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+--- Thread: comp help (/showthread.php?tid=39078)
comp help - Metal Koola - 05-01-2007
So I have an inspiron 9100 laptop and a mobility radeon 9700 or whatever you want to call it. I recently tried to play a new game and found out my card is slightly outdated (it was actually just below the minimum requirement for the game) I was wondering if anyone could suggest a new graphics card, how I'd go about switching them, if they'd all fit into this laptop, etc. I have no computer taking apart/putting together knowledge but I assume once I open this puppy up it'll be pretty obvious what I need to do. The main problem I have I just don't know what would fit in this machine. Does anyone have any helpful advice?
I don't want to hear I should buy a new machine, because quite frankly, it wouldn't be worth it.
edit:
As I'm looking into this more, it might not even be the gc that's the problem. Has anyone experienced a black screen when they go to play a game? I have the newest drivers for it - all I hear is the audio and some white lines randomly appear on-screen.
comp help - Raditzu - 05-01-2007
I had a problem recently with trying to run a game on my laptop. The game was freaking out because my video card didn't meet the minimum requirements. What we ended up doing was changing some files so that the computer told the game it had more video memory than it did. Some registry files had to have their values changed. I don't know if it'll help you or not, but as soon as those files were changed, the game launched just fine.
Are you running Vista or XP? Its a simpler process for XP.
comp help - Vegeta - 05-01-2007
The graphics card in notebooks are actually embedded onto the motherboard. There is no way to change or upgrade them.
comp help - Captain Silver - 05-01-2007
Yeah its gay.
My friend told me that they might be making external graphics cards, at like 512mb starting. Not sure if its true or not.
comp help - Vegeta - 05-01-2007
Doubtful. PCMCIA is a slow interface and changing your graphics from an onboard to an add-on would probably only decrease performance. The ability to upgrade your graphics card would have to be changed on the motherboard and we all know they'd rather sell a new machine.
comp help - Metal Koola - 05-02-2007
Quote:Originally posted by Waffuru
The graphics card in notebooks are actually embedded onto the motherboard. There is no way to change or upgrade them.
Not in mine, it's a desktop replacement. It actually has a separate graphics card.
Rad - it's XP, do you remember the procedure? It's worth a shot.
comp help - Raditzu - 05-02-2007
I had to do it for Vista. I'll see if I can track down the forum that I got the fix from, though.