Upgrading my Acer Aspire 8935G

[XDamage]

I'm planning to upgrade my old laptop during summer, but I need some tips before I order any components.

My current setup is as it was bought new in 2008.
*Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P7450 (2.13 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)
*Acer SM80-MV GM45 Mainboard
*ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670
*4 (2+2) GB DDR3 Memory
*1000GB dual HDD

Right now I'm running Windows 7 32-bit, but before starting to upgrade anything, I will install Windows 7 64-bit and update the BIOS.

I've been reading different posts on this forum, and it seems my options for upgrades are as follows:

New CPU: I'm considering T9800 or T9900 (do I need a new fan, or is it enough to renew the thermal paste?)
Can I run PM45 processors when my mainboard is GM45?

New GPU: I haven't found much info about this. Are there any better GPU's I can install in this particular laptop?

SSD and maybe more RAM if I can afford it after everything else.

How does this look? Is it a good plan, or should I change it somehow?

[squee666]

you can run all the p45 dual-cores i know someone got q9200s to work also

renewing the thermal paste is enough

check for for your gpu

Acer MXM Models and Cards

[niffcreature]

The Acer MXM thread is pretty old and outdated.

Basically to answer your question about the GPU, the sky is the limit. A 7970m will probably work for you as well as pretty much any MXM 3.0 type B card.

The thing is, I wouldn't recommend a q9200 with a beast graphics card like that, because your overall thermal output is going to go well over 100w when its probably designed for like 50w.

a 6970m would really be a bad idea because its 100w alone on top of the CPU.

A 6870m is a great option for only 130$ but its really not ideal.

Basically, as GPUs get newer they perform better with less heat, so what you want is the newest GPU possible. Unfortunately, a lot of the Nvidia cards are overpriced, and there can be issues with clocking them past power saving clocks. Thats why I'd try to stick to AMD/ATI cards, but the thing about that is there really isn't anything out but the 7970m.

All that said, I really think the best fit would be a GTX 660m. What you want to do is wait maybe a month, then start contacting some Clevo, Sager and MSI resellers, such as rjtech, Malibal, XoticPC, there are many more. They can get you the best price on a GTX 660m.

If you're looking to spend a little less than 200$ on the GPU, like I said there is the 6870m, but a better option is the GTX 560m. I can sell you one of these if you're interested.

To reiterate, you're extremely lucky to have this laptop, I bet you didn't know you'd be able to upgrade it to current GPUs for years down the line when you bought it.

[niffcreature]

On second thought, it looks like the 6870m is only 50w... which means its a better option than I originally thought.

[XDamage]

Thanks for the great replies! I'm excited to start working on upgrading. Right now my laptop is over-heating and turning itself off after about 15 minutes of playing Diablo III...

I guess I should open it up, clean the inside and renew the thermal paste a.s.a.p.

Regarding the 6870m though, where can I buy it (or any of the newer cards for that matter)? I can't find it anywhere.

Also, can I be sure that it will fit inside my laptop, or does it have to be modded in some way?

[TechMD]

Did you get any further with this? I have the same laptop.. same spec with the exception of CPU (running a Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2.20).

I was thinking about putting a Q9000 quad core in there? Didnt know if the Acer SM80-MV motherboard supported it or not?

Didn't consider the GPU (seeing as laptop GPU's can rarely be upgraded) but have to admit i'm pretty excited to find out it can be!!

Any links / pointers to compatible hardware would be very much appreciated!

[niffcreature]

All mxm 3.0 cards are somewhat supported, though better to stick with ATI cards. A 5870 or 5850 MXM 3.0 will work but will be difficult to keep cool.

Also I think the q9000 will work but your t6600 will perform better at some tasks.
I would recommend a high end P series dual core like maybe a p8700 or p9600.

The only thing limiting the upgrades is the cooling however, if you can find a way to keep the parts cool enough then you can go for a q9200 + 5870m. Make sure you have a 120 watt adapter.

[GSanderson88]

What's the best card I can put in my acer 8935g ?

[TechMD]

I'm curious why you think a my 2ghz dual core would out perform a 2ghz quad core? Is that because of software not being optimised for quad?

[Tomaszz1975]

The Acer MXM thread is pretty old and outdated.

Basically to answer your question about the GPU, the sky is the limit. A 7970m will probably work for you as well as pretty much any MXM 3.0 type B card.

The thing is, I wouldn't recommend a q9200 with a beast graphics card like that, because your overall thermal output is going to go well over 100w when its probably designed for like 50w.

a 6970m would really be a bad idea because its 100w alone on top of the CPU.

A 6870m is a great option for only 130$ but its really not ideal.

Basically, as GPUs get newer they perform better with less heat, so what you want is the newest GPU possible. Unfortunately, a lot of the Nvidia cards are overpriced, and there can be issues with clocking them past power saving clocks. Thats why I'd try to stick to AMD/ATI cards, but the thing about that is there really isn't anything out but the 7970m.

All that said, I really think the best fit would be a GTX 660m. What you want to do is wait maybe a month, then start contacting some Clevo, Sager and MSI resellers, such as rjtech, Malibal, XoticPC, there are many more. They can get you the best price on a GTX 660m.

If you're looking to spend a little less than 200$ on the GPU, like I said there is the 6870m, but a better option is the GTX 560m. I can sell you one of these if you're interested.

To reiterate, you're extremely lucky to have this laptop, I bet you didn't know you'd be able to upgrade it to current GPUs for years down the line when you bought it.

Hi all after while
I read this tread and decide to be upgraded my 8935G...

I bought 560m GTX for my 8935G and it is not easy at all to get that card working on 8935g. First I purchace 560M GTX , heatsink - all from M17X R3 + new power supply 180W. OS was oryginal Win7 64. After I asebled everyting, card was not detected. No any oryginal Nvidia driver will let me to install. Aida 64 recogised card so I know that the software problem. I used moded drivers from here: LaptopVideo2Go: Drivers and finaly my card start working. Now the problem is to nvidia will work only on external screen and I dont know how to fix that. If I decide to play games or watch HD movie I need to connect 2 display other wise games will crash. Another thing is that rating scores on Win 7 showing me:
GPU in Aero only 4.8
GPU in games only 6.2

Some info from GPUZ:
GPU core clock is 202.5Mhz
GPU memory clock is 162.0 Mhz
GPU Shader Clock is 405 Mhz
VDDC is 0.8200V
This results are much lower then oryginal Ati card HD4650 6.6 and 6.7 .

Can you give me any idea please how to fix that?
Kind Regards
Tomasz