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Inspiron 9300 graphics card upgrade?

post #1 of 16
2/9/07 at 9:15pm
Thread Starter 
I'm in need of upgrading my graphics card in my Inspiron 9300 laptop. I currently have the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 in my computer and according to Dell I could upgrade to the NVIDIA 9300, NV41, 256mb card. Is this a good choice or should I do something else?
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post #2 of 16
2/9/07 at 9:30pm
The best cards that you can get for the 9300 are the 6800 Ultra and the 7800 GTX go. In order to make use of these cards you have to do special installation. It will require flashing the bios and getting a 130 W power supply. There are instructions for how to do it on this forum. You'll have to find one on ebay or for sale somewhere else. These cards are no longer being made and Dell spare parts will not allow you to buy unless it's a replacement for an XPS system (since the XPS was the only line Dell sold these cards in).

I am unsure of what the identity of the NV41 card is but the 6800 go is the best card that Dell shows as "acceptible" that the 9300 can use.
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post #3 of 16
2/10/07 at 11:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Firetooth1
I'm in need of upgrading my graphics card in my Inspiron 9300 laptop. I currently have the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 in my computer and according to Dell I could upgrade to the NVIDIA 9300, NV41, 256mb card. Is this a good choice or should I do something else?
What they (Dell) is telling you in Dellspeak is that the fastest card you can install in your machine is what you already have (a GeForce Go 6800). This is because the fastest "officially" supported video card for the I9300 is the Go 6800.

Of course we here all know that with a little bit of BIOS modding and an upgrading of power supply; the 6800 ultra or 7800 GTX are the fastest choices for the I9300. Read this thread which used to be stickied atop this forum http://www.notebookforums.com/thread113866.html

Neither of these two cards are any longer available through Dell directly, so you'll have to look for them here in the "for sale/wanted" section of this forum or on Ebay. But it will cost you, the 7800 GTX when they do pop up on Ebay are outrageously priced, going for as much as $300-$500. The 6800 Ultra when it shows up is more reasonable, going for around $200 - $400.

Both are now rare and hard to come by so it will take a bit of work on your part to try and find one. But when you do you'll be greatly rewarded, as either makes a nice upgrade to your current setup, with the only downside being a slight increase in heat output and a reduction in battery up-time. I hope this helps.

Ciao
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post #4 of 16
2/10/07 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 
I understand that I can use the 6800 ultra or the 7800gtx, but what about this nvidia 9300,256mb card that they are trying to sell me for $300.00? According to Dell this is the best upgrade I can purchase to replace my current GeForce 6800 card.
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post #5 of 16
2/10/07 at 1:32pm
lol man...theyre trying to sell you the gpu you already have (6800go = NV41) and even worse, at an unreasonable price ...You have the best option for a stock 9300 but if you want better you need to flash the bios to xps and use either a 6800ultra or 7800gtx
6800go<6800ultra<7800gtx ...there's also a 7800go but dont worry about that, its not all that good (stock) and its not even supported
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post #6 of 16
2/10/07 at 1:57pm
Thread Starter 
OK, I've got it. Lets try another aproach, what started me down this road of trying to upgrade my graphics card was that I recently purchased Splinter Cell Double Agent, after installing the program the compatable hardware list came up and the only problem it showed was that my driver for my GeForce Go 6800 was outdated and needed to be upgraded. I have looked everywere and cannot find any updates so I began looking for a new graphics card. So, are there any driver updates out there for the GeForce Go 6800? By the way thanks to everyone for explaining!
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post #7 of 16
2/10/07 at 2:57pm
use the ones from laptopvideo2go and replace the inf or you can use the xtremeg ones and you wont have to replace the inf...you might also want to uninstall old drivers, boot in safe mode, use driver cleaner pro, boot back and then install the new ones...I wouldn't get a driver any higher than 92.xx but anyway I'll see if I can find you a link to driver cleaner pro

Edit: here's a link - http://www.mediafire.com/?1i4llygiumh
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post #8 of 16
2/10/07 at 3:59pm
Thread Starter 
I've been reading up on that site, thanks for the info!
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post #9 of 16
2/11/07 at 12:20am
I have an Inspiron 9300 with a NVIDIAO GO 6800 and just purchased an Inspiron 9400 with the ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400. Going to pass the 9300 to my wife and was wondering if

1. It makes sense to swap the video cards. Is the 6800 better than the x1400?
2. Are they cross compatible as I assume the 9300 and 9400 are pretty similar.

Thanks.....Jason
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post #10 of 16
2/11/07 at 12:48am
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post #11 of 16
2/11/07 at 1:02am
just to clarify, the 6800go will indeed work in the 9400 fine but the x1400 would not work in the 9300...you could always swap and buy a x300 for the 9300 but if i was gonna buy a new gpu id just wait and get a 7900gs for the 9400
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post #12 of 16
2/11/07 at 1:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zzpulp
just to clarify, the 6800go will indeed work in the 9400 fine but the x1400 would not work in the 9300...you could always swap and buy a x300 for the 9300 but if i was gonna buy a new gpu id just wait and get a 7900gs for the 9400
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post #13 of 16
2/11/07 at 2:32am
Thanks..... will it kill battery????
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post #14 of 16
2/11/07 at 1:17pm
neither the 6800go or the x1400 are power hungry from my experience although the 6800go likely uses more power...If you use the 2d voltage/clocks on battery and the 3d voltage/clocks on power you can have the best of both worlds...Like I said though if you really want to get a better gpu for your 9400 just buy the 7900gs for the 9400 bc if you choose to replace it with the 6800 instead you'd still have to buy a new gpu (x300 ~$100-$150 ebay i think) for the 9300
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post #15 of 16
2/11/07 at 1:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zzpulp
neither the 6800go or the x1400 are power hungry from my experience although the 6800go likely uses more power...If you use the 2d voltage/clocks on battery and the 3d voltage/clocks on power you can have the best of both worlds...Like I said though if you really want to get a better gpu for your 9400 just buy the 7900gs for the 9400 bc if you choose to replace it with the 6800 instead you'd still have to buy a new gpu (x300 ~$100-$150 ebay i think) for the 9300

Indeed, it would be much smarter for you to just shell out the extra cash for the 7900GS, it's far better than the 6800go and will last you longer, for not much extra cash.
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post #16 of 16
2/11/07 at 2:46pm
Thanks to all for your help, I didn't know I could set the video card to a "power save" mode on battery. Last question, does anyone know the dell part # to order the 7900 for the 9400? Their website only brings up the desktop cards....thanks again...
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