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PCI-E Graphic card replaceable?

post #1 of 12
5/18/05 at 2:57pm
Thread Starter 
Just a question, can anyone tell if the new notebook's graphical cards (PCI-Express)can be upgraded/replaced ?

Thanks
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post #2 of 12
5/18/05 at 3:07pm
depends on the laptop.....my laptop can supposedly be upgraded or replaced...but i think it depends.....also depends on if you wanna lose your warrenty and stuff..ect.
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post #3 of 12
5/18/05 at 3:36pm
Thread Starter 
How come it depends? arent the pci-e cards not supposed to be onboard?

I bring this issue because, if you have a notebook you like, and you only wish it had a better graphical card you could simply request the vendor to replace it...
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post #4 of 12
5/18/05 at 3:38pm
In general, notebook graphics are not upgradable...there are a few models which area (mainly the Clevo based notebooks) but in general the answer is no, not at this time...

Both NVIDIA and ATI are developing their own systems for upgradable graphics, NVIDIA's is called MXM and ATI's is AXIOM, but neither one is out in a standardized form.
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post #5 of 12
5/18/05 at 6:58pm
Yep, PCI-E is just a bus. The standardization for desktop motherboards doesn't exist for laptops yet.

Besides...even if MXM and AXIOM arrive and allow a physical port that can be utilized, there's no guarantee future cards will fit. Space is an issue. The next gen cards may require more room than your laptop can provide, especially for active cooling solutions on the newer chipsets. That has even been an issue with some desktop systems.

There's no gaurantees in that arena for upgradeability. If someone says that the card can be upgraded...it doesn't mean it necessarily will ever see a compatible upgrade card available to the public.
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post #6 of 12
5/21/05 at 10:35am
there are upgradeble notebooks now. They contain MXM modules. Look at Jewel 8110 and Aopen 1559-as. Also some clevo notebooks, but not all of clevos notebooks are upgradeble. The comment above is not valid since all MXM are the same size and have 35watt limit.. It's a standard. This standard will probably change in 2 years or so.
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post #7 of 12
5/21/05 at 11:42am
Can you take out your graphics card? Yes...
Will your manufacture make an ungraded version of the video card that will fit your computer? I think thats the problem.... They don't generally make upgrades avablible for notebooks. If they do, the costs probably wont out weigh the benifits. I with they did though
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post #8 of 12
5/21/05 at 7:44pm
It would be great if laptop video cards were upgradeable. As the others above have said, ATI and Nvidia are making a standardized socket for their video cards. But in the end, not many laptop companies will be catering to us in respect to having the video card upgradeable. This is because they are in it for profit, it is more profitable for them to have the consumer to just buy a new laptop than upgrade their video card and continue using their current laptop.

My previous laptop, a Dell Inspiron 8500 came with a Nvidia 4200 Go. Some people have upgraded it to a ATI M9600 128MB Ram but that took some work literally. They'd have to make a custom heatplate to help dissippate the heat for the ATI M9600. While my current laptop, Sony S360 has a ATI M9700 but the video card is soldered onto the motherboard.
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post #9 of 12
5/21/05 at 10:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flo$ser
The comment above is not valid since all MXM are the same size and have 35watt limit.. It's a standard. This standard will probably change in 2 years or so.
No, you don't comprehend what I'm saying. Even if the MXM card/interface is the same and they have the same power limit, that doesn't exclusively limit their heat issues. The total dimensions of the card are NOT set in stone. Cards sometimes need extra cooling via active solutions or passive heatsinks/pipes. There's no gaurantee that a card will be made to fit a particular application.

Even some PCI or AGP video cards had issues in some motherboard or case setups, where the card or the cooling solutions wouldn't clear hard drive cages in the case or other heatsinks/capacitors on the motherboard. With desktop systems, there's significantly more space, so it's generally not a big issue, though. In laptops, obviously, space is at a premium, and there's no gaurantee. That's what I was trying to say. Maybe, someone will made an upgrade...but if it's not out right NOW, you can't count on something to be available in the future.

Sure, some day we may see more upgrade options for laptops...but I bet we're a fair way out from that being commonplace. There will be a fight over design choices and manufacturers will all choose sides(if any at all). It would take several product cycles from the time those options appear in high production before a "standard" would be achieved.
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post #10 of 12
5/22/05 at 4:51am
Oh there is one more thing I almost forgot about. At least with the older ones this applied (AGP interface), so I'm not sure if it still applies to the PCI-E series and newer. Anyways to the point, the video bios support (microcode?) is not built into the video cards (Desktop video card bios are built into the video card itself, you can see at boot some video bios display itself). Rather it is built into the motherboard bios of the laptop. So with the older laptops, just because you could fit a video card in, if it had a perfect fit does not mean it will work. The motherboard bios or newer revision would need to have the video support for the card you swap in to work.

It really sucks if its still the case today but I am not sure, have not kept up with laptop bioss'. I know this was the case for certain on the Dell Inspiron 8500 and I'm fairly sure this applies to most other laptops as well.

Off note, you ever wonder why there are no bios flashes for video cards on laptops while there are for desktop ones and also that the same video card in two different laptops may have different clock speeds? Things to think about.
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post #11 of 12
5/22/05 at 5:23pm
It's because the laptop manufacturers don't want the users tinkering with the laptops, especially when they're 'whitebooked' The major resellers like Dell, Gateway, IBM was pretty good about offering BIOS updates to their laptops. That's because they have the financial resources to invest in bug fixes...they're got far more to lose than the mom-pop shop selling a whitebook.

As for the GPUs, and why they have different specs between notebooks? laptops have different engineering tolerances for voltage and heat. Sometimes a manufacturer decides they need to maximize battery life and or reduce heat in a specific location on the laptop. Considering that Atia nd NVidia both have roving specs for their devices, it's something they probably encourage.
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post #12 of 12
5/23/05 at 9:38am
What about the laptops from the manufacturers stated by Nvidia as MXM Launch-partners?

http://www.nvidia.com/page/pg_20040515205726.html
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