Laptop Motherboard Upgrade Question

[Stektpotatis]

Hi

I have an Asus K53SC that I need to replace the motherboard on. I disassembled it and discovered that the motherboard says K53SV rev 3.1, which leads me to believe that you can more or less mix and match without issue within this series. My question is, must I buy the exact one I had, or can I buy one that is for a more expensive model in the same series that has a better graphics card? ie must I buy THIS when THIS is only sightly more expensive? The two motherboards seem to look exactly the same in component placement, size, ports, etc. The only difference I can see is the two filled bga ram slots around the graphics chip. As an added note, no, the processor/memory are not soldered on.

The graphics chips in question are: 520mx (N12P-GVR-B-A1) and 540m (N12P-GS-A1)

What are the possible complications? I'll be installing a new HDD at the same time.

Please don't just recommend a new laptop.

Thanks

 

[Prostar Computer]

As long as the board fits the shell (i.e. the ports line up with the cutouts and the screw locations are the same), and as long as it has the same connections in the same locations (e.g. same connection for LCD video cable), then you can likely get away with swapping the board. One caveat is if you were planning to pop in a drive with Windows from the previous board, it might throw errors on the new board - but if you do plan on replacing the drive and reinstalling Windows, there's a good chance you'll be fine with upgrading (can't promise anything without seeing everything up close).