Upgrade VRAM on iBook from 8 to 16 megs?

chucksterchuckster
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I'm sort of annoyed as I just noticed that QE requires 16 megs of VRAM, and I have a six month old iBook 600 DVD with only 8 megs of VRAM. Of course, the Spring 2002 edition iBooks have 16 megs of VRAM...

So, it is clear that it is possible for my current iBook to handle the increased VRAM, but does anyone have a guess of how easy/impossible/"void your warranty if you do it" to upgrade the VRAM to 16 megs? Is it is soldered on or is this a chip that could just be swapped out?



Thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    The ATi's RAM is integrated into the video chipset, which is soldered onto the iBook's motherboard.



    ATi does a good job of making its chipsets pin-compatible, so there's a chance that it's theoretically possible. If you really want to do this, you'd better triple-check that the two chipsets are pin compatible, and you'd better be really good with a soldering pencil.



    Of course, this will totally void your warranty, so if you screw up you'll end up paying for a new iBook.



    I would not advise trying this. Your iBook is not designed for the sorts of applications that QE helps with. You're looking at a lot of work and a lot of risk for little gain.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    agent cooperagent cooper Posts: 157member
    I checked with some folks at ATI, and they told me its not possible. If theres anyone who would know how to do it, it would be the folks at <a href="http://www.xlr8yourmac.com"; target="_blank">xlr8yourmac.com</a>. They are very knowledgable regarding upgrades, even these nefarious ibook vram upgrades.



    I doubt you'll have much luck, honestly, but its workth looking around there.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    chucksterchuckster Posts: 56member
    Thanks for info Amorph and Agent Cooper. I guess I really didn't know what to expect with QE, but it's good to know that I wouldn't be missing out on all that much (at least with my iBook).



    [ 07-29-2002: Message edited by: chuckster ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 4
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    lol, i almost tried to upgrade my iBooks bus speed with the soldering hack that was on xlr8yourmac.com



    i talked to a few guys who do soldering on a professional level. (radio circuit boards and the like)



    they all looked over the specs on how to upgrade the internals and shook their heads and said no way.



    laptops are very delicate, not something you want to dick around with unless you solder computer circuit boards on a professional level. they said computers are a whole different level of tolerance, and are much tougher to solder without screwing up.



    -alcimedes
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