[NW] Upgrade the C90S to a 9600m GT 512mb DDR3

BETA:

This guide, unfortunately, is still in the "beta" phase because there is problem present that I could use a hand with from the community. I will reedit this post when the issue gets resolved with 3DMark06 scores and load temperatures.

Everyone who has bought a C90S has been waiting, desperately I might add, for a GPU upgrade. Well, this guide will show you how to upgrade your C90S from the extremely hot and poorly performing 8600m GT (DDR2 or DDR3 version) to the cooler running and better performing 9600m GT 512mb DDR3 card.

This upgrade can be done in two different ways, one relatively quick way that will yield less benefits, and one time consuming harder way that will yield some very impressive results. I will outline both of them, however I am not going to get that in depth with the "easy" way because I feel it is not a permanent solution and shouldn't be used for a prolonged time.

Okay, so before we get going too far there's a few things you are going to need to do this the right way. I'll break it down into the things you NEED as well as the things that would make the job much easier.

Tools/Supplies needed:

Screwdriver
Sandpaper
Saw with a "metal" blade
Drill and drill bits
A couple of very small computer screws
Thermal paste
Thermal pads (size/thickness depends on method used)
Patience and a steady hand

Things that make the job much easier:
Air compressor
Cut off wheel
Dremel or other rotary tool
Clamps

Gather up/borrow all the tools, order a pizza, grab some soda, and get ready for about 4 hours of work.

Step 1 - Buy what you need:

Well, first you'll need the card, it can be bought from eBay. Here's a link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180298030911 or just search for "9600m GT MXM". I suggest you buy some decent thermal paste and also thermal pads. Here's a picture of my card when I received it:





Step 2 - Figuring out what modifications need to be done:

As you will quickly notice upon inspection of your new card, the "heatsink mounting plate" is completely different from the one Asus uses. It uses smaller screws and it sits higher up then the Asus plate. This will in turn make the the "heat spreader" from the 8600m GT sit higher as well and not make contact with the GPU core or memory.

Further more, the plates CAN NOT be swapped because Asus' plate is of a much thicker design and will not fit the 9600m card. So basically, we're stuck with working around this mounting plate, which isn't too bad of a thing because it seems to be the standard size plate used for most other MXM-II cards as well.

This is the plate I'm referring to, and the area that is different than the Asus plate:





There are two ways to overcome this problem both with there own set of benefits and drawbacks listed below.

Method 1: The "easy" way. NOT recommended:

Benefits:

1. The modifications necessary are easy, and should be able to be completed in under an hour.

Drawbacks:

1. Due to the memory chips being slightly closer to the core, and the heat spreader not being designed for the 9600m, only half of each memory chip will be cooled.

2. Even modified, the mounting screws for the VGA heatsink will sit dangerously close to the electrical components/circuits on the 9600m.

3. You are still using the god awful aluminum 8600m heatspread.

Now that the positives and negatives are out of the way, let's move on. As I previously stated, I'm not going to get very in depth with this method because I really don't recommend it and consider it a potential danger for short circuits if done incorrectly. However, if you are extremely impatient and don't mind risking a brand new graphics card, or you absolutely can't find a way to do the other method, here's what needs to be done..

Basically, all you need to do is grind down one corner of the heatspreader so that it clears one of the circuits on the 9600m. I didn't bother to take a picture of what the heatspreader looks like BEFORE the modification because you'll be staring at your own. However, here's what the heatspreader should look like AFTER you are done grinding:



The spot highlighted shows the area we just ground down. Also, be sure to test fit the heatspreader on the 9600m multiple times and if it's making contact with ANY electrical components, remove it and grind that area down.

If everything is okay after you are done test fitting it then find some tiny screws (the stock ones will not even come close to working) and install the heatspreader onto the 9600m, while still checking for any contact with electrical components.

By this point you should see what I was talking about when I said only half of each memory chip would be cooled. There isn't much you can do about this, just make sure you applied decent thermal pads before you install the heatspreader for the last time and be sure to monitor your temps.

Also, when you go to install the VGA heatsink onto the heatspreader be sure to only tighten the screws down about half way. If you tighten them down all the way they can make contact with some of the electrical components on the 9600m.

That's really all there is to this method, I never ran my system for longer than about 10 minutes with it like this so I couldn't tell you what the idle temps will be, however I'm sure they won't be that great. If you absolutely must use this method, I suggest you use it with a laptop cooler at the very least.

Method 2 - "The ultra cool, super shiny, pain in the butt method":

Benefits:

1. When you are done you will have an 1/8" thick all copper heatspreader!

2. Complete cooling solution that will be 100% plug and play with the C90S' VGA heatsink, except for one screw

3. The heatsink should be compatible with other "standard mounting plate" MXM-II cards.

4. If done correctly, you won't have to worry about short circuits or not being able to tighten screws completely.

5. Significant idle temperature drops. (*BETA NOTE* Load temps have yet to be tested due to the present problem.)

6. It's shiny.

Drawbacks:

1. Time consuming.

2. Difficult to fabricate and actually make.

3. Lots of various tools needed to complete the job. [/B]

Okay, so we've gone over the benefits and drawbacks again and if you think you're up for this project here's a few pictures of what you will end up with if you do it correctly:







If you're still up for it, you'll need to start off by purchasing an 1/8" thick, 4" long, and 3" wide piece of copper. You can purchase a longer or wider piece of copper, just be sure its at least 4" long, 3" wide, and an 1/8" thick. Also, stick with an 1/8" for thickness. Any bigger and it WILL NOT fit, any smaller and you will probably have less cooling.

For reference I purchased an 8" long, 6" wide, 1/8" thick piece of copper on eBay for, if I remember correctly, about $30 shipped. This is what I worked with and it's what's pictured, but stay within the specifications given above and you should be fine.

You're going to start off with this (or something similar):



You will first need to get some paper and build a "template" of what the heatsink needs to look like by tracing your 9600m and removing any areas that may come in contact with any of the 9600m's electrical components.

Since I'm such a nice guy and have already done this myself I'm going to save you about 45 minutes worth of work and let you print out the template I have already made and scanned. You can download the template image from here: *BETA NOTES* The template has not yet been scanned! I will be scanning it and uploading it soon! Just be sure NOT to resize the image!

Now you should be left with a paper template that looks like this:



The next step is to trace the outline of the template onto the copper plate. I used a pencil for doing this and pressed down very hard to make an impression. When you get done your copper plate should look like this:



The picture isn't the best but in person the trace was more then visible. Now we have to cut the shape of our new heatspreader out from the piece of copper stock. I used a large clamp to hold the copper in place, a cut off wheel for the smaller areas that needed to be cut, and a saw with a metal cutting blade for the larger areas. You will need to rotate the copper multiple times and probably curse a half dozen times to get the job done.

When you get done cutting you should be left with a very jagged piece of copper that looks like this:



Next step is to sand down all the jagged edges and top and bottom sides of the heatspreader. I used an air compressed rotary tool with a few sanding bits to get the edges nice and smooth and an electric sander on the top and bottom sides. A dremel will work as well, and if all else fails, a piece of sand paper and some elbow grease. When you get done with this step your new heatspreader should look like this:



Now we will need to drill the necessary holes to mount the heatspreader to the 9600m. First you will need to place your paper template on top of your newly designed copper heatspreader and mark the areas that need to be drilled with a pencil like this:



This part is a little tricky, and I'll do my best to explain what needs to be done clearly. You will need to "double drill" the holes, and by that I mean you will need to drill HALFWAY through the copper with a drill bit two sizes bigger then the screws needed to secure the heatspreader to the 9600m's "mounting plate".

The reason you need to do this is to give the heads of the screws an area to sit that will keep them flush with the top of the heatspreader. In other words, you are keeping the heads of the screws from protruding above the top of the heatspreader and causing the VGA heatsink not to make proper contact with it.

So, use a drill bit two sizes bigger than the screw ( bigger than the screw NOT the "head" of the screw) and drill HALFWAY through the heatspreader. Drill SLOWLY!! If you drill too fast and go straight through the heatspreader, you will have just wasted all this time and work!

When you get done drilling halfway through, you will then need to use a drill bit the same size as the screw and drill another hole completely through the heatspreader. This second hole is for actually connecting the heatspreader to the 9600m's "mounting plate". When you get done drilling your new heatspreader will almost be complete and should look like this:



Now you will need to install the heatspreader onto the 9600m, then install the 9600m into your C90S and screw it down. Now line the VGA heatsink up and you will notice right away that one screw cannot be used. This is fine however, because it's not needed and the heatsink stays secured without it.
With the VGA heatsink lined up and sitting how it would if it was screwed down, trace the two VGA screw mounting areas with a pencil onto your heatspreader.

Disassemble the heatspreader from the 9600m and drill the final two holes necessary. Be sure to use a drill bit the same size as the VGA mounting screws. Use the spare VGA mounting screw you have to make "threads" in your two newly drilled VGA mounting holes. This can be done by slowly turning the screw down into the hole. You might have to elongate the hole a little, but try not to.

After you get done threading the holes check and make sure there are no jagged edges or little pieces of copper left in the drill holes. Sand down the top and bottom sides one more time to remove any jagged copper on the top or bottom sides. Clean the entire heatspreader up and you will finally be done with the fabrication stage!

All that's left to do is install it onto the 9600m and put everything back together in your C90S. When you get done this is what you'll be left with:





If you've made it this far, pat yourself on the back, you just did a heck of a job!

Step 3 - Installing the drivers and testing everything:

This is the easy part lol, I used drivers from laptopvideo2go.com and they worked just fine. Here's a GPU-Z screen capture:



Idle temps hover around 69-71* Celsius without a laptop cooler and the fans not spinning at all. They jump down to 65* with the fans turned on very low. If the fans turn on any higher than that the temps plummet to around 59-61*. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get any gaming temps due to the problem listed below....

THE PROBLEM:

Okay, so here's my issue that I've been racking my brain with for the past two days. I CAN'T GET THE CARD TO SWITCH INTO "3d mode"! What I mean by this is the clocks won't go above 275 core and 300 memory. I checked the bios image in Nibitor and those clock rates are listed under "Thrtl" and also as the startup clock rates. Here's a screen capture from Nibitor:



I've tried the following:

1. Tried about a dozen drivers listed as being compatible with the 9600m GT.

2. Tried flashing the card to remove the "extra" profile. This results in "NVIDIA monitor" not being able to read the clock speeds and other programs still showing them as 275/300.

3. Tried flashing the card with the "thrtl" profile upped to 500/1250/800. This results in the card displaying massive amounts of garbage when you get past the Vista boot screen.

4. Tried the card on a fresh XP SP2 install without any Asus drivers being installed.

5. Used Turbo Gear to set my power profile to "power saver" and hold my E6700 at 1050Ghz.

6. Tried a spare 120 AC adapter.

7. Installed a driver with a modified .inf to get rid of powermeizer (which I do not believe worked).

As you can see no matter what I've done the clocks just WILL NOT switch into "3d mode", or to where they should be. The card will downclock to 169/338/100 no problem when I'm just browsing or something, so powermeizer does work and the card is capable of moving it's clocks for lack of a better word.

For whatever reason though I just cant get it to switch into the default clocks. I'm pretty sure it's not getting enough power and that's what causing the issue. I'm using a 120W adapter already, but as Vicious' tests have shown in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=219507 the desktop cpu, especially an E6700, eats up an ungodly amount of power and is close to the limit of the adapter. This along with the need to upgrade to a better adapter (the 120W) with the use of the 8600m GT DDR3 card in some cases makes me think this is a definite possibility.

The only thing that concerns me with this conclusion is the fact that IF this were the case, the card should have switched to it's default clocks when I forced the system into "power saver mode" with Turbo Gear. This mode locks the E6700 at 1050Ghz which should free up more than enough power to juice up the 9600m.

I'm out of ideas at this point other than to try a 180W "universal" adapter and see if that works. I've flashed the card about a dozen times already and it's just refusing to up clock higher than 275/300.

On an amusing side note, I played COD4 last night for an hour with these clocks and achieved nearly the same performance as my 8600m GT 512mb DDR2 Temps held at 65* lol. This card has some SERIOUS potential if I can just figure this issue out. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

This is.... holy ****

was thinking to sell my c90s and buy desktop but this turns tables :d

 

Wow, very very nice mod. +1, you deserve a lot of rep for that.

Does the C90 come with a 120w adapter? Because if this adapter is higher rated than the original, it shouldn't be the issue because a 9600M GT only consumes 3w more than a 8600M GT.

Also, can you control things like brightness and other things related to a the LCD? If not, it could be a BIOS conflict between this card and the Motherboard...

 

Yup, brightness settings all work. All turbo gear modes work, and I can game with these clocks as long as I want to lol. I'm pretty sure if it was a bios issue it just wouldn't POST. I have a feeling I'm overlooking some very stupid detail. Fear not, I haven't come this far just to fail

 

Thanks! I can't wait to get this last problem solved and post up some 3dMark06 results!

 

Have you tried playing around with the drivers, contact the guys at laptopvideo2go.com they have a section in the forum for MXM video cards.

 

Yeah, I've tried multiple different drivers. I'm hoping it's something stupid like I'm using the wrong driver or something, even though I've been using ones listed as specifically compatible with the 9600m. I'll keep trying until I find one that works.

 

You deserve a cookie.

 

LOL.. amusingly I just had one about a half hour ago.

 

No, I mean they have a whole section on changing MXM video cards with people who have done it, great place for some help:

Official MXM-Upgrade.com Support & Discussion Forum

 

Ranger,

Thanks. I've seen that section before, I didn't even think of asking them, I usually come here right away with any questions lol. I'll post this thread over there shortly and see what they have to say as well.

 

Great work you've done there pal. EXCELLENT WORK!!
Try this and hopefully it'll fix your downclocking problem. It helped for me.

First of all install Rivatuner.
The fix that worked for me was going into RivaTuners power user tab and setting the value to 1 for Rivatuner\NVIDIA\Overclocking\EnableLowPower3dControl and Rivatuner\NVIDIA\Overclocking\EnablePerfLevelForcing. Then i went back to the overclocking tab,and activated the now revealed "Force Constant Performance Level" command to performance 3D. This completely and absolutely solved the slowdown problem I was having.

Im also running RMclock at maximum performance if its your CPU not GPU downclocking, wasn't a problem for me, but id rather leave it on and not worry about it.

Quote from somone from laptop2driver forum.
Good Luck

 

Great idea! Unfortunately, these stubborn clocks still won't move, and setting the clocks higher in "low power 3d" mode didn't do anything. Hmm...

 

Nice job! You've certainly come a long way!

Now I could be wrong, but shouldn't the 9600 card use less power than the 8600 since it's based on a 65nm architecture, hence more power efficient? I'm thinking it should be something else, rather than needing a larger PS.

 

You have to force performance 3D in overclocking tab. It will override whatever powermizer wants the card to run and only run clock you want with clock setting you have.

 

Yes, you are correct. It should use less power, however the 8600m GT is rated at 20 watts and the 9600m GT is rated at 23. I assume this is due to the fact it's clocks are a good deal higher than the 8600m's.

Yeah, I'm not entirely convinced it's a power supply issue either. It seems like a driver issue, but I've tried so many that I'm just not sure yet. I'm downloading more drivers as I type this. I WILL get to the bottom of this and have this card pumping out some nice 3dMark06 scores!

Anyone else with an idea feel free to chime in, any help is greatly appreciated!

 

hirush,

This is what you are referring to correct?



I gave it a shot and tried rebooting, no luck yet.

 

You did a great job with the fabrication and I can see you put a lot of work into this.

On your problem, its not power, I am most sure of it the 9000 series card is probably going to use less power than the 8000 series card. I am willing to bet that asus uses not only specific heat spreaders on there cards, but special cards to that are proprietary to the C90 and wont plug & play with standard MXM.

If this was not the case I see no reason why the bios flash would not have worked. I did alot of bios flash work with my new desktop 4850's and there was no difference in 2d or 3d clocks except the voltage & the clocks and I could easily just increase the 2d info to be the same as the 3d stuff if I wanted to.

 

Thanks for the compliment. If it wasn't going to work because of a proprietary or bios reason it would not have been able to POST when I first turned it on. Even as I type this I'm running at full resolution, the card downclocks fine to save power and then jumps back up again when I open a movie or something. I can even game completely stable. I've been using it since Wednesday like this.

I'm still not sure what it is just yet, but I will figure it out. I'm going to keep trying every driver I can get my hands on for now.

 

Yup that's right. Make sure put 1 in empty field on both
Rivatuner\NVIDIA\Overclocking\EnableLowPower3dControl
and
Rivatuner\NVIDIA\Overclocking\EnablePerfLevelForcing.
under poewr user tab.

Also remember to slide the bar to right or whatever default clock your card should have. From what I'm seeing in here you have core clock 400 and memory clock 300. Apply and you're good to go. Monitor you core and memory clock speed while gaming

 

Hey hirush,

I made sure to put a 1 on each setting listed and I've tried to overclock with it but haven't had any luck. By the way, there are actually four "modes" for the 9600m GT as shown here:



The problem is it won't budge past the "thrtl" mode. Rivatuner doesn't even show the 4 mode that uses the full clocks. However, GPU-Z and the NVIDIA control panel confirm the stock clock rates of 500 core/1250 shader/800 memory. This sure is a strange thing, I just can't figure it out yet.

 

Very nice. Kudos to you sir.

 

One option you could try would be to give it no other choice but to run at 3d clocks. When the software (powermizer/gefore drivers) read the gpu it sees the table with clock speeds for different situations and conducts the card accordingly. If it is a 2d app it runs at 169/338/100, if its in "neutral" it runs at 275, 550, 300, and so on. If you adjust the bios table so that the only speed available in any mode is 500/1250/800 then the software drivers will conduct the card as such. You will also have to change the bootup clocks to match. I do not believe this will harm the card seeing as it is prepared voltage and heat-wise at any time to run at the 3d clocks of 500/1250/800. I would suggest to open the ace door and sit the laptop on a house fan blowing on high before trying this. Also, make sure you are using a driver .inf file that has the line for the 9600M without the subsysid..

Example:

"%NVIDIA_G96.DEV_0649.1% = nv_G8x_HD, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0649"

Instead of:

"%NVIDIA_G96.DEV_0649.1% = nv_G8x_HD, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0649&SUBSYS_20051043"

The subsysid is used read the manufacturer of the gpu. Since the vendor of this 9600M is Nvidia and not Asus it would be good to ensure the software is not trying to run it as a Asus card.

By doing these 2 steps you can rule out incorrect bios/driver problems. The bios now says "run me at full speed no matter what" and the driver does not care if the gpu is vended by Nvidia, Asus, Clevo, or whoever. Also, make sure you try this after a fresh install without any 3rd party overclocking programs.


Also, if this fails you can try the evga precision overclocking tool and use the "boot up with these clock settings" option. Yes, it does with the mobile cards that arent evga. Make sure you try this with the non subsysid driver though.

 

I guess this would also be a good time to say that there will be no further releases of the AutoInstall scripts. I sold my C90s.

 

Forgot to say this is really good NightWalker. If i had the patience and resources you had I would have been done this but....well I just stopped caring after a while about my C90S. Glad you took it on though. Rep up.

 

+1 Rep excellent job Nightwalker !!!!! I said SO MANY times in your thread that i was a GPU update lol

Ok, i have a solution how about you throw in on the ground and then pick it up? It might get a "jump" in peformance

 

your temps are good for the core but maybe i missed it what were they for the ram chips. i know they dont sit totally fluch with the gpu die maybe they are getting to hot.. what are you using between them and the copper and the aluminum.. these normally have the soft heat pads from the factory on them.. if they did there is no way any compound could fill that big of a gap.. just a thought

 

Swoley2k,

Great info man! I've already tried flashing all 4 profiles to read 500/1250/800 and it results in BSOD as soon as the Vista boot screen disappears. I'm going to try it again though, but this time I'm going to change the "vendor" tab in Nibitor to read "Asus". I'm also going to change the bootup clocks to 500/1250/800 as well and give it a shot.

About the driver subsysid, I get what you're saying for the most part but I'm still a little confused. You are saying search for a driver that has this listed as compatible: %NVIDIA_G96.DEV_0649.1% = nv_G9x correct?

Thanks again for the help, some very good ideas! This issue will get figured out sooner or later : P

 

Screen capture of my 9600m's hardware IDs:

 

Trying to flash the card with the vendor changed to "Asus" results in the following error in nvflash:

"Warning: Firmware image subsystem ID (1043.1405) different
than PCI adapter subsystem ID (1A46.1405).

I'm wondering if there is a way to force the flash, perhaps by using the "-f" command?

 

EVGA Precision tool 1.1.1 says "No supported hardware detected!".

 

Found this command on Nibitor's website:

"3. nvflash -4 -5 -6 file.rom [Enter]

Force Flash (different model card, different firmware)"

Heh, little scared to do this though, I don't want to go bricking my card after all this work

 

I have flashed my 4850's to different vendors. it does not change the card a bit, but that means I do not think it will solve anything.

I only changed my visiontek cards to asus cards so I could use the precision tool. (in desktops if you do not have an asus card it wont work, on notebooks I do not think it matters)

 

Yup, I forced the flash and changed the ID to read "Asus". Still no luck yet.

 

Hum, that's an interesting problem. What happens when you OC?

Lol, oh yeah. Nice job. +rep for you good sir!

 

If what I suggested results in BSOD then I would think it would be a deeper problem like voltage or mobo bios issues....but keep at it. I dont have any tools to try anything myself. You seem pretty smart so youll get it.

 

Actually, what error does the BSOD give. If it is a nvidia driver error then there may be other things to try...

 

Swoley2k,

It listed the NVIDIA display driver as the cause of the BSOD when I change all the clocks to 500/1250/800. Next time it happens I'll write down the exact name of the file. ANY ideas at this point are helpful, thanks!

 

Not sure if this will work, but how about doing a soft-mod and using quadro drivers?

 

Did the seller that sold you this item have good feedback? Also, maybe the GPU isnt getting proper cooling for some reasOn?

 

Wow...I would never have the guts to do such a hardcore mode lol. $300 a bit pricey though IMO.

 

Never heard of this, do you have a link to a guide/discussion about it? Thanks!

 

Here you go
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539

I remember doing the softmod on my Asus M50 (w/ the 9500M GS GPU)... hopefully it'll work got the 9600M GT

 

Thanks! I'll give it a shot.

 

Okay, so I'm considering flashing my card with the bios of a DIFFERENT 9600m GT 512mb DDR3 card. Anyone else think this is a bad idea?

 

Im actually suprised I didnt think of that. Flash it with a 9600M GT bios from an Asus notebook with the 9600M GT. I dont know of any off the top or my head though.

 

Is it possible to make in advance a script on a bootable CD that writes a good, known BIOS to the card in case the new BIOS fails and you don't see anything on the screen? (assuming the notebook would boot at all in such an event)

 

hopefully your advice wasnt too late, I hope

 

Have you seen about PCIE ?

My 8600M_GT is on a bus PCIE 1.0x16 @ x16. (from Everest).
This 9600M GT might be on PCIE 2.0, as some I saw on ebay ?

@+

 

9800xpv,

Interesting thought. I checked and it's listed as "PCI bus 1, device 0, function 0". It might have something to do with it.

simonov & E.B.E.,

I am still too scared to flash it yet lol. If the card fails to initialize, as far as I know, the laptop will not POST.

swoley2k,

Yeah I've been considering doing it for a while I'm just afraid it will not londer POST after I do. I have a bios image from an Acer with a 9600m GT 512mb DDR3. The bios settings look exactly the same, I'm kind of convinced at this point that it's an issue with the cards bios. I believe it's either not being supplied enough voltage from the cards bios settings or some other setting is preventing the switch into "3d mode".

Also when I go to Device Manager/Display adapters/NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT/Details under the "property" tab when I select "Inf name" it's showing the .inf as "oem61.inf". I used a driver that was ONLY compatible with this card, meaning I removed ALL other device IDs just to be sure it would work correctly.

:head hurts from trying to figure this out: :confused2: