Upgrade MXM Type B?

[SWarnock]

First off, apologies if breaking any rules.. Couldnt find a post witb my exact situation.

 

The Quadro P3000 MXM Type B card in my laptop has bit the dust after years of service (2018 model). It is still a very powerful laptop (highly spec'd Precision 7720, 64GB DDR4, good SSDs, 4K screen, etc). Thinking of giving it to my kids who are into gaming...but need to replace the card first.

 

What's the best gaming MXM Type B card out there (or close)? I have up to 180-watts available to the GPU, so power shouldn't be a problem. PCI 3.0 x 16 lanes.

 

These typically came with Quadro cards so I'm debating the P5000 because I know it will work. But are those good for gaming? I know they are typically used for workstation and CAD use?

Would a GTX orRTX card be better? If so, which one, and are all Type B cards compatible?

 

I'm pretty tech savy and can burn firmware, etc. Just don't have much experience playing with MXM cards and Google isnt much help today...

[Chalybion]

You've got some options! 

 

The P5000, GTX 1070, and Quadro RTX 3000 are all nice upgrade options that provide a similar level of performance.  Their pros and cons:

- RTX 3000:  Pro - Newer (Turing) architecture for better performance/watt, supports ray tracing.  Con - 6 GB RAM, mid-high priced

- GTX 1070:  Pro - 8 GB RAM, low-priced.  (Perhaps con) - no ray tracing

-P5000:  Pro - 16 GB RAM.  (Perhaps con) - no ray tracing.  Con - mid-high priced

 

Higher-performance MXM Type B cards that are available include the GTX 1080, Quadro RTX 5000, RTX 3060, and RTX 3080.  Some versions of these have a non-standard, non-rectangular form factor.  I'm not sure if those would fit the Precision 7720, or require a heatsink mod.  Any with a standard rectangular PCB should fit with no problem.

 

Here's a reliable seller of secondhand MXM cards:  https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dkr=1&iconV2Request=true&_blrs=recall_filtering&_ssn=shawn882014&store_name=shawn882014&_oac=1&_nkw=mxm

 

Some NotebookTalk denizens have also ordered from https://www.x-vsion.com/product-category/mxms/mxmn/.

I haven't heard confirmed success of these cards in a Precision yet, so let us know how it goes if you order!

[Maks0098]

@SWarnock,you can flash your video card with the BIOS from the iMac, I flashed my P4000 so that it was more powerful. I can send you the file. for your card, the frequencies will already be 1657 MHz and the power limit will be increased from 75 watts to 100 watts (this can be changed using Mobile Pascal TDP bios tweaker). So you will get a more powerful card without extra charge, I have been using mine for a long time, so it seems safe and other users also use it without problems. the power will be at the level of the GTX 1060 mobile.

[nforce4max]

The RTX Quadro series should work but the physical install for the HP version is horrendous due to needing to mod the heatsink.