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Dell XPS Gen 1 Video Upgrade

post #1 of 18
8/21/06 at 9:42pm
Thread Starter 
Greetings everyone!
I have a Gen 1 Inspiron XPS thats a couple of years old and it's starting to show it's age. The original video graphics card is a Nvidia ATI 9600 128mg Radeon and from what I can tell from doing some research, the only option I have is to upgrade it with a ATI Mobility Radeon 9800 256MB, M18. I called Dell and their price out the door is $442.67. I wasn't able to find the card anywhere else on the web that sells it.
Does anyone know if I have any other options or if anywhere else sells it for cheaper? Should I just save my money and try to upgrade my whole system instead?
I was also considering upgrading my RAM from 1G to 2G. All4Memory offers the upgrade for about $350. Once again, is this something worthwhile, or should I save for a new setup?
Here is my current setup:
P4 3.4 Mg
1G Ram
80Gig HD
Not sure what Cd drive/burner I have
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 128MB, M18

The reason that I'm doing this research is because I was recently accepted into the Vanguard Beta and I can barely run the game with my current setup.

Thanks for all of your help!

Sincerely,
Paulytee
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post #2 of 18
8/21/06 at 10:06pm
ebay, sometimes you will find it on this forum FS/FT section. They are very rare now.
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post #3 of 18
8/22/06 at 8:23pm
On 28 May 2006, I called DSP and paid $398.95 USD + $8.00 shipping:

Item Number , Description , Unit , Unit Price

G5117 , Card Graphics ATI Technologies Inc 256MB M18 Inspiron , EA , 398.95
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post #4 of 18
8/22/06 at 11:38pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the responses guys! Hey V.B., once you installed the 256mb video card, how would you rate the difference in performance? Was it worth it? As much as I would like to upgrade my whole system, I can only budget about $500 for the time being, and I won't be able to budget much more for at least six months or so.
I have been happy with my setup but with some of the new games, I'm starting to get some video chop and such. Is there anything else that can be done to help video performance other than swapping the card?
Thanks again everyone and I look forward to your responses!

-Paul

Ps- Where would I see the most benefit if I was to upgrade my RAM from 1G to 2G? Thanks!
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post #5 of 18
8/23/06 at 8:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulytee
... Hey V.B., once you installed the 256mb video card, how would you rate the difference in performance? Was it worth it? ...
I don't rate it. I'm not a gamer, but a programmer. I did it just to have one before there were none left.
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post #6 of 18
8/23/06 at 9:04pm
The 9800 is a great card (for it's time, heheh it's so outdated already).

I have the 9700 in my XPS 1, and the 9800 in my Dell desktop.

The 9700 can barley handel HL2, but the 9800 has no problem.

I personally wouldn't invest $500 into a computer that's worth probably at most $800, but an MR9800 and 2 gigs of RAM would make you pretty happy... plus 6 months is a freak'in long time to wait.

The 9100 XPS is such a great system anways, I love mine.
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post #7 of 18
8/23/06 at 10:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by viperxiv
The 9800 is a great card (for it's time, heheh it's so outdated already).

I have the 9700 in my XPS 1, and the 9800 in my Dell desktop.

The 9700 can barley handel HL2, but the 9800 has no problem.

I personally wouldn't invest $500 into a computer that's worth probably at most $800, but an MR9800 and 2 gigs of RAM would make you pretty happy... plus 6 months is a freak'in long time to wait.

The 9100 XPS is such a great system anways, I love mine.

The mobile 9800 in the XPS Gen 1 is NOT the same GPU as the desktop 9800 series. the mobile 9800 (which only Dell sold by my recollection) was based off the X800 desktop GPU.
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post #8 of 18
8/24/06 at 3:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrEvil
The mobile 9800 in the XPS Gen 1 is NOT the same GPU as the desktop 9800 series. the mobile 9800 (which only Dell sold by my recollection) was based off the X800 desktop GPU.
that's right... they just locked some pipes to "downgrade" it to 9800 spec. Either way, my point remains the same.
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post #9 of 18
9/14/06 at 12:27pm
sorry to resurrect the old topic but I was wondering if anyone can if there are any decent NVidia cards that I can use with the XPS Gen 1. I'm looking to upgrade myself but the ati mobility 9800 is a rare card to get your hands on, and if possible I would like to look into a decent alternative.Thanks in advance
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post #10 of 18
9/14/06 at 12:35pm
there are no alternatives
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post #11 of 18
9/14/06 at 12:40pm
naturally thanks for the prompt response thought !
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post #12 of 18
9/20/06 at 4:00pm
Quick update fellas: I managed to find the card and had it shipped to me on monday. Since then I've swapped the 9800 with the 9700 two times with lackluster results.
With the 9800: I get no picture! I here the processor/fans...basically everything working correctly but no picture on the screen. I've double checked all the connections to make sure I just didn't forget to plug something back in after installation.

With the 9700: Everything works normally. I wanted to make sure something wasn't wrong with my installation (a possibility since I've never worked on a notebook to do anything other then add some ram.)

So with that being said has anyone had a problem trying to install a new graphics card? If there is no picture does that mean the card is bad? Can you tel the difference between a faulty card and a card that does work but something with my install is incorrect??
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post #13 of 18
9/20/06 at 6:33pm
Did you uninstall the video drivers before swapping the cards?

Stu
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post #14 of 18
9/21/06 at 9:07am
Yes. Although when I uninstall the drivers it asks me to restart the computer, in which i say NO and simply shut it down. Is that right??

Also, when it didn't work I swapped the original back in and went to the Dell website. The website also had a video bios upgrade, but when I try to install it it gives me a screen that says the upgrade could take up to 5 minutes, the screen disappears and I don't know if the Video Bios has upgraded or not (i doubt it did). I think the video bios upgrade may be the issue, but can i upgrade the video bios to support the 9800 before actually installing the card?
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post #15 of 18
9/21/06 at 9:21am
both dell downloads (the drivers and the video bios) say that they are optional

http://support.dell.com/support/down...&fileid=114639

So i'm pretty lost that an optional upgrade would cause a problem when installing the new card.
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post #16 of 18
9/21/06 at 7:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by patrickastan
but can i upgrade the video bios to support the 9800 before actually installing the card?
It may already be at the current MR9800 BIOS.

If there is nothing wrong with the card it should boot OK with the MR9700 drivers.
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post #17 of 18
9/21/06 at 7:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sakor1
Did you uninstall the video drivers before swapping the cards?

Stu
I didn't when I swapped my 9700 for the 9800. The LCD did freak out when I first booted after installing the 9800. I powered down then powered back up and it was OK.
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post #18 of 18
9/25/06 at 8:54am
thanks for the help. I'm beginning to think the card is faulty but I'll upgrade my bios to the most current version and try again.
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