HP Touchsmart 610-1180qd - Graphics Card Upgrade?

[sperkins224]

This is the customizable PC I have: TouchSmart 610-1180qd

Hi there! I am no noob when it comes to computers, in fact: I am a tech expert. I know this question has been asked a millions times, but I could not find a current thread for my model. I have never worked with an All-In-One desktop before. I know they are more closely related to laptops rather than desktops and that they will use laptop graphics cards because of that. I love this new PC, it has everything maxed out from what HP has to offer me for that model, except the graphics card. At the time they were not offering me a good Nvidia 2GB graphics card so I went with the 2GB ATI Radeon HD 5570 , which was the best at the time, and I am not a fan of Radeon. I look at the list of cards they are offering now, and they are all much better than what I was originally offered a month earlier when I was building my PC. My card isn't even listed as an option anymore! I'm a bit upset. My current card is bringing my computer's performance down. Everything else is killer. I experience lag on some games that should not be experienced with high graphics settings! This thing has a 3.4GHz quad core processor with power boost up to 3.8GHz, and 16GB of DDR3 RAM! No reason for any kind of lag there... It's the graphics card... it's lame, I did not want it in my PC at all, but I had to. 

Currently the best cards they are offering as of right now for my PC model as of 9/6/2011 is:

2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M

2GB Radeon HD 6550A 

I would prefer the Nvidia card much more because I want to play Final Fantasy 14 online. They are specific to Nvidia cards only. Plus I have always preferred Nvidia over the others, and am not liking this Radeon HD 5570 very much if at all. 

My question is: Can I order one of the cards online that is currently listed for my computer setup, and then just install it on mine? The website does not say anything about the graphics card being integrated, so there should be a chance I can upgrade it. It's the same exact computer, but they seem to change the avaliable graphics cards list every few weeks. I do not know how to go about opening this computer to check it out. Any help would be appreciated. I love this computer to death but this lame Radeon graphics card is bringing it down by crippling it's gaming performace. I should be able to play all of the most current games on high graphics with little to no problems. This PC is a beast overall, buuuuut... I hate this graphics card that's currently in it so much! I paid about $2k for this AIO PC, and the graphics part of it is killing me for the high end games. 

Or... what other graphics cards would I be able to put in it? The one's listed really aren't that high powered. 

Thank you! 🙂

[dianebrat · Accepted solution]

You would be best off reviewing all the previous discussions on this subject, these are not easy cards to replace since they're laptop format MXM cards and the HP BIOS is picky as to which cards and GPU BIOS revisions it likes.

In general the opinion has been it's not worth the time, energy, cost, and frustration to replace them.

[sperkins224]

That's what I figured, but all the other threads I looked up were old. That is what I had determined myself as well after looking at all those threads earlier. I was hoping maybe something had changed in this newer build of this AIO PC.

I finally had the time to sit down and mess with the advanced settings on my graphics card, and it seems to be just fine for the most part. I am able to run a solid 45-60 fps on the game I was trying to play on high graphics.

It just sucks that AIO PC's cannot get upgrades. I hope this changes in the near future.

Thanks for your response! It's what i was expecting to hear, just like all the other answers. No biggie. I can manage with this graphics card setup. By trying a few advanced settings I was able to get awesome fps from this thing anyways, so since I have to live with it... might as well make the best out of it. 

[alimozaffari]

Hi:

I was wondering if you can comment on a 2GB video cards we will bet getting directly from HP in 10 days. The part # is 630586-001 MXM30 2GB (Pinewood) Viper which I think is similar to the card you have.

Thanks in advance

Ali Mozaffari

CEO

Alan Computech Int'l
{Personal Information Removed}

[sperkins224]

That may or may not work. It will be difficult to install the graphics card from what I'm understanding. My Touchsmart PC is model 610-1180qd. My current graphics card is the ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5570 2GB. If you can reply back here or PM me with more details I would be happy to discuss this. I need to know more details about the card you will be getting directly from HP. I cannot seem to find this part for my 610-1180qd. Thanks! 

[alimozaffari]

Hi again. We have the cards and please take a look at the info in below link. I do not mind to send  you a sample at no charge if you can figure out exactly what this card is.  http://www.alancomputech.com/646633-001.html

Thanks

Al

[papaya205]

Hello.

I ordered a HP 610 1130y by BestBuy and asked for the video card upgrade and I got the answer, that they don't have this MXM cards.
So far I figured it out do we need for the Inglewood board a PCI Express x16 2.1 card. The one your LINK  shows is a 3.0 and NOT compare to the 2.1 standard. I looked it up tonight already, because I had to get some informations WHAT is a MXM video card. 

And so far I am NOT impressed what HP is giving out for informations about the board upgrades.
Example:
Memory upgrade So-DIMM PC10600 with 200 PINS. !! 
(There is NOT one standard who shows Notebook DIMM with 200 PINS! Correct it shut be 204 Pins!)

MXM slot "B" !?
Standard is Type I, II, III, HE and IV and NOT "B".

So in the end, HP confuses customers with this incorrect information.

Best regards
Papaya205 

[papaya205]

I forgot to LINK my info:
http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Tech_13.html

Example for a MXM Type II card:
GeForce 9600M GT

[papaya205]

Hello sperkins224
The video cards you would like to have, will NOT fit in the INGLEWOOD board. You need a Type II mxm card what uses NOT more than 35 Watts.
But I guess you are happy with your ATI HD 5570.....
Best regards

[mdl2001]

I bought this card, HP ATi MXM 3.0 V224 AX Viper 2GB Video Card 646633-001 from alancomputech through ebay . Installed the card in my HP 610-1151f Touchsmart  but all I got was a blank screen upon boot up. My all-in-one has the WJ1 Inglewood motherboard. You could hear the system booting, but no video. It's not that difficult to physically install the card. Ther are directions at the HP website explaining how to remove the rear covers. You then need to remove a metal shroud (3 screws) and then remove the fan assembly (4 screws) in order to get at the connector to install the card. Not a big deal. Unfortuneately there seems to be more to it than just installing the card in the system. i wish I knew. Don't know if the card is bad or if there's something else I'm supposed to do. Was hoping I could download the driver from AMD/ATI and be all done. but... It shouldn't have to be this diffiicult. **bleep** hp? Planning to call HP when I have time to be on the phone with them. I tried to find info at the HP site using their part # 646633-001 but could not find any info on the card. I've been searching online trying to find anything that could help. That's how i ended up here. alancomputech is no help. They only SELL the cards. You have to find out from HP how to make it work. Any suggestions? Is there anybody out there?