Mathmo

Hey,
I have an Acer Aspire 5633 WlMi with an intel 945GM chipset; ie 950gma internal graphics. I believe the chipset has a PCI express x16 slot, although of course there is no hope of retrofitting a graphics card internally, different models using the same components otherwise do have other graphics, ie nVidia 7900 go etc. So, i'm guessing that the PCI express slot is usable, and have come up with a plan. I'm not that much of a techie, so i thought i'd just run this past some pro's first. If I can buy a PCI express riser, with an 11cm cable like this one; http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=10881
then I could open up my lappy, plug that in to the slot, route it out of the laptop by slightly filing the keyboard edging or displacing the expansion slot on the side, and then connect to a decent graphics board on the outside, probably connecting that with another riser so as not to damage the board by repeated unpluggings. Any thoughts or tips, or indeed knowledge of the layout of the grapevine motherboard would be appreciated. I can't find any information on the layout, so i guess it will be a case of open up, find out, then buy parts and do unless you guys can help out.

And, do you think using a graphics board with external power would probably be a good idea. I guess it would...

TheMatt

Hi,

The problem is that there is no place to plug in that card. The chipset has more than 16 PCIe lanes, however there is no MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) slot which can be used to plug in a graphics card. This is why upgrading the graphics on laptops is extremely rare.

Mathmo

This info on the chipset from Intel's website seems to say otherwise...
I'm pretty sure the other 5633Wlmi's have the same chipset; 945GM with both the gma950 and a discrete graphics board, with the gma950 being used when on battery etc. so i don't see why there wouln't be a socket. guess the only way to be sure is to open my laptop up though...

Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset
Remove
Processor Supported Intel® Core™2 Duo processor,
Intel® Core™ Duo processor,
Intel® Core™ Duo processor Low Voltage (LV),
Intel® Core™ Duo processor Ultra Low Voltage (ULV),
Intel® Core™ Solo processor,
Intel® Core™ Solo processor Ultra Low Voltage (ULV),
Intel® Celeron® M processor,
Intel® Celeron® M processor Ultra Low Voltage (ULV)
FSB Speed 667 MHz,
533 MHz
#SO-DIMMs/Max Memory 2 SO-DIMMs / up to 4GB Max System Memory @ 533 MHz
Memory Type DDR2 667 MHz,
DDR2 533 MHz
Memory Channels Dual/Single Channel
ECC Parity No


Integrated Graphics Intel GMA 950
Discrete Graphics PCI Express x16


Integrated TV Out Yes
Max Panel Display Resolution LVDS: Up to UXGA (1600x1200)
Dual Display Options Concurrent/Simultaneous
Power Management Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology, Deeper Sleep
Intel Display Power Savings Technology Yes
PCI Masters 7
IDE / ATA ATA 100 (1 Ch.),
SATA 150 (2 Ports)
USB 8 Ports USB 2.0
Integrated LAN MAC (w/10/100 Ethernet or HTNA) Yes
PCI Express I/O Ports 4X1 PCI Express Ports
Audio Circuitry Intel® High Definition Audio 24bit 192KHz, AC'97 2.3 Audio
North Hub Package 1466 FCBGA 37.5 mm x 37.5 mm
South Hub Package 652 FCBGA 31 mm x 31 mm
Supported ICH 82801GBM / 82801GHM
Intel Clear Video Technology

TheMatt

There is no physical MXM or PCIe slot on the laptop. The chipset supports a PCIe or MXM slot though which is why Intel posted that on their web site. Intel sells their chipset to the motherboard manufacturer who does not necessarily need to put the physical slot on the motherboard.

Mathmo

cheers for your help, guess thats a no go then...

ddpsoftware

Actually: that's not the end...

I own a 5633WLMi, and when I opened it up, I found there was a mini pci express slot on my motherboard... (I can take a photograph of it if you want...)

However, I own the laptop WITH the dedicated graphics, as opposed to onboard graphics. Whilst it is possible that only the dedicated graphics card model includes it on the motherboard, I doubt it.

If therefore, your laptop does have the mini pci express, then it is possible to use a mini pci express graphics card...

Mathmo

ddpsoftware... that is awesome news. would you mind taking a photo for me?
i had resigned myself to playing oblivion on ultra low with 14fps, but maybe...
it would be possible then that there is in fact room inside my laptop for a graphics card of the right form factor... we shall see when we open it up. It would be neat if i had a phto though: i have no idea of laptop layouts really, and i dont want to have to remove more parts than necessary!
thanks in advance

Mathmo

No chance of getting a card inside though really.
cause i wont be able to buy an 'acer' fit card. but maybe if i had a good idea oif the connector, i could modify a pci express cable riser as per previous plan and use a dell graphics board externally.

Mathmo

Ah, i see. a mini pci express. so whatever i did i'd be limited to pci express x1, but it's probably still worth it. worked for the xg station.

TheMatt

It will work if you can find a Mini PCIe graphics card, but to my knowledge they don't exist. The mini PCIe slot was designed for high end wireless cards.

Mathmo

no i dont believe they do. i was thinking of using a minipci to pci*1 and then an adapter for pci*1 to pci*16, which is effectively what the xg station does using expresscard instead of mini pci. and it looks like you can get minipci to pci*1 converters which allow external power input. of course, performance would be a fraction of performance in a desktop.

TheMatt

You can also get PCIe x1 graphics cards. Remember that any desktop graphics card you get needs an external power source.

Mathmo

any idea of the likely performance of say a pcie*1 8400 compared with a *16 8600gts running at *1? like, obviously neither will be anything like as fast as the 8600gts at *16, but would there still be a significant increase in fps between the two? Im guessing the xg station wouldn't have used a 7900 instead of a 7500 if there was no significant increase in fps.

TheMatt

There would be some but not much. Even the 8400GS will be much more powerful than the GMA950. I am not aware of any PCIe x1 8400GS, only an X1300 in the PCIe x1 bus interface. What adapter for the PCIe x16 to PCIe x1 conversion are you talking about? Electrically, I didn't think this was possible.

Mathmo

surely it should be possible by the pcie specification... the adapter is here
http://www.orbitmicro.com/global/pci...8_179_182.html
i was wrong about the 8400 PCIe*1, it was a misprint on a surprising no of sales sites, but unless their photos are wrong they mean (PCIe*16)*1
is there a strong reason why it shouldnt work? and how would be the best way of powering the card? are there any cards which can be powered solely from the psu or at least mainly from psu and not much by the pcie socket?

TheMatt

The Mini PCIe to PCIe x1 adapter you see there is for installing a laptop Mini PCIe wireless card in a desktop PCIe x1 slot, not the other way around. The other adapter would work if the card could be configured to run with only 1 lane (and the BIOS should already have that setting) but I wouldn't know for sure if it does.

Mathmo

indeed, although therewas one of these on there a few days ago...
http://www.dhs-tools.de/dk_products_pcie_other_eng.htm
should be at the bottom...

TheMatt

I see. So that should work then so long as you connect a floppy power connector to that adapter.