A 2nd video card for notebook - is it possible?

I would like to explore the option of adding a 2nd video card to my notebook. From the specs, it looked like I have a spare express slot, I verified this with SIW.

System Slot #6
Name: J6C1
Type: PCI Express
Data Bus Width: 1x or x1
Current Usage: Available

System Slot #7
Name: J8C2
Type: Unknown
Data Bus Width: 32 bits
Current Usage: Available

The type of card that I'm considering is this:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...4/mysuperpc-20

Or a similar card, will depend on available stock at time of purchase. I realize that I'll need power for this, so what I was thinking was to buy a mid sized tower with a PSU & Fan built in. Then place the card in there, and connect to the available slot. If necessary, there are adapters:

http://www.magma.com/pciexpress.asp





This is a project that I'll need to save for, so it will take a bit, hopefully by the end of the summer. But before I get my hopes too high, I need to know one thing.

Is this possible?

Thanks for all input.

Cat

Cat - what you're wanting to do cannot be done in a notebook computer. The graphics card you linked to is a desktop card, which uses a PCI-E X16 Bus Slot. It will not work in a notebook computer, at all, nada zero zip no cigar.

The Nvidia GeForce GT425M discrete video chipset is merely that, a separate chipset mounted on the motherboard, freeing up CPU resources and such. If you'll notice, it uses an SBGA (small ball grid array) on the backside to be solder mounted to the motherboard of the notebook.



So therefore you cannot mount a second graphics card to the notebook. You're trying to make the laptop into something it's not designed to do.

I am going to be VERY BLUNT here. You should have taken the $700 plus dollars you have spent on the MSI notebook and built yourself a desktop computer instead. Yes, a computer that you can add to, build up, tweak and such. For the money you've spent, you could build a good kicka$$ computer.

Yeah, when you buy a notebook you buy it for portability and you get it with everything you need because it isn't upgrade friendly (maybe memory if it's not already maxed) but not in general.

No big deal. I wanted portability when I purchased the notebook, and shopped for the best that I could find with the cash that I had. There's times when I leave home, and I need a computer with me. Makes the time go by faster.

Plus, it's exceeded my expectations by far. Never, did I think it would crunch an average of over 3,500 points per day (sometimes over 4,000), w/o even breaking a sweat in doing so. My temps are cool, the only noise that I really hear is the cooling fan beneath it.

I'm not really that far off track from building that new desktop. The one that I have has 19 months under warranty, and is beginning to show signs of continual overheating (fan runs almost non-stop, w/only a web page open). Running a VM, especially Vista, makes it scream. Speecy reports MB temps at 66-70C, 10-12C higher than a couple of months ago.

Remember, heat was the beginning of the end with my old Dell also, and was the case with the one prior to it. In both cases, I had the money refunded to move forward. The one that I have now, only cost $350 out of pocket, once the refund was factored in. I did pay for a couple of extras in the purchase, which pushed it higher, but the fact is, I got it for far less than what the invoice stated. That cost ($400) was paid with the first Dell that I had (three years ago), not the last one, as one paid for the other.

The same could very well happen here. If the heat continues to rise, it will not run another 19 months. Resting my hand on the back of it, it used to be just warm to the touch, but is quite warmer now. AMD's "cool-n-quiet" is now anything but that.

But for the time being, I'm content. I'm confident that in the near future, I'll have the custom home built folder that I want. And if there's any way possible, there will be two of those kickass GDDR5 video cards inside of it. I've already started stashing a little cash for the cause.

The advice given me in this thread is greatly appreciated. That's why I asked before acting, to see if it was possible. Sometimes, you read things on the net, and it's misleading.

http://www.magma.com/expressbox1.asp

I was going by what that article stated, but thought I could take it a level higher. Note that the article states "a typical, middle of the road laptop", and turn it into a powerhouse.



Cat