Upgrading the graphics card in the Sony Vaio Z?

The standard graphics card is an Nvidia GeForce GT 330m, but the laptop's gaming performance could be higher with a 335m or even a 360m (for its premium price, I would like the ultimate machine if possible). How do these two other cards compare to the first in terms of size/motherboard compatibility/power drain? In other words, could I buy the Sony Vaio Z and successfully upgrade the graphics card aftermarket, and if I did so how would the new card(s) affect the laptop's battery life?

Are there any guides that would help me into the guts of the machine, and could I possibly proceed without voiding the warranty?

Thanks to all who answer.

 

Sorry, it can't be done. Sony don't use MXM cards, therefore making it pretty much impossible to upgrade a graphics card. If you could, you would also need a better cooling system among other things.

 

Not happening... Your graphics chip is soldered to the motherboard.

 

Woo-hoo, first double post!

Anyway, I suppose you MIGHT be able to do it if you have a soldering station and the technical ability to desolder and resolder components on your motherboard without toasting the thing (not to mention the need to fabricate a new cooling system as mentioned above and possibly reprogram the BIOS). Needless to say your warranty would be worthless, but hell, you would get some internet cool points if you pulled it off.

 

Get a gaming laptop for gaming. The Z is a not a serious gaming machine.

 

But, it's fairly good still!

 

i don't know what you all are complaining about, i pull high 40s frames in native resolution on mass effect 2 with everything on high and an overclock to 625/825. Thats pretty damned good if you ask me.

Yes, you will have to take down some of the settings for BC2 but big deal.

 

I've heard of rumours of people changing out the stock 9300GM on the older Z, and replacing that with the 9600GM that the then high-end AW series came with. But I understand that chip died out within weeks of installment after getting fried.

Yes - it's possible. But as mentioned above, you need a DECENT soldering station (we're in the high US$200). Not to mention the darn-steady hand that you need to have to unsolder and re-solder the new chip in place, considering the soldering is all done by precision robotics. Meeting all these requirements, if you DO do the the swap sucessfully, it does require you to install a new driver (in the case I know, for the 9600GM). And you can't count on your new chip or laptop lasting you too long if you plan on stressing the GPU for a while; it will die on you pretty quickly since the heat-sinks are not really designed for the new GPU you just installed (most of the time).

As coolguy has said. The Z is not a gaming machine. It is merely a high-speced laptop that can handle decent CAD and probably nice script emulation speeds.

I never thought I'd say this again, but NO laptop is designed to game for extended lengths of time, period. Laptops are merely portable computers, powered by perishable batteries; any manufacturer who tells you 'x' is a gaming laptop (I can think of 3x companies from the top of my head) is leading the less informed into buying something that was never designed for such stress.

We are talking about extreme heat dissipation and power usage. A laptop is built to be portable thus is small compared to your average desktop equivalent; heat dissipation efficiency can only be pushed so far from so-called mobile gaming GPUs. Power usage; you see gaming desktop rigs sucking-out a total 750W from the PSU these days; you'd be lucky to see a high-end laptop hit 250W.

Mind you, the closest thing to the GPU you can replace out of a laptop is the CPU. Not too sure about the i series these days, but I know you can get P and T series Centrino CPUs from ebay and install those on pretty much all compatible machines, which is pretty much all those older non-i series CPUs on the market. Might have to wait a few years for the new CPUs to get to such a time period.

 

Thanks for answering, everyone.

I was mainly asking if there would be enough space in the chassis/if the new, aftermarket card would be physically compatible with the laptop.

I do have access to some soldering equipment, etc. so it sounds like I may be technically capable of doing the upgrade. However, as you all seem to point out, the chances of success are extremely low, and I would not want to risk failure on such a pricey laptop.

I guess if I ever win the lottery or have a couple thousand dollars to waste, I might try it once...