Upgrading The Dell e1705 Notebook Graphics Card

Post by **Apoptosis** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:52 am

Upgrading The Dell e1705 Notebook Graphics Card

Just a couple of months ago I decided I was going to move all of my writing/editing/photoshopping to a laptop for portability, convenience, and space. I really wanted to continue working on a decent size screen, so i started looking at 17" laptops, which are not known to be great for portability, but are great for a desktop replacement. A friend of mine ran across a good deal on a couple of Dell e1705 laptops, so I bought one from him, and was very pleased with it. It will be upgradeable to Merom, can use 2GB of ram, and the version I bought had an ATI x1400 in it, which was also replaceable. Once I got the laptop, my conclusion was that it was perfect for what I needed it for in every area but one... gaming! I ended up with a NV 7800Go for a decent price, and set out to do the upgrade.

Read The Full Article Linked Below to Watch Jason Petermann upgrade his Dell e1705 notebook from an ATI x1400 graphics solution to the might NVIDIA 7800Go graphics card.

Article Title: Upgrading The Dell e1705 Notebook Graphics Card

pastorjay · Post by **pastorjay** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 10:21 am

This was a fun little upgrade, and not to bad of a price either. A mere $200 for the 7800Go from a friend. It certainly made gaming possible on a notebook that really was not much better than having integrated graphics...

jfinchatl · Post by **jfinchatl** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:36 am

This was a great review - And it raised a question I've had for a while regarding Video Card upgrades for laptops.

Does anyone know if the XPS Gen2 is also able to be upgraded? I bought one last June and it looks very similar to the e1705 - It has a 6800Ultra-Go card in there, but I'm wondering if there's an easy upgrade path should I decide that I need more power on my travelling/gaming laptop.

Thanks in advance for any assistance/feedback.

Cheers!

pastorjay · Post by **pastorjay** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 12:42 pm

From what I understand, the XPS Gen2 can also be upgraded.

armandoban · Post by **armandoban** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 4:48 pm

I have been wondering about this for a long time now. I really want some features from an XPS but I want the battery life of an Inspiron with an X1400 card in it.. There's no happy medium from DELL right now. I posted a thread in another forum about a week ago, (http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=59613) this is excerpted from it:

...anybody know if you can put an X1400 into the XPS?

Supposedly the ATI card allows "up to 88%" more battery time than the Nvidia series. (according to this: http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc ... =2766&p=16)
(LINK REPAIRED)

My only reason for considering a card exchange is the battery life versus the options available for the XPS. Gigabit internal and that D-Series docking port are advantages I really can make use of which the Inspiron lacks, but I know battery life matters. I want a Truelife screen so Latitude/Precision are out. This is why I considered making a card switch. I have a company discount if I purchase a DELL, so I'm trying to stay with a DELL system. The XPS would be great if it lasted more than two hours on a 90WHr battery, and since the two systems are nearly identical I thought possibly I could put in an X1400 card and get that "88% increase". I'm just stuck by a few frills they've cut from the Inspiron line.

I'd be willing to change cards once and for all and leave it be if I knew it was possible, and understood how difficult the procedure was going to be..

If the X1400 is single pipe, and the XPS uses dual pipe cards, anybody know of any upcoming dual pipe cards with low power consumption?..

Another thought.. what would happen if the card was just plain removed? Is the Intel Graphics chip still on board? I know that would SUCK for an XPS system to be humiliated thusly.. but it'd run for like 6 hours..

AB

pastorjay · Post by **pastorjay** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:02 pm

Welcome to the forums! I understand your situation. I just recently putmy ATI x1400 back in because teh ATI Vista drivers are MUCH better than Nvidia rigtht now. There is a single pipe 7900GS that is available that goes rigth into the 1705. I will probablyget one myself, when I can find it. It does consume less, but it is expensive too.

armandoban · Post by **armandoban** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:06 pm

pastorjay wrote:Welcome to the forums! I understand your situation. I just recently putmy ATI x1400 back in because teh ATI Vista drivers are MUCH better than Nvidia rigtht now. There is a single pipe 7900GS that is available that goes rigth into the 1705. I will probablyget one myself, when I can find it. It does consume less, but it is expensive too.

Thanks for the welcome and glad to be here! This article came like a dream after literally weeks of trying to find exactly this information.. I must've been using the wrong keywords..

I've been debating whether to get that 7900 in an Inspiron or get an XPS and hope the superior guts of the M1710 are just a lead-in to the next Inspiron line. That would mean more parts to pilfer in the future..

Pengwin · Post by **Pengwin** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:18 pm

off topic just a little

http://www.colorwarepc.com/

check that out, ill actually post it in another section i think thats sweet, i want a yellow and black ipod

chrisbjr · Post by **chrisbjr** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:37 am

wow! that was a great step by step guide to change the video card. thanks for the great post.

I am also planning to change my x1400 to nvidia as well and this will help a lot. i have a couple of questions tho:

where can i buy the nvidia 7900gs go? and
how much does it cost??

thanks a lot!

cerastes · Post by **cerastes** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 3:10 pm

I have an Inspiron 600m...Can I upgrade the video card? I believe I have an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 currently. Thanks for your help!

Pengwin · Post by **Pengwin** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 3:24 pm

chrisbjr wrote:wow! that was a great step by step guide to change the video card. thanks for the great post.

I am also planning to change my x1400 to nvidia as well and this will help a lot. i have a couple of questions tho:

where can i buy the nvidia 7900gs go? and
how much does it cost??

thanks a lot!

i emailed Dell, no help, i dont think u will find one besides on ebay

chrisbjr · Post by **chrisbjr** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 9:12 pm

Pengwin wrote:
chrisbjr wrote:wow! that was a great step by step guide to change the video card. thanks for the great post.

I am also planning to change my x1400 to nvidia as well and this will help a lot. i have a couple of questions tho:

where can i buy the nvidia 7900gs go? and
how much does it cost??

thanks a lot!
i emailed Dell, no help, i dont think u will find one besides on ebay

i looked at ebay. costs $300. worth it? i'll try emailing dell too. read in this other forum that call support offered to sell this guy the 7900 go. maybe you should try calling dell.

Pengwin · Post by **Pengwin** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:40 am

nah i dont think it is. save the 300 bucks.

Jarnoldy · Post by **Jarnoldy** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 2:58 am

A few questions from a newbie for this topic:
Would the process you took to upgrade your e1705's graphics gard be the same as a Dell Inspiron 9300? I think I read you used a 9300 manual to do it? Another thing, What would be the best graphics card I could fit into my 9300? I am currently using a 6800Go and I'm looking to go with either a 7800Go, 7900Go or whatever is the most up to date card. When I actually do decide to upgrade where can I purchase me card, off Dell or somewhere else for cheaper?
A reply would be greatly appreciated, I've looked high and low for some help to uprade my graphics card, thanks!!!

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:07 am

Hello and welcome!

The best that you can put into a 9300 is a go 7800 GTX, this requires some additional components to get it working though, such as the right northbridge cooler, bigger battery and bigger PSU brick. It also requires flashing your bios to a XPS bios.

If you are willing to do all that then instructions can be found here.
the 7800 GTX's can be found on ebay for <$300

Im having trouble locating vanilla go 7800's, because everyone seems to want the faster GTX's. Im not sure if this card uses the existing 1 heatpipe 9300 design you'll already have, i.e. no 'modding' needed.
Ok ive found out that the 7800 go is plauged with overheating problems, so you dont want one of those!

And the 7900 go requires you to take stuff out of your laptop to get it to work, and as of yet no-one has a BIOS that will make it run.

So looks like your stuck with getting, a 7800 GTX

THere may be other options ive overlooked, hopefully someone else can help you out on those.

For a forum full of like minded inspiron/XPS owners try here

Just promise me you'll stick around here for a bit

Dan

Jarnoldy · Post by **Jarnoldy** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:55 pm

Hey thanks alot!!! Thats just the kind of response I was looking for! Now I can finally start working on this project!

tazeat · Post by **tazeat** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:13 am

Hey just wondering, I have the E1705 with integrated graphics, and I was wondering if it still supports all of the x1400 and 7800's? or do you need one that came with a dedicated card from the factory?

pastorjay · Post by **pastorjay** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:29 am

Sorry to say, but you cannot upgrade the integrated graphics.

tazeat · Post by **tazeat** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:18 pm

k thanks

jamesvgh06 · Post by **jamesvgh06** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:04 am

Hi there you can buy the 256MB nvidia geforce go 7900 GS at dell you have to call them it cost $362.95 the number is

1-800-449-3355 Ext 7269937

i have all ready ordered it from dell and its working good in my laptop

Legit Reviews

Upgrading The Dell e1705 Notebook Graphics Card

Upgrading The Dell e1705 Notebook Graphics Card

XPS Gen2?

ATI X1400 in an XPS?

thanks

Re: thanks

Re: thanks

Is Upgrading An Inspiron 9300 The Same As The Dell e1705?

wow!