From MXM RTX 1080 to RTX 2080 / 2070?

[Mtheta]

Hi!

I know this topic has been asked here from time to time, but I think for quite many years there hasn't been a possibility for an upgrade from MXM RTX 1080 to RTX 2080 or RTX 2070. However, suddenly I noticed that there are now many MXM RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 cards claiming to be compatible with some MSI laptops with MXM RTX cards.

Like this ebay RTX card,  NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB MSI GT75 GT73 MS-16L5 GT83 VIDEO CARD MS-1W1E1 for sale online | eBay

 

My own computers model is GT73VR 7RF Titan Pro with this kind of card in it, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GDDR6 MSI GT83 VIDEO CARD MS-1W1B1 N17E-G3-A1 | eBay

 

To me, they seem to be compatible enough that you might not even have to change the heatsink with that. Or is there some kind of catch here? Maybe a hoax? Please tell me if you know any better, thanks!

[1610ftw]

The 2080 MXM in MSI laptops will only consume about 155W and therefore performance will be limited compared to full-fledged 200W cards. So unless you manage to get a 200W vbios running with both the card and your laptop the real world increase in raster performance will be around 35 to 40% and you will get some first gen ray-tracing capabilities on top and also have the added benefit of lower power consumption.

 

With that being said if it was a drop-in and given that you can sell the old card for a certain sum I would say go for it. It does not look like a drop-in though and I am unaware of anybody who has made that upgrade. Which does not mean it won't work of course but there may be the need for some added effort to get everything up and running and you may want to figure all of that in and proceed carefully.