Sony Vaio FW series Video card Upgrade???

[I_AM_JOE]

Hello,

I just recently bought Diablo 3 and after downloading the game, I am unable to play it due to my graphics card. My laptop is a VGN-FW250J and I believe the Graphics card is an Intel GMA 4500MHD.


The Error message:

"We Have Detected that your Video Card is not supported by Diablo III.

Operating System: Windows Vista Service Pack 2
Video Card: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family"

Wondering If I can update my drivers to play? possibly upgrade my graphics card? please let me know what you think! thanks

 

[bavman]

Nope, laptops are a no-go on gpu upgrades 98% of the time. You only chance is a DIY ViDock:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/e-gpu-external-graphics-discussion/397667-lets-figure-out-how-make-diy-vidock.html

 

[vmem]

You have a build in graphics accelerator on your motherboard as far as I can tell, not an actual video card. Sorry to tell you but you can't upgrade that

 

[papilovesyou]

hey guys... i have a sony vaio nw 270f laptop and yes the motherboard has a built in graphics accelerator but i want to upgrade... what if i buy another motherboard for this laptop? can i then upgrade the video card to something that is similar to my other laptop (vpccw13fx) has a geforce 210m...

???

 

[bavman]

Seriously not even worth it. Just buy a whole new laptop.

 

[papilovesyou]

Seriously not even worth it. Just buy a whole new laptop.

why isn't it worth it?

 

[bavman]

Your specific laptop doesn't have a model with a discrete card therefor there exists no motherboards on the market that would both fit your laptop and have a video card. So if you do find a board with similar dimensions you'll have to mod your laptop to fit the new mobo which will include hours of labor with the possibility that your break something. Finally, your laptop is several generations behind so finding a replacement part for it (if it exists) will be hard. The amount of money and time you'll put into a project like this is easily bypassed by buying a cheap laptop with a decent card that can play games.

 

[papilovesyou]

Your specific laptop doesn't have a model with a discrete card therefor there exists no motherboards on the market that would both fit your laptop and have a video card. So if you do find a board with similar dimensions you'll have to mod your laptop to fit the new mobo which will include hours of labor with the possibility that your break something. Finally, your laptop is several generations behind so finding a replacement part for it (if it exists) will be hard. The amount of money and time you'll put into a project like this is easily bypassed by buying a cheap laptop with a decent card that can play games.

how much cheaper are we talking here? i wanted to get this one motherboard here.. i know it will require a lot of labor and everything, risky, but will it work? is what im asking i dont care about the risk!

http://bit.ly/Kp7mS2

 

[bavman]

Your missing the point. The motherboard doesn't even have a slot for a dedicated videocard. Your best bet is to buy a new laptop or build an external video card setup (ViDock). See 2nd post of this thread.

 

[papilovesyou]

ok ill keep in use with my other sony.. the one with the geforce that will be good enough to play games like d3 and such.. im guessing the one i showed you doesn't have a dedicated videocard slot... and gaming laptop these days are really expensive! do you know any good cheap ones out there in the market?

 

[bavman]

I'd say 600 would be around the lowest you can find something with a dedicated videocard:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1798028&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=VRqCjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE

Has an i5 and a gtx 540m

 

[papilovesyou]

by dedicated video card you mean that the card can be replaced by something else?

 

[bavman]

A dedicated video card is one that is not integrated into the CPU die. It has its own processing chip and its own memory and therefore much more powerful than an integrated video processor. Most dedicated video cards are removable and able to be switched with other card (although the problem you will often run into is that a better card will require more power than the laptop is able to provide). Some laptops solder their videocards to the motherboard though so you cant change them.

 

[papilovesyou]

ok the i5 looks convincing.. except it was a gt instead of gtx... and yes you are right... i'm guessing upgrading would require a bigger power supply and what not.. but how does one know if getting a new video card would require more power?

 

[papilovesyou]

how can i know if the cpu has dedicated slots and all? the website didn't tell me that for the video card...