The safe route
Off coarse, not all options have the same potentially destructive outcomes. Your first line of information is your laptop manufacturers website.
- Search for "MXM" in the specific information for your laptop or with the general search tool of the site.
- MXM is based on PCI Express. So, if the chipset of your laptop does not support this technology, it's simply not possible that you have a MXM laptop. Example: Intel's 855 chipset does not feature PCI-Express. Intel's 915 series does. If you current GPU is based on AGP technology: forget it! So, no upgrades before GeForce Go6xxx.
- If they use 'module', 'modular' or ''upgradable' in their descriptions, it could be MXM powered. It could also be something different altogether, or ATI's AXIOM.
- If there are several GPU's listed for the same model, this could also point to MXM.
- Integrated graphics? 99,9% sure this is not a MXM platform. Even if the motherboard is also used for MXM cards, then the connector is probably not mounted and even if it is there is probably no heatsink for a power hungry GPU.
Note that these last two points do not provide definite answers. Also on the safe route: Google is your friend!
- Use MXM together with your laptop's model and/or manufacturer.
- Use 'review' together with your laptop's model and/or manufacturer. Many reviewers have the nasty habit of taking their subject apart.
- See if you laptop is perhaps based on the same chasis as others (a common practice). Then see if you can find more info on their brethren.
Should you find a MXM notebook that is not in our list, then do not hesitate to contact us.
The software route
NVIDIA:
Method 1: Download the latest video drivers from your manufacturer's site. Extract it and open the *.inf file Search for anything MXM. Depending on how some information is stored, either in the VBios or a separate ROM, this search will return strings like
[MXMThermal_AddReg]
HKLM,Software\"NVIDIA Corporation"\Global\NVTweak,MXMThermalControl,%REG_DWORD%,1
If it does, there is a decent chance your notebook is MXM. This only works for the original manufacturer's drivers, as most of the modded inf drivers out there include the MXM lines. We also found some resellers actually offer the modded inf drivers of the enthousiast community as their 'official' drivers. And finally, some manufacturers have a MXM notebook in their portefollio and mainain a 'general' inf for their nVidia drivers.
Special thanks to (R)(R)(R) from the LaptopVideo2Go forums!
Method 2: Dump the vBios.
nVidia: Use Nbitor. Open the vBios in wordpad and search for 'MXM'. This works for a few vBioses, not all. If the vBios can not be dumped, that points to a vBios integrated into the sBios and that would mean that the GPU is not on a module!
We are always looking to hear how it went. We also appreciate if you send us the Bios we got, as it may help us understand MXM better and it might help us helping you in the future! Some vBios information may also be available through Everest, Rivatuner or other tools.
ATI: Go to your ATI tray tool and dump your bios. It should be exactly 60kb and it's content should be different from all zeros or all ones.
If so, there's a decent chance it's MXM. Keep in mind that only desktop cards store their vBios onboard, as they can be replaced. Most laptop's graphics solutions can't be exchanged and have their vBios as a part of the sBios. But keep in mind that this method is not watertight! There are other graphics modules out there (AXIOM to name but one) and they may store their vBios onboard to for convenience
Special thanks to slap-o from the The Gamebooks Forum for his support!
Special tool (UPDATED): This method is perfectly harmless, even though it is an .exe file, but it has not been verified, so we have no idea if it works. First you must boot in native DOS mode. If you have a floppy drive, use a bootdisk. If you don't, follow Ikovac's guide on how to make a USB stick bootable. Download this tool and run it from the command prompt. Tell us what it says, and we'll tell you what it means! We are looking for people to verify this tool, so if you want your name below this phrase, get testing!
If it says: Returned: 005F.0011.0000.0000 you have MXM under the hood!
(UPDATED II): A lot of people have been kind enough to try the tool. It has always returned a bad value, even for notebooks that are certified MXM. Only a single log was close to confirming MXM compatibility. So, if your run comes up empty this definetely does not mean it's not MXM! It's just one way of finding out that didn't work out.
Special thanks to Teraphy from the LaptopVideo2Go forums!
The not-so-safe route
If you don't know how the insides of your desktop look like, don't even continue to read. If there is so much as a single word or acronym in this entire website you don't understand, don't bother. If you don't have at least 10 different types of screw drivers in your house, please don't try anything listed below.
All that just to say that you shouldn't open your laptop unless you're 100% sure you can close it again. And even then only if you are willing to forfait your guarantee.
But if you're willing to proceed even after the warning above, feel free to take a peak inside.
If you're lucky, your laptop is going to be as tidy inside as this one. You can clearly see the laptop's RAM and it's wireless network card. On the left hand side, there's a heatpipe plus fan construction. In most cases, heatpipes, heatspreaders and the fan are used to cool down the hottest component, in casu your CPU, chipset and the GPU. Please note that by removing the heatpipe's and spreaders, you may damage the thermal interface, consisting of simple Artic Silver like paste or harder to find thermal patches. You will get something like this...
The CPU and chipset are now exposed. There is still a heatspreaders on the upper left corner. When you remove it, you might get something like this..
The little plug-in card on the upper left corner is the MXM card.
This is how an MXM looks like. Notice that there are several flavors. More on that here.
Last updated 24 august 2007