Which notebook graphics card?

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Madwand99

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Jul 26, 2011
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I would like to run the Witcher 2 on my year-old laptop. Currently it's chugging along at 2-5 FPS. My suspicion is that a new graphics card is needed. Here are my specs:

CPU: Intel(R) Core™ i7-720QM Processor 1.60 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache PGA988
MOTHERBOARD: Intel PM55 Chipset Mainboard
MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-1333 SODIMM Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
NOTEBOOK: Compal NBLB2 Notebook 15.6" Full HD 1920x1080 Display
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit AND Ubuntu 10.10
VIDEO: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 GDDR3 1GB PCIe 3D Video

My requirements:
Must be able to play Witcher 2 at reasonable framerates.
Card must actually be able to fit in my notebook -- this is a mid-size laptop, and I'm not sure which cards will fit.
Card will need to run cool and not suck any more power than the current card. This machine does have problems with heat.
The card must run under Ubuntu, as that is my main OS for doing work.

Is the video card the problem here, as I suspect? If so, what would be the best card to replace it with? I'm primarily looking at ATI brands as I believe these are better supported by Linux, although I'm not sure how much of a concern that actually is. I'm very confused by all the information I've seen on cards so far, can anyone help?
 
Solution
Based on a couple of sites I've found the Compal NBLB2 (longer sold) does not allow you to select a video card. Everything can be configured, but not the video card. Therefore, that leads me to suspect that the HD 5650 is soldered into the motherboard.

Perhaps the manual can tell you if the HD 5650 uses any particular MXM format (video card format for laptops).

Otherwise, you can contact Compal and ask them if the video card can be replaced:

http://www.compal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=1450&lang=en

Madwand99

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Jul 26, 2011
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I'm not sure. Is there a way I can find out without taking my notebook apart? I'd like to delay that as long as possible.
 
Based on a couple of sites I've found the Compal NBLB2 (longer sold) does not allow you to select a video card. Everything can be configured, but not the video card. Therefore, that leads me to suspect that the HD 5650 is soldered into the motherboard.

Perhaps the manual can tell you if the HD 5650 uses any particular MXM format (video card format for laptops).

Otherwise, you can contact Compal and ask them if the video card can be replaced:

http://www.compal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109&Itemid=1450&lang=en
 
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Madwand99

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Jul 26, 2011
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18,510


Thanks for the tip. I did e-mail Compal and they replied that the video card is indeed soldered to the motherboard. This is unfortunate. Thanks for your help... at least now I know what I'm dealing with! I don't suppose there is anything that can be done at this point without buying a new machine?
 
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