email them about a card like that, because they don't have their whole inventory on their web site. good luck with getting either one of those options =)

 

yeah why is the newer, better card cheaper?!

 

Probably 'cause it cost the seller more to buy from the manufacturer/wholesaler; the price is unlikely to drop much from there as GPU cards generally don't take up a lot of expensive warehouse space to maintain a small quantity of inventory, so there's no real pressure to cut prices just to move the stock.