Can a laptop have a 128 ATI Mb video card installed?

[TommyHolly]

Hello everyone!

This week's question for all you experts in the computer world is this:

I have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop. It currently has a 1 ghz PIII, 512 Ram, and a 32 Mb video card. (At the time it just came out and I had to wait an extra month to get it.)

I want to play my favorite game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, when I am on the raod using my laptop. When I try to run the game it says, "Failed Operation. Could not run Open GL." I know that Open GL is a video thing so I looked at the minimum specs. It seems that I easily have enough speed and Ram to run the game. The main thing I am lacking is the 128 Mb ATI video card it says it needs on the Activision website.

I looked at the Dell website and most new laptops only have 64 Mb cards being installed and just one strange model that is kinda retro will fit the 128 Mb ATI 9600 pro card.

Does anyone know if I can upgrade my laptop to a 128 Mb card? Would I have to open my case to do that? (My warranty is up in 2 months so I don't care if I have to.) Can I buy some sort of external video card kind of like a external hard drive but for video cards? Is there a 128 Mb video card that can fit in my PCMCIA slot? (I have them both open and free.)

thanks for the help!

-Tommy

 

[Steve978]

Most laptops have the video card directly soldered to the motherboard, unless you have a laptop with 9600 graphics you cant upgrade them very easily, I just bought a laptop and when I looked at dell they all seem to have pretty poor video for the price. However you might be able to get a new video card installed if you send it back to dell, just drop them a line.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Here's a thread I just posted in a few days ago, laptop upgrades like this aren't friendly and are usually impossible:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=251527&highlight=laptop+upgrade

 

[TommyHolly]

By the way I did seacrh for an answer first but I had to trog through the multitude of posts. I got frusterated after the 7th one so I just asked.

Hmmmm, I think I will contact Dell then. My Laptop still looks very similar to the ones they sell and I even have no problem with XP. Maybe it is possible to upgrade to a newer card but considering that they are only installing 64 M cards and not the 128 Mb ones, I don't think I'm going to end up with what I want.

So no other suggestions huh? No external video cards or anythijng like that right?

 

[Mr. $T$]

By the way I did seacrh for an answer first but I had to trog through the multitude of posts. I got frusterated after the 7th one so I just asked.

Hmmmm, I think I will contact Dell then. My Laptop still looks very similar to the ones they sell and I even have no problem with XP. Maybe it is possible to upgrade to a newer card but considering that they are only installing 64 M cards and not the 128 Mb ones, I don't think I'm going to end up with what I want.

So no other suggestions huh? No external video cards or anythijng like that right?

I have the motherboard out of a laptop If you like I can get a pict showing you where the graphics chip is. If you don't it is a chip sodered to the motherboard much like high end server boards that have the graphics onboard. No way for you to upgrade it but you can call dell and see if they would be so nice and do a trade up or trade in of you old laptop.

This is why when I go to collage I am getting a high end screen and a high end video chip becuase those are the two things that I cannot upgrade.

 

[Steve978]

with the radeon 9600 mobility you are supposed to be ablew to upgrade from now on thats one of the main reasons I chose it

 

[Noodles]

Laptops are not for gaming. Sorry. If you want a portable gaming machine, get one of those mini cube PCs.

Although, I'm not sure your problem is that you need a 128mb graphics card, as much as you need a better graphics card. I think ET only needs like a 32mb card to meet the requirements, and I KNOW it runs great on my geforce2mx400 card, which only has 64mb. I think you have an older card that either can't do opengl, or isn't supported by the game for some reason.

At any rate, I'd be surprised if you could upgrade that laptop video AT ALL, and I know it will cost an arm and a leg if you're lucky enough to have a model its possible on.

 

[ashenfang]

depending on which version your I8000 is, it does have a removable graphics card. This was made to accomodate the nvidia gefore to go 32mb and 64mb cards, as well as the ATI 7000 and 7500 cards on the Latidude models. My laptop is the newer 1100 series, and it has no problem play RTCW. A quick search on ebay turned up this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3446440036&category=31534

this one is for the 8100 series, however, the 8000 series does for sure have a removable card, look here

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3445788115&category=31534

Here is the nvidia version for the I8000

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3446709944&category=31534

That should give you a head start!

 

[TommyHolly]

Ashenfang, I looked at the links and they are all the 32 Mb cards? I called Dell and I got the runaround... Nobody knew about thier systems at all. Strange huh? I called 3 different departments. I'll take a look at these cards and try to do some research from there.

Noodles, I know Laptops primary role is not gaming. However, I know a great deal of people on this site use only a laptop and still play games. So you say that you can play that game with a 64Mb card huh? Cool.

I looked at thier website and it says that I need a 128 ATI rage card? If I can get away with something less that would be great! Is this 64 Mb card you speak of sometrhing that can fit into my PCMCIA slot?

 

[CamH]

I play RTCW:ET on my Inspiron 8200, which has a Radeon 9000 64MB.

The problem that you are describing, I think, happens when you have no video drivers installed. I know that I got that error when trying to play RTCW on one of my computers which has a Voodoo 3 and Windows XP, without real drivers.

Try some new video drivers from Dell's website. I think that's your problem.

 

[I.M.O.G.]

I've had opengl errors similar to that before also and I solved the problem with different drivers... But that isn't to say this would be the solution for you necessarily. I was using a Voodoo 5500 at the time.

 

[Supchaka]

Yes drivers are your issue. I ran Everquest on a 400mhz laptop with 4mb video. If not from Dell, go directly to the chipset manuf. sometimes they will have a generic driver for their sets. Others tell you to go to the company you bought it from and u might be hosed.

Granted laptops suck for any gaming, it might be better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick while yer on the road.

 

[Supchaka]

My sister was trying to run Rise of Nations on a 32 mb TNT2 and it was a no go, updated the drivers and all was fine

 

[TommyHolly]

You guys got it right!! It was the drivers!

I went to the Dell website and updated the drivers and now I can at least play the game. However, the frame rate really sucks and the graphics look like my screen is dirty and blurry or something. I still could use at least a 64 Mb card I think.

SO... the question still remains if I can upgrade... I contacted Dell but nobody there that answerwed the phone at least that day, knew if I could get a bigger video card.

 

[funnyperson1]

I looked at thier website and it says that I need a 128 ATI rage card? If I can get away with something less that would be great! Is this 64 Mb card you speak of sometrhing that can fit into my PCMCIA slot?

They are talking about the Rage 128 based cards which bit 128 bit chips. They came with 16mb of memory .

 

[I.M.O.G.]

You guys got it right!! It was the drivers!

I went to the Dell website and updated the drivers and now I can at least play the game. However, the frame rate really sucks and the graphics look like my screen is dirty and blurry or something. I still could use at least a 64 Mb card I think.

SO... the question still remains if I can upgrade... I contacted Dell but nobody there that answerwed the phone at least that day, knew if I could get a bigger video card.

Sweet, I'm glad that fixed it atleast somewhat!

I'm glad someone else mentioned it, because I didn't even remember I had the same problem before until they did.

 

[CamH]

You guys got it right!! It was the drivers!

I went to the Dell website and updated the drivers and now I can at least play the game. However, the frame rate really sucks and the graphics look like my screen is dirty and blurry or something. I still could use at least a 64 Mb card I think.

SO... the question still remains if I can upgrade... I contacted Dell but nobody there that answerwed the phone at least that day, knew if I could get a bigger video card.

Glad to have helped.

The screen can get really blurry when it is run under its native resolution. What you can do fix this is to turn down the settings for your graphics card. Make sure AA is off, that's a fairly large speed hit. Also, turn down the texture qualities. Then try turning up the resolution. This might help a little bit.