What's in it for you?
Untill the arrival of MXM-Upgrade: not much. Some laptops could be fitted with a GPU of your choice, but that was about it. If you check out this video from NVIDIA, you are led to believe you can upgrade your laptop graphics card as easily as you would swap a PCMCIA card. Nothing could be further from the truth. First off all, the actual mechanical and thermal interfaces are more complicated compared to NVIDIA's vision, but that's not even the tough part.
The tough part wasthat you can't really buy these modules.
Why? Because if you are not happy with the graphic performance of your laptop, you have to buy a new one. If you would be able to buy an MXM card off Newegg or your local computer shop instead, that would be a transaction where the laptop manufacturers have nothing to gain, while they have lost the sale of a new laptop in the process.
And so they shield the market as much as they can. Very few manufactures even mention MXM. They carefully use the word 'module', or they mention nothing at all. And yet, more and more laptops are powered by MXM!
That is why we continue to work hard to change this. By relentlessly crawling the net for information, testing all MXM gear we can lay our hands on and last but not least: offer MXM cards for sale for the lowest price we can afford. For more details, check the store page.
Our mission:
We aim at being your first and only stop for all the information regarding this exiting standard.
We will provide you with a database with all the laptops that have been confirmed to be MXM powered. We will feature tutorials on how to determine the exact MXM type . We will provide tutorials on how to upgrade your laptop yourself!
And finally, we will be your one and only source of MXM modules on the web, finally fulfilling the full potential of this powerful concept.
News from the MXM front!
26 june 2008
There we go: DX10 is in the house. We will be starting to sell Type I 8400 cards and Type II 8600 cards today.
The 8400 will be our lowest cost, lowest effort card and at the same time our only Type I card. It does not require any modification on heatsinks on all Amilo MXM notebooks (identical to Alienware m5500, m5700, m5550 and m5750). It all boils down to 10 minuts quality time with your screwdriver and a new driver. These cards should also be compatible with some Amilo Pro Type I only notebooks out there.
The 8600 (512MB DDR2) is basically the same story but the added performance comes at the cost of a heatsink job to accomodate a large coil on the card. Being Type II, the card will not fit a Type I only notebook.
As both cards lack the threaded spacers of "standard" cards, we will provide a set of bolts and nuts for mounting during a transition period. We are currently sourcing the actual spacers. Once they are in, they will replace the bolts and nuts. We assume both cards to be suited for a wide range of brands (MSI, Asus Z81,Z84, Acer and Aopen are likely candidates) and we also look forward to tackle some of the "problem" brands again (Arima, Gateway,..). We have good hopes these cards will behave nicely there as well.
The x1800 cards remain in our inventory as the best price/performance option we have.
28 february 2008
Here's an opportunity to help us out. We have been looking for Everest and Rivatuner reports from any and all MXM platforms out there. Equally important: ATI or nVidia vBios. So, if you can spare 5 minutes please send them in!. Chances are we won't reply to the mail but know that by helping us you are increasing the chance an update will be available to you when the time comes!
28 february 2008
We offer 8800GTX cards now. They are suited for all Clevo m570ru notebooks but some limitations regarding sleep state etc. apply.
We do not offer them for any other platform!
22 february 2008
I just had lunch: shorts with french fries and a pinch of salt.
Seriously though, I never thought I'd live to see the day when Dell actually uses MXM modules but here it is:
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22 february 2008
Sometimes, just sometimes an upgrade can be easy, painless and cheap. Tom was the lucky geezer that was able to simply swap a Gateway 7600 for a 7800. Required tools: screwdriver.
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We actually have had a small batch of 7800 cards around for some time but they refused to boot in any platform... except the one they were designe for obviously. One can be yours for 200 euro or 200 dollars depending on location but keep in mind the supply is limited! Please note this will only work on this specific Gateway notebook!
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14 february 2008
Alienware must truly love MXM, and who can blame them? It perfectly matches the flexibility they offer in their system configuration. So, no surprises when Gophn pointed me to this picture:
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The HE connector accepts all possible MXM cards and the 8800GTX that it can be equiped with is probably on a Type IV. Wil it be possible to upgrade in the future? I seem to have misplaced my christal ball, but as soon as I find it I'll let you know!
New x1900 procedure for Amilo 3438 notebooks
23 januar 2008
With the introduction of new heatpads, the 3438 notebook is now able to handle the x1900 GPU with only the NHC software hack. Soldering is no longer required. As before, the heatsink must still be modified.
23 januar 2008
In our continious search for ways to serve our costumers we recently purchased new thermal pad material. While the "old" pads have 6W/mK (which is already respectable) we can now offer 17W/mK pads. About as expensive as sheet gold, it is now standard included with x1900 deliveries.
We will also be happy to sell these pads to people who might need them but are not in the market for a new MXM card.
Acer Aspire Idea 510 upgraded to x1900
23 november 2007
Yet another Medicenter upgrade, this time on an Acer. Going from a 7600 to a x1900 is quite a jump but it would seem the S/PDIF interface got lost along the way for some reason. We don't know why, but if you are interested you should be willing to sacrifise the interface on the altar of performance..
Le x1900 dans l'Amilo 3438 chez extremepc!
13 november 2007
Il y a quelque temps, Tranber de chez extremepc.fr a commandé une de nos x1900 pour son Amilo 3438. Comme beaucoup d'autres, sa 6800 avait lâchée. Pas content avec un simple remplacement comme la 7600, Tranber a pris la carte la plus puissante que son Amilo supporte. On a déjà un article sur la procédure en anglais mais, pour nos amis francophones, celui chez extremepc est de valeur inestimable.
Picture courtesy of extremepc.fr
Actually, seen the quality, the article is also of high value to our other readers as well.
31 oktober 2007
We have had a love-hate relationship with Quanta for some time now. Well, to be honnes: more hate than love. While we appreciate every company that brings MXM noteboooks to the market, we tried many combinations of Quanta and non-Quanta hardware and none of them worked. Untill now.
A costumer took out his x700,fastened his seatbelts and replaced it with a x1900. Check out Gary's story for more details!
6 september 2007
We know from personal experience how hard it is to find decent, 1mm thick thermal material. So if your GPU heatpad has degraded you can now order a high performance replacement from MXM-Upgrade.
These 1mm thick pads are especially suited for the Alienware Aurora series and the FSC Amilo series or any other MXM based Uniwill platform.
Check the store..
10 august 2007
Apple seems to stick to the MXM formfactor for some of their iMac models, but they abandoned nVidia. As a reminder: Apple MXM cards are not swappable with other MXM cards because of vBios limitations. If a Mac - Mac swap is possible we don't know.
Thanks Gophn for pointing this out!
7 august 2007
Acer brings another MXM notebook to the table. It's been a while since I've seen a Type I model, but the Aspire 4520g seems to pack one..
6 august 2007
A Uniwill rep already told us at CEBIT, but it's always nice to see things confirmed by actual pictures..
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So, what does this mean? That resellers of Unwill notebooks (Alienware, Fujitsu-Siemens,Rock...) will not be able to offer a DX10 upgrade even if they wanted to.
1 august 2007
Clevo's Type IV has intrigued me from day one. I guess I'm not the only one, so I tried to figure out as much as I could.
Update: nVidia was kind enough to comment on the article. Comments added to the article.
Shuttle x100 upgraded from x1400 to x1800
29 july 2007
One of the few upgrades that actually was easier than we anticipated.. No heatsink mods, no fan circuit mod, no overheating, no nothing. Only tools required: a small screwdriver.
Compal is now part of the MXM family
25 july 2007
Look what we found in the dissasembly guide of the new IFL90...
Type II 8600GT 512MB.. Nice!
13 july 2007
ATI's mobility x1800 was never a big hit, being outgunned by pretty much every high end offering nVidia had. They followed up with the x1900, which is pretty much on par with the 7900GS. Based on a 80nm process instead of 90, this card offers better performance for the same thermal envelope.
This card works nicely in Amilo Xi and Alienware 5750. A minor heatsink mod may be required.
The card also works in the Amilo Pi and Alienware 5550 series, but expect a hot notebook. Furthermore, there is a decent chance your power adapter won't be able to cut it.
Legacy platforms like the Amilo M x34x series and the Alienware 5700 can also support this card but on top of the heatsink mod you will need to solve the fact the fan won't react to the new card. We have a few solutions for that, contact us for more details.
Weather forecast for Hell: heavy snowstorms.
25 june 2007
Seriously. Acer joins the ranks of Asus, Clevo and MSI as manufacturer of MXM Santa Rosa notebooks. Just like for Clevo's I have explained a gazillion times how Acer does not use MXM technology.
Whoops.
According to the picture on this Russian site they just moved to a Type II card for the Aspire 5920.
Can someone please grab Beelzebub a coat? He looks a bit blue..
18 june 2007
Since I started MXM Upgrade, I spend a lot of time explaining how Clevo is not using MXM technology. Modular? Yes. Upgradeable? Maybe. MXM? No. Imagine my surprise when I noticed Clevo announcing " MXM Type IV" on Cebit begin this year. When I asked them about it, they told me it was not compatible with other MXM designs. So I quickly discarded this as yet another proprietary Clevo design, labeled MXM to make it sound cool.
So, it's kinda hard to sketch my amazement when I found the following pictures taken by the renowned Clevo reseller XoticPC.
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The connector tab with the red circle around it differentiates the card from everything I've ever seen but corresponds to Type HE specifications. The card is labelled "MXM VGA V4.0A 512M". Apparently the 7950GTX guzzles so much power Type III wouldn't cut it.
To put the cherry on the pie: this is actually a SLI notebook! So, what we have here is a Santa Rosa platform with dual MXM HE slots. If I'd have to pick a candidate for the first SLI 8800 notebook then I don't think I'd have to look much further. It has the room, the cooling and formfactor to handle anything you can toss at it.
Needless to say we are investigating this further. Expect more in the coming weeks!
MXM Upgrade went to CEBIT in Hannover and came back with pictures, news, sore feet and a serious headache..
Read here.
28 Januari 2007
Sure looks like it. Check out this picture..
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More info here. Looks an awful lot like a Type III MXM card, no? We'll see what we can find out in the future. Stay tuned.
Update: the Z84 has been upgraded to a 7900GS with 512MB, but some loose ends remain. Check the full story here!
And with it the Alienware m5500, Ahtec Signal 259M, Addict Hyperaddict, CeBop Hel 750, Jewel Diamon 2600, Rock Pegassus 650, Vigor Ares an probably a dozen others. The 6600 MXM module was changed with a 7600 without much trouble.
Thanks Thomas for the great review!
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After being plagued with a limited supply, we are now happy to announce that we have access to sufficient cards starting from januari 2007. Delivery might still take a few weeks but we`ll be able to accept all orders.
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We have taken it upon us to compile the first set of apples-to-apples benchmarks of notebook graphics cards. We have benched a 6200, 6800, 7600 and 7900GS all in the same notebook. Check out the full story here!
Numbers for the x1800 are on their way!
The Medion 95257 was sold all over Europe in discount store like Aldi and many others. While MXM is mostly found in somewhay higher end notebooks, this nice 17" notebook álso has MXM. It's actually a Arima W810-DCX chasis, rebranded as a Medion. The Arima can be configured with a 6200, 6600 and 6800. The Medion comes with a 6600. So, basically you have a 17" notebook with a 6600 designed to handle a 6800. The missing link? A 6800 card from our store. As our 6800's are of Arima origin, our reviewer John C. was in for an easy ride. Well, as far as the card goes at least. The dissasembly looks a bit tough and I'm very happy a skilled person like him is there to show you guys the way. Read all about it!
Apple to use MXM in their newest iMac 24"?
If you check the nearest Mac community, you are likely to be hit by the rumours of MXM in an Apple. The rumour seems to have originated on a French forum and has spread widely since then. All we know for sure is that Apple offers several options for the GPU and that the option comes on a daughter card.
So, MXM or not? We don't know. But if you do, please take a picture and be sure to let us know!
Update: So, one of our readers (thanks Lloyd!)díd let us know. When he swapped his harddrive he was kind enough to take some pictures...
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What we have here is a card that looks like a MXM Type II card. We originaly figured Apple pulled a Quanta because of the cable on top of the card, but it looks like it is connected to a small temperature sensor on top of the heatsink. We are sending Lloyd a reference card to see if it's MXM compatible.
Stay tuned!
Liantec's new ITX motherboard MXM capable
Through a daughter card on their "Tiny-Bus" expansion slot, the ITX-6900 offers MXM Type II compatibility for the ITX formfactor. The ITX is only 170 x 170mm large, so "small" is the keyword here. Another is "high performance! A 915 chipset enables a 533MHz FSB and up to a 2.0GHz Pentium M!
And MXM cards? It would seem you can only buy those in our store!
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Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo M 1437 succesfully upgraded to 6800!
Fairly easy upgrade for a decent price. Check out the full story here!
Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo M 3438 succesfully upgraded to x1800!
That's right. Check out the entire story here.
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Because off the excessive price tag of the x1800, this may not be a everyday upgrade, but for people who have damaged their 6800, the price increase may just be mangeable...
We are proud to announce that we can now offer the latest generation of GPU's on the MXM format. Offering refurbished 7800's and 7600's, MXM-Upgrade continues to pioneer the MXM market and strives to bring the full potential of this great concept where it belongs, you!
Stay tuned for more information and pictures on this soon. But if you really want to buy one, let us know! The supply is limited and these babies go fast.
UPDATE: We are no longer offering cards of Quanta origin as MXM. Quanta has made sure their cards only work in the exact same model the come from. We still have a supply of cards that can be bought, but only for replacement purposes. To discourage speculation, we are not taking these cards back once sold.
Check this out! First MXM SLI capable notebook. Very lawsy picures, very little information but impressive specifications. Or how would you like to call an AMD Turion coupled to two 35W notebook GPUs and a 17" (1920 x 1200) screen?
The Joybook R55 has it, or at least so the driver tells us. We assume and hope some other models have it too, we are looking into that right now!
Got some more information? Tell us! Send us an email or sound of on the forums!
Where did that story go?
Check the archives for old stories.