S51 Upgrade Video

[xzachk]

This is the easiest solution to get Dual Video on the ThinkCentre S51.  Order the DVI Adapter.    It allows you to use the onboard Intel 915 graphics adapater and gives you an DVI port, which can be adapter to a VGA port.  It wouldn't mean an upgrade in graphics performances, but either way it's supported and the easiest solution for dual monitors.

Link to Part Announcement from IBM 

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-60292.html

Link on Lenovo's site to order it:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/integration.workflowroductDis... 

Hope this helps! 

[Chol]

Hi,

I also want to upgrade my S51 graphics, since I use it as a TV PC and need a VDPAU-capable graphics card to decode HDTV streams.

If really the power supply should be the responsible component, what about using a card with low power consumption?

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8_Series#Technical_summary the GeForce 8400 GS (G98) only uses 25W. This one is also available with passive cooling, so it should not interfere with the Thinkcentre's air flow.

Does anyone have the possibility to test it?

Greetings

Chol

Message Edited by Chol on 04-20-2009 10:41 AM

[kaland]

I have tested Asus Geforce 8400GS with passive cooling. The power consumption for this graphics cardis about 38 Watts. I can’t get this card running on A51 8171-29G. Results only in a black screen. I have also upgraded the BIOS and have tried all kinds of settings. I think this must be a PSU issue, because when I use a plain low power consumption card in the PC, I get signal on the monitor. I’m now looking for a ATX PSU that is more than 225w. I'll keep you updated

Message Edited by kaland on 07-10-2009 09:32 AM

[Grinder]

Hi did you diable the intel driver in windows device manager, on a S50 it seems to default to on board graphics no matter what,I had a PCI Video card and a anolog tv tunner running on the PCI riser with no problems,its been removed now(need the slot for a modem) and dont forget bios,DEVICES->VIDEO SETUP->PCI

[jarderwil330]

hi,

i recently bought an ibm s51-8171-2cu desktop from somebody and upgraded the system.First thing i did was

1. upgrade the bios

2.  upgraded the ram to 2 gigs

3.bought a nvidia 6200 pci 256 mb graphics card ( work perfect have dual monitors setup)but the computer will automaticlly diable the on-board video driver cause they can't both be enable at the same time.never tried to use the pci-express slot.

4.upgraded the hard drive to 500 gigs

[jarderwil330]

hi

the video card must be a regular PCI card in order for it to work and the bios must be updated

[Grinder]

I  agree with above post and dont forget DISABLE Intel driver

[mastodon]

There is a Hungarian article about how get an ASUS GeForce 7300 GS (PCI Express 1x) work in an IBM Thinkcentre S51: http://logout.hu/cikk/pcie_vga-t_ibm_thinkcentre_s51-be/teljes.html

[jarderwil330]

everybody thinks the pci-e slot is for a graphics card but it's not you have to get a regular pci card and upgrade the bios then it should work that's wat i did

[jarderwil330]

i got a regular pci nvidia geforce 6200 video card now i'm good