Overclocking Mobility Radeon 9000

[ucfswimmer]

My roomate just purchased a new Compaq laptop with the 64MB version of the Mobility Radeon 9000. His 3dMark score was right around a 6500 but he's looking to get higher. Any way to oc the card in this laptop? Has anyone done it before? Is this dangerous to try in a laptop?

I know that this card is made to scale DOWN from about 250/230 to 83/83 but is there anyway to clock it higher...with either Rage3d or Powerstrip?

I'd appreciate any and all feedback, thanks guys.

~jeff~

[cursor]

I have NEVER done this before and never heard of anyone doing it. IMHO it would be really stupid to do as you've got like a $2000 laptop there. Laptops are very complicated buggers--they have all those complex thingies that Electrical Engineers spent countless hours designing and striking a delicate balance among price/heat/power consumption/performance. You mess with one of those and it's sure to screw up another.

So if you do that enough you're likely to blow something. It's not an easy modular replacement like you have on a desktop. The way I understand it (and I'm not expert) most laptops have one circuit board (motherboard type) that soldered on processor, chipset, and soldered on video chipset. Blow any one of those or any other component--you're looking at replacing them all. BLECH. AND you can't just buy a replacement part from Newegg. It's got to come from COMPAQ. BLECH BLECH. If they don't honor it under warranty (which they would have every right not to do) you're looking at a boatload of cash.

But hey--it's your roomies laptop--if he wants to, let powerstrip rip. :)

[MassiveOverkill]

LOL blunt, but I have to agree.

[ucfswimmer]

Well he bought it at Best Buy and he has the 3 year service plan on the laptop. the techs cant tell if they used a program to OC the graphics card to fry it, so he'll just get a new one if it does burn out....but still if thats what it'll happen then no reason to do it.

~jeff~

[cursor]

Well, so you've got the plan. That means a couple of things:

1. You paid too much $$ for your laptop. IMHO those 3-year service plans are a serious rip-off. (but hey--that's just my opinion) The only exception might be if you're in a business where down time means you lose $$$.

2. You could overclock the thing and possibly burn it up then ask for a replacement. Assuming they don't figure out that you've voided the warranty, you're still going to be out a laptop while they fix it. Depending on your warranty that could take hours or weeks. For sure they don't have a pricy circuit board for your laptop hanging around the store. If you do this, you'll likely lose your data as well--they may need to format the hard drive. If they don't--they may very well notice you have powerstrip loaded.

3. It's not very honest. I mean, I've been screwed by Best Buy like everybody else in the US, but you've gotta draw the line somewhere. Where will that be for you?

4. You're probably not going to get a noticable difference when you overclock. Yeah, maybe 10% gain in FPS would be nice, but when you're talking about that kind of risk... and are you really going to see that much difference? Want a real gain? Get a desktop with a radeon 9700 pro! :D

Happy Holidays! :santa2:

[Wraith]

Dudem, just add a small little fan on the inside, tehre have been several cases of OC ing laptops, to a generaly good effect, so id say go for it, take it appart, put AS3 on it, and oc it litle by little.

[FunkDaMonkMan]

Originally posted by Wraith
Dudem, just add a small little fan on the inside, tehre have been several cases of OC ing laptops, to a generaly good effect, so id say go for it, take it appart, put AS3 on it, and oc it litle by little.

This would void the 3yr warranty that his roomate paid dearly for.

I'm guessing that it won't burn out, but that the laptop will start freezing if you o/c too high. So.. give it a shot.. Use powerstrip.

[ucfswimmer]

well 2 things:

we both work at best buy so he got a discount on the service plan and we know the ins and outs of it.

and modding the laptop wouldnt void the service plan but it would the manufacturer's warranty.

[Wraith]

just do it, if it fuxx up, send it back, iwana see the OC i nthis, take it very...VERy slow tho

[augustwest]

yall got it made. if he has the 3 year service plan in my opinion you dont have anything to lose. let powerstip rip! comm ooon! itll be fun! peer pressure is a bitch!

[cursor]

Let us know how things turn out, will you swimmer?

[Cisco Kid]

little to no gain will be seen why bother with the hassle. Remeber that it is this abuse of warranty plans that we all end up paying more for or having a harder time when it comes to a legit warranty problem.

My 2 cents, let it be 6500 pts is good, what is another 500 gonna prove but if he has to then he has to

[Wraith]

Originally posted by Cisco Kid
little to no gain will be seen why bother with the hassle. Remeber that it is this abuse of warranty plans that we all end up paying more for or having a harder time when it comes to a legit warranty problem.

My 2 cents, let it be 6500 pts is good, what is another 500 gonna prove but if he has to then he has to

someones been up to late!
Go for it dude, just take it slow, and dont rush it and youll be rine, who nows, u may get 2K better in 3dmark!

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by Wraith


someones been up to late!
Go for it dude, just take it slow, and dont rush it and youll be rine, who nows, u may get 2K better in 3dmark!


i highly doubt you will get a 2000 pt increase on the slight video overclock he may be able to get? All I am saying is it worth the risk of being out of a laptop if something screws up??

cisco kid

[Wraith]

he has that 3 years warranty, just take er back if you mess it up, and as long as hes carful, im sure he wont

[vanfanel]

Not to add any more fuel to the fire but I've seen some pretty good success at overclocing the M9 on a variety of laptops. Anywhere from 100 pt to 1000 point increase in 3dmark (although the 1000 point increase was due to an upgraded heat sink of sorts I believe)

In other words...go for it :D

[1-Man-Army]

if u work there then y dont u give it ur best shot at over clocking it then if its busted then sneak into best buys rip open the package and take the good laptop and put busted one in sel the riped box put back and go home enjoy ur new laptop

[OC Noob]

Thats a nice laptop. I used my father in laws 2 ghz p4 compaq with a mobility 7500. It did a nice job of running UT2k3 and had the nice LCD...what is it UXGA or something like that. It looked really nice.