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Graphics Card Issue Please Help? :(


Arollyn Aeon
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I just recently purchased a new laptop Toshiba - Satellite Laptop / Intel® Core™ i5 Processor / 14" Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Drive - Slate and on board is NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics with Optimus technology. I was so excited because my desktop has been broken for weeks and I was going to get to play SL again with a strong graphics card and processor. Well, I was shocked when I realized that this card doesnt work in SL . When SL firsts opens I get a message saying SL doesnt recognise your graphics card but it should be ok. So I can sign on and be in SL with the graphics all the way down but when I try to turn the graphics on high and enable antistropic filtering and 4x antialiasing (to get rid of those horrible jagged edges) SL will not open again once I log off. It says detecting hardware then shuting down. I have googled for hours and am no closer to finding a solution, I have downloaded the reccomended driver from nvidia but I am not sure if its an update to my specific one because disscussions i have read about this card say they released the card without an available update for the drivers. So here is the question, do I need to take this lovely machine back to best buy and get one with a card that loves SL? or is there a fix for this problem that will allow me to run high graphics like this computer should be able to? If the answer is to return it pls tell me what graphics card I should be looking for. This has really upset me, this computer was a birthday gift and its specs sounded so good on paper . I would be grateful for any help.

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The 310M is not a high performance card.  It is a fairly recent series (only one series behind the current 400 series) but the card, terms of performance, quite low on the scale..........actually it's the lowest in the 300 series.  NVidia's method of modeling their cards has two important numbers.........the first being the series (an indication of what the card was produced and released) and the second number will tell the performance level within that series.  That one shows it's the lowest performing adapter in that series.  Not to make you feel bad but you could have gotten a 250 or 260 (even a 150 or 160) card and out perform the 310.  Your going to have to settle for lower settings using that card.  You can experiment around with some settings up to about mid range on the sliders..........I think you can probably get away with that for the most part though your textures will rezz a little slow.  Also, I'm afraid you're going to have to do without antistrophic filtering and if you can get 4X anti-aliasing you would be lucky.  And on the water reflections it's going to pretty hard to get much at all.

 

Sorry for the bad news.

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Oh I guess I just thought that because it was newer it was going to be stronger then the 8800gt that I had in my desktop which ran second life really smoothly on high graphics, so it is weaker then the 8800gt from nvidia? If so I guess I should return this one and for the same price i can get a way bigger screen with only hd intel graphics then buy a better graphics card? what do you think? and what card should i get that wont over heat my laptop? Also, do you mean basically the the 310m isnt much stronger then hd intel graphics?

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The 310M is about a half step better than an Intel chipset.  Yes that 8800GT was infinitely better performing than the 310.  And your idea about removing the card and returning it might be a very good option........the Intel adapter might have issues though that could prevent you from using SL depending on the overall configuration of the laptop.  It would be worth a try since you are not loosing much with removing the 310M.  I'm a desktop fan so I know little about laptops except that everything about them is more expensive and less performing.  But you should be able to pick up a reasonable card for $100 USD for less...........it won't be a GT480 or anything but I would think you could get a 200 series at the 5 or 6 level with some shopping around.  I just put a GT260 with 1 gig of VRAM in this desktop a week ago for just over $100 USD and I did no shopping around at all.........just walked into Best Buy, looked at the cards available on the shelf and purchased it.   Check Newegg, Tigerdirect and do a search for other online computer stores to get an idea of the prices then go to some of your local brick and mortar sites to see what they have if you want to pick it up and physically handle the box before you buy (I'm like that to a certain extent).  The brick and mortar stores should be about 10 to 15% higher in price...........any more than that they are ripping you off (in my opinion).

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Nyll Bergbahn wrote:

 

I doubt you can replace the graphics card. This is most likely not a graphics card at all but a graphics controller chipset integrated with the motherboard and the only way to get a better graphics controller chipset is to replace the motherboard.

Nyll

 

It depends on the model of the laptop...........here's one with the 310M.  It's a discrete card so it can be changed.

 

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=471413

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Peggy.Paperdoll wrote:

 

It depends on the model of the laptop...........here's one with the 310M.  It's a discrete card so it can be changed.

 

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/pdet.to?poid=471413

Depends on how difficult it is to do. Can't find a how to for that laptop you mention but this tutorial gives an indication on what is involved in taking apart a Toshiba laptop to replace the graphics card. http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Qosmio-F25/remove-video-graphics-card-1.htm (3 pages). Not for the faint-hearted! :-)

Just wondering too about power supply and overheating issues from a higher spec gpu and of course any remaining warranty.

Nyll

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I'm not a laptop person.  But, I've opened many desktops and the first couple times it was scary but, really, it's not difficult at all to replace a video card in a desktop.  I would imagine a laptop is a different animal with the cramped spaces, keyboard being in the way, etc.  But it can be done........personally I would take it to a shop, video card in hand and watch them do it.  But, like I said I'm not a laptop person.

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I didn't know either so .........................

power screw driver is optional LOL

also see:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=changing+video+card+laptop&aq=f

Always see more then one of these videos

and remember:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/82184/avoid_static_damage_to_your_pc.html

 

Message was edited by: Faubio.Alter .......... first............ piece of cake :-) all laptop may not have upgrades, and the devil is always in the details, check the specification in any upgrade carefully. Make sure the PS can handle the upgrade and check the temperature of the card, in fact you might wish to e-mail the company supplying the new card to be sure.

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