MXM III upgrade

iviv · 5 Dec 2010 at 19:44

A friend is looking at upgrading his alienware M9750 laptop, specifically the graphics cards, as they are causing no end of problems (2x GO7950s in SLI). He was hoping to move up to an ATI HD3850 mobility, as this would outperform what he currently has. But obviously, nowhere really seems to sell these cards.

Know where he could pick something up? All he knows is that its a PCIe x16 Gen 2.0, MXM III. I'm not sure what the latest card that could fit in there is, or how good it would be. Obviously, OcUK don't sell them, so surely talking about specialist laptop part sellers won't be against the rules? Alternatively, email in trust :3

Also, I'm not too clued up on laptop tech. I guess the card would draw all its power though the PCI/MXM slot? So as long as it fits the slot, there shouldn't be a problem? Or is there more to it than that?
Also, affordable would be nice, there's some rather shocking prices for the parts on the bay

sja360 · 5 Dec 2010 at 20:02

another part to look at is the thermal output of the current graphics card, as essentially you want it to be similar so you dont end up with a new MXM III that just constantly overheats.

sja360 · 5 Dec 2010 at 20:15

there is one on the bay for £180 ish.
how come your mate doesnt just get a newer laptop?

Bubba · 5 Dec 2010 at 20:20

There is the possibility that the laptop bios might not support the ati card, it probably will but check out http://forum.notebookreview.com/ as there might be some information there.

You will most likely have to go second hand or if you can find an acer laptop with the card you need then buy it from them as they are usually easy to buy parts from.