Is my ati radeon hd mobility 5470 upgradable and if its possible what can i upgrade to?

[Athoyd]

So I have recently joined PC gaming after my Xbox died out and I thought why not go over to steam so I downloaded a few trials and demos and everything seemed great until i actually bought a game. I was getting really low frame rates and the load up time for me would reach the point where I would be disconnected. So I decided to do some research on upgrades and new GPUS ect.. but the money i would have to spend for an external GPU is incredible so I am wondering if my 3 year old Sony vaio vpcec1m1e's gpu can be upgraded there is many reasons i want to do this the main reason is the GPU has no driver so im having some problems.

So this is the hardware on my laptop:
CPU: intel i3 core M330 @2.13 Ghz
GPU: ATI Mobility HD 5470 512MB
Motherboard: intel HM55

 

[bignastyid]

Its not upgradable.

 

[cklaubur]

Most laptops have the GPU built into the motherboard, and so it can't be replaced. There are some laptops out in the market with upgradeable GPUs, but they tend to be expensive and non-standard.

You said that your GPU doesn't have a driver, do you mean there isn't one installed at all, or that a new one hasn't been released? If there isn't one installed at all, Windows would run using a basic graphics driver that limits screen resolution, and does not use your GPU to its full abilities. Having the improper driver installed would also cause the low frame rates, again due to using the basic driver.

Casey

 

[Athoyd]

Most laptops have the GPU built into the motherboard, and so it can't be replaced. There are some laptops out in the market with upgradeable GPUs, but they tend to be expensive and non-standard.

You said that your GPU doesn't have a driver, do you mean there isn't one installed at all, or that a new one hasn't been released? If there isn't one installed at all, Windows would run using a basic graphics driver that limits screen resolution, and does not use your GPU to its full abilities. Having the improper driver installed would also cause the low frame rates, again due to using the basic driver.

Casey

Ive searched online for the driver cant find it ive tried device manager too

 

[cklaubur]

Did you check on Sony's website? I would recommend AMD's website, since they own ATI, but they say to check with Sony for any driver updates.

Casey

 

[Athoyd]

Did you check on Sony's website? I would recommend AMD's website, since they own ATI, but they say to check with Sony for any driver updates.

Casey

yeah i did all of that but when they ask for laptop name its not there on the sony website and on the amd one it says not compatible with your card. is it that my gpu is soldered on?

 

[cklaubur]

Whether the GPU is soldered onto the motherboard or not should have no effect on driver availability.

The model number for your laptop shows up on their UK website.
http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/VPCEC1M1E_WI/updates

Casey

 

[Athoyd]

Whether the GPU is soldered onto the motherboard or not should have no effect on driver availability.

The model number for your laptop shows up on their UK website.
http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/VPCEC1M1E_WI/updates

Casey

no im not talking about the gpu being soldered on affecting the driver im talking about.. is that why its not possible for an upgrade and ok yeah the driver is there but i still want more performace