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Post by wheeker on Feb 3, 2015 11:20:18 GMT
My upgrades to-date for my XL100 have included upgrading the Graphics Card twice: GeForce 6600 (Stock)-> Radeon HD4550-> Radeon HD6670 Now the fan on my HD6670 is failing & I have had a few "unexpected shutdowns"! Temp is reaching 100 o C which can't be healthy! So I am going to pull the card & have a go at dismantling the heatsink & fan to see if there's anything obvious I can fix. If not, I was wondering what IT Troll (& others) would reckon the chances are of re-deploying the passive heatsink from my original 6600 are? I know IT Troll managed this previously here with a different card. Alternatively what are my options for a replacement? I know from here that the recommended options are: HD5450-> HD6570-> HD6670-> HD7750 However I only use my XL100 as a HTPC (i.e. no gaming) & I don't really want to shell out a lot of money on e.g. a brand new HD7750 (c. GBP£120). But I do know that my old HD4550 wasn't great with HD TV (pixelated), so not sure about a HD 5450. Also, TBH the fan did annoy me on the HD6670 when watching HDTV, so e.g. would a passive HD6450 be ok? Also all of the above are AMD Radeon cards, what about nVidia cards- the GT640? Any advice/opinions would be appreciated.
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Post by Woody on Feb 3, 2015 13:37:52 GMT
I would not recommend replacing an actively cooled heatsink with a passive one for the VGX-XL.. ..the main reason being that there is simply not sufficient space for efficient passive cooling in our systems for the higher spec cards. The fan assisted cards really do need the fan, particularly in a tightly packed case like the VGX-XL. As for alternatives I would personally go for a R7 240 (see www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1226&pid=2200&psn=&lid=1&leg=0), which is a good compromise on what you want.. ..but it still has the fan! Or the GT640 rev2. I would'nt go much beyond these options anyway as the CPU in the XL100 will quickly become the limiting factor. Hope this helps!
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Post by wheeker on Feb 8, 2015 10:29:55 GMT
Update: so I pulled my HD6670 & found a couple of threaded screws & a clump of fluff/dust. Put it back together & all seemed to be working again. Temps back to normal. However I have since had a couple of crashes to standby which upon resume display an error message about video card issues. So I presume my HD6670 is on it's way out. Thanks for the great advice above Woody, much appreciated. So I was all set to buy the Sapphire R7 240 you recommended for GBP£40 on Amazon when in a somewhat drink-fuelled Sat night e-Bay purchase I ended-up buying an Asus R7 240 instead, for only GBP£25! Can you reassure me that this will still work (power-draw etc) in my XL100? Is it as good as the Sapphire?
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Post by Oliver on Feb 8, 2015 11:30:22 GMT
Hi Wheeker,
It's best to find out asap if it will work, as you still might be able to cancel the order prior to posting?
I see no reason why it shouldn't work, but in the link you gave I didn't notice if it comes with a low profile bracket or not, it looks like it is adaptable so if it doesn't come with the low profile bracket you might be able to purchase one.
Hopefully it will be ok and others will be able to reassure you further
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Post by wheeker on Feb 8, 2015 20:18:20 GMT
Thanks Oliver. I paid for it pretty promptly & it's already been marked as dispatched! It seems like I may well have taken a bit of a gamble, I have read some user reviews of the Asus Radeon R7 240 stating that it is PCI-e 3.0 and is not backwards compatible with PCI-e 2.0 on some motherboards. Hmmmm.... will have to wait & see I suppose.......
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Post by IT Troll on Feb 9, 2015 4:07:30 GMT
I think you will be fine with this card. It is made by ASUS who are a well respected brand. They made the motherboards in the VGX series for Sony. The power draw is low so that will be fine. The only question is the low profile bracket and whether they are included in the box. I have seen pictures of the card with the correct brackets, but from memory I think ASUS tend to sell these as an optional extra. www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-Profile-Graphic-Brackets-Cards/dp/B00BNE6NN0You may however be able to re-use something you have already got.
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Post by Woody on Feb 9, 2015 22:51:57 GMT
Hi Wheeker,
I can confirm that the Asus card will work fine, as I tried one in my machine....it was fine and came with the low profile bracket :-)
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Post by wheeker on Feb 10, 2015 15:35:53 GMT
Thanks guys for the reassurance- much appreciated!
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Post by minimee on Feb 24, 2015 12:35:45 GMT
Hello again Oliver Stones.
This is James Evans in Central California, USA., and I am writing you to find out from you if you have used the " Mr.Big (BIOS) ", and if so if it will work for my SONY VAIO VGX-XL2A Computer with Win 7 Ultimate 32, or if you have Not used it, if someone else here Downloaded it and got it to work in their SONY VAIO VGX-XL Computer ?
This SONY VGX-XL2A Computer arrived last Thursday, but with a Bad or Dead SONY PCV-H21L HDM I PCI-E 128MB C228H1 Rev 1.02 Video Graphics Card which could Not be revived, so I replaced it with a older MSI PCI-E - HDM I / DVI 512MB Graphics Card which slipped right into the PCI-E Slot wherein I am writing this E-Letter to you from this SONY VAIO VGX-XL2A. :~)
The eBay Seller Refunded around 1/2 of the $$$ I Paid for this SONY VAIO VGX-XL2A after I wrote them and told them about the Dead Graphics Card.;~)
I am doing a Search for a Affordable Low-Profile PCI-E Graphics Card with at least 2 GB or RAM in it.
I see that there are a couple of them mentioned in this Forum so I will look at them.
This SONY VAIO XGX-XL2A came with 2 512mb Ram Sticks for 1GB total Ram installed in it, and it had 2 160GB Seagate Hard Drives, a Socket 750 280GHz CPU, and Windows XP MCE 2005 which was working, but as you know Microsoft Stopped the updates for it, so I Upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate 32 and I Upgraded to a WD 7500GB Hard Drive which the SONY MB and Bios is seeing, but it will Not Recognize a Second Hard Drive, yet it is seen in the Device Manager and I cannot seem to get it to be Seen in the Computer File Program. ;~(
I am looking at a Set of Samsung 4GB(4x1GB) PC2-5300 DDR2-667MHz non-ECC Unbuffered CL5 240-Pin desktop Ram on eBay, but I would appreciate if you could advise me on which Manufactures RAM would be the Best, and hopefully Most $$$ Affordable for this Older SONY VAIO VGX-XL2A ?
Also. I am Unable to get the I-Link or IEEE 1394 Ports in the back or front of it to work in Windows 7 Ultimate 32. ;~0
I Downloaded the The Mr.Big BIOS Update Project PDF File, and I am going to Try and do it because this SONY VAIO VGX-XL2A is showing the Other Hard Drive in the Bios, and they are being shown in Device Manager, but Not in the Computer Program File. ;~0
Also. I am unable to get my SONY VGP-XL1B Changer to get recognized by the VGX-XL2A due to the IEEE 1394 Bus Host Controllers Not being Recognized and both Ports Wont Work, and the SONY Slot Feed CD-R / DVD Players Eject Button is Not Working, but I can get it to Eject from the Computer Icon when I Right Click on the Icon and Select Eject. ;~(
When you have time there, Kindly write me either here or at my E-Dress and answer my questions as Best as you can Oliver Stones.
Thanks much.
James Evans in Clovis California, USA..
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Post by Oliver on Feb 24, 2015 17:49:40 GMT
Hi James,
You have a lot of issues here, you'd be best seperating them and asking the community for help, but I'll try to work through your issues.
There are currently 2 BIOS available, 1.1 I think? and 1.2 which is in BETA. 1.1 allows you to upgrade your CPU and 1.2 is more for members with SSD upgrades, but also allows CPU upgrades. If you'd like to upgrade both should work fine with your system, 1.1 can be downloaded and installed, 1.2 would require you to be accepted as a BETA tester (see the BIOS forum section for more details)
When you installed Win7 your eject and FireWire ports will have stopped working, both these issues are normal and fixable. I'm on my phone, so links are hard to post, but under software upgrades you should find full detailed guides to fixing both issues. The FireWire issues is what is stopping you XL1B working, your probably suffering from the machine hanging at start up too? The FireWire fix will stop this. You'll need to install some Sony drivers to get the eject button working (please read the US guide and follow every step exactly)
I hope this helps, Oliver
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Post by Oliver on Feb 28, 2015 20:55:44 GMT
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realname
Junior Member
Upgraded Bios & CPU
Posts: 32
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Post by realname on May 27, 2015 5:41:19 GMT
Does anyone have a Sapphire DD7750 installed in their VGX-XL? I picked one up and can't get the HDMI to work. It will display on the DVI output through an HDMI adapter, but then you lose the sound and 3-D. I have seen on-line that the HD7750 may have a BIOS bug which prevents it from displaying on many LCD TVs until the windows AMD driver loads. Mine still doesn't work in HDMI when it gets there.. Has anyone updated the BIOS on this card?
Also... Can someone add the newer cards to the recommended graphics card lists? The ones on there are hard to come by. Keep the old ones too, just update it.
Thanks for any help in advance.
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Post by Woody on May 27, 2015 8:07:59 GMT
I have Sapphire HD7750's in my VGX-XL's and I have never had a problem with the HDMI.. ..is the HDMI port on the card OK?
They are very small connectors and could easily be damaged.
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Post by Oliver on May 29, 2015 18:25:04 GMT
Can someone add the newer cards to the recommended graphics card lists? The ones on there are hard to come by. Keep the old ones too, just update it. Thanks for any help in advance. Good idea. I don't want to recommend any newer cards without testing first, so I've updated with a link to this thread
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Buckwheat
Junior Member
"Lost in the digital wilderness!"
Posts: 39
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (64-bit)
VGX-XL: VGX-XL3
HTPC: Windows 7 Media Center
Case: OEM
PSU: 500W Athena Power AP-MFATX50P8 (Conv. to 18-pin)
Motherboard: Sony/ASUStek P5BW-MB Rev.2.00 (OEM)
CPU: Intel Xeon X3230 Quad Core 2.67 GHz 8 MB L2 Cache
RAM: 8 GB (4x 2 GB) DDR2-800 PC2-6400
Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 2-slot Superclocked 4GB GDDR5
BIOS: Mod V1.2 (Advanced)
HDD/SSD: 2x 240 GB OCZ AMD RADEON R7 SSD 'RAID-0'
Optical Drive: Matshita/Panasonic UJ-265 Blu-ray
TV Tuner 1: Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH - 5504-DCT06EX-ETH
TV Tuner 2: SiliconDust HDTC-2US HDHomeRun EXTEND
Media Changer: VGP-XL1B2
Keyboard: VAIO VGP-WKB4US (OEM)
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Post by Buckwheat on Jun 2, 2015 22:06:15 GMT
Many or most of the newer low-profile video/graphics cards note that they are PCIe v3.0 specification. I understand that most should be backward compatible to the PCIe x16 slot in the VGX-XL systems, but does anyone in this forum have personal knowledge of what specification applies to our PCIe slots?
Question 1: Are they ...
PCIe v1.x (2.5 GT/s): 250 MB/s (×1) 4 GB/s (×16)
or are they ... PCIe v2.x (5 GT/s): 500 MB/s (×1) 8 GB/s (×16)
? ?
Question 2: And is there any point to buying the best PCIe v3.0 video/graphics cards available which will fit, since there is a limit to the performance throughput that our systems will support, and a limit to how much of the performance potential of these new video/graphics cards that our old systems can actually utilize?
Thoughts or feedback on this subject, anyone?
Thanks, Buck Wheat.
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eynon
Junior Member
Posts: 16
VGX-XL: VGX-XL201
CPU: Intel Xeon X3230 Quad Core
RAM: 4GB (1GB x4) DDR2-800 PC2-6400
Graphics: XFX Radeon HD 5450 1GB GDDR3
BIOS: Mod V1.2 (Advanced)
HDD/SSD: Crucial M500 240GB
Optical Drive: hp BC-5600S
TV Tuner 1: AVerMedia A16E
Keyboard: Logitech K400 Plus
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Post by eynon on Aug 15, 2015 11:57:52 GMT
Many or most of the newer low-profile video/graphics cards note that they are PCIe v3.0 specification. I understand that most should be backward compatible to the PCIe x16 slot in the VGX-XL systems, but does anyone in this forum have personal knowledge of what specification applies to our PCIe slots?
Question 1: Are they ...
PCIe v1.x (2.5 GT/s): 250 MB/s (×1) 4 GB/s (×16)
or are they ... PCIe v2.x (5 GT/s): 500 MB/s (×1) 8 GB/s (×16)
? ?
Question 2: And is there any point to buying the best PCIe v3.0 video/graphics cards available which will fit, since there is a limit to the performance throughput that our systems will support, and a limit to how much of the performance potential of these new video/graphics cards that our old systems can actually utilize?
Thoughts or feedback on this subject, anyone?
Thanks, Buck Wheat. I have no idea on Question 1 or how to find out My HD 5450 freezes for a second every now and again, not very often followed by a pop up notification saying something along the lines of..."_ _ _ _ _ has stopped working" and then immediately followed by another saying..."_ _ _ _ _ has recovered." So a replacement may be needed in the not so distant future. It would be great to know what the latest compatible cards are that our systems can benefit from. Last I heard that were beneficial were the HD 7750 and R7 cards as far as I know.
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Post by mtrb1966 on Sept 21, 2015 15:25:14 GMT
I have owned a VGX XL-201since 2007. It is still currently running Windows XP but has been upgraded to 3GB of RAM and more recently has been fitted with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66 GHz CPU. It was working fine until I purchased a new Samsung 40" 4K TV a few months back. It worked with the TV for a week or so but now there is no signal through the HDMI connection. I have been told that it could be the graphics card and Windows XP. I believe the HDMI connection is not 2.0 but 1.4a. Therefore, I decided it was worth looking at a Windows 7 upgrade with a new graphics card so I purchased the Nvidia GeForce GT 610 2GB by Asus. It is low profile and has passive cooling like the original card fitted but the bracket supplied is too large for the slot on the back of the media center which was designed just for an HDMI connection. I need to get the optional small brackets which were not included so I can separate the HDMI/DVI and VGA connections, although I'm not sure where the VGA connection can go? There is a blank plate above the TV tuner outputs on the back of the media center so maybe it could go there. It also appears that I will have a problem fitting the GT 610 graphics card to the edge connector due to the cooling fins fouling the transistors and I don't want to have to cut the cooling fins. Perhaps I would have been better getting the Asus R7 240 with the fan or the HD 7750 mentioned by Woody in a separate thread? However, it would seem from what I have read that the R7 240 also has to be modified with the removal of the fan cover. Could I check if the HD 7750 can be fitted as a direct replacement with no modification? I don't really want to have to modify the new graphics card and I really don't want to think about retro fitting the original cooling pipes and fins to the new card!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. P.S. I have added a link below for the graphics card that I have purchased. If I have posted incorrectly or omitted anything, please could someone let me know. www.dabs.com/products/asus-geforce-gt-610-810mhz-2gb-pci-express-2-0-hdmi-low-profile-84NM.htmlMany thanks. Mark
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Post by IT Troll on Sept 23, 2015 12:51:03 GMT
Yes Asus are notorious for not including the low profile bracket with their cards. Other manufacturers do often include these. There is a link above for the add-on accessory. For the VGA connector you can just disconnect the ribbon cable and forget about it. You won't have any need for it. As you have discovered, there is a really badly placed capacitor right next to the expansion slot. Many coolers will clash with this. It is quite common to have to remove the cowling. I had to do the same with my GT 640. vgx-xl.proboards.com/thread/91/ready-4k-nvidia-gt640It is trickier with a passive cooler like on your card as you would have to remove a section with a dremel or similar. The heatsink does also look quite deep on that card so I would be surprised if it fits in the available space. The slot space is not sufficient for a double width card, more like one and a half at most. The original card has a very old and buggy HDMI implementation so it is very worthwhile upgrading. You just have to be a careful which model you go for, a slim active cooler is often an easier option. Windows XP shouldn't be a factor with regards to HDMI. However you may find that drivers are no longer updated for XP and the latest cards may not support it at all.
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Post by mtrb1966 on Sept 23, 2015 19:22:06 GMT
Thanks very much IT Troll for the advice.
I have in fact returned the GT 610 card to Dabs as I was still just in the 14 day cooling off period. The cooling fins did indeed go right up to the edges of the card so it would not have been possible to fit it without modifying the fins.
It sounds like I will either go for the Nvidia GT 640 that you have fitted or the HD 7750 mentioned by Woody. Does anyone know if the HD 7750 card needs any modification? It looks like with the HD 7750, there is more clearance above the edge connector.
If I can get the HDMI connection to work with the replacement card, I can then start to think about the OS change and all that entails. Gulp. The build quality of the VGX XL is too good to junk it just yet.
Mark
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Post by IT Troll on Sept 23, 2015 21:17:23 GMT
The trouble with the HD 7750 and GT 640 is they are both discontinued so you may struggle to get either now. You may have to look at newer model cards. The closest current Nvidia equivalent is the GT 730. There was a post recently from someone who was planning to fit a GT 210 which has a very small cooler. But I am not sure how they got on. The GT 210 is a very low performance card though. The built-in graphics on modern CPUs can easily match these cards now and so the market for them is disappearing. I've just had a very quick search and from the pictures it looks like these should fit without any modification. EVGA do normally include the low profile brackets. www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-610-DDR3-Graphics-Card/dp/B00847TOLC/www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-NVIDIA-Graphics-1400MHz-DVI-I/dp/B00L5H5B06/
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