Guide on how to replace the graphics card in the Packard Bell W7200
Kris Verbeeck
As some of you might now, MXM-Upgrade is located in Belgium, somwhere in the center of Europe. Why you should care? Because we defined a n
ice way to get to know everything there is to know regarding MXM regarding a notebook. You can read more about that here. So when a French citizen living in Brussels asked about a suitable replacement card for his Packard Bell W7200 we took the opportunity with both hands and fixed a meeting. I brought the cards that were possible candidates and some tools that could come in handy (including the kitchen sink in case we would need to throw it at it). While we only had the W7200 in our hands, we assume all W7 with the nVidia 6600 to be compatible. As we only offer Buy Now buttons for purchases we're actually 100% sure off, the buttons below only go for the W7200. If you have a W7 series notebook or something that looks a lot like it: let us know. If you have another Packard Bell with discrete graphics and you want to investigate your options: let us know. And in case you have a NEC notebook that looks conspicuously like a PB: both come from the same factory, just the badge and some cosmetics are different.
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Opening the notebook is a breeze. You just need a simple Philips, no nasty pitfalls.
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Again, nothing too complex. As soon as you've opened up the back, you can see all major components, easy accesible, nothing fancy. You can easily identify the fan, heatpipes, MXM card, CPU, memory, wireless card, TV tuner.. Anything missing? Well, what struck us was the single antenna wireless implementation. That's just... sad!
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Anyhow, you will need to remove all the screws that hold the heatsink assembly bolted to the chasis. This includes 4 screws on the CPU sink, 4 on the MXM card sink, another one bolting the MXM card to the chasis and a last one that secures the body of the fan. Stating the obvious: you will also need to unplug the fan connector. Try to remember where all the screws come from unless you appreciate complicated puzzles. If you feel resistance trying to remove the heatsink assembly, check for any screws left. If you are sure you removed them all then it is adhesion of the thermal material holding the heatsink down. Apply some gentle force. After this, you can easily swap the cards. In case of the HD3650 or 8600GT, you can recycle the retention bracket on the back of the card. For the x1700, we will supply you the card with suited threaded inserts.
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Note that the x1700 already features it's final thermal material. The grey heatpad is a very high quality patch of thermal material. Normally you will be issued 2 to make sure you can destroy one while messing around or you will get 1 yellow for messing around and a grey one for final installation. We noticed that the upper memory chips are not cooled against the heatsink, contrary to the ones on the right. That's why we apply and deliver an additional patch of yellow thermal pads to cool the top memory chips. You may want to consider cleaning up thermal paste from the CPU and heatsink at this point after which you can apply a fresh layer of thermal paste on it. If you do not have a tube, we'll be happy to sell you one. This is also a great opportunity to clean your heatsink, fan radiator and notebook in general from any dust.
Time to close assemble and close the notebook again.
Most likely, upon booting your notebook, Windows will be asking for a new set of drivers. You can find them here for ATI and here for nVidia cards. The ATI installation is pretty straightforward, the nVidia drivers require a tad more attention (see below). Both sites have 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. Donate for laptopvideo2go here and for the Omega drivers right here.
The HD3650 is not supported through Omega drivers. An alternative way of getting and installing suitable drivers can be found here. This method is also suitable for Vista drivers.
For the nVidia drivers 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!
All these cards were booted into Windows XP and drivers were installed. As we did not have the time to run full 3D tests, we do not know what the thermal performance will be. Given the setup we do not expect problems but no guarantees!
Currently, the only known issue is with the ATI HD3650. When you shut the notebook down, it will display a beautifull BSOD right before it is supposed to shut down completely. The only solution is to presh the power button. While this is not a very big deal, it could compromise the integrity of your OS somewhere down the road.
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Your purchase includes the actual card, thermal material and a one year warranty. Shipping is also included. The 8600GT is 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 below links may only be used for the Packard Bell W7200 notebook. If it is used for any other platform, we reserve the right to refuse returns or warranty. |
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PB W7200 8600GT replacement kit - 180€ |
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PB W7200 HD3650 replacement kit - 150€ |
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Tube of AS5 - 8€ |
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