Defective Nvidia chipsets in your current Vaio?

[DetlevCM]

For the ones that had their FZ fail, anyone try to replace the MB? Is it worth it to get a used one from eBay and replace it?

A used motherboard will have some wear to it already - it'll fail too - unless you get a very good price - no, not worth it I fear

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

A used motherboard will have some wear to it already - it'll fail too - unless you get a very good price - no, not worth it I fear

Or unless you can find one with the Intel chip instead of the Nvidia one. Those appear to be rock solid.

Gary

[DetlevCM]

Or unless you can find one with the Intel chip instead of the Nvidia one. Those appear to be rock solid.

Gary

True - but isn't the heatsink different? Or ist that integrated into the moherboard? I don't think so...

[SpyderMR]

Or unless you can find one with the Intel chip instead of the Nvidia one. Those appear to be rock solid.

Gary

That would be even better. Any ideas if they are the same and if it would fit?

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

I don't know. It would fit the case, I am pretty sure. But, the issue DetlevCM brought up is in play, would it fit the heat sink? Without seeing two of them opened up side by side, who knows.

Gary

[SpyderMR]

Or unless you can find one with the Intel chip instead of the Nvidia one. Those appear to be rock solid.

Gary

I don't know. It would fit the case, I am pretty sure. But, the issure DetlevCM brought up is in play, would it fit the hear sink? Without seeing two of them opened up side by side, who knows.

Gary

You're too fast Gary, I was just editing my reply to add a link from eBay. This is what I found:

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-VAIO-Laptop...3A1%7C294%3A50

How do tell if it's Nvidia or not? Maybe I'll take mine apart tonight to see if it looks the same.

[coolguy]

You're too fast Gary, I was just editing my reply to add a link from eBay. This is what I found:

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-VAIO-Laptop...3A1%7C294%3A50

How do tell if it's Nvidia or not? Maybe I'll take mine apart tonight to see if it looks the same.

This is an integrated intel X3100 motherboard.
Source: http://www.docs.sony.com/release/spe...240EB_mksp.pdf

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

And this one is an Nvidia chipped version:

FZ motherboard with Nvidia chip

Look at the image of the two side by side (scroll down on both pages for large views) and you can see that the first one has some chips missing (the Nvidia stuff). But then WHERE is the Intel video? Must be part of the chipset, which I beleive is just to the right of the memory slots. So that does beg the question. Would the heatsink/heat pipe assembly from the Nvidia version actually work on the Intel version? Hmmmmmm.

Gary

[SpyderMR]

And this one is an Nvidia chipped version:

FZ motherboard with Nvidia chip

Look at the image of the two side by side (scroll down on both pages for large views) and you can see that the first one has some chips missing (the Nvidia stuff). But then WHERE is the Intel video? Must be part of the chipset, which I beleive is just to the right of the memory slots. So that does beg the question. Would the heatsink/heat pipe assembly from the Nvidia version actually work on the Intel version? Hmmmmmm.

Gary

I took it apart and here are some pics. Like you said, missing some chips but aside from that looks the same. It looks like the heatsink/pipe assembly should fit and work as the connector for the fan is there. Is that correct to assume or is that too easy.

[ScuderiaConchiglia]

Again, without seeing an Intel version opened up with the heatsink/heatpipe in place. It's hard to say for sure. If we could convince someone with such a model to provide similar photos we'd be able to make a better judgment.

Gary