Laptop Graphics Cards

[...~*{ALEX}*~... 1]

Where do you buy them? I have no idea!

I want to upgrade my Acer 5520, I just read this post on another forum of someone who has done it so I know it's possible.

He put an ASUS 8600m GT in his and I would like to do the same. I can't seem to find a website/online store that sells GPU's for laptops, only ones for Desktops.

I'm from New Zealand so this is more directed at New Zealanders but any advice is much appreciated.

[SC4BOY 20]

Laptop upgrades are a very touchy subject.. they are NOT interchangable as normal "desktop" catds are. Portables are basically custom designed and to find something that could be fit into your system is not likely. often they are not even on a standard connector, but are mounted on the motherboard or on a special extender.. If your specific portable happens to have a plug, I'd suggest calling or emailing the Acer people to find out what's possible. Even if you find a substitute, there will likely only be one specific model that will fit and you almost certainly will have to purchase it from a wholesale or specialty outlet, not from your local computer store or online supplier. Further even if you found one I expect you'd find the cost would not justify whatever performance increase you might get... buy another portable that has what you want and maybe ebay yours..

[Larks2242 251]

Tiger Direct sells alot of computer parts, they may have something you can use.

[...~*{ALEX}*~... 1]

Mmm yes Ive been seeing a lot of that "not really possible" on forums and such. For some reason I've become quite attached to my laptop, despite what people say about it, I think it is quite a good system for it's generation and Windows 7 just makes it even better, though the odd thing is that it ships with Vista (unfortunately) but the GPU still only supports Direct X 9. I would like a new one though as I am wanting to try some newer games like Aion, and some better frame rates in WOW would be welcomed, though it does quite nicely as it is. I think my next machine would likely be a Desktop though as they seem to be much easier to customise.

[hym 358]

In the event that you switch to a desktop, make sure it is one of your own design and construction. Manufacturers like HP and Dell use non-standard parts in those machines also, and sometimes specifically design the case so only company branded products will fit.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: hym

In the event that you switch to a desktop, make sure it is one of your own design and construction. Manufacturers like HP and Dell use non-standard parts in those machines also, and sometimes specifically design the case so only company branded products will fit.quote>

Quite true.  My old beast would normally support more memory, but HP eviscerated the standard mother board they used and actually removed one of the memory slots.  Looks like it was done with a chisel.  If you have the vision and maual dexterity, it is not too hard to build your own machine.  Just be sure that everything you put on the bus is matched to the timing crystal. 

Of course, not having the hand-eye coordination needed for fancy graphics games, I really don't care about graphics performance so I am happy enough with my old NVIDEA gpu.  If you are interested in continuing to run SC4 which is a legacy game, don't overdo it.  SC4 does not understand some of the newer graphics cards, and you can shut yourself out of playing it.

Meanwhile, keep your laptop even if it is just to do e-mail, browse the web, and run SC4.  I recommend you retrofit the O/S to XP while you still can unless everything is OK in Windows 7.  Vista was a travesty.  I don't know about W7 since I don't run any Microsoft O/S's since I tested Vista.  I had a total wipe out and went to Linux.  I don't agree with the proposition that a new O/S needs bigger and better hardware.