Thinkpads Forum

Hey all. Not sure if this has been asked or not, but is it possible to upgrade the video on a T61?

Here's the specifics: I've got a T61 6465-01U, Widescreen 1280x800, Intel X3100 GM965 chipset, T7100 (1.8GHz), 1GB Ram (currently running 3GB), XP SP2 32bit (running SP3).

I don't know the first thing about upgrading laptops, but I've built my fair share of desktops. I'd like to upgrade it to the NVidia Quadro NVS 140m or better, if possible. Knowing my luck, the video hardware is probably directly on the mobo.

If I would have known that the X3100 video wasn't the best for gaming, I would have ordered the upgraded video instead. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Edit: Forgot to mention, I primarily run games like Freelancer, Guild Wars, Trackmania Nations United, and Audiosurf. Don't know if that helps.

The video chip is soldered on the motherboard, so you'd have to get a new motherboard with the desired chip.

Bah. I was worried about that. I was hoping for just a simple card swap like you would do on a desktop machine. Oh well... Thanks for the info qviri.

Nvidia has been working on this with MXM, but we're not quite there yet.

qviri wrote:

Nvidia has been working on this with MXM, but we're not quite there yet.

And with the next generation of ThinkPads supposedly (and hopefully) going back to ATi, we'll never get to see that...

hopefully ??? Return to [censored] driver and crappy cataclysm control center is hopefull ?

Pascal_TTH wrote:

hopefully ??? Return to bullxxxx driver and cxxxxx cataclysm control center is hopefull ?

In my opinion only, and on a ThinkPad, yes.

Any time ThinkPads and nVidia (which I have nothing against) mixed, there were driver issues from here to high heaven, on ancient but charming G41 as well as on T61/p. So someone somewhere had failed to do their job both times around...

I am not a software developer and am not going to go around pointing fingers, but I'll take ATi because it has always worked for me in the past...and still does. It doesn't mean it works for everyone else, and I've always said that people are entitled to their own preferences.

Mine is ATi over nVidia. Yours is the exact opposite. Let's leave it at that, and may peace be with you...