Legit Reviews

ok I bought my dell with the ati X300 128 meg graphics but was curious if anyone knew where I could purchase the 6800 256?

I am sure dell has to be buying standardized parts for it. its just more cost effective to do it that way.

yeah they are standardized for each size . I dont think you can fit in there anything much bigger then x300...

the bad news is while you have an upgradeable laptop i cannot find an upgrade any where. It looks like the graphics card is just not avalible to the public, i cant even find one on ebay.

K after some hard looking i found that the only way you can get one is to call Dell directly and ask for a replacement part, the part number is W5373, this is for the Go 6800 as the Ultra will not run on the i9300 unless you get a hacked bios and the XPS gen2 power brick. When/If you call DO NOT give them any information tell them its for a client, dont give them a service tag or anything because if they find out your trying to upgrade not replace then they will not sell it to you. As for price, no idea the part is not listed any where, i have seen numbers ranging from $300-400.

thanks for the heads up I figured it was somthing like that. Looks like the upside for me is going to be that I will be waiting until 9300's hit Ebay or do what I normally do. Sell the Laptop in about a year take a 2 to 3 hundred dollar hit and get a new one <shrug> its kinda comical but I really don't require the upgrade it just would have been nice.

ok seeing as how some things have changed since last posting let me update my dell thread.

I purchased a 6800 Ultra offa Ebay (it was a XPS pull) for $150
I got a Dothan 735 today I will be installing into this machine for $120 (Pin Modding it to run at 2.26 ghz)
Picked up a Hitachi 7k60 60 gig 7200rpm HD ($70)
XPS Gen2 Power brick $30

and currently doing my best to get a deal on ram for this.

basically I took an 1100 9300 ( only upgrades were the WUXGA and the 128 meg X800) and am turning it into an XPS Gen2 for close to $400

Frankly the 9300 is turning out to be one schweet upgradable lappy the only thing I do regret about this 9300 I bought is that I got the vid card upgrade for $99 I shoulda saved the cash.

If anyone is thinking about getting a gaming Laptop I gotta say that the 9300 is prolly the best bang for your buck.

Last thing is that you can upgrade the Vid to the 7800GTX if you want. The 9300 and the XPSGen2 use the same exact motherboard.

Nice work, i have seen quite a few people doing the same thing.

looks like I got a solid deal on 1 gig (2x512) of ram so I think the only that is going to be stock in the lappy is CDRW.

Getting ready to look into a wireless A network card too (maybe )

other than getting a DVD burner I really can't think of a single thing I want to do to this machine.

guess its time to rebuild my socket 939 desktop (sigh when bored I spend money)

Latest update

I got the DVD burner for my Lappy for Free (Client didn't want a burner so I swapped it with my CDR as it was a free dell upgrade).

I have successfully Pin Modded the 1.7 into a 2.26 running Prime95 stable as all out doors.

Couple of funny things that have happened with this Lappy

1. I bought a 7800GTX offa Dell spare parts for $280 shipped and got 2 for the price of one. I was picking this up for resale on Ebay and now I have one to pop into my laptop though I may resell this one too and get another one from dell

2. The company that I got the Powerbrick from refunded me the shipping cause UPS sent it all the way to salt lake city and took 2 weeks to get to me and then it was used instead of new so they were going to replace it for me. They sent me 2 additional replacements so now I have 3 bricks for it.


I got the 1 gig of ram into this thing and frankly this lappy screams.

I was getting 5385 in 3dmarks05 stock with the 6800U.

All and all I would say I would be willing to put this bad boy up against any lappy in the $2500 or less category and think I would come out ahead. I can't wait to try the 7800 GTX in this puppy. then I will get a benchy for it for everyone.

In a nutshell if you are looking for a solid laptop chasis that is upgradable get the 9300 you can beat it for the cash. I just got one for a friend with coupons and a free bag it came to $968 SHIPPED.

The new 9300's are comming with serial ATA HD's now too.

anyway I think I will put up an official review of this chasis simply because it is so damn flexable and cost effective.

Bal`thzar wrote: anyway I think I will put up an official review of this chasis simply because it is so damn flexable and cost effective.

Pls do....

I just bought a Dell 9300 Inspirion

Inspiron 9300,Pentium M 760 2GHz/533MHz FSB
17 inch True Life Wide Screen UXGA
1GB, DDR2, 533MHz 2 Dimm
128MB ATI and Mobility Radeon X300
80GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
8X DVD+/-RW double-layer write Drive
Intel PRO/Wireless 2915 Internal Wireless (802.11a/b/g54Mbps
Internal Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth

2 year warranty

for $1,385.00

It's still in the building stages the only thing I'm starting to have regret over is the graphics video card. Due to be shipped any day.

Will I have major problems upgrading my graphics card?

I bought a dell 9300 for college. I thought i upgraded to the radeon 128 mb instead of the lame 64. I was wondering if i could somehow upgrade to it. Does anyone here have one that they want to sell by chance? i cant find one anywhere. Im VERY illiterate when it comes to this stuff so forgive me for my ignorance. Also, can i install bluetooth because i thought i had the upgrade for bluetooth, but i hit the back button i think while ordering it and it reset everything that i wanted. I dont want to send it back because it would just take time and endless effort. Can anyone give me advice on to what to do with my problem of wanting a better video card and having bluetooth in my laptop? thank you very much

you can both upgrade to either the 6800 Ultra or the 7800 GTX

I may have a 6800U comming up forsale in the $175 range (might be cheaper)

and I can get the 7800GTX's all day. Fact is I hvae resold about 10 of them so far and currently hvae one listed on Ebay, and a total of 4 sitting in boxes in my living room.

had to order 2 more from dell

and I just upgraded and got the bluetooth module for my I9300 too you can buy them offa Ebay if you are in the US.

Bal`thzar wrote:you can both upgrade to either the 6800 Ultra or the 7800 GTX

I may have a 6800U comming up forsale in the $175 range (might be cheaper)

and I can get the 7800GTX's all day. Fact is I hvae resold about 10 of them so far and currently hvae one listed on Ebay, and a total of 4 sitting in boxes in my living room.

had to order 2 more from dell

and I just upgraded and got the bluetooth module for my I9300 too you can buy them offa Ebay if you are in the US.

Is the GeForce Go 6800 the only card that an Inspiron 9300 with an x300 be upgraded to without any modifcations?

blue wrote:

Bal`thzar wrote:you can both upgrade to either the 6800 Ultra or the 7800 GTX

I may have a 6800U comming up forsale in the $175 range (might be cheaper)

and I can get the 7800GTX's all day. Fact is I hvae resold about 10 of them so far and currently hvae one listed on Ebay, and a total of 4 sitting in boxes in my living room.

had to order 2 more from dell

and I just upgraded and got the bluetooth module for my I9300 too you can buy them offa Ebay if you are in the US.

Is the GeForce Go 6800 the only card that an Inspiron 9300 with an x300 be upgraded to without any modifcations?

yes and no.

every 9300 made within the last year uses the same Northbridge heatsink ad the XPS gen2/M170 so physically you don't need to change anything unless you have the original revision and then its a $11 part from dell.

but for the ultra 6800 and the 7800 GTX you have to flash a modded Bios that just makes it think its an XPS Gen2 which is fine because with the exception of the LED's that is exactly what it is.

I have sold over a dozen of the 7800's and helped people with the installs and I can tell you that people that have never even opened a computer before had 0 issues

Bal`thzar wrote:

blue wrote:

Bal`thzar wrote:you can both upgrade to either the 6800 Ultra or the 7800 GTX

I may have a 6800U comming up forsale in the $175 range (might be cheaper)

and I can get the 7800GTX's all day. Fact is I hvae resold about 10 of them so far and currently hvae one listed on Ebay, and a total of 4 sitting in boxes in my living room.

had to order 2 more from dell

and I just upgraded and got the bluetooth module for my I9300 too you can buy them offa Ebay if you are in the US.

Is the GeForce Go 6800 the only card that an Inspiron 9300 with an x300 be upgraded to without any modifcations?

yes and no.

every 9300 made within the last year uses the same Northbridge heatsink ad the XPS gen2/M170 so physically you don't need to change anything unless you have the original revision and then its a $11 part from dell.

but for the ultra 6800 and the 7800 GTX you have to flash a modded Bios that just makes it think its an XPS Gen2 which is fine because with the exception of the LED's that is exactly what it is.

I have sold over a dozen of the 7800's and helped people with the installs and I can tell you that people that have never even opened a computer before had 0 issues

Thanks for the great info. I'll definitely keep you in mind when I get around to upgrading my video card.

I got mine with the WSXGA+ unfortunately, and I'm not happy with the quality of the screen. There are grey splotches in the bottom corners as well as a TINY viewing angle. Just moving my head slightly shows uneven grey shadows.

I am asking Dell to send me the WUXGA version so I can swap them out and send the WSXGA+ back to them. I know it will be more expensive, but I don't like this screen at all. I have read various reports of Dell sending replacements screens to customers with the defective screen being sent back within 7 days in a box they provide, but I don't know if they will do it for a completely different screen.

My second option is to purchase the LCD panel itself (minus the case housing) from eBay for a couple hundred bucks. I just don't know if that is something that is terribly difficult, if it will be a simple swap, or what. I would much rather get it straight from Dell, but if they won't send me the better screen, then I might decide to take my chances on eBay. Either that or I can send it back to Dell for a refund and get another one. I don't know...

the notebook forums are a great place for parts if you need an LCD let me know I can always get you a price offa dell. as a reseller I get some hot prices.

Ok that sounds great. Right now I am waiting on Dell Customer Support to get back to me, but if they won't replace the bad screen with the wuxga (even at my expense) then I'd be interested in getting one from you, if the price is right. Also, later on I will be upgrading my video card to the 6800 Go, so I'll check with you about that too. Thanks again for the info.

I only handle the 7800gtx I can get them for the same price as the 6800 so there is no real reason for me to get the 6800's

I would suggest the following upgrades in the following order

1. Processor ( Pin Mod a 1.6 to a 2.26 and sell yours to break even)
2. Ram to minimum 1 gig
3. 7800 GTX
4. 7200RPM HD

if you do it in that order you really avoid a bottle neck

blue wrote:Ok that sounds great. Right now I am waiting on Dell Customer Support to get back to me, but if they won't replace the bad screen with the wuxga (even at my expense) then I'd be interested in getting one from you, if the price is right. Also, later on I will be upgrading my video card to the 6800 Go, so I'll check with you about that too. Thanks again for the info.

Good luck getting a screen replaced on a laptop. They rip you a new one on purpose so you go and buy a new system. My friend who works at Dell quoted me a $400+ for a Inspiron 8000... which is an extremely old system. If I wanted to replace the 15.4 on my 9100, it would cost me somewhere around $600.