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Can We upgrade G73SW GPU?


andrewff2

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Hi there guys,

I'm looking the forums looking for any trace of information regarding the G73SW GPU upgrade. There´s some members who did some mods and upgraded their notebooks gpu as the models: g73jh, g73jw. But i dont see anyone saying that is possible to do it with the SW too.

So im here asking for any information that can lead me to do it, even more what kind of cards works on sw, links for bioses and so on.

I love my g73sw but here in Brazil, notebooks and even parts cost like 3 times the normal value (taxes and so on)....

So please if anyone can help me out i'll be glad and i will spread the word that this works here.

What i'm looking here is veridic information, not some gossip bout we can/can´t do it....

I have ready $600 to spend on it and if it goes wrong... (im screwed) icon10.gif

I love my SW and dont want to let him get outdated and i dont have the money to buy an alienware or a sager.

anyways thanks for your time guys!!!

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Most likely not, Asus has a proprietary card design that doesn't match a standard MXM card. I looked around and it seems the SW isn't able to do it like the JH but it could just be from a lack of effort. If you decide to try it, here's a disassembly video I found:

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Most likely not, Asus has a proprietary card design that doesn't match a standard MXM card. I looked around and it seems the SW isn't able to do it like the JH but it could just be from a lack of effort. If you decide to try it, here's a disassembly video I found:

Thank you Brian, i already took him appart to change the paste, its quite easy, and im thinking into build the keyboard color mod, that is on youtube pretty cool.

What im looking for is if i can upgrade it i´ve talked to svl7 and he says that the connector is the same but the problem is the rest asus proprietary tinkering T_T, kinda sad.

Anyways, im still looking for someone who tried to modify the bios or something... i wish i had more $$$ to buy stuff and try by myself.

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  • 2 months later...

G73JW and SW are pretty much the same, except that the SW has a Sandy Bridge CPU, but it uses the same weird GPU module which has an MXM connector.

I'm pretty sure the 660m would work, if used with the vbios I posted in the JW upgrading thread. The other requirement is a JH heatsink.

I can't guarantee it since I don't have a system to test it, but chances are that it works. (660m - 1GB with the according vbios)

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hello. I have been registered here for a while now, but <i believe itrs my first post. Anyway I am preparing to try and upgrade my asus g73sw gpu. And wonder if svl7 or anyone else can share some light what are better chances of success between 680m and 675mx. I am well awared of mxm shape of asus`s gpu cards and heatsink. Are sager/clevo cards more compatible than dell with asus?

Any thoughts and inputs are welcome and apreciated.

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I think that we can update ...

I have updated my G73 with HD 7970M JH Clevo.

I can post all my work .....

You can see the inside of jw / sw?

I have made ​​changes to the heatsink jh ...

I think that even for the JW / SW is the same ... is a matter of heatsink ...

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Hello. I have been registered here for a while now, but <i asus?

Any thoughts and inputs are welcome and apreciated.

I wonder why my post get censored so much?

I asked originally what are better chances of success between clevo/sager or dell gpu cards. I have fairly good knowledge with modding and have repasted my g73sw many times now. I know everything about heatsink from g73jh for standard mxm form. Basicaly it is between 675mx and 680m.</i>

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I wonder why my post get censored so much?

I asked originally what are better chances of success between clevo/sager or dell gpu cards. I have fairly good knowledge with modding and have repasted my g73sw many times now. I know everything about heatsink from g73jh for standard mxm form. Basicaly it is between 675mx and 680m.</EM>

Hello Jmhdj ...

I have updated my G73JH, with a i7-940XM and Clevo 7970M GPU ...

upgrading video card was also made by four other people ... They used Clevo cards ....

Cards Dell have brought trouble with the fan that works at 100% on our JH ....

With regard to the GPU to update you recommend installing the 675m ....

I installed the Clevo 7970M but I have problems with continuous sudden drop of FPS ...

This is caused by the maximum power from the motherboard of 150 watts, can not feed well the video card even when the CPU works at its maximum.

I have a Dell 240 Watt power supply ...

I would recommend a 675m that uses less power and does not incur in this type of problem.

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Thanks for inputs PrinceBlack. I know I can choose only between nvidia gpu`s. Both 680m and 675mx are 100watts so dont sure if that can be problem in performance. But if asus have followed mxm standard then that shouldnt be problem. Also to point if someone think i made typo on 675mx I did not. It is difference between 675m and 675mx. 680m is still bit expencive for my pocket...

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, so I'm a noob to this forum, so hello! n glad to see there's interest in the G73SW. I picked up one used that came with the under-specd 460m video card(the under 1GB model) and just acquired an MSI 670m to plug in and try. it just got here today and I see i'll be basically making my own heat sink for it. I just ordered some copper plating and I have a heat sink from an ASUS G75 card that is completely wrong but I can use the heat pipes and fins from at least. This will take me a bit to construct once the copper plates arrive in the mail, but I will definitely post my results. I'm curious if I need to update the vbios, I don't know yet.

I chose the 670m mainly because I got a really good deal on one, and it's rated at only 10% less performance than the 670mx. I'd have liked to try the 680 but this is closer to the power specs and I could afford it. plus, given that i'm running with the lower end version of the 460m, I should see results (if it works at all).

any suggestions? so far ive got the heat pipes, the copper plate, copper shims and ic diamond 24 to slap this thing together. and I understand alumiweld and a propane torch will stick it all together. (of course, I could just use solder also, presuming the heat from the gpu isn't hot enough to mess with that but I need to look into it a little further.) as far as I know the card is an mxm 3.0b interface so that should work fine(fingers crossed).

I have absolutely no idea about the vbios on this one, or if/how I might need to tweak it. I suggestions are greatly appreciated!!! I also wish all the other modders out there a hearty hello and good luck!!! :)

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hmmm...guess I'm too new to upload a pic of the color keyboard mod I made, but it's pretty easy to do n looks great. My model is the ASUS G73SW-BST6 if anyone is searching threads. I couldn't find information anywhere about upgrading this laptop, so if I can help others mod theirs, I'm happy to do so. other mods I've done so far: DC power jack replacement, LCD screen upgrade from 1600x900 to 1920x1080. thermal paste upgrade on gpu and cpu, memory upgrade, and upgraded to blu ray burner from the DVDR/W and added the Bluetooth module.

I was really surprised to get an actual ASUS rep on live chat; and then dismayed when the rep literally said he could give me absolutely NO information about upgrading since ASUS didn't support it. (completely worthless). how sad. I understand the other companies' reps will actually tell users what they can do to upgrade. all that's left is the video card upgrade (which is waiting on me getting all the parts to build a heatsink for it).

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Wow at least!!!! man if you have any videos i´ll be glad if you can post the links here or pm me!

I love my g73sw and for the moment i really don't wanna change this awesome piece of HW.

I'm still waiting for jmhdj news about the 680m i really wanna upgrade mine but here in Brazil everything is so F*** expensive :/ ex: gtx680m = $800 in brazil this values goes beyond $1200 EASY!! Taxes and other stuff that sellers here like to push into us >/

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Welcome to club IshouldGo :). You could dry test your gpu to see if it post at all. So you dont waste all that time on modding heatsink for nothing. As for heatsink easyest way is just buy g73jh gpu heatsink. Thats what I did, you have to do some small modifications to it though but nothing drastic. As for my 680m well I still waiting on it. Looks I did big mistake and ordered it shipped via EMS :(. Anyhow good luck with upgrade...

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Hi andrewff2, sorry, I didn't make videos just did the work. there are videos for most just on other models, but its very similar. oh, I also upgraded the hard disks (lol). guess I didn't leave much untouched. :) the most noticeable thing so far is the video screen upgrade. totally worth it. the 460m handles the 1920x1080 without any problem even in gaming. for intense stuff I lower the resolution a little, no biggie. also, the os on an ssd makes this sooooo much faster. that's the other one. file transfers are scary quick and boot up is lightning fast. they keyboard color mod is just fun--and was super simple to do (and cheap). sorry stuff is so expensive in Brazil. I bought most everything on ebay- is that an option for you?

---

Thanks for the welcome jmhdj, and the g73jh recommendation! I just found a g73jh heatsink on ebay for cheap so I sprung for it. this gives me options to work with for the heatsink mod. I'm afraid to dry run the new 670m video card even to post because I don't want to risk frying the gpu. I agree modding the heatsink is a lot of work for an unknown board, but it seems far cheaper than replacing a good board so is the lower risk. Also, good luck with your 680 upgrade! :) i'll post my results here and if you do also we might speed up the learning curve. lol.

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Deal andrewff2. when I go back in to put in the video board I'll take pics to show what is changed where. I tried to stick a pic of the laptop with the upgraded screen and the color keyboard mod in my signature so hopefully it's visible. this laptop is very moddable.

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Deal andrewff2. when I go back in to put in the video board I'll take pics to show what is changed where. I tried to stick a pic of the laptop with the upgraded screen and the color keyboard mod in my signature so hopefully it's visible. this laptop is very moddable.

I'm waiting for it, and it's very good to know that this note is very moddable :D

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post-5713-14494994953089_thumb.jpgHello. Good news I recieved gpu today. Bad news it does not work. I installed gpu carefuly with necessary modifications to heatsink of g73jh and booted machine black screen but after couple of seconds I did noticed that hdd light litt up and caps lock lighted to if pressed. So I tried to connect to external monitor via hdmi still black screen.

At last when connected to monitor via vga cable it posted with message that Valid MXM structure is not found and startup is halted for 30 seconds. But after it booted it freeze everytime on windows login logo. I tried to instal fresh win7 but it freeze everytime to when graphical interface needs to show. I tried to boot linux live cd and it to freeze after loading modules. Same with windows xp. I am suspecting that card is maybe damaged as I got it cheap and it was used.

Finally I am open for all and all sugestions. post some pictures to show bios and post screen.post-5713-1449499495262_thumb.jpg

After some thinking what come up is that there is no p10 power state on gtx 680m or is it?

post-5713-14494994952839_thumb.jpg

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