Any laptops support PCI Express?

[pcmodem]

Howdy,
For quite a while now, there have been articles about future laptops that would support video card upgrades.

Well, are there any such laptops on the market now or in the foreseeable future?

I know that Dell XPS2 laptop smokes, but don't know if it's a PCI Express based.



Thanks,
PCM

 

[roguerower]

Yes it is. All Intel processors using the 915 chipset use PCI express. The newer P4's also use it. The old P4's and the old 855 chipset however, do not.

 

[Soccerman06]

Pritty much every laptop made now is PCI-E. Some of the cheaper laptops and the ones with the AMD mobile 64 (sempron?) are AGP.

 

[fbrdphreak]

"Hence, would support video upgrades"

Um, no. Unless it supports an upgradeable format like MXM, video cards are soldered onto the mainboard; PCI-E or not.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: roguerower
Yes it is. All Intel processors using the 915 chipset use PCI express. The newer P4's also use it. The old P4's and the old 855 chipset however, do not.

The 855 chipset is for Pentium Ms and Celeron Ms. The 865/875 is for Pentium 4's.

"Hence, would support video upgrades"

Um, no. Unless it supports an upgradeable format like MXM, video cards are soldered onto the mainboard; PCI-E or not.

Not entirely. Some laptops have video cards which are manufacturer specific. They can be replaced/upgraded but only by a part certified and probably manufacturered by/for a manufacturer.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Kensai

"Hence, would support video upgrades"

Um, no. Unless it supports an upgradeable format like MXM, video cards are soldered onto the mainboard; PCI-E or not.

Not entirely. Some laptops have video cards which are manufacturer specific. They can be replaced/upgraded but only by a part certified and probably manufacturered by/for a manufacturer.

Hence MXM. MXM is a format that is only used by certain companies (or certain GPU manufacturers, I'm not sure which). But those who don't use a standard (altho maybe not industry wide standard) simply solder the GPU onto the mainboard

 

[bearxor]

Running that website and all, I would imagine you have opened a ton more laptops than I have. Don't all laptops use a standardized connector now for PCI Express. I know the 6000D/9300/XPS 2 all use the same connector, and I would asume that all the PCI Express laptops Dell sells probably uses the same connector to save on costs. Do you have pics of laptop video cards you can share by chance, I have been looking for some info here recently, and actual pics are few and far between.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Yes the same connector bearxor, but that doesn't mean it will work. You CANNOT simply open up a 9300 and take out the vid card and put in a 6800 Ultra from an XPS2. Beside the fact that it requires more power than the 9300 can support, the system won't recognize it without a ton of work. And the card is $400-$500 itself, making such an upgrade cost inefficient.

 

[bearxor]

Just out of curiosity, why would the system not recognize it?

And do you have links where someone has actually tried?

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: bearxor
Running that website and all, I would imagine you have opened a ton more laptops than I have. Don't all laptops use a standardized connector now for PCI Express. I know the 6000D/9300/XPS 2 all use the same connector, and I would asume that all the PCI Express laptops Dell sells probably uses the same connector to save on costs. Do you have pics of laptop video cards you can share by chance, I have been looking for some info here recently, and actual pics are few and far between.

I haven't seen the inside of a Dell. I have seen the insides of numerous AGP-based laptops and all the ones I saw were soldered on. Why not share a pic of the insides of your 6000

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: bearxor
Running that website and all, I would imagine you have opened a ton more laptops than I have. Don't all laptops use a standardized connector now for PCI Express. I know the 6000D/9300/XPS 2 all use the same connector, and I would asume that all the PCI Express laptops Dell sells probably uses the same connector to save on costs. Do you have pics of laptop video cards you can share by chance, I have been looking for some info here recently, and actual pics are few and far between.

I haven't seen the inside of a Dell. I have seen the insides of numerous AGP-based laptops and all the ones I saw were soldered on. Why not share a pic of the insides of your 6000

I've opened a 6000 and 9300 and can confirm they are just cards that attach to a slot in the motherboard. I took the 6800Go out of my 9300 to apply AS5 as an interface material when I was pin-modding my cpu.

The cards seemed to be of the same form factor. I know people have put 6800Go Ultras from an XPS2 into a 9300, but requires BIOS flashing and several other tricks to get working. I only know of 1 case where someone did it, but no pics of proof.

Link 1

Link 2

Far too much effort and expense. Easier and cheaper to just buy an XP2 than try to upgrade.

 

[bearxor]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: bearxor
Running that website and all, I would imagine you have opened a ton more laptops than I have. Don't all laptops use a standardized connector now for PCI Express. I know the 6000D/9300/XPS 2 all use the same connector, and I would asume that all the PCI Express laptops Dell sells probably uses the same connector to save on costs. Do you have pics of laptop video cards you can share by chance, I have been looking for some info here recently, and actual pics are few and far between.

I haven't seen the inside of a Dell. I have seen the insides of numerous AGP-based laptops and all the ones I saw were soldered on. Why not share a pic of the insides of your 6000

If we are talking about AGP-based cards, I know it's a mish mash of different form factors, connectors, and some soldered on the board.

Here are some pics of the X300 in my 6000D, sorry for the bluriness, my camera is teh suck at up close shots. I'm probably going to take it apart again soon and I hope to snap some better photos:

http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/c/mcdo7795/x300top.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/c/mcdo7795/x300bottom.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/c/mcdo7795/mount.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/c/mcdo7795/mobo.jpg
http://bellsouthpwp.net/m/c/mcdo7795/heatsink.jpg

 

[fbrdphreak]

Use the "Macro" setting on your camera, the icon for it is usually a little flower

 

[bearxor]

That was the close-up setting

When I take it apart again, I'll likely take further away shots and crop and zoom on the computer.

 

[makken]

SOME notebooks have detachable video cards.
Dells for example, allow the video card to be removable (I upgraded my M7 to an M9 on my i5100, and that was AGP). while others, regardless of whether or not it uses PCI-E, are soldered onto the mainboard. You just have to pick the right laptop.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

just because it is detachable doesnt mean it's able to be upgraded. A laptop is only designed to dissapate the heat of whatever the hottest running video card that particular laptop can be purchased with. if you put in a aftermarket card (assuming it even fits physically), the heat produced will likely not be exhausted by the fans fast enough.

 

[makken]

Originally posted by: unfalliblekrutch
just because it is detachable doesnt mean it's able to be upgraded. A laptop is only designed to dissapate the heat of whatever the hottest running video card that particular laptop can be purchased with. if you put in a aftermarket card (assuming it even fits physically), the heat produced will likely not be exhausted by the fans fast enough.

You can always mod it

There's quite a few people that changed the Dell Insprion 8500's 5900Go (I think) for the Inspiron's 8600 9600Pro Turbo. At first their systems would shut down under full load because of the heat, but introduce a copper slab between the videocard and the heatsink, and they got everything working fine.

I know, I know, it's probably out of the scope for most people, but it can be done.
that said, I believe dell's are the most upgrade friendly of the non-gaming-laptops (alienware, falcon, hypersonic, sager etc)

 

[Mingon]

Its an issue which is a pain really, you have axiom (ati) MXM (nvidia) and also propriatery pci-express based system from dell etc. I have an open 1559 with a type II mxm slot - this means I can fit a type II MXM module or a type I module - but not type III (they vary according to power type II is 25wats)