Why cant we upgrade the GPU?

[jorlanm]

OK everytime I see them Customzing the G73's like on XoticPC...you can upgrade pretty much everything except for the GPU...
Ive been loking at pic's of Dissasembled G73 and it ooks like a standard NoteBook Card type GPU that you just unplug?

So as long as its the same Voltage and wattage requirements ts should be good to go right?

[xeromist]

It's because the location and heat sink design are different for each GPU. Yes, the interface and form factor are pretty much the same for some time now but the configuration of the chips on the PCB is different and hence requires a different heat sink.

[jorlanm]

I see its a technicality issue...in a way we could upgrade it if we have a heatsink that can support it...so maybe we can still put a ATi HD 5870 on the SW's hehe

[Retired]

we've tried a swap from the jh to the jw and it didnt work.

[Chastity]

The BIOS also needs to be swapped as well, Brian.

[jorlanm]

So if the PCB for the GeForce GTX560m is simillar to the GeForce GTX 460m...then I can swap it (Im not realy doing it since the 560 is pretty mch a rebadge 460 anyway...but at least I know theres a way)

[xeromist]

All of the hot spots would have to be in the same place in relation to where the heat sink mounts. That means GPU of course, but then also all of the ram chips and VRMs as well I believe.

[Retired]

Yep, all of the above would be correct.

Reason why Clevo and Alienware are upgradeable also is because they use the official boards from nVidia and AMD. Asus insists on, I suspect cost saving, to produce what seems to be inferior boards. Their boards seem to have more issues than the standard, official from nVidia and AMD.

But since other brands use the official boards, the boards are often the same size and of the same configuration. AMD and nVidia have been nice enough for notebook users that the memory, core etc are soldered in the same location so the same heatsink can be used.

Asus on the other hand, they don't just use make their own GPU boards. They also insist on very weird designs. The GTX 460M in the G73JW/G53 etc is about TWICE the size of the standard. It wouldn't be a problem is Asus standardized GPU boards themselves also. If they used the same size and configuration then yes you could do it. The fan control etc are all on the bios rather than the vBios. So the bios would need to be updated also, but that shouldn't be a problem as Clevo and Alienware regularly provide new bios to support new GPUs for their models.

Simply put, Asus just wants more money. This way you can't just get an official GPU from another vendor unrelated to Asus and put it in. Even though Asus is using dedicated MXM GPU, you still have to buy an entire new model each time there is a significant GPU upgrade available.

[xeromist]

What makes you think the boards are inferior? AFAIK the problems people have had seemed to stem from firmware (like GSOD, which was fixed) and not the board.

[Chastity]

The larger board design allows for a thinner PCB board. Simple cost savings by engineering. Personally, I would love to upgrade my 5870M with a 6970M.