Crazy video card upgrade idea for 770

[SilentDude56k]

Hey all, it's been a while since I've been here. Glad to see the ThinkPad community still thriving.

Anyway, I just recently picked up another 770. Upgraded the 200 MHz Pentium MMX to a 400 MHz Pentium II OCed to 460 via SoftFSB, got RAM up to 416 MB, etc.

Earlier today I was thinking about something that would make the thing more useful. For example, I use this laptop sometimes, but having two identical laptops is kind of a waste if you're not using both, in my opinion. I need to check some data sheets and do pin testing, but maybe, just maybe, the video card slot in the 770 actually has all the pins of a desktop computer PCI slot. If this is true, and the video out to the laptop display is just standard VGA, then it would theoretically be possible to replace the old thing with a newer PCI video card and keep using the LCD display.

Since the laptop I just got is more beat up than this one, I thought maybe I'd try it, especially since it's just sitting there on my desk not being used.

Also, I might try removing the soldered on 32 MB of RAM in order to hopefully free up the RAM bank it's using. Maybe slot 2 will be able to use 2 banks then and max out the system at 512 MB instead of 416.

Any ideas, suggestions, or opinions are welcome and appreciated.

[el-sahef]

On the 770X/Z it is possible but with an AGP card. You can find out which AGP pins from the Chipset lead to which contact of the connector. The TFT is adressed via a DFP-Port which is in fact a DVI Port without the four analogue pins for VGA via DVI.
Butit is not possible to use a Desktop card in the Case, because of power requirements and size. But a mini-AGP-card (e. g. the mobility Radeon 9000) should fit, if you solder the wires correctly and if the BIOS can handle it. The 770 Viedo Card is PCI (so you would have to find a mini-pci-vga with DFP or DVI --impossible-- ), but the MMC1-Module used in the 770 does not support AGP because the connector does only connect PCI to the Board. On MMC2-Laptops like 770X/Z, AGP-Operation is possible.

[SilentDude56k]

Thank you for your information. There still is hope for my laptops though - there are indeed PCI cards with DVI ports on them . I think something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814139010 would work fine.

As for the desktop cards being too big, my battery has been dead for a long time, so I don't need to have it in my laptop anymore. I haven't measured the battery's length, and I don't know the length of that video card, but it looks like it could fit in the battery slot. I would need to trim the bracket on the video card a bit to get it in there, but after that I just need to run some wires back into the video card port on the motherboard. Now, my only concern is the new video card's power consumption. I might be able to use the battery leads in the laptop for the extra power, but I'm not exactly sure about that yet.

Again, thank you for your reply.

Edit: I think that PCI card is meant to be used in a multiple monitor setup, and that's why it has a DVI port.

[pkiff]

I think something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814139010 would work fine.

I don't know if this would be relevant to what you are proposing, but I have compiled a Dock III - Unofficial Graphics Card Compatibility List of PCI video cards that folks have had success running with 600/770 machines in the SelectaDock III (aka Dock III). Obviously, the SelectaDock brings its own set of limitations with it, but I suspect there are also BIOS limitations that are reflected by some items on the list.

Phil.

[SilentDude56k]

Thanks, I'll take that list into consideration. If this particular card doesn't work, I'll get a Voodoo 5 5500 and buy a VGA to DVI converter. The reason I want to do this is mainly to play Warcraft III, UT2004 (yes, it'll work fine), and watch DivX, XviD, and H.264 encoded videos on the go. Also, it's fun to see the reaction on people's faces when you have an 11 year old brick running all the games they do.