T42 Video Card swap

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Vazine · #1 Post by **Vazine** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:25 pm

Hi everyone,

I am considering purchasing a T42 (2378-FZU)

How difficult is it to swap the given ATI Mobility RADEON 7500 for a much better one. like:
ATI AIW RADEON 9700 Video Card, 128MB DDR, CATV/VIVO, 8X AGP
or
ATI RADEON 9600PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "100-437002-BULK" -OEM

I want this computer to be able to play Doom3 and similar games with ease.

Are there any other video cards I should be looking at?

Thanks,
Eian

Leon · #2 Post by **Leon** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:34 pm

video cards on Thinkpads can't be swapped unless you take a very hot blowtorch to the motherboard......

Vasant56 · #3 Post by **Vasant56** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:27 am

Lets say in 3 years I wanted to upgrade my laptop? Would I be able to get the mb and processor replaced?

Nabeel · #4 Post by **Nabeel** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:27 am

Besides, that cards you've listed are for desktop computers.

tselling · #5 Post by **tselling** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:56 am

Vasant56 wrote:Lets say in 3 years I wanted to upgrade my laptop? Would I be able to get the mb and processor replaced?

Probably more cost effective in 3 years to sell the old one and buy a newer model.

ryan · #6 Post by **ryan** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:56 am

you should be able to upgarde the processor no problem, assuming it'll fit...

Vazine · #7 Post by **Vazine** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:34 am

Leon wrote:video cards on Thinkpads can't be swapped unless you take a very hot blowtorch to the motherboard......

That's so depressing

I'm having such a hard time picking a new laptop out. I'm looking a the E8000 series from fujitsu now since it has the option of a ATI MOBILITY TM RADEON TM 9700 w/ 64 MB VRAM with a similar setup to the T42(2378-FZU) for less than $1900. Do you guys know if these are any good? Or can you recommend an IBM notebook computer with a similar video card for under $1900.

Thanks.

Vazine · #8 Post by **Vazine** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:36 am

Nabeel wrote:Besides, that cards you've listed are for desktop computers.

Yea, I just now realized that you have to get a "mobile" video card. That makes sense, LoL

stefano · #9 Post by **stefano** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:52 pm

You won't be able to switch your video card.
But if you want a TP that can play even new games you can go for
2373KYG (don't know if it is an italian code)
It has dothan 755, 1 Gb ram and a ATI FIREGL t2, which is a mobility radeon 9600 with 128 mb ram and is optimized gl/cad/modeling application (drivers are more focused on stability and image quality than speed, but i guess you can try tweaked ones like DNA or OMEGA ).
I had received mine 5 days ago, I'm still getting to know it, but it can play far cry very well at 1280x1024, with high/very high settings.

Still I dont have installed doom3 , but i expect a good result.
I'm going to make a 3dmark test soon, and I'm going top post the result, for those interested in this things.

For everything else i'm stunned by overall quality and beauty of this notebook

. It is almost perfect. I can use it at work and run up to three virtual machine with winxp on them with no problem, the wireless link is much better than the old USR pcmcia (811/g) card I used on the old notebook.

Oh, well the keyboard light should be a little more powerful (it's nearly useless

)

stefano

Kenn · #10 Post by **Kenn** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:22 pm

stefano wrote: Still I dont have installed doom3 , but i expect a good result.
I'm going to make a 3dmark test soon, and I'm going top post the result, for those interested in this things.

stefano

I'm running a hodgepodge of updated ATI and IBM drivers, and haven't optimized my system for gaming/graphics. Just so you have a baseline, on a 745/1GB FireGL T2 I was getting about 25fps on Doom3 timedemo demo1 (average last 2 of 3 runs) at 640x480 Medium, and about 975-990 on 3DMark 05. I expect this is at the low end of the same-hardware scale.

lfeagan · #11 Post by **lfeagan** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:05 am

Fujitus notebooks actually tend to be quite nice. I have heard many good things about them. If I were getting one, and I almost did get one instead of my IBM T42, I was about one pixel away form getting a Fujitsu P series. A good place to get a Fujtisu from is: http://www.laptopsinc.com/ and there are really good Fujitsu forums to ask questions at: http://www.leog.net/fujp_forum/ Though it says P series, they have sections for general Fujitsu questions and I feel pretty confident someone there knows about that notebook. Hope this helps.

T42 Video Card swap

T42 Video Card swap

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