Can You Replace a Graphics Card in a Laptop?

Can you replace a graphics card in a laptop? You might have been experiencing some slower performance than usual from your laptop. Maybe it’s getting old and it can handle some of the newer games available. This certainly could motivate any user to try to replace its graphic card in its Laptop.

Can You Replace a Graphics Card in a Laptop?

In most laptop models, you can’t replace the graphic card. This is mostly because of their usual design, where the graphic card is attached to the motherboard, and the GPU is attached to the CPU. For certain specific models, you can replace it under certain conditions.

Headphone on top of a laptop

Why Can’t You Replace Your Graphics Cards in Most of the Models?

In the 2010s the Laptop’s industry began to integrate the graphic card (called Graphics Processing Unit too) into the motherboard. This means that for an average laptop, in order to replace the graphic card, you should replace the whole motherboard. In that case, you might as well get a new laptop.

The motherboard is the biggest circuit board in a Laptop or Desktop. It’s the main component that allows communication and locates power to the other essential components of the device: the processor (chip,) memory (RAM,) and storage (Hard Drive.)

GPU and CPU

Additionally, in the latest generation of Laptops, the graphic card has a GPU. GPU stands for Graphics Processing Unit, and it’s the equivalent to the CPU, the Central Processing Unit (Chip Processor). They both are deeply related.

If you want to upgrade your graphic card, and your Laptop has GPU, you will see an improvement in your display only if you upgrade your CPU, and if this upgrade contains an improvement in the GPU.

So, as you see replacing a graphic card can be somehow not very useful, or expensive. Nevertheless, there are some cases where an upgrade it’s possible.

Some hardware manufacturers, like Eurocom, are offering Upgrade Kits for some of its models. This Kits will touch the CPU and the GPU, at the very bottom of your device. By upgrading the CPU and GPU, the user should observe an important improvement in its performance.

Woman elated while playing her game

What Laptops Can be Upgraded through the GPU Upgrade Kits?

Considering how intricate the latest designs of Laptops with integrated motherboards can be, the upgrade solutions for Laptops are well restricted.

Only Laptops made by manufacturer Clevo are included in the Upgrade Kits. More specifically, Laptops located in a higher extreme range of size and weight (about 7 pounds). This is the segment of Laptops preferred by gamers.

If the name of the manufacturer Clevo doesn’t sound familiar, it’s normal. Several brands of Laptops outsource the manufacturing to concentrate on research and merchandising. Alienware and Eurocom are some of the brands manufactured by Clevo.

Keep in mind with all that has been said, that this upgrade package clearly targets the segment of heavy gamers looking for more power and capacity in its Laptops.

How Can You Upgrade your Laptop Video Card via GPU?

If you really want to do that upgrade, first do an exhaustive check in its web service to be sure Eurocom sells the GPU for your device. This web page doesn’t have a “Search” bar, so you have to look carefully model by the model (though the list is very detailed and clear.)

Check for Minimal Requirements

If you find your model of Laptop, then carefully pay attention to the specific minimal requirements you Laptop has to support to be fit for this upgrade, particularly the requirements on power, operative system version and BIOS.

If your Laptop doesn’t fulfill all the power, BIOS or another requirement, you must decide if you will still continue. Don’t order any Upgrade Kit until you don’t update your minimal requirements in your Laptop.

A typical Kit contains:

  • Graphics Card
  • Bracket
  • Thermal Pads
  • Thermal Paste

Prepare for Intervention

You are almost on the verge of your desired upgrade. Before that is convenient to make some “preoperatory” tasks. From now on, your drivers will not be downloaded normally from the web. They will be provided by Eurocom. Uninstall them.

Now, finally, it’s time to intervene in your Laptop and install your Upgrade Kit. We recommend you leave this task to a competent technician.

Graphics card

Is it worthy?

Once you finish your upgrade, by the moment you turn on your Laptop you will notice a big improvement in your laptop’s performance. It should be powerful, fast and of course, it will have a much better resolution and a quicker response.

As it was mentioned before, all the improvement in the performance of this kind of intervention is better appreciated by a gamer than an average user. Its cost is expensive (about one and a half times the cost of a new desktop) and is not suited for all laptop models. 

Conclusion

For the current market of laptops, to replace the graphic card is simply not possible, or so expensive and inconvenient that it’s better to buy a new laptop. Under certain conditions, the gamer range of Laptops has a technical option, though expensive. The market will reveal if that option is good enough to expand this innovation to other laptop categories.  

Liam Weissman

A lover of MacBook Air and the Dell XPS line of laptops, Liam has been researching and writing as a guest blogger for numerous websites for over 10 years. Now, he blogs about tech trends, PCs, laptops, gadgets, and other emerging gadgets on FancyAppliance.com.

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