Switching video cards in laptops?

[verix]

I'm looking at two possible laptop solutions with the exact same chassis/chipset, one has a x1600 and the other a 7900 GTX, is it possible to get the x1600 model and switch out the x1600 to the 7900 at a later date?

 

[killernotebooks]

Who is the ODM?

 

[verix]

It's the Clevo 5750.

 

[killernotebooks]

Ok, theoretically, yes.

But that machine, from what I can see never was factory equiped with a 7900 GTX. That means that you may have 2 problems. Fitting a 7900 GTX into the case or slight inconsistancies that arise from the 2 platforms (going from ATI to nVidia).

I could not find any systems modded on the internet either, that leads me to believe the true answer is, "No" do you have the chassis already?

 

[verix]

My mistake, I'm currently being shipped the Clevo M570U.

http/www.clevo.com.tw/products/M570U.asp

 

[killernotebooks]

Then yes, the 7900 GTX will fit in there.

 

[verix]

I guess the question I'm really asking though is how swappable they are. Is this something that I as the consumer would be able to change, or are the power requirements for the two cards different such that the motherboard needs modification or soldering is involved? Thanks =)

 

[killernotebooks]

The card swap shouldn't be that difficult, but I question were you are getting this machine with an x1600 in it to start with because they don't normally come with x1600's.

 

[verix]

It says on the link to the Clevo machine that it comes with either the 7900 or x1600.

 

[killernotebooks]

Those 2 video cards are so completely different that it is strange. The 2 cards I know of that go in there are the 7900 GTX or the x1800 ATi, but not the x1600.

Where are you getting this machine?

 

[verix]

I guess I misspoke, it's from discountlaptops.com, the Sager 5750.

 

[killernotebooks]

The Clevo and the Sager are the same box. Sager just rebranded it.

I'll tell you, I am not too pumped on that system couple reasons:

17" with WXGA+ that's sots big, I don't think you are going to be happy with it, WXGA is a good middle of the road size for a 15.4" but SXGA+ is better for a 17", WXGA+ is kind of a bastard of the two. You're wasting a lot of real estate by not having the SXGA+ resolution IMHO.

The MR x1600 has ony 128 MB, shared "Hyper(diaper)" memory doesn't count, it's junk. Think of this, the video card is "sharing" system memory on an Intel chipset no matter how hyper the mother fruit is it still has to send the command through the CPU to hit the memory controller then to the system RAM which has to go through its latency cycle, turn around and lend itself to the video card. It's way too slow. Not only that with 128 onboard the video card is taking a good chunk (when available) of your system memory (this can go up to 512 MB so thats 384 MB sucked out of your system.

I think there's better systems out there. What's the entire cost on this dog and what are the specs?

 

[verix]

17" WXGA+ (1440 x 900) Active Matrix Display
Pentium DUO 1.83GHz Processor (Yonah / 2 MB L2 Cache / 677 FSB)
Artic Silver 5 (AS5) Thermal CPU Paste Compound
Ati MR X1600 128MB w/Hypermemory up to 512MB VRAM
1024 MB DDR2 (667 MHz) Memory (512 MB x 2)
80 GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM) SATA
8X DVD±R/RW / 4X+Dual Layer / 5X DVD-RAM / CD-RW Multi Drive (Pioneer DVR-k16)

$1500 including shipping. For the price I'm happy, and while I know it the LCD isn't the best quality, this was one of the few chassis I found that comes with a DVI connection.

Of course there are better laptops out there, I'm just not in a position to pay $2000.

 

[killernotebooks]

That actually is a pretty good deal. The 17" models are definately more expensive and there just isn't the selection choices that the 15.4" models have. Rock on with yo bad self!

 

[verix]

The graphics card is actually something I was wondering about. Is the amount of RAM simply a variable on the same product name (the M56P in this case), or is a difference in RAM cause for a product renaming? Cause I've seen many different M56P cards out there, some with 128, some with 256.

 

[verix]

For that matter, are the standard PCI-e cards applicable to notebooks? Cause they don't look like they fit in there, but I haven't found any special notebook PCI-e cards.

 

[killernotebooks]

The amount of RAM for the video card is dependent on how much it initially comes with. They can basically add or subtract as much as they want. In this case it is hard to imagine the very small aount of money they saved not going with 256 MB.

No, a desktop PCI-e card will not fit in a notebook, they are specialized, and not "readiy" available.

 

[verix]

Do you know any retailers for the specialized cards?

 

[killernotebooks]

I can get you 7800 GTX and 7900 GTX cards. I have an order in right now 2day that ships tomorrow (hopefully today)

7800 GTX Video $ 359.00

7900 GTX Video $ 399.00

 

[verix]

Those prices are quite attractive, but right now I'm a little leary of installing a new card from everything I've read on the web. Perhaps a little ways down the road. Thanks for your help =)