[DemonicSoul19]

Hello, Im looking for a new video card for my alienware labtop cause everytime i play a video my screen messes up but it doesnt mess up when i browse the net or do other things. May anyone a good video card that will work well with an alienware labtop?

[alfredonm]

Well, my understanding of laptop video cards is that they cannot be replaced, it's an entire motherboard piece inside your laptop, if you wanna change your video card it's the same as changing the motherboard which in terms is getting a new laptop or sending it of for repair

[Eglo]

Don't listen to the guy above me, he apparently thinks laptops work same way as consoles (lol),
you can get it upgraded but you will have to pay the hardware guy at some computer store in your town, and he will take half of the cost of new card to install it in your system (they are assholes). Just go desktop, it's cheaper in long run.

[digritz]

Don't listen to either one of them.

Originally Posted by Eglo

Don't listen to the guy above me, he apparently thinks laptops work same way as consoles (lol),
you can get it upgraded but you will have to pay the hardware guy at some computer store in your town, and he will take half of the cost of new card to install it in your system (they are assholes). Just go desktop, it's cheaper in long run.

@Eglo
Replacing the video card in all the Alienware laptops I've seen is relatively simple. Also if you ever paid this kind of premium for work on your computer your a fish.

Originally Posted by alfredonm

Well, my understanding of laptop video cards is that they cannot be replaced, it's an entire motherboard piece inside your laptop, if you wanna change your video card it's the same as changing the motherboard which in terms is getting a new laptop or sending it of for repair

@ alfredonm,
That's wrong. At least in the case of most Alienware laptops. The video cards are in fact "cards" and can be easily replaced. Though I do believe there are a few older Alienware laptops that have integrated video.

@DemonicSoul19,
Your best bet is to check Alienware first. Find out what if any video card options/upgrades are or were available for your model laptop. You don't have to buy it from them. However all the options they have listed would have been previously tested for the laptop in question. This is important because factors such as cooling play a much bigger role in choosing new components for laptops then in desktops. Also you might want to do a search for third party providers like ztronics. They can provide the same kind of info as Alienware especially for older laptops.

[alfredonm]

^your fabulous idea is just plain stupid, he wants to fix his laptop but you come out of nowhere to tell him to get a desktop computer, google "change video card laptop" and you'll see that all searches tell you in the end it's not possible because it's soldered to the mainboard, and YES THEY ARE LIKE CONSOLES WHAT ARE YOU A CAVEMAN OR SOMETHING? even thou there are "ways" to upgrade or fix it yourself it's as dificult as open heart surgery so in the end the best solution is to ebay your same board and install it yourself or get a repair with your warranty, if you dont have warranty it's better of to get a new laptop. I say this because i had 4 laptops:2 HP's, 1 dell and 1 from apple, and all of them died because of the video cards, and they all said the same thing, the video cards GPU is soldered to the MOBO, the only way to fix it is to repair it with the house that sold you the computer and it will cost you up to ~350 bucks + shipping, yeah i paid all that money for 4 laptops and every time i get the same flickering the only way to fix it is sending it back home to the shop.

[alfredonm]

@digritz nice to know alienware has upgradedability, but as i've seen on tomshardware forums it depends on the laptop launch and what video cards it support's, not all of them can support a higher end video card than the one they came with which is not such a great of a deal.

[Conduit]

*AHEM*
Before this falls into a flamefest lets get back to the actual "support" in support forum.

@DemonicSoul19: First of all, a new video card may not be necessary, could you tell us the model of Alienware laptop and its specs. Second, can you be a bit more specific than, "it messes up", what is it doing exactly?

@alfredonm: Lower end Laptops and laptops not intended for gaming/high graphics processing use intergrated graphics chips, you can even get the same thing on desktops, but since his laptop is an alienware which largely specializes in gaming hardware, his laptop most likely uses an actual graphics card.

@eglo: Laptop graphics cards really aren't any harder to change out than a typical desktop card is, just opening up the case is a little more involved.

@Digritz: Don't forget that opening the Laptop case your self voids the warrenty, some people care about that kind of thing.

[Eglo]

Before i get any more replies about how not hard it is to change Vcard on laptop, know this, i said it that way because i got a feeling from the guys comment that he isn't going to even attempt to do it himself, thus skipping all the bullshit about saying how easy it is and bla bla bla, and just getting straight to the point. Just because i don't want to be one of the mongrels who keeps saying "oh this is easy, just do it yourself, why waste money" doesn't mean i'm a fucking barbarian who lives in a cave.

[digritz]

Originally Posted by alfredonm

^your fabulous idea is just plain stupid, he wants to fix his laptop but you come out of nowhere to tell him to get a desktop computer, google "change video card laptop" and you'll see that all searches tell you in the end it's not possible because it's soldered to the mainboard, and YES THEY ARE LIKE CONSOLES WHAT ARE YOU A CAVEMAN OR SOMETHING? even thou there are "ways" to upgrade or fix it yourself it's as dificult as open heart surgery so in the end the best solution is to ebay your same board and install it yourself or get a repair with your warranty, if you dont have warranty it's better of to get a new laptop. I say this because i had 4 laptops:2 HP's, 1 dell and 1 from apple, and all of them died because of the video cards, and they all said the same thing, the video cards GPU is soldered to the MOBO, the only way to fix it is to repair it with the house that sold you the computer and it will cost you up to ~350 bucks + shipping, yeah i paid all that money for 4 laptops and every time i get the same flickering the only way to fix it is sending it back home to the shop.

Originally Posted by alfredonm

@digritz nice to know alienware has upgradedability, but as i've seen on tomshardware forums it depends on the laptop launch and what video cards it support's, not all of them can support a higher end video card than the one they came with which is not such a great of a deal.

@alfredonm,
Did you even read the post? Nowhere do I suggest that he buy a desktop.
Read before you insert foot in mouth. As for being a caveman, maybe. But I repair both desktops and laptop in my cave. Do you? Comparing it with open heart surgery shows you don't.
As for your "change video card laptop" search. This took my about 8 seconds to find.

You really should learn more about how to use and repair computers. Answering questions regarding the topic just shows your ignorance.

As far as warranties regarding upgrades on computers go. Even my mother knows to check her warranty before something like that and she's in her seventies.

[Gamer_144]

This thread makes me laugh.

Anyways, digritz is right. You should check your warranty with Alienware before taking any further steps.