Changing the graphic card of an 8 year old laptop

[Sando]

Hey,

I have a laptop that's 8 years old, he's so old that he doesn't even support windows 10 , I am using it to run programs like illustrator, but in these hard times I am using it, especially to play league of legends, but the problem is that the FPS is like 30-40 sometime it's even worse.

I would like to know if it's possible to change the graphic card of my laptop to increase the performance, I don't know much about tech so the first thing that came to my mind is the graphic card. the best solution will be to buy a new one, well, I am so broke that I don't know if I can even afford a new graphic card...

Thank you, stay safe and have a good day!

https://imgur.com/a/ievefbs

View: https://imgur.com/a/ievefbs

 

[Oussebon]

It probably does support Windows 10 - just about everything does, including far, far older and weaker systems. What tells you it doesn't? The compatibility checked by MS? It tends to overstate possible problems.

It won't be possible to upgrade the graphics card in the laptop though.

 

[Sando]

Well, it's because I tried to install windows 10 on it everything went well, but when I update my graphic card the screen goes black and it stays like that, and if I don't update it everything looks bigger and zoomed in.
I tried to find a solution by searching on the internet, but none of them fixed it, and according to a thread that I found it seems like my graphic card doesn't support windows 10 because it didn't get an update or something like that, I don't know if that's true.

It's sad to know that I can't change my graphic card , can you tell me why ? thank you

 

[Oussebon]

It's not clear what graphics card you have as you haven't said but either the graphics card is integrated graphics from the CPU in which case you can't change it, or it's a dedicated GPU soldered to the motherboard, and you can't change that either. In most cases you can't upgrade a laptop's graphics card, and in cases where you can sometimes it's arguably not worth doing so anyway.

What's the full make and model of your PC?

 

[Sando]

Oh, I didn't know that thank you, sorry I didn't know with information I should mention.
It's a Dell inspiron n5110, and for the graphic card i think it's intel(R) HD Graphics 3000

 

[is_died]

I found what I'm nearly certain is the graphics drivers download page for your computer and sure enough the most recent OS the graphics drivers are listed for is Windows 8.1.

Oddly, the 32-bit drivers are listed for Windows 8.1 but the 64-bit ones stop at flat ol' 8.

The graphics hardware for your laptop is old enough that the manufacturer stopped supporting it before Windows 10 released. The date listed on the most recent drivers is June 5th, 2015 and Windows 10 released on July 29th, 2015.


EDIT 2: After managing to confuse myself, I've researched the topic a little more and I believe everything I wrote above is still accurate.

EDIT 3: For the record, here's the driver download page for your CPU, based on the information in the screenshot you posted: here.

 

[Oussebon]

No worries - and yes, those are integrated graphics.

I was having fun with something slightly similar today as it happens. And I've found someone reporting a solution that seems similar to what I ended up having to do:

Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz) Downloads, Drivers and Software | Intel

Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz) - Download supporting resources inclusive drivers, software, bios, and firmware updates.

downloadcenter.intel.com

You install the graphics drivers for Windows 8, and then stop the PC from installing further drivers via Windows Update.

To disable driver updates via Windows update, follow the steps here:

How to Disable Automatic Driver Downloads on Windows 10

By default, Windows downloads fresh drivers automatically, but you can turn this feature off.

www.laptopmag.com

 

[Sando]

@is_died That's exactly what I have found when I was trying to make my laptop run windows 10, thank you for confirming that.

@Oussebon is this a potential solution for the windows 10 problem that I have? I am not really really sure, but I think I have tried to install windows 8 to make windows 10 works and it didn't work, but as I said am not sure I did that.

 

[Oussebon]

Yes, it could be a solution.

The problem could be that:
There are no Windows 10 drivers from Intel for your graphics
The Windows 8 drivers would still work
But if you install them, Windows sees they are out of date and then "helpfully" installs updated drivers, which don't work for your PC.
(this situation is something that can happen with certain hardware - often in laptops in my limited experience - and Windows 10)

So you need to tell Windows not to do that, then install the Windows 8 drivers.

None of this will solve the low performance in gaming of course, but at least it will make the laptop usable - if it works.

Otherwise, there's always Linux and you can apparently get LOL to work on Linux. Although Adobe Illustrator does not, you'd need an alternative. But hopefully you can get the Windows 8 graphics drivers to work.

 

[Sando]

Oh, I just remembered something, I would update my BIOS I don't know if that could cause windows 10 to not run as it should, but I don't think so since the problem occurs only when I update the graphic card.

I am almost sure I did install the windows 7/8 driver and it didn't help, I think it's this one:
Windows 7/8 driver

I found this, I don't know if it's the same problem as mine.
https://support.simulationcurriculu...ws-8-driver-works-on-Windows-10-Intel-HD-3000

For the performance I guess I can"t do much, and the Linux is not an option with me, I will just try to live with it

 

[is_died]

What Oussebon's thinking is that if you were to disable a feature in Windows 10 that automatically updates video drivers, you may be able to get away with using the drivers labeled for Windows 8.

Windows could be replacing the drivers you downloaded from Intel's site, which may work, with drivers that definitely don't work (even though Windows thinks it's being helpful).

 

[Sando]

Yes, I understand that, and I remember disabling windows update in windows 10 to install something, it might be the driver that I mentioned before, I don't know if I want to try it again.

But anyway, thank you @Oussebon @is_died for the help, stay safe and have a good day

 

[Sando]

Hey,

I want to give an update, I managed to fix the problem, so I had to update the BIOS but I couldn't because my battery is dead, and even by using Rufus I couldn't force the update. The problem is that the little battery fixed on the motherboard is almost dead, so it need to be replaced, I replaced it with a new one, and forced to BIOS update with Rufus and this time it worked, after that I installed Windows 10 and until now I've got no problem.

I just wanted to update this post in case someone is stuck with the same problem