Looking for a MXM graphics card

[freehunter]

I have a Dell Inspiron E1705, and would like to know where I could buy MXM card (I do belive that this is the card standard the laptop uses). I know it is replacable, but I do not know where to buy the cards. Anyone know of a real retailer that sells them (read: not eBay)?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Well, it's a "standard" in that nvidia designed it and told laptop makers that they ought to use it to give buyers an upgrade path.

The first page I looked at which discussed MXM had this to say "For what it's worth, upgrade parts for this can usually be found on eBay, but they tend to be rarefied and can be costly."

There's this, which may have some information to help you find them.

Actually, I don't think you even have an MXM slot. It's not a "standard" in the way that PCIe or AGP is standard, where every machine without integrated graphics has one of those slots. It's just nvidia's design to allow a PCI-Express graphics chip to be interfaced with the smaller laptop mainboards in a smaller form factor. Laptops normally have either video chips integrated on the mainboard, or a proprietary card with a special connector to the mainboard which allows replacement, but you can't just put in any brand you want.

Here is the Dell page showing how your video card is removed. You see it's a really funky video card, with the heatsink assembly mounted on it, and you can see the small connector just barely right in the middle of the image. You can only get replacements from Dell, as a replacement item, you can't buy them as upgrades, because the cooling system is designed only for that one chip. Anything else would be too hot, and the connector probably can't be made to interface even to a cooler running chip of another type (ATI or nvidia).

This is an MXM card by the way.