Guide on how to replace the graphics card in the Clevo D901c
Update: we've confirmed that 8800GTX machines accept the GTX280, albeit with a system bios upgrade.
Kris Verbeeck
Clevo has a long history of building Ultimate Portables, even though 'portable' is an adjective subject to discussion. 'Desktop Replacement' 
seems to be invented for these Behemots. The D900 series has always had the latest and best portable CPU technology, two of the biggest, most-powerfull notebook graphics cards available and, well, a lot of harddrives. When it came out, the D901c was no exception: Quad Core CPU, 9800GTX 1GB in SLI and up to 3 harddrives in RAID. And now for the fun part: while Clevo has used their own proprietary modular format in the past, they are now adopting MXM and are leading and pioneering it. The introduction of a Type IV MXM card seems almost tailor made for Clevo: who else would need such an over-the-top format that ridicules the much-sought after "smaller, cooler" credo the entire industry chases? As if to stress the fact Clevo plays in a different league, they implement two of these XXL large cards in a chasis.
Yet, a lot of the people out there never heard of Clevo, not even if they are typing on one of their
machines. Clevo does not often market their notebooks under their own name, they sell their gear to "Boutique Stores" who then customise it. This is sometimes no more than just applying their badge while others go through great lenghts to differentiate and offer something that is unique. The perfect example of this approach is, off course, Alienware. Their tell-tale glowing Alien head is no more than a cover with a LED behind it on a Clevo, Arima or Uniwill chasis. The D900C/D901C has been been merketed as Eurocom D901C Phantom-X, Schenker MYSN D901c, M-Tech D900C, Sager 9260, 9261, 9262, Dell Metabox D901C, XtremeNotebooks 917V Accelerator, Pioneer Computers Dreambook Power D90, XXODD XNi901C, Pro-Star 919x and God knows how many others. While we tested this on a chasis with a 9800GTX, we can only assume that this will work on all D900 notebooks with MXM inside.
Note that this is an important distinction: this chasis has been looking more or less the same for some time, including back when Clevo was not using the MXM format. To be more precise, you can find the same looking chasis with 7950GTX graphic cards on their proprietary format and on MXM. So, make sure to get your facts straight before ordering a card! You can find a picture of how your card should not look on the right side.
All that said: let's get going!
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Opening her up requires no rocket science or scientists: use a small screwdriver to remove all the screws from the main backpanel. All screws are exactly the same, no need to memorise them.
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Is that enough fans, heatpipes and heatsinks for you? Note that only one MXM slot is populated. Interestingly, the CPU and chipsets are cooled by two fans. One of these doubles as cooling for the DDR slot. You don't see that too often.. First step is to remove the fan from the MXM assembly. Remove the three screws indicated above. Unplug the fan.
Do you know what this is? Let me give you a hint: it kills all notebook, including the ones with a well designed thermal system. Dust. We strongly encourage you to blow out the radiators of your notebook periodically with a can of compressed air.
You will now see 4 screws such as these. Remove them all. You can now remove the heatsink from the MXM card. If you feel resistance, first check for forgotten screws. If you are sure you got them all, increase your efforts a bit. All the thermal interface materials have some natural tack which may add up to enough to resist moderate force.
The MXM card exposed. Clevo covers the entire card with aluminium heatspreader foil with a non-cpnductive liner except for those parts in direct contact with the heatsink. This helps to lower peak-temperatures in high power componebts by, well, spreading the heat. This is a Type HE card that requires you to remove two screws but the chasis can be equiped with the larger Type IV card which has an additional thirst screw on the left hand side.
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Heatsink and card removed. The GPU core is coupled to the heatsink through a soft-metal sheet which 'floats' on the thermal paste coupling it to the actual heatsink. When applying pressure, some of the thermal paste is squeezed out while the soft metal takes the exact same for as the GPU die. While it certainly can be used a few times, it will not allow to routinely disassemble the notebook. Not that there is any reason to do that. The memory and DC/DC coils are coupled through thin silicone pads and even the DC/DC top- and bottomFETs have a tick block of thermal material evacuating the heat.When moving from the 9800GTX to GTX280 there is no need to rearange these thermal pads as the actual PCB and all the components on it are identical, it's just the GPU chip that differs. In case your starting point is a different card you may need to relocate some of these pads.
As we will deliver a 'naked' card (as pictured above) you will have to transplant the aluminium foil and the mounting bracket. As we had to return the notebook in it's original state, we did not do this but resorted to slightly less conventional means.
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Now for performance. The chips are very similar, basically they are one and the same G92M core. The main difference is the technology node one is on 65nm, the other on 55nm. This has allowed the GTX280 all of the 128 pipes on the die, where the 9800GTX only uses 112. On top of that (and as GPU-Z shows) the core is clocked about 15% higher. GPU-Z hasn't figured it all out quite yet and we actually assume that it is reporting a too low memory clock rate but we're not sure.
All in all, moving from a 9800GTX to a GTX280 is much more an evolution instead of a revolution, both in terms of architecture and performance. Still, a 15+% jump in performance is nothing to snub at...
We can confirm that the fan is reacting to the GPU temperature as one might expect from nearly identical chips. The notebook fucntions perfectly fine, even though we did not check external connectivity.
Unless you are already running modified drivers, Windows will be asking for a new set of drivers. You can find them here for nVidia cards. This site has done wonders for mobile drivers and the amount of data served is mind-boggling for a non-commercial activity. So, if you can, donate something to those sites and help them to continue their invaluable service. Donation link here.
You will need to download both the actual driver and a modified .inf file
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After downloading the driver, extract it and copy the other file you just downloaded in that folder. After this, just run the setup file and you'll be good to go!
Your purchase includes the actual card, shipping and a one year warranty. The card is shipped through regular registered postal servives inside the EU and through DHL for US, Canada, Mexico, Turkey and Switzerland. If you need a specific quote for your country, please contact us. In the EU, VAT is also applied and included, so no nasty customs surprises.
The below links may only be used for the D901c platform equiped with a 9800GTX or 8800GTX. For other platforms, contact us first. If it is used for any other platform, we reserve the right to refuse returns or warranty. |
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GTX280 for Clevo D901c - EU delivery - 500€ | GTX280 for Clevo D901c - US, Canada, Mexico, Turkey and Switzerland delivery - 450€ |  |
Tube of AS5 - 8€ | |
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If you are not looking for the latest greatest card but rather for a way to revive your broken notebook, the GTX 260 might be a far better deal for you... While it has not yet been tried yet in this notebook it is assumed to be compatible as the mechanical design is the same, the supplier is the same,...
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GTX260 for Clevo D901c - EU delivery - 350€ | |