If you get a laptop with integrated graphics, can you upgrade the video card?

[mustang_marc]

Or are you stuck?

Picked up a Dell Inspiron this morning on a whim because of a good deal...I don't play a lot of games, but I've been thinking about it. Just wondering if its upgradable?

[Magnus]

99.9% of the time, no.

[black90gt]

no

[Kenny_Stang]

Nope... best you can do is add more memory.

[Magnus]

[QUOTE=Kenny_Stang]Nope... best you can do is add more memory.[/QUOTE]
I said 99.9% of the time because with Dell, some models have two different versions of motherboards they come with (intergrated and non-intergrated video cards). You'd have to buy another motherboard, and video card if there was an option for your model, but it's not going to be cheap, and you might as well build a gaming desktop for that price.

[Shoot To Kill]

no you can't upgrade. i ran into this problem.

MOST of your "off-the-shelf" laptops are going to have a pretty shitty GPU.

now, i know the dell XPS have some pretty damn good ones which will allow you to game on them. but recently i got COD4 from a friend and got it all installed blah blah blah...when i tried to play it i got owned by my GPU. and there is no way around it.

so just go buy a 50 dollar case, a 75 dollar MOBO some pretty good ram, a decent CPU and a decent PCI-E GPU and have yourself a wonderful time. :D

[ceyko]

Your best bet is to hit the dell forums. Hell, I had an Inspiron 8100 (back before upgradable laptops were conceived) that you could upgrade the GPU. Just spent 200 bucks or whatever on a Geforce 4, disassembled the laptop and swapped cards.

Creative folks out there that are a lot more ballsy with their hardware then I am. I like to read about their experiences and then not make the same mistakes.

[Effigy]

What model inspiron...
It depends.

[Neiladin]

i just bought an xps laptop with a 256 meg graphics card. woot.

[sig239]

Can some of them, whats in it? Dell forums is your best bet. I upped mine off e-bay.

[mustang_marc]

Thanks for the responses.

[QUOTE=Effigy]What model inspiron...
It depends.[/QUOTE]1525.


[QUOTE=sig239]Can some of them, whats in it? Dell forums is your best bet. I upped mine off e-bay.[/QUOTE]X3100 is what's in it.


[QUOTE=Shoot To Kill]so just go buy a 50 dollar case, a 75 dollar MOBO some pretty good ram, a decent CPU and a decent PCI-E GPU and have yourself a wonderful time. :D[/QUOTE]
Didn't consider doing a desktop for gaming. Guess I could. I've got a Dell Dimension 4600 2.8Mhz processor with 800fsb... 2GB ram. I guess I could add a top notch video card there and should be ok. Since I've gone "mobile" the desktop has been boxed up...just forgot about it basically, but its a barely used machine. I just like not having to create space for a computer desk.

[Neiladin]

[QUOTE=mustang_marc]Thanks for the responses.

1525.


X3100 is what's in it.



Didn't consider doing a desktop for gaming. Guess I could. I've got a Dell Dimension 4600 2.8Mhz processor with 800fsb... 2GB ram. I guess I could add a top notch video card there and should be ok. Since I've gone "mobile" the desktop has been boxed up...just forgot about it basically, but its a barely used machine. I just like not having to create space for a computer desk.[/QUOTE]
desktops are the best bet for gaming period. but the x3100 isnt exactly a graphics card. it just accelerates (or basically overclocks) the onboard video capabilities, to the best of my knowledge anyway. which is why i bought an xps. anyone can feel free to correct me.

[Shoot To Kill]

[QUOTE=mustang_marc]Didn't consider doing a desktop for gaming. Guess I could. I've got a Dell Dimension 4600 2.8Mhz processor with 800fsb... 2GB ram. I guess I could add a top notch video card there and should be ok. Since I've gone "mobile" the desktop has been boxed up...just forgot about it basically, but its a barely used machine. I just like not having to create space for a computer desk.[/QUOTE]

that's not a bad idea, using your old machine. the only bad thing about it, is that your desktop most likely doesn't have PCI-E 16x. at best, it might have AGP 8x. now, there are some decent AGP cards, but all in all, PCI-E is much better. hell i've got a pretty good AGP 256MB card i'll get you for like 30 bucks. maybe even less. it's just sitting on my desk.

[quote=neiladin]desktops are the best bet for gaming period. but the x3100 isnt exactly a graphics card. it just accelerates (or basically overclocks) the onboard video capabilities, to the best of my knowledge anyway. which is why i bought an xps. anyone can feel free to correct me.[/quote]

i think you're correct about the accelorator.