Options to upgrade a Clevo M980NU ( Eurocom M980NU XCaliber)

So my gaming 'laptop' (more of a lap crusher) has served me great, but now I need more power. I'm thinking a QX9300 if I can find one at a decent price, also I already have a GTX 280m, it would be nice to find a 2nd one for SLI mode, however those are really hard to find (for me at least) in the MXM 3.0b form.

For the video card can I use just about any lower end-ish nVidia MXM 3.0b type card (once I go to the latest BIOS which was a while back I believe) ? I don't necessarily have to go SLI if I can upgrade the 280m to something more powerful, maybe a 480 or 580?

 

Yeah, I don't think anyone has done much experimenting.

You should try a GTX 660m and overclock the hell out of it.

Dell M3XJV NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M 1GB GDDR5 w Heat Sink Video Card | eBay

Really good price. The 660m is newer architecture than the 670m and 675m. So you can't really get the most efficient technology in a higher midrange card at a good price. Only the gtx 680m, 675mX and 670mX use the newer architecture.

I guess the 670mx might be a good bet at 300$ but then you could get a 580m, 675m or 6990m for less than 300$ and they will perform better (at stock clocks)...

 

Would I have an issue with the BIOS or would I have to mod it somehow?

 

Thats pretty awesome.. Are you doing an SLI setup?

 

Why on earth would you buy a 480m. The 480m is like, worse than the 470m. If anything get a 485m.

If you're going to contact them directly why not ask if the gtx 660m is compatible.

 

I did ask them what other options are possible, but the sales guy could only reply with whats on their upgrade site (over-priced and not quite up to date), which is why I started this thread here, and he's not been exactly replying lately. I see a couple of people selling the 580m/675 in the Sell forum.. I figure a single 580 or 660 (i see lots of 680's as well) would be better than a 280m SLI setup too.

 

Hey, Be aware, SLI setups also require that small SLI ribbon cable, the connector is located at the left side of the chip (white small clip-on connector)

Clevo laptops accept all "generic" MXM cards, I have never got compatibility issues

 

Hi there! That is not so easy!
I've got GTX670m for my M980NU (sager). Installed it BUT there were some problems: BIOS identified it as "unknown" so I needed to use mod INF file to instal video driver.
That was not end of problem - the card works but just 2D mode (perfomance level (0) P12 and perfomance level (1) P8. I couldn't make it to swich in 3d mode (full power)
So, BIOS modification is needed. After I'll find a solution I'll post it here

 

Partial solution was found. VideoBIOS mod from Prema. Now the compuer works almost like with two gtx280SLI but with DX11

 

Almost like an 280 SLI setup? I'm surprised, i would have thought a newer architecture single video card setup would got well above and beyond the SLI setup of older stuff..

 

Just an update to this.. considering the availability of cards and the pricing, I think I'm going to snag a GTX 485m, maybe 2 for SLI. That should get us by for a little while, without shelling out for the cost of a new laptop. This is going to turn into a "hand me down" upgrade from my wife to myself to use as a server as my wife consider's going to an MSI GT70. I have a feeling we're going to turn into an MSI household, my daughter is contemplating a GE70 for portability. I'm a MB Pro user myself, but since they stopped making 17" laptops and their new models suck, i'm going to have to shop around.

 

So I picked up a GTX 485M however my current heat sink won't do, nor can I modify it because of the GPU die shape/size difference. Eurocom won't sell me one seperately because they would rather I buy a full kit (GPU, fans, heat sink etc etc).. thusly I probably won't buy anything else from them again, I didn't care for their attitude and treatment.

That aside, anyone got any suggestions of what I should look at, or where I could find one thats correct and would fit?

 

Hi!
Here is a picture shows some answers to you

 

Your best bet to stick with a single card config. The QX9300 will start to hold you back if you SLI newer high end cards. Still a decent chip though!

 

Did you have to use a modded BIOS for the 470m? If so, where did you get it from? Thanks!

 

Did he have to custom make the bios mod for you, or did you download it from his website? Would the one he gave you support the 470m? Thanks!

 

After doing some reading online, I think I figured out what I need to do. Basically, the vBIOS needs to be have it's identifier flashed to a card that the M980NU supports, and that should get everything to work properly. Please correct me if I am wrong. I might go ahead with the 670m like bug999, if it is a significant improvement over a 470m.