Replace E6400 Intel graphics with Nvidia

I currently have an E6400 with the horrible intel graphics chip installed. On top of it, it has recently started to fail. Since I need a new motherboard anyway, I thought I might as well go Nvidia. I found a good deal here:

New Dell Latitude E6400 NVIDIA Motherboard La 3806P K543N TN137 H568N WP507 | eBay

The only things I'm worried about are part numbers. Do the listed numbers matter as long as I have an E6400 with an intel chip and I know I am replacing it with an Nvidia E6400 motherboard?

Also, I can get a new M2400 motherboard for $60 and it has the Quadro FX 370M graphics chip. I know the 160 and 370 are almost the same but will the 370 perform better with games? I only need to be able to run several year old games on low settings. How different are the two cards? Thank you.

 

Don't worry about the part numbers; the Intel and Nvidia boards are totally interchangeable. The only thing you will need to change is the heatsink.

 

Oh... So what would it be called on eBay and how much would it cost? Would a copper mod or something be worth it? I really don't want this laptop to overheat.

 

Easiest thing look for the M2400 heatsink, since those are all discrete. It's cheap:

New Dell Precision M2400 Heatsink YP280 | eBay

With the stock thermal pad, the NVS160M is notorious for running really hot - like high 90s to low 100s hot at full load. This isn't necessarily a "problem" per se, as the chip doesn't have the bad bumps like the 8-Series derived crap, but it does happen. If you can do a proper copper mod, it should definitely reduce the load temps, but as with all copper mods with one-piece heatsinks, you've gotta be really careful about choosing just the right thickness of shim, or the heatsink will be crooked on both the CPU and GPU, and it just make things worse. I don't know what is the proper shim thickness to use.

 

Thanks, it's only $5 so I'll go ahead with it and buy it with the motherboard. I should probably get some Arctic Silver 5 with it, shouldnt I?

 

If this is actually new, it'll have the stock paste pre-applied as shown, but if you don't want to use that or if you're gonna do the copper mod, you will need some/more.

 

Well i found a guide to do the copper mod with the correct thickness and everything but if this heatsink is better I'd rather stick with it. As long as the stock compound works OK, I'm fine with it.

 

Definitely do the copper mod. Mine had notorious temperatures until the mod. Then boom, problem solved.

 

I wouldn't mind doing it if shipping weren't %15 for a $.26 piece of copper. This is on onlinemetals.com.

 

I got mine on ebay. Was like a dollar or two including shipping.