Upgrading, a laptop's graphics card, is it possible here?

[Rachel]

I was thinking of removing the 8400GS in my SZ. It has switchable graphics and a GM965 chipset (i think). I know someone that can remove the gpu and fit another graphics card as long as it is compatible for £95- so the fact that the gpu is soldered doesn't matter as it can be removed.
May be the BIOS won't recognise another card but that would be a gamble that i would be taking. I’m intrigued by this and right now this just at the thinking/exploration stage.

My processor is a T9300 and i have never used the 8400GS because of the potential problems with the 8XXX Nvidia gpu's.

What graphics card might be compatible? It's very hard to find detailed information about pins etc. What is the best graphics card that can be used? If this can be done then that is pretty amazing. This begs the question how come more people haven't done this?
I would be removing a new 8400 really and tampering with it and this might not work.

The 8400GS is 80nm and 11w.
NVidia GeForce 8400M GS -
NVidia GeForce 8400M GS - Notebookcheck.net Tech

I was looking at the 9300GS which is 65nm and 13w.
NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS - Notebookcheck.net Tech

The VGN-Z uses the 9300M so may be i could use those drivers.

This is the SZ motherboard
SONY A1508528A SZ750 SZ691 SZ71E MOTHERBOARD , PARTS - eBay (item 300525660816 end time Mar-14-11 13:38:13 PDT)
Any thoughts?

Obviously I'll only try it if my chances are pretty good.
I've seen some gpu's on ebay
nVidia 9300M GS G98 730 U2 GPU BGA chip video IC on eBay (end time 17-Feb-11 08:52:35 GMT)

I like pcworld's spin on this lol.
Upgrading Your Laptop's Graphics Card - PCWorld


Thanks

[Tsunade_Hime]

Hrm well for starters none of the links work..

And I never really known Sony to have removable MXM modules or a proprietary form, they have always soldered on the GPU to the motherboard, if you list the entire Sony model I could look it up?

[reedrichards]

I wouldn't attempt such a thing. It usually takes careful work with a wave soldering station to put a GPU onto the motherboard in the first place, and it's not something I think I could pull off without one.

[Rachel]

I fixed the links.
The graphics card is soldered but it can be removed and well i know an expert who can do this and they have the proper equipment. They have done other jobs for me before like removing a soldered ulv processor and upgrading it.
Thanks for your help.

[Tsunade_Hime]

Okay for the slideshow, it is showing a Dell proprietary form of MXM, and they can only be upgraded to another Dell GPU module. My Vostro 1500 also follows this proprietary MXM module, I currently have the 8400M GS 128 MB and I plan on going to the 256 MB 8600M GT soon.

Well if you have a shop you are in good standing, go right ahead. BGA work is something only few specialized shops do these days, and can only be done correctly with an infared solder station.

A 17 year old with a heatgun doesn't count btw.

[Rachel]

Thanks, so what about the 9300GS i linked to or am i limited to only use the 8XXX series of gpu's which is i am trying to actually move away from?

Yes, this would be taking that article one step further.

[Tsunade_Hime]

Theoretically you should be able to use the 9300M GS, but I don't know much about Sony BIOS, they may whitelist GPU, or you may need Sony VBIOS for the chip.

I thought Sony were covering certain models due to the faulty Nvidia chips?

[Rachel]

The SZ isn't covered under Sony's Nvidia repair program.

If you think that i should be able to use the 9300GS may be i should stick with that as the VGN-Z uses it. I'm not a gamer but still might like to use the dedicated card from time to time.

I will wait until tomorrow until purchasing the 9300GS to see what others may add also.

Thank you for your help

[TwiztidKidd]

I looked at both motherboards the MBX-147 (yours) and the MBX-183 (mine, the one with the 9300M GS) . The Intel Graphics chipset may be a problem here and I don't see a way to work around it. The Z uses the Intel GMA4500/9300M GS graphics drivers from nvidia. But if you're running your laptop on Speed only this should take care of that, just don't switch to Stamina. Also I think there might be a problem with VRAM, hopefully the timing will be right on. It's a small jump from 8400 to 9300, is it worth the swap? Let me know if you need any info, run tests on the 9300M GS, anything to help you with your project you name it.

[Rachel]

Thank you Twiz57, the SZ6-7 use the MBX-170. It is though pretty much identical to the early SZ1-5 MBX-147 motherboard.
SONY VAIO VGN-SZ SERIES SZ750N MBX-170 MOTHERBOARD USA - eBay (item 390287994363 end time Mar-11-11 22:00:43 PST)

I don't plan to use the dedicated card all the time. I hope that the integrated card wouldn't give me any trouble. I will use the VGN Z nvidia drivers.