[SOLVED] What GPU would fit my particular old laptop?

[t_sutton]

Hello friends. After years and years of 90c gaming on my MSI GT70, I have lost all screen output. I took it apart and tried everything, incl. of course external displays, but I'm pretty sure it's the GPU that has fried. BUT the thing is, I don't use it to game anymore. Getting a replacement used 680m is too expensive, from what I'm seeing. I would be happy going completely basic, but have no idea how to determine if a GPU will physically fit and then of course if it will work for this laptop. Could someone please be so kind as to suggest a cheap GPU that will be compatible, just so I can get the thing up and running again for basic computing tasks? If I went back a couple generations and got a cheaper "m" series, would that work necessarily? But really, any GPU will do. Here is its specs:

MSI GT70 0NE 609US - Dragon Edition - 17.3" - Core i7 3630QM - 16 GB RAM - 750 GB HDD + 256 GB SSD Specs

MSI GT70 0NE 609US - Dragon Edition - 17.3" - Core i7 3630QM - 16 GB RAM - 750 GB HDD + 256 GB SSD overview and full product specs on CNET.

www.cnet.com

This computer has sentimental value to me. Thank you so much for your help.

Mainboard

• Chipset Type
  
  Mobile Intel HM77 Express

Physical Characteristics

• Weight
  
  8.6 lbs

Operating System / Software

• OS Provided: Type
  
  Windows 8

Video Output

• Discrete Graphics Processor
  
  Yes
• Graphics Processor
  
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M
• Graphics Processor Series
  
  NVIDIA Geforce GTX

 

[hang-the-9]

Trick here is that you can buy a used MXM video card that is not specifically made for your model, but it may be faulty or not work with the laptop. Laptop hardware swaps are tricky since they don't always work even if the socket fits. You may want to look at a working used laptop, for non-gaming you can find decent $200 laptops with even solid state drives in them, Lenovo T440 or so can be found for good prices, especially on craigslist.