Does Dell upgrade GPUs in their laptops?

D

djBon2112

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jul 29, 2006
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Basically, I got a Vostro 1700 about two weeks before the 8800M GT came out, and I've been a little disappointed in the performance of the 8600M GT that's in it (I got the extra high-res, 1920x1200 17" screen in it to game, but the card sucks). Does anyone know if they do upgrades, if so how much, or whether it's possible to do by oneself?
 
They'd pretty much have to replace the laptop for you, so I don't know if it's possible. Give them a call and see what they say though.

Laptop GPU's are integrated, so they're not upgradeable at all.
 
Depending on the laptop, sometimes it is upgradable. I don't think the Vostro lineup is though.
 
Dell dishes out custom main boards even for things you'd consider "accessory." For example, my Dell XPS m1210 had an option for an integrated webcam when I was buying it. I chose to buy it without the integrated webcam, but later, when I was interested in upgrading, I found out it's impossible to do so because the webcam version has a completely different main board (according to the Dell reps I've spoken to). I'd imagine the same would go for integrated Intel graphics vs dedicated Nvidia GPU.
 
Would be easy to figure out. Goto ebay and look around for parts for it. Could also try opening up the laptop around the videocard and seeing if its a socket.

Also check over at http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum

They have a lot of great info about laptop video systems.
 
If the dell sells vostro 1700s with 8800m's in them, then you have a decent chance to upgrade them. However expect to pay a lot of money. Back when the 7950gtx was the fastest card dell was charging $495 for the card, then they later raised it to $1,000 so people would stop upgrading their laptops. Not only would the card have to physically fit in the chassis, it would have be cooled properly, you'd have to upgrade your power adapter, and somehow get bios support. Amazingly with the e1705 model, people were able to upgrade from the 7900gs to the 79_0gtx by changing their bios and power adapter. They were able to do that because the e1705 model was the same as their XPS1710 model which was sold with the 79_0gtx cards.

Edit

just checked out dell's page, they don't offer the 8800m on the vostro 1700, it's near impossible to upgrade to that card.
 
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