Radeon HD 5870 mobile help.

[helpmesuperman]

So my 5870 mobile is starting to get artifacts and I believe it is slowly dying out on me. I would love to either upgrade it or get it replaced, which would be cheaper and where exactly could I get the upgrade done as I do not want to do in fear of breaking my msi gx660 since I don't know my way around a laptop, only Desktops. Can anyone help me and direct me with all of this?

 

[megamanx00]

Those GPUs are generally soldered on to the motherboard. Unless you have laptop with a removable module for the GPU (a few specialty laptops and alienware models) you would have to replace the entire motherboard. Trust me, that's no fun. You should see if you can't get that repaired through warranty or something. If you need to replace the motherboard you should be able to find one on eBay (you can find a lot of hard to find laptop parts there), but harder to find will be the service manual online. You're going to have to google it and probably go through a few result pages before you find the right manual to safely disassemble your laptop.

 

[helpmesuperman]

Those GPUs are generally soldered on to the motherboard. Unless you have laptop with a removable module for the GPU (a few specialty laptops and alienware models) you would have to replace the entire motherboard. Trust me, that's no fun. You should see if you can't get that repaired through warranty or something. If you need to replace the motherboard you should be able to find one on eBay (you can find a lot of hard to find laptop parts there), but harder to find will be the service manual online. You're going to have to google it and probably go through a few result pages before you find the right manual to safely disassemble your laptop.

Oh no, I know it is a removable module and I just actually opened it up about ten minutes ago, I read up on how I can replace it but I am wondering where I can find a replacement GPU that is either A. Same or B. upgraded but still uses the same amount of W's. This is a specialty laptop as it is from MSI and is a GX660 model, not an R which has the i7 processor. I now know how to replace the GPU but I need to find where I can buy a replacement.

 

[megamanx00]

Check on eBay. I doubt you would be able to upgrade simply because that would require replacing the cooling assembly to deal with increased heat or a slightly different layout. If you want a different GPU check to see if 1) it's an option on that model (or a model with the same body construction), and 2) if it needs a different cooling assembly.