XL201 Video Card Upgrade

[grahamjb33]

I have recently started using my Sony XL201 MCE 2005 running on WinXPSP2 for playing games and all was well until I installed MotoGP 2007. Whilst the graphics on this game are extremely good and even with the resolution set to its lowest, the CPU can reach over 90% power usage and the screen 'sticks' occassionally which makes it difficult to play.
I am thinking that as the standard card fitted namely the Nvidia Geforce 7600 GTL with 256Mb on board could be struggling with this game, the main CPU is trying to compensate and this is causing the high power usage.
If I am correct in my diagnosis I would appreciate advice on what video card upgrade would resolve these problems, eg a Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT? By the way... the XL201 is bog standard with 1Gb ram and no upgrades to date.
Great forum for info, keep up the good work everyone!
Thanks... Baler

[ITTroll]

I did an in-place upgrade. No major issues at all. The only thing I found was that the Vista driver for the Sigmatel audio (which carried across through the upgrade) was a bit ropey. I uninstalled that and went with the native Windows 7 driver which is much better behaved.

[ward3550]

going to upgrade 7600 gtlon my xl302 because it has started to play up i have being reading about diffrent cards it troll has tryed i think i might go for the inno3d 9500gt hdmi 512mb could anybody give me any help! also where would i get a low profile backplate from also will the coax still work to the amp

[DeanFernando]

Hi after years of putting up with the shoddy Nvidia 7600GTL in my XL301, I finally replaced it with an Asus Nvidia GT220 1GB PCI-E card and it works fine, straight plug in with no need to reconnect spdif cable internally. I only ever use HDMI and would not need to use it simultaneously with the optical out so it seems perfect. Windows Experience Index for gaming grapgics is now 6.2. One of the main benefits for me is when I resize Window Media Centre during playback (TV or DVD) the previous card would stutter and pause while resizing/maximizing the window. This is pretty much gone now. The only snag was that the low profile plate supplied with it was a double width half height low profile plate, and I needed a single width half height plate which i got from here (it's rip off price/delivery for what it is but it was a necessity!):

http://www.pcupgrade.co.uk/productdetails.asp?ProductID=7985&categoryid=478

[Wheeker]

Hi after years of putting up with the shoddy Nvidia 7600GTL in my XL301, I finally replaced it with an Asus Nvidia GT220 1GB PCI-E card and it works fine, straight plug in with no need to reconnect spdif cable internally. I only ever use HDMI and would not need to use it simultaneously with the optical out so it seems perfect. Windows Experience Index for gaming grapgics is now 6.2. One of the main benefits for me is when I resize Window Media Centre during playback (TV or DVD) the previous card would stutter and pause while resizing/maximizing the window. This is pretty much gone now. The only snag was that the low profile plate supplied with it was a double width half height low profile plate, and I needed a single width half height plate which i got from here (it's rip off price/delivery for what it is but it was a necessity!):

http://www.pcupgrade.co.uk/productdetails.asp?ProductID=7985&categoryid=478

Can I ask- I presume your stock 7600GTL had passive cooling whilst the GT220 has active cooling. Did you notice any significant increase in noise due to the fan? The XL's are so quiet to begin with I am worried any increase in noise could be annoying.

Also- has the GT220 resolved any other stability issues for you? Perhaps you didn't have any. I have W7MC & IE crashing all the time with my XL-100's stock 6600GT.

[DeanFernando]

Hi after years of putting up with the shoddy Nvidia 7600GTL in my XL301, I finally replaced it with an Asus Nvidia GT220 1GB PCI-E card and it works fine, straight plug in with no need to reconnect spdif cable internally. I only ever use HDMI and would not need to use it simultaneously with the optical out so it seems perfect. Windows Experience Index for gaming grapgics is now 6.2. One of the main benefits for me is when I resize Window Media Centre during playback (TV or DVD) the previous card would stutter and pause while resizing/maximizing the window. This is pretty much gone now. The only snag was that the low profile plate supplied with it was a double width half height low profile plate, and I needed a single width half height plate which i got from here (it's rip off price/delivery for what it is but it was a necessity!):

http://www.pcupgrade.co.uk/productdetails.asp?ProductID=7985&categoryid=478


Can I ask- I presume your stock 7600GTL had passive cooling whilst the GT220 has active cooling. Did you notice any significant increase in noise due to the fan? The XL's are so quiet to begin with I am worried any increase in noise could be annoying.

Also- has the GT220 resolved any other stability issues for you? Perhaps you didn't have any. I have W7MC & IE crashing all the time with my XL-100's stock 6600GT.

Hiya mate - yeah I changed the awful stock 7600GTL card (with heat sink), it just started to randomly lose HDMI connection and then died altogether. The GT220 has a fan and yes I do notice it in comparison to the stock card but it is fairly quiet, I can live quite comfortably with it and the difference it has made to performance is great - the Windows Experience Index for gaming graphics went from 5.0 to 6.2.

There's hardly any video/audio stuttering/delay when maximising/minimising Windows Media Centre when playing TV/DVDs now - its almost instantaneous whereas before there was a drop out of a few seconds. Switching HDMI issue is now gone forever. I have had no stability issues at all with the card and drivers so far, I will continue to monitor it as only installed it a couple of days ago. I think I loaded all the Nvidia drivers supplied with the GT220 and maybe a Windows update for it also. I am using a fresh full install of Window 7 Home Premium (32-bit).

[ward3550]

c

it troll can you tell me where you can buy the inno3d 9500gt from please

[ITTroll]

I got my 512MB card (N95GT-1DDV-C2CX) from eBuyer but they are out of stock now.

They do still have the 1GB model though (N95GT-1DDV-D2CX) - quick find code 179472. The only reason I didn't go for this is that I have 3GB of system RAM and 1GB of video might start to encroach (32-bit O/S limit).

Remember that although it is a low profile design it doesn't come supplied with a low profile backplate so you will need to source this separately. Don't worry that their picture shows a full height card - it is wrong.

[ward3550]

thank it troll got inno3d card from ebuyer install it and is working fine only problem now is i am unable to use the vaio recovery utility and also the recovery discs it say unble to detect model aslo on vaio updater it say the same can any one help?

[ward3550]

this is what i have found!


I have a Sony Vaio vgx-xl302. When I went to use the recovery disc, it said "Cannot use this recovery disc for this computer. Confirm Model type." I also noticed in system info that the manufacturer and model say "To Be Filled By O.E.M." I have contacted both where I purchased and Sony. Microcenter said it was my problem and had to deal with Sony. Sony helpless desk lived to expectation. Any information would help.


this was the reply

Ya gotta love those Sony people. Their Tech force must be embarrassed to work there many times a day.
I assume you purchased a component that didn't come straight from Sony, so now they won't help you.
You potential Sony customers, this is just one of ten thousand examples of why NOt to buy a Sony computer.
Please give us all the details of the computer, model name and number, components installed, operating system.
It appears as if you have a non-sony motherboard, non-Sony hard drive, CDROM, memory, or other components. Sony has a special "tattoo" they imprint electronically on the computer components. When the recovery disk discovers that you don't have installed parts with that tattoo, the CD cannot work. If the recovery disk doesn't find the right stuff, you have to use your own software... not something that Sony provided.
Most other companies selling complete computers do this in regard to the OS, because it is a requirement of Microsoft. But only Sony does it with other components, as far as I know.


can any one else help or give info please

[ITTroll]

I suspect there is little that can be done about the Sony tools if they have locked them to a hardware "fingerprint". I use other tools for system backup (system image backup in Windows 7 is good) and have never bothered with the updater utility.