Replacement Card for ATI Mobility 5870 HD

[Chester Burnett]

Hi there wise ones. I,ve got an ASUS G73JH Laptop that freezes up to a black screen during 3D games. It doesn't do this during 2D stuff, browsing or productivity software. I'm assuming it's a graphics card problem. If this turns out to be the case I'll be buying a new card. The Mobility 5870 doesn't seem to be available. Does anyone have a suggestion for a replacement? It doesn't have to be the latest or greatest. Something a little slower might even run cooler which may help future problems as the current card always seemed to run pretty hot. I'm obviously not the most tech savy guy but I can probably pop in a new card.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

- Jon

 

[GreenDutchAlien]

You're sure you can change the gpu, normally it's not possible with a laptop.

 

[wolfram23]

Contact the manufacturer of your laptop and bitch at them for building a defective product and maybe they'll do it for free 😉

 

[frozenlead]

Generally upgrading (or downgrading) notebook graphics cards is not possible. You can contact Asus to see if it is.

Have you checked your GPU temps? How old is the notebook? Have you ever cleaned out the heatsinks?

 

[Chainzsaw]

Hi Chester.

I also have the Asus G73JH-A1. I also had overheating problems....

So I made sure the laptop had enough room all around the laptop to cleanly get rid of heat and have it sitting up about 6" above where it's at.

What I did was...

In the catalyst control centre I put everything to maximum performance (versus maximum image quality), as well as turned off anything that might be GPU intensive.

Also in the Power Options - I went into the configuration and "Change Advanced Power Settings" and set my Maximum Processor state to 90% instead of 100% (while plugged in).

I know I know... losing 10% of my CPU power, but this allows me to run my laptop without it overheating now.

I like this laptop, but the cooling is horrible in this laptop. Also to take it apart is a real pain in the ...nevermind.

I don't know if this will fix anything for you. But hopefully helps.

 

[Chainzsaw]

BTW this laptop uses an MXM3b connector type for the GPU. It should accept a different GPU (equal or weaker in power), but I have not tried it. I also confirmed it is not soldered onto the MXM connector.

 

[Chester Burnett]

Thanks for all the replies. It's about 18 months old and I've never cleaned out the innards. I'll try some of the suggestions tomorrow and see where that gets me. I've got band practice soon or I'd try it tonight. I'd much rather bang on my Telecaster than this beast of a computer right now

 

[Chainzsaw]

If you do take it apart, make sure you have lots of room, as well as a well lit room.

Also do a google search - there's a video lurking around somewhere of how to take apart the G73JH - Be warned, there isn't much inside this laptop (surprisingly)!

 

[Chester Burnett]

Well I've scaled back all the settings to minimize performance and blown some dust out of her and she's gotten through a couple of hours of gaming without a shutdown. Big difference. Thanks Chainzsaw and everyone for the advice. I knew this was the right place to ask.