Laptop Graphics Card question

mils1234

We have a Compaq laptop that the girls use and I was wondering if it's possible to upgrade the graphics card on it? It has a core 2 duo processor and 2GB of RAM, but without a decent graphics card some of their MUST PLAY games don't run smoothly.

I think the graphics are currently integrated and not a seperate card, so I think that is bad news, also I know it's difficult at best to replace a laptop graphics card anyway.. but it could really use more power in the graphics area.

If anyone knows about these sort of things, can you help me out? I will be able to get exact model number and information when I'm back at home.

Thanks!

johncolescarr

slimshady2357 wrote: »

We have a Compaq laptop that the girls use and I was wondering if it's possible to upgrade the graphics card on it? It has a core 2 duo processor and 2GB of RAM, but without a decent graphics card some of their MUST PLAY games don't run smoothly.

I think the graphics are currently integrated and not a seperate card, so I think that is bad news, also I know it's difficult at best to replace a laptop graphics card anyway.. but it could really use more power in the graphics area.

If anyone knows about these sort of things, can you help me out? I will be able to get exact model number and information when I'm back at home.

Thanks!

I'm no expert, but I don't think you can upgrade an integrated graphics card without replacing the motherboard as, by definition I suppose, they are integrated. Not sure how easy this is.

Again, I don't play games but you may be able to adjust the display settings to make their games run smoother.

I hope someone with more knowledge replies soon

damo24

Unfortunately it is not possible to upgrade the graphics card on a laptop, you are stuck with what it comes with.

4743hudsonj

slimshady2357 wrote: »

We have a Compaq laptop that the girls use and I was wondering if it's possible to upgrade the graphics card on it? It has a core 2 duo processor and 2GB of RAM, but without a decent graphics card some of their MUST PLAY games don't run smoothly.

I think the graphics are currently integrated and not a seperate card, so I think that is bad news, also I know it's difficult at best to replace a laptop graphics card anyway.. but it could really use more power in the graphics area.

If anyone knows about these sort of things, can you help me out? I will be able to get exact model number and information when I'm back at home.

Thanks!

dont bother, end of thread really

its far to complicated to get it to work, forst you would need a new motherboard compatible with all your other hardware, then you would need to kind a graphics card that actually fits and then you need to do a complete format and lose all your data.

and thats the simple version, a desktop... no problems, but i wouldnt touch a laptops hardware with a bargepole (besides from ram), too easy to get wrong.

i mean integrated graphics isnt the end of the world, it just means the graphics card shares the grunt of the work with the systems ram, and your only running 2GB and assuming your on vista, this is low, so i would look at upgrading the ram, which is nice cheap and simple, then your gpu and cpu would have more room to breathe as it were and your games might just run better


also try lightening the load on the cpu by closing tray items when playing games and stopping processes from running at start up.

mils1234

Thanks everyone!

I'm fairly convinced it isn't possible, but we're right beside a PC World (where we bought it) tomorrow, so I might bring it in there and see what they say.

It is on Vista and it might help to upgrade to SP1 also. I'll look at going to 4GB of RAM and see what PC world says about the costs for that. Might look elsewhere if it's easy to install myself and cheaper.

4743hudsonj

slimshady2357 wrote: »

Thanks everyone!

I'm fairly convinced it isn't possible, but we're right beside a PC World (where we bought it) tomorrow, so I might bring it in there and see what they say.

It is on Vista and it might help to upgrade to SP1 also. I'll look at going to 4GB of RAM and see what PC world says about the costs for that. Might look elsewhere if it's easy to install myself and cheaper.

look for memory from these two sites, bound to be far cheaper and both have a scanner so you know its the right memory
http://www.crucial.com/uk
http://www.orcalogic.co.uk/asp/default.asp