What type of motherboard is this...?

DanGlee

Hi,

I'm having some trouble finding out what type of motherboard this is for my DELL XPS M1330.

It bust up on me there a while back (common prob with graphics chip over heating), so I need to get a new one. However after sending the pic to some american who sell's them and said he would tell me the type, he never got back.

Its either an Intel or nVidia. I read somewhere that the nVidia has the blue sponges on it, which this does, but I'm not sure, hence the reason I am asking the intelligent public IT folk on boards.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/38101362@N05/3508637616/

Any help telling me what you think would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
DG.

PS. AlphaWave is the most ******* useless broadband (if you can call it that) provider on the face of this earth! It took me over an hour to upload this tiny 66kb picture?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kikel

I think it's an intel. Remove the 5 screws for the heatsink and you'll see the graphics chip.

DanGlee

I reluctantly removed the screws and it turns out to be an nvidia.

TerrorFirmer

It would be an Intel mobo with Nvidia graphics chip. The clue was in your first post, Nvidia cards have the reputation in their 8 series for poor manufacturing and subsequent faults. Googling it should give you a result instantly as to the model number of said mobo. When buying a replacement it would be possible to buy the mobo with onboard Intel X3100 rather then Nvidia video, removing the possibility of another failure. If you prefer to stick with Nvidia (if you play the odd game or whatever) make sure you are careful when purchasing a new mobo, that you don't buy one with integrated Intel as this cannot be upgraded.

Dartz

It's possible to improve the reliability of these by replacing the thermal pad with a proper heatsink:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=268081

Though this may be for a slightly older model