FSC AMILO Xi 1547 graphics upgrade

[kanenas]

Hello.

Could anybody throw some light on my problems please.

The X1800 in my laptop started misbehaving two years ago.

A slowly shifting whitish ridge would form over the taskbar in its right side (as I look at it).

Also lots of flashing pixels would show up during booting and would be hidden when the Windows desktop came up.

I got rid of both problems by using a fan under the desktop.

But now the problems came back worse than before.

When I boot into Windows, it takes a few minutes before the screen blacks out and the system freezes.

In Safe Mode it works but the flashing pixels fill up the screen and even show while I'm at the desktop (in the dark parts of it).

This happens even when I boot up the laptop when it's completely cooled down.

Cleaning up the fan didn't make a difference.

I suppose the RAM on the GPU or the GPU itself is gone. (The system RAM checked out fine under memtest86++).

I sent an email to mxm-upgrade with a few questions about a possible upgrade but haven't heard from them.

I repeat my questions here in case somebody has some suggestion.

1) Is it the card's problem, the panel's or both.

2) I asked for upgrading to HD4650 (as shown on their page). I see a different selection here in the forum. Which is right?

3) Has this card GDDR3 or DDR2/3? Is it 1GB or less?

4) Has anybody used it successfully?

Thanks for any help.

[Guest adam]

Hi.

1): If you mean 'panel' is a mainboard of lappy, then I say: it's only card's problem. I've got Xi 1546 and I have similar problems with X1800 (and many other users of this forum). As you say - it's GPU or graphic memory problem.

2-3): I don't know about HD4560, on the page they wrote it's DDR2.

4) I tried to install HD3650, but it didn't work, probably because it came from HP notebook (different vbios). Now I bought Geforce 9500m GS form Acer and it works well, the only problem was screwing the heatsink.

[kanenas]

Much appreciated for your comments.

I'm glad I won't have to worry about the laptop's panel too.

I put in an order for the new card and should have it in a couple of weeks (delays from source factory).

MXM-Upgrade had upgraded this offer to the HD4670 by the way.

[Guest Bjornski1976]

Much appreciated for your comments.

I'm glad I won't have to worry about the laptop's panel too.

I put in an order for the new card and should have it in a couple of weeks (delays from source factory).

MXM-Upgrade had upgraded this offer to the HD4670 by the way.

[kanenas]

Hello.

I'm happy to say that the upgrade to HD 4670 (along with Alienware's 1.19W BIOS and a 500GB WD Scorpio Black) went just fine.

The system is working great so far but I haven't run anything to stress it yet to see how the temps look like.

Does anybody know if the hardware would also support 4GB of DRAM?

Is there a limit with the DRAM controller or the voltage available?

Thank you.

[Guest mööööööööp]

The hardware (chipset) is only able to support 4 GB of Ram with Bios 1.19W or 2.07W

AND a graphics adapter with no more than 256 MB Ram. In any other case, with a graphics adapter with

more than 256 MB dedicated Ram installed, you have to restrict yourself to 2 GB (3GB might also be possible, I dunno).

How are temps maxing out under stress. let's say with Furmark?

Do you have GDDR 2 or 3 (GPU-Z might give an answer here) and how's the card doing performance-wise (3D Mark 06)?

[kanenas]

Any idea why it would be limited to 256MB cards + 4GB RAM?

I run some quick tests using the defaults of the applications. Let me know if you need something more specific.

This is under XP SP3 using a modified for mobiles CATALYST 10.8.

1. 3DMark06 1.2.0.1901

Running at 1280x1024, everything at defaults.

3DMark Score: 4193

SM2.0 Score: 1518

HDR/SM3.0 Score: 1834

2. FurMark 1.7.0

Running at 1280x1024, everything at defaults (60 seconds run)

Max GPU Temp: 0C

1280x1024 (FS) MSAA: 0X

FPS: min=17 max=29 avg=20

Running at native 1920x1200

Max GPU Temp: 0C

1920x1200 (FS) MSAA: 0X

FPS: min=13 max=21 avg=15

FurMark doesn't seem to measure the temps.

3. GPU-Z 0.4.6

Graphics card tab:

1024MB DDR2 (<-- no GDDR3 unfortunately)

GPU clock: 400Mhz Memory: 500Mhz

Default clock: 400Mhz Memory: 500Mhz

Sensors tab

GPU core clock: 200

GPU memory clock: 249.8Mhz

GPU temp: 49.0C

fan speed: 0 %

GPU load: 0 %

fan speed 2RPM

GPU temp (DISPIO) 48.5C

GPU temp (MEMIO) 50.0C

GPU temp (Shadercore) -163.0C

After the first run of FurMark the only changes were:

GPU temp: 50.0C

GPU temp (DISPIO) 47.5C

GPU temp (MEMIO) 49.0C

After the second run of FurMark they looked the same but increased once I shut down FurMark (delay in measurement I guess).

GPU temp: 52.0C

GPU temp (DISPIO) 50.5C

GPU temp (MEMIO) 51.5C

That's it for now.

[Guest DaKoS]

Hey kanenas,

I have the same laptop and my graphics card is almost dead. Too many artifacts and crashes when gaming. So Im considering replacing the graphics card like u did.

Did you have to modify the heatsink? Does the DVI or VGA output work?

Im thinking to get the ATI 4670 DDR3 but I have no idea if it will work with the amilo xi 1547. Anyone knows? And where I could get one?

Are u greek by any chance? :)

[Guest Gnomlord]

Hi i have 2 Question

1. has the 4570/4650/4670 a 30 sec. beep on a Amilo XI1554 with Alienware Bios 2.06 or 1.19?

1. wich Card of this tree würks with 1.19 and 4 GB RAM

Thx.

[kanenas]

DaKoS,

I haven't modified the heatsink or anything, just applied some fresh thermal paste.

The card was a drop-in replacement.

No idea about any external displays. I haven't tried them yet. I hardly ever use them but I'll give it a try once I find my misplaced cables.

By the way, my laptop is a xi1547 too, so this card works. I got it at MXM-Upgrade and they supply it with DDR2. I couldn't find the card anywhere else so I'm not sure if you can get one with a GDDR3 on it. Read up on the above site for the differences in the cards' formats so you don't get the wrong one. It's a nice site with lots of useful info.

With a nickname like that what else would I be? :)

Gnomlord,

I've installed the Alienware 1.19W and there are no beeps from the card.

According to mööööööööp, no card with more than 256MB is supported with 4GB of DRAM in parallel.

There might be a restriction on what the laptop's memory controller can do but in any case, I'll know more by early next week.

I've ordered and am expecting 4GB of DRAM and I'll post the results once I install it.

For whomever is interested,

last night I updated the Alienware BIOS with a modified one that contains SLIC 2.1 (original had no SLIC at all).

Using an Alienware certificate, I installed Win7 Ultimate x64 on it without any problems.

Win7 shows as genuine and validated and the experience index ratings are:

Processor 5.0

Memory (RAM) 5.0

Graphics 5.5

Gaming graphics 6.5

Primary hard disk 5.3

This is still using the default drivers (except the graphics that run Catalyst 10.7b with OpenCL 1.1 support).

We'll see if the ratings change once all the drivers are updated.

More later.

[kanenas]

I just replaced the DRAM with a Kingston PC2-5300 (333MHz) 4GB pack (2x2GB).

As expected, not all the RAM is available.

The Alienware 1.19W BIOS sees 3.329GB.

Win7 x64 sees 4GB but only 3.25GB are usable.

Experience Index ratings remained the same.

CPU-Z also sees 4GB.

Unless the restriction is with the hardware, maybe another Alienware BIOS will fix this but I doubt one will show up. This will do for now.