Alienware M5550 GPU Upgrade (nVidia 7600 GO)

[sulpherdragon]

Hi, my laptop is wrecked. The graphics card (as far as i can tell) is retarded.
I need to replace it with either a equal or better card, but first i need some info on laptop cards.

What (if any) is the name for the form factor that they come in?
Mine is about the size of a cream cracker (or floppy disk size). Thats just by going from memory.
I know theres integrated ones and mine is not, it goes into what i guess is a mini sized 16x pcie slot.

Is there any other specifics i need to know?

Im one of Alienwares fucked over customers. Dont buy from them.
Thanks in advance.

[dicecca112]

Depending on the maker, sometimes they are proprietary. Some take the MXM style cards

[sulpherdragon]

According to this article its an MXM-II (256mb)

http://www.hothardware.com/articles/NVI ... cs_Module/

It looks very much like the one in the pic, so thats good.
For a minute i was fearing my card had some weird interface.

Ill post pics for confirmation

[sulpherdragon]

Ok, by now im pretty sure its a MXM
I THINK its an MXM-II because its a 256Mb card.

Bottle cap Added as size reference.

When i buy a new card for the laptop, will its just come with the GPU which goes into the MXM, or the entire MXM module thingy?

One more thing, that little blue spongey thingy... I dont think its doing its job. Im getting temps of 80 degrees, its hitting the redline.
Is it ok to remove that and add some thermal paste?

[sulpherdragon]

Ive replaced the blue sponge with some thermal paste.
It seems to be getting hotter now.
Is there anywhere i can buy a new sponge?

[sulpherdragon]

I washed the blue rubbery thermal bridges in warm soapy water, didnt touch the spongey one on the gpu.
Put it back on, laptop works perfectly, no GPU problems.
Was just moisture under the sponge, when i wiped it away it stop malfunctioning.

Still dont know what these things are called, apparently their only in the manufacturers factory, you cant buy them, but i dunno for sure.

[DMB2000uk]

So does that mean that you don't need a new MXM graphics card?

It's a good job if you don't as they are a pain to come buy (unless there are some going second hand on ebay or a large laptop forum).

Dan

[sulpherdragon]

OK, the problems resurfaced so my initial idea was wrong.
I again opened it up and cleared it, the "moisture" i think now might have been "thermal oil" on the sponge.

So, looks like I have to get an MXM card afterall, where do i look?

[DMB2000uk]

Try ebay or some laptop orientated forums, try http://forum.notebookreview.com/ or http://www.notebookforums.com/
ask nicely and look around their for sale/trader threads.

Dan