Guide on how to replace the graphics card in the MSI GX620

Kris Verbeeck

MSI has been using MXM for some time now so it´s about time we get to play with one of them. In short and in all honnesty: I'm a bit of a fan. Well thought through, well built, not too much bloatware, no loose ends... As far as I'm concerned, this is what defines a good notebook. To boot, they look decent at least. Brushed alumium, red inlay, shinny grill.. Nothing overly fancy, nothing shouting "look at me!", nothing that slaps you in the face but something that rewards people who take the time to look twice. In addition, the GX620 is one of the few 15,4"notebooks featurung a full numeric keypad, which is highly appreciated by accountants, engineers and everybody else with a lot of numbers floating around. Unfortunately, it makes the keyboard a bit awkward. No doubt it is something you get used to real fast as soon as you've had it for some time but unfortunately, I commute between notebooks on a daily basis so it remains a bit of a handicap to me.

Anything I missed? Yep. This is one of the notebooks that's so damn easy to service a monkey or his mom could do the job. And, well, so could I.

Things I don't like? Yep. Maybe it's something I missed somehow but in that case it's not as obvious as it should be. I really would have appreciated a simple volume wheel or some of these nice touch buttons to control the volume. But maybe that's just me.

 

 

The backpanel. Nothing fancy. Take out all screws, lift the panel with a nail. Don't worry if you need to bend the panel a bit before it snaps out. You'll have to break the warranty seal before removing the backpanel, one of the screws is "hidden" behind it.

The insides. Tidy, nothing hidden. Simply loosen 4 screws of the MXM card and another 3 for the CPU.

Tilt the entire heatsink assembly. Some force might be required as dried up thermal grease tends to act a bit like glue.

The "grease" on the CPU patch is very hard for some reason. As we're not changing the CPU, the footprint remains the same so we left the old paste in place as there was no material where the CPU die is going. We applied some thermal paste here as well.

As you can see, there is black liner on the heatsink for the GPU. As the HD4650 has a turned GPU die, this is not a suitable approach. Clean off the old thermal paste and remove the liner. The liner will leave some glue behind which can be removed with some cleaning alcohol.

The heatsink screws in a bracket on the backside of the MXM card. You'll have to remove it from the old card and 'transplant' it to the new one. Make sure to keep the liner intact as it will keep components, vias and pads from shorting out. The bracket might bend a bit. Simply bend it back in shape, no panic. Putting the bracket against the new card, you'll see that the bracket follows the outlines on the new card. The surface of the card is not 100% even and the liner might be wider than the 'free' area on the card. Use the remaining tack of the liner to position the card.

Insert the card back in the notebook. Because of the unevenness of the surface of the card, the assembly might feel a bit wobly. The bottom of the bracket might interfere a bit with the motherboard surface. If so, screw the card in the notebook but don't overdo the tension.

Apply some AS5 on the GPU core

Nothing left to do now but assemble the notebook again!
 

You can find ATI drivers here. For Vista, you may want to try this method instead.

Your purchase includes the actual card and a one year warranty. Shipping is also included. Units are shipped through regular registered postal servives inside the EU and through DHL for US, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Turkey and Switzerland. If you need a specific quote for your country, please contact us. The x1700 is always shipped through regular registered postal services.

The below links may only be used for the MSI GX620 notebook. If it is used for any other platform, we reserve the right to refuse returns or warranty. Cards are expected in MARCH.

 

MSI GX620 HD4650 - 200€