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General discussion

Graphics card upgrade,mission impossible?

Feb 3, 2005 6:10AM PST

I have a "built-to-order" laptop for about a year now and i want to upgrade the graphics card.The manufacturer is CLEVO and the old graphics card is Ati Mobility Radeon 9000.Im not a computer expert but as far as i know the graphics card is intergraded to the motherboard and the motherboard is the only part in a laptop that cannot be changed by any means.With these facts(please correct me if im wrong)the upgrade of the graphics card is a lost cause?

Discussion is locked

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Pretty Much
Feb 4, 2005 12:40AM PST

There's not much hope of you finding a video card that fits. Actually it's about even money of it being integrated into the motherboard. If it has dedicated video ram it's likely to be separate, but I don't think you'll be able to upgrade by much. The max you'll probably be able to find that fits is the ATI 9200 64 MB card. Not much of an upgrade.

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New question->need info!!!
Feb 5, 2005 3:17AM PST

Thanks for your reply to my question.I've just learned something interesting from the manufacturer's web page(CLEVO).They launched a new version of my laptop(same in all aspects with the one i have) but with one difference:the video card is Ati Mobility Radeon 9700(128Mb).I know my way around desktop computers but laptops is a whole new chapter to me so here's my new question:both of these video cards(the 9000 & 9700) can fit into the same laptop casing with no other hardware alteration(except for the motherboard for which i have no info).does this mean that either of them can fit into the same motherboard or each one requires its unique montherboard?as i said im a laptop newbie and i dont even know if a laptop motherboard can be changed so some info would be appreciated!!!

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It all depends
Feb 7, 2005 12:02AM PST

If the new version features a new chipset (i.e. different processors, faster front side bus, different sound features, etc), then yes, each card is probably designed to fit on it's unique motherboard.

UNLESS!

The new laptop offers both the 9000 and the 9700. If the new version offers both, I'd say your odds are 3 out of 4 that the new 9700 would fit.

BUT!

Can you get it? The parts for small companies (like Clevo, Alienware, Sager, etc) are exceedingly hard to get. And probably very expensive. So I would inquire of their tech support.