This is a good question. Can we upgrade or use any video card and not botch anything up? And retain touch capability.

WaveRider said: manufacturers have blocking software in the bios or cmos to keep the machine from recognizing or even powering any card but the original. I'm not sure yet if this is the case with HP, but the 9300M GS card that came with my IQ526 is kinda weak for gaming

Thanks Dave. I presumed it wouldn't be a big deal to pop in a better video card. But your statement above is more of what I was thinking about.

 Greg

That 9600M card is the GS, not the GT, and at HP's prices, it would have been cheaper to do at the time I ordered mine, but I didn't buy a custom TS from HP. It's only a $40 upgrade if you do it at the time of custom building on the HP website. I don't know how much they would want for it after the fact. As it stands, only HP authorized repair facilities can purchase the card, and public visitors to the HP "Part Smart" site aren't able to even see pricing, never mind place an order for one. All I have is a part number, and that does no good if they won't sell it to you.
Dave

Core clock speed and memory clock speeds are 15-20% higher on the GT. The GT usually has DDR3 RAM on board, GS is usually DDR2. Different specs are sometimes custom ordered by the system integrators like Dell HP, etc. ASUS has a few notebooks with a 9650M GT with 1024MB of onboard DDR3 VRAM, and I believe this is an ASUS only video card option for their notebook line.
D

Here's a quote from a post I made in another similar thread...
#1>>
March 28, 2009 12:20 AM

I have the new 9600M GT MXM2 card, and have already opened and made the first attempt at this upgrade. Unfortunately, the heat sink has female spring loaded screws that thread onto the HP 9300M card's male studs. The standard nvidia 9600M GT I bought has female threads, and last check, female and female threads aren't going to attach securely, and I don't want to trust a rubber band on this setup. I will obtain the hardware as soon as I can and let you know how it went. I hope that the HP pinout is standard, this is supposed to be a module that saves manufacturers time and money on development of proprietary hardware, yet HP reverse engineers it so you can't put someone elses' standard card in their machine, and you can't put an HP card in anything other than an HP machine. They should realize by now that end users will find a way, and if HP makes it too dificult, then enthusiasts will unite to stay away from their products. So who loses in all of this? Looks like everyone does to me.
Sorry, just a little frustrated with the proprietary crap, it reminds me of the kind of hardware put out by Packard Bell, and look where they are now.
Dave
#2>>

ChrisR
Member
member since: 05/13/2009
rank: 1064 of 2390
1 comments
May 13, 2009 7:59 PM

Any luck on this?

#3>>
May 13, 2009 10:33 PM

Nope, it's on it's way to Ireland now. The bios of my particular mxm II NV 9600M GT wasn't compatible with the TS, and all I got was a white flash, followed by a blank screen. I believe it continued to boot, but never got any video at all, even after it appeared to have entered the Win GUI. Since HP doesn't release simple downloadable .bin files, trying to find and load the bios from a close relative of my 9600M GT, the GS, which HP installs in the IQ816, is the only bios file that MIGHT work to allow booting up with video running. I really decided that it wasn't worth the time and effort. If you really want to play games, then build a gaming desktop and be done with it. The TS is all about a large, yet compact kitchen PC that really only needs a single wire coming out of it to provide power and be useful. It's not really portable, but you can easily move it into the living room or bedroom, or use it out in the garage if you are a car nut like me. I'd recommend a UPS, and I like my Razer Diamondback mouse, but it still takes only minutes to move somewhere else in the house. The CPU was easy to upgrade, the HDD is a snap, and memory is expensive, probably not really necessary, but is the easiest upgrade of all.
Dave

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Then build your own on HP's website, and put the 9600M GS in it. It's only $40 more, and the whole machine can be built and sent cheaper than anywhere else that sells them online.
If you need the Quadro, then you need to look elsewhere.
Dave

The only prebuilt that I know of that has it already is the IQ 816, it has the 25.5 inch screen, but has the less desirable 667/800 FSB motherboard, and the 500 series has the 800/1066 FSB mainboard, which allows you to later upgrade to the fastest core 2 duo cpu's available today. Right now, the T9400 and the P9500 are both good choices, that is, if you don't mind dropping over $340 for the T9400 which runs on the 500 series at 1066 and 2.53GhZ, and $370 for the P9500, which uses only 25W vs 35W used by the T series processors, and runs at 1066 and 2.53GhZ like the T9400. These are NewEgg prices with Free Shipping, and you might find them cheaper elsewhere, but you won't have to worry about where the package is after 3 days with NewEgg like you will with other online resellers. My 526 is just fine for me at 22 inches, and has a good bit of screen real estate when I am balancing my checkbook with 2 programs side by side. It will be a trade off, I wanted the TV tuner, so I swayed from the 524 and went with the 526 instead. Now I find that the tuner, software, and remote are not compatible with DirecTV, can you believe that? I live on 30 acres out in the boonies, so satellite is my TV and my internet. DirecTV probably has a problem with a PC with TiVo capability from the factory being allowed to record and playback without using their pay as you go equipment, so HP just left out the remote codes for DirecTV so you couldn't finish setting up the Windows Media Center TV setup. Good luck, do all your research, and you won't look back, I really still like mine, and have many things I still haven't tried on it yet. I don't use the touch like I thought I would, as a matter of fact, I'm back to my old policy of "don't touch my screen", I hate smudges, and glossy black shows them like they were in neon. Hope this helped you make the decision.
Dave

Hi! Im having a hp TouchSmart 512. and i really need a good gaming video card!
Play call of duty modern war fare 1 for exmpel. Give me a name at a video card and i would be verry greatful.!
sorry my engish. Im from Sweden. :)
Pleaze!

I recently contacted HP support by phone to ask about upgrading my IQ526 to the Asus model of the 9600M GS that includes a full 1gb of memory instead of the standard 512mb. They confirmed that it would indeed work. I have since purchased one that was originally installed in an Asus M50 and I will let everyone know how that goes as soon as it arrives. After taking a good look at it, I'm sure that the heatsink will have to be installed on the opposite side, but besides that it's an identical install with identical periferal characteristics. Should be smooth sailing but let's keep our fingers crossed...

Strangely enough I found this one on ebay for $160USD.