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Outlifted

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May 3, 2016
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I don't have much experience in building a PC, yet alone, a laptop. While this is the case, I want to ask the community here at TomsGuide if its possible to change a graphics card on a specific laptop. My laptop is an Asus Q552UB-BHI7T12, specs can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/z75a3zw. I want to update it to NVIDIA Geforce 970M...If it's possible. Thanks.
 
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Alienware and msi are more prominent mxm users than sager and clevo but the laptop in question is a 2 in 1 and even the cpu is soldered. That's a definite no.

Purpletalon55

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Apr 2, 2016
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Like every alienware since 2007 has had soldered GPUS from experience with them. But I can totally agree on the MSI.
 

Shaun o

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There is a very important fact when you talk about trying to change a graphics solution in a laptop.

If the laptop is a hybrid, meaning it uses for example a Intel graphics chip for desktop display.
And then when playing a game on it, it switches to a mini Pci-e based card in the laptop.


You will find that there are a set model range of numbers.
Where each laptop may have a slightly better mini Pci-e based graphics card fitted.

But the problem is once you go outside of the stated model range and the number designation of the Mini Pci-e based graphics card.

The two reasons are the amount of power the laptop motherboard can provide for the model number of mini pci-e graphics card in the system.

And also the cooling system for the Pci-e mini graphics card changes.

For example say you had a laptop with a mini Pci-e card slot and a geforce 770M was fitted to it.
The laptop motherboard is designed to deliver the correct amount of power for the plug in card.

Now if you changed that card to a 970 Mini pci-e based card, the power consumption required may increase.
And the cooling solution on the card may differ in dimensions.

Meaning plugging it to the mini Pci-e interface of the laptop may result in it no longer powering up.
and also the cooling solution on the card may not fit the laptop case.

Most laptops and the case are designed around the model number or range of graphics card, for power.
And for the fitting of the cooling solution of the Mini pci-e graphics card.

You may not get what I am saying, in essence you are limited to the range or model number of card fitted to the laptop.

Often you cannot change from one model range number to another one.

Ie a 770 to a 970 range. due to different power requirements or cooling solutions used.

If there is a Asus Q552UB-BHI7T in the model range fitted with a 970M card then you may be able to upgrade the card if mini Pci-e based.

If there is no reference to a Asus Q552UB-BHI7T in the range number not fitted with a 970M card then it is likely if you fitted one the laptop board will not be able to provide enough power to power the add in Mini pci-e graphics card.


 

k1114

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There is no such thing as mini pcie graphics cards. Mxm is not mpcie. Mpcie is the same from factor as msata and close to m.2 smaller sizes: much too small for a gpu. Mpcie is used for the wifi card and many nowadays are begin replaced with m.2 2230 which is 22mm x 30mm. Many laptops that still have mpcie were half height, 3cm x ~3cm. This is way too tiny and you couldn't even fit the gpu on it. MXM only applies to the rare $1100+ gaming or workstation laptops. Not your common laptop and not even close to a ultrabook/tablet like laptop like this. Also mxm has different types and you'd find the same type and the cooler will also fit it so there is no nonsense about the cooler not fitting.

The q552 like most laptops have a soldered gpu. Even a quick glance and you will see it has a soldered cpu and you aren't going to find mxm with a soldered cpu. Like most laptops, it can only change ram, hdd, wifi card (looks like his is m.2), and optical drive if you really want to count components that can be changed since this can be a sata caddy.
 

jeffler383

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Mar 22, 2013
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To answer your question, no. As others have pointed out, that particular GPU is soldered into the mobo, and even if you felt frisky enough to try and replace it there's a good chance a different card wouldn't fit, wouldn't power up, or both, because that mobo and case wasn't designed to power, hold, or cool it.

In your case you're options are going to be buy a new laptop, and any sort of machine that would offer the ability to change out the GPU is going o be $2000+, or go ahead and build a desktop.

I faced a similar situation at the beginning of this year when I was considering either trying to upgrade my own gaming laptop, and people actually make kits for this (MSI GT70), or building a new gaming PC from the ground up. The upgraded laptop GPU by itself was $800 to $1000, depending on where you bought it from, and it would still give you performance 20-30% below the desktop equivalent and cost 3/4 as much as an entirely new desktop with respectable specs. In the end, I couldn't justify trying to heavily modify a laptop that even though was possible, it wasn't really designed for it, spend a ton of money and still come out with the specs of basically a mid-ranged gaming desktop, or I could stretch my budget a little further and build the beast of a machine I ended up with, and then add to it later and make it even more beastly (which is what I did)
 

jeffler383

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Mar 22, 2013
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Another option you might be interested in is the growing market for external GPUs - there's on offering in particular that I watched a youtube video on that basically allows you to use an adapter to plug in a full sized desktop GPU into a laptop, where the laptop essentially serves as the CPU only. It's a very rough design and requires some heavy modifications to your laptop, and you'll need an external power supply for the card, but the dude demonstrated it does work when he plugged it into his several years old economy notebook and played modern games on a 970 or 980 at very high settings.

Again, the design is rough, and you still have to purchase an external card, and a power supply, and extensively modify the laptop, so whether there is value in this will be up to the individual.
 

k1114

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Can't change the mobo like most laptops either. That's even a worse situation with laptop mobo form factors all being non standard.

Egpus have been around along time and don't require heavy modding. Just pop the bottom off, take out the wifi card and get an adapter, psu and gpu. Hopefully already have a monitor and probably want to hook up a mouse and keyboard too. It just turns it into a frankenstein desktop and no longer a mobile laptop. The reason it's growing more now is from higher bandwidth so bottlenecking isn't so much an issue. You're still at x4 for most m.2 slots. And the main issue, cost, is the biggest issue. You can usually sell it, add the cost of all the hardware and get a new laptop that's the same or better performance while keeping your mobility.
 
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