Graphics Upgrade For Laptops???

[Unregistered]

I have an Alienware Sentia Laptop which i recently purchased, and as far as i know there is no possible way of upgrading the graphics. It currently has intels integrated "extreme" graphics, which only allow for 64 MB of memory for graphics... Does anyone know of any way to upgrade or install a graphics card for a laptop...???



e-mail me at goldmember049@yahoo.com if you have any possible solutions please, i would really appreciate any help at all... thanks!!

[abudhu]

Qoute:

"Laptops use graphics chips that are soldered onto the motherboard. Because of space constraints in portable computers, this is the only practical design. Since the graphics chip is built in to the computer, it cannot be upgraded. This is one advantage of desktop computers, which typically use PCI or AGP slots that accept video card upgrades. While graphics chips in laptops may not be quite as high-performance as the video cards in desktop models, companies such as ATI and Nvidia have developed portable graphics chips that deliver impressive 2D and 3D performance."

/Quote.

Sorry Dude. Looks like your out of luck.

[dparm]

Some of the higher-end Dell laptops, like the XPS, have upgradeable video cards. This might be a feature to look for in the future.

[Unregistered]

Some laptops also allow you to set the amount of RAM/memory directly available to the video card. So while you may not be able to upgrade the video card, you may be able to upgrade the amount of total RAM your laptop has and give more to the video card if that's what you need.

[dparm]

Some laptops also allow you to set the amount of RAM/memory directly available to the video card. So while you may not be able to upgrade the video card, you may be able to upgrade the amount of total RAM your laptop has and give more to the video card if that's what you need.

True, but then you are robbing applications of the needed memory, forcing them to use swap space...which is really slow. If you do have a video card with "shared memory", chances are it has a relatively slow graphics processing unit (GPU) and giving it more RAM only helps with texture-rich games.

Laptops really aren't gaming machines, save the high-end XPS and Alienware notebooks. And with their growing sizes, you may as well just buy a desktop and get the upgradability.

For the record, I have a 64MB Mobility Radeon 9000 GPU in my Dell notebook and it can handle most games. It can't really do HL2, Doom 3, or Battlefield 2 at high-detail levels, but it can certainly handle games like UT2004 and Halo. I've also got a 2GHz Pentium M and 1GB of DDR333 RAM, which helps as well. The biggest bottleneck on many laptops is actually the hard drive. Many ship with 4200RPM drives, some with 5400RPM, and a few offer 7200RPM as an upgrade.

[Unregistered - Zero]

i have an alienware 5500m notebook i got recently, its got ati mobility radeon 9700 with 128mb memory, and a HT 3.4GHz processor, and 1gb ram. i heard its possible to upgrade the video card, considering its not integrated graphics, i heard i can just send my laptop to alienware and they can upgrade to the newest AGP8X video card.

[abudhu]

Aparrently you can. Or you could do it yourself, if you had the videocard that would fit.

Instructions by Alienware:

http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/alienware.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=657&p_created=1073493272&p_sid=IJ4lFKWh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfc m93X2NudD0yMTU4JnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9 jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9mbmwmc F9zY2ZfZmFxcypjJGxhbmd1YWdlPTIwNSZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

[dparm]

The Dell Inspiron XPS notebooks have full-sized PCI Express video cards making it fully upgradeable. You can get the GeForce 7800 GTX in it!!

[abudhu]

The Dell Inspiron XPS notebooks have full-sized PCI Express video cards making it fully upgradeable. You can get the GeForce 7800 GTX in it!!


Er, well at least the Mobile Version of the 7800GTX :-D. I'd hate to see how thick that thing would be with a standard 7800GTX. Imagine the Heat! Woowee.

[toxicity]

yes but the xps is al ittle bit expensive i can't afford is as a 14 year old person are there any others under 1500 €??

[dparm]

For $1800USD (1500 euro), I would get something that does NOT have "integrated graphics". Many of the Dell notebooks now use ATi X300 video cards, which should be able to handle Doom 3 at medium quality levels. I know this comes on the Inspiron 6000.

[Unregistered]

how about the integrated nvidia 6150 go. is this card any good as it has 288 mb of video ram.

[dparm]

6150 Go is certainly better than integrated, but it's still not a gaming video card by any stretch. It should handle the 3D interface effects (Aero Glass) in Windows Vista just fine, but don't expect to be blown away with amazing game graphics.

[Unregistered]

I have an old Packard Bell ipower 5000 series 1, it has a 32mb nvidia go 420 card but the driver for it is very out of date. I was wondering if it is safe to download the driver for the desktop version of this card from nvidia because packard Bell dont offer an upgrade for the notebook version of the driver. From tghe reports I have been receiving from games it seems the driver I have is 3 major updates old.
Can anyone help me with this?

[waltersp]

i have a 3 y.o. compaq with a 64mb nvidia go 440 card ... but in the same boat, the graphics driver is from 2005. i tried installing the latest nVidia forceware software, but upon installation, it gave me a message that "incompatible video card" ... i suspect you'll get the same message if you DL & try to install.

my only source for a driver is through hp's site, and they're not concerned about updating their driver ... "the one we released works, doesn't it?" i'm going to search and see if any of their newer models have a driver that's newer, but doubtful... good luck

[dparm]

NVIDIA no longer releases drivers for the older MX-series cards, FYI. Those cards are considered legacy devices.

[Unregistered]

i was looking on the nvidia website and found a list of legacy drivers for Linux but couldnt find them for windows, does anyone know if or where a list can be found?

[picch]

What distro of linux are you using. Most bundle most of the nvidia drivers already.

[rjhill1]

Garret, I think what he was referring to was that in Linux, nvidia has a package called "legacy drivers" to delineate the last drivers for stuff older than the GeForce line (like <=Riva TNT2). But in Windows, you gotta do some digging on their site for what you need. In particular, I think you're lookin' for this:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_93.71.html
as well as the supported products list for that release (it has a link to an older driver set for the older stuff not supported by it):
http://www.nvidia.com/object/93.71_winxp_32_supported.html

[Unregistered]

thanks a lot for that link. its downloading now and i really hope it works. the little linux windows thing reminded me of the only reason i use windows. my belkin mimo wireless card wont work with linux so if anyone knows a petition or anything like that i would be very greatful.

[Unregistered]

no that doesnt work, the card isnt compatible with the drivers. looks like ill be with the 03 version unless pack bell release a new driver which isnt going to happen.

[Unregistered]

got a intel GMA 950 integrated card.. no way to upgrade this or make it better for newer games eh?

[jharriso]

got a intel GMA 950 integrated card.. no way to upgrade this or make it better for newer games eh?

Not as such. You might look and see if the maximum ram allocation has been made to your graphics card, that could theoretically speed things up a bit. IIRC, those settings are usually in your BIOS.

[Unregistered]

also got 2 GB of ram and 256mb(max) goin to the vid card.. so nothin better than that.. kk il have to look into a desktop then ><

[EagleEyes]

Wll I have a Sony Vaio with the 915GM chipset and it states in the intel specs it has a extra pci-e x16 port for a external pci-e video card.... but how the hell does it connect or is it a internal connector?

[Unregistered]

is it possible for an upgrade to be plugged in via the USB port like a hard drive upgrade?

i think you could, cuz you could just turn off the video card on the motherboard and load the driver for the other graphics card.

Some one figure it out!

[dja]

how do I set the amount of RAM/memory going to my graphics card? I have a xps1330

[jharriso]

is it possible for an upgrade to be plugged in via the USB port like a hard drive upgrade?

i think you could, cuz you could just turn off the video card on the motherboard and load the driver for the other graphics card.

Some one figure it out!

Up until recently - not possible.
Now, you can get a USB based video card for about $100, look for the IOgear external video card.
CAVEATS:

Probably a worse card than what you have on board
Will not display on the laptop's display, need an external one
Not really practical for on-the-go computing. Which, um, is probably why you have a laptop.


There are some *much* better external video cards, but at their cost, just buy a new laptop with a dedicated video card.

[MightyKing]

The Dell Inspiron XPS notebooks have full-sized PCI Express video cards making it fully upgradeable. You can get the GeForce 7800 GTX in it!!


Is this really true? I'm looking to buy a XPS M1530 with the 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT. Could i upgrade that to the GeForce 7800 GTX or the 8700MGT??

Please clear this doubt of mine. Thank you.

[Unregistered]

Im thinkin bout gettin this laptop but im not sure if i can upgrade the graphix.
can i? and well if i cant what are some laptops that i can upgrade the graphix, (laptops that are somewhat cheap, under a grand or so)

[Unregistered]

oh and here is the link to it
http://search.live.com/commerce/default.aspx?q=Toshiba%20Satellite%20A135-S4527%20-%20Pentium%20Dual%20Core%20T2080%201.73%20GHz%20-%2015.4%22%20TFT&p1=%5bCommerceService+scenario%3d%22s%22+docid%3d% 223AF2535131CF54962B3F%22+p%3d%2201e9385c5aaa413e8 ba66a5e78603dae%22%5d&wf=Commerce&FORM=GTCL

[jharriso]

Generally, if a laptop allows graphics card upgrades, they're going to be pretty loud about advertising the fact, since it is rare and sought after. I don't see any indications that that Toshiba is upgradeable, especially since it has intel integrated graphics.

I don't believe that the XPS M1530 is especially upgradeable either, at best you could buy the cheaper card and then buy the more expensive card later, but you won't be able to stick a full sized 8700 or 7800 in there. At worst, they're using two different motherboards that have the two different graphics chips soldered on, so it would essentially be impossible to upgrade the chip.

On another note, this is what the process looks like, on a Dell machine, at least. It is NOT a "normal" video card. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/349/1/

[logan]

how to upgrade or install a graphics

[mcbrides]

It was a few of the older generation XPS and Inspiron laptops that had upgradeable video cards. (My 9300 included which can use a hacked BIOS to update to a 6800 Ultra or 7800 GTX instead of the 6800). Dell has kind of phased that out because lots of people were buying the less expensive models and then upgrading them to make them the equivalents of the more expensive models.

Generally if you buy a laptop that when you order it has options for which video card to have (as long as it's not integrated in the motherboard) then you can upgrade to one of the higher options later if you want.

[dan]

my toshiba satellite will upgrage. Its has a place on the bottom where you can put a card into upgrade ram or gaming graphics

[Unregistered]

I'm thinking of getting a top end hp vavilion that comes with the nvidia 8600m in it, the 8600m is a very good graphics card but i would prefer the 8800m. Is it the same size, if so where can i get one?

Also, how well would a lappy stand up to overcloxking the gpu a tad?

thanks all

[stoecker]

I could be wrong but to get the 8800m you are probably going to have to look at hp's voodoo pc line to find a laptop with the 8800m.

As far as overclocking the gpu on a laptop, it is possible but I would not recommend it, the more heat your laptop is subjected to the shorter its life.

[Unregistered]

thanks

So i take it that means that im not realy going to get my hands on one that'll fit anyway

[Unregistered]

It is actually quite possible to OC a notebook... but you have to be very careful!!! Do extensive testing on the stability of the system before you use it... and always pay close attention to the temperature. It voids the warranty if you damage anything, which is why you have to be careful :) As far as i know there is no way of beign able to tell if you OC'd other than physical damage; an example would eb a scorched card =D

[Funky monk]

As far as i know, its actualy preety hard to compleetly cook a lappy because of the thermal shutdown program.

The annoying thing is that i cant look at the voodoo website because my computer, computer browser and internet connection are all so crap

The reason i was thinking of OC'ing it is because i've made a lappy water/mini usb fridge cooling system that slots in the heat sink. What i've done (i havent tested it much) is made a whole load of copper plates that fit in the heatsink, put a water cooling pipe through them- im not sure whether to use convection and a radiator or to just get water straight from the tap. Also i got the cooling element from one of fridges you put in cars and put that on as well and made it run from usb. I've also been thinking of putting a large heat sink on a seperate cooler and mounting a large fan on it and comparing the two coolers

[Unregistered]

Wow... that's a lot of work to put in just for OC'ing...
I'm assuming the system that cannot load voodoo's website is not the one that youa re trying to overclock... am i correct?

[Funky monk]

well im not exactly going to buy a win95 laptop with a 250mhz processor am i? Now come to mention it, i have been thinking of oc'in this one so i can get a bit more juice from the cpu of the snail era. Its a pentium 2 by the way to give you some idea of how cruddy it is.

I think the reason why the voodoo site doesnt load is to do with it having flash, if it goes past flash 7 theres no hope of this comp showing it


Im so deprived

[Unregistered]

I am thinking about buying a new dell studio laptop can I upgrade the graphics card on it?

[mcbrides]

The 17" studio laptop supports a Mobility Radeon HD 3650 and the 15" supports a 3450. I doubt you'd be able to upgrade them to anything better than those down the road.

For those purchasing a notebook and wondering about graphics cards I would recommend reading the following: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=275056 - It does a pretty good job breaking down the types of cards and it is updated fairly regularly.