upgrading alienware area-51 m9750 graphics card, please help.

I've had my Alienware area-51 m9750 for about a year now, it has a nvidia geforce 7950 gtx go. just a few days ago the graphics card died and i was wondering about some possible upgrade options that will fit and be an upgrade from the original graphics card. i read some posts on the forums about some possible upgrades that would fit and work better than the original 7950 gtx go, and found one mentioned about dual ATI Radeon M88 XT HD 3870 512MB SLI. but any other options that would give me the best possible increase from the 7950 gtx go, that fit and will be compatible with the m9750 would be very much appreciated.

thanks for any help in advance!

 

3870 will probably be the easiest to get that others have had working, but fi you could find a 4870 / 4850 you could try those too. Also if you have room for an HE tab you could try a GTX 280. Keep in mind cooling those hot cards may be a problem, I had to modify my m5750's cooling to get a 4850 working.

 

well this is what i have for the bay and im prolly only going to put 1 in it so what card would fit and be the most effective without having to alter or replace my current fans? and whats an HE tab?

 

Swapping out MXM cards is NOT as easy as upgrading a graphics card on a desktop. If you are unsure what an HE tab is you need to do some more reading on the different types of cards that are out there. Also just because a card fits does not mean it will be fully compatible with your notebook. Even someone telling you to "get a 3870" may not be enough as there are multiple versions of the 3870 out there each running a different VBIOS. One VBIOS may work with your system while another may not.The entire process is trial and error. I have have had ~6 different cards in my m5750 and out of those 6 I have only had 3 be compatible.

In short, unless you get someone with the same model laptop tell you that a specific card with a specific VBIOS will work, you will have to do a good amount of research. Certainly not something to tackle until you know the inside of your laptop like the back of your hand.

This is not to scare you either, I loved tinkering with mine. While it sucked when a card I paid for did not work, I just said oh well, sold it and went on to the next card to see what I could get working

 

kk ill do some more research to find out exactly what i need and can get that will fit, and work with my computer, do you have any suggestions on what card to get so i can see if they woulld work with mine?

 

Some of the ones I listed above (3870, 4850...) would be a good place to start.

 

found the 3870, it will fit and will work in sli configuration.and is fully compatable

 

Nice, did you read if the 3870 needs any specific VBIOS to work with your laptop?

 

It does work, I've seen posts about t before. Not sure about the vBios version needed though.