Can I upgrade the GPU on my Acer Nitro AN515-53?

Inversion
Inversion Member Posts: 2 New User
edited November 2023 in 2019 Archives
According to a previous question some models can not, but what about my model?

Best Answer

Answers

  • brummyfan2
    brummyfan2 ACE Posts: 28,078 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Hi,
    No, you can not upgrade the GPU, it's soldered on the motherboard.
  • tobimaru
    tobimaru Member Posts: 315 Skilled Practitioner WiFi Icon
    This isn't what you intended but it is not outside the realm of possibilities for some people.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDyL2tPyXFA

  • ParadigmFusion
    ParadigmFusion Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    edited December 2018
    Dont go the eGPU route, thats just horrible in a lot of ways unless you have a laptop that officially supports it, youll also lose your WIFI and Bluetooth if you go this way on the Nitro 5..

    Now, the question of "upgrading" your laptop is more of a question of what are you willing to gamble to make it happen.. Let me tell you a story..

    Once upon a time.. I had a Acer Nitro 5 AN515-51, Core I5 7300HQ, GTX 1050 (non ti) and I wasnt going to be able to afford another gaming laptop any time soon, and with the Helios 300 at around $1300 at the time I was stuck with what I had.. until I did some digging..

    The Nitro 5 and the Helios 300 share many of the same components.. including motherboard size and port location.. I studied pics of the AN515-51 motherboard and one of that of a Predator Helios 300 G3-571 and with the expection of the right side USB 2.0 ports everything else matched up in terms of of ribbon plugs and location..

    So I go on eBay and find a "Cheap" helios 300 motherboard, and I find one for around $380 from China.. ok well its the cheapest Im gonna find right now so I order it.. after begging my girlfriend for a short term loan..

    About a week later it arrives, and with its stock heatsink too.. BONUS.. because that wass the other part the Nitro 5 and Helios 300 dont share.. though the fans do, same with heatsink and fan location.

    I go ahead and pull the mainboard out, and put the helios board in... fit like a glove, I go ahead and wire everything up, and everything is looking good until I hit another minor snag... the SATA cable for the 2nd hard drive.. now this problem was on Acer, some nitros and helios use the plug style cable, some use the ribbon style, its roll the dice either way.. and of course the USB 2.0 port plug didnt fit either but I already knew that and had the helios ones en route, I later found a ribbon cable from a an515-53 for $2 on ebay that would work fine.. and it did too..

    So after I get everything hooked up and put in, I go ahead and snap the bottom back on but not screw it in just yet, I hit the power button.. it was the most nerve racking 15 seconds of waiting I ever did (the board had to detect and configure the new RAM sticks before POST) and finally the Predator logo appeared.. WOOHOO!!!

    I go ahead and do a clean install of Windows 10 Pro, and proceed to get drivers and everything set up, and after about 2 hours of installing, updating and tinkering I have a Acer Nitro 5 with a core i7 7700hq and a 6gb geforce 1060..

    I later sold the original board on eBay for $325 but it took a while, so in total I spent about $100 total on a CPU and GPU upgrade for my laptop.. and what a difference between the 1050 (non ti) and 1060.

    Also, the Power button, keyboard, touchpad, speakers, AC Adapter, keyboard backlight, wifi antenna and webcam all worked right away
  • tobimaru
    tobimaru Member Posts: 315 Skilled Practitioner WiFi Icon
    Quite the undertaking! Custom Nitro 5, or maybe you could call it the Nitro Turbo or something!

    A 1060 6GB would be worth the upgrade alone in some games, especially at your price! I have seen my 1050 Ti 4GB utilizing all of its Vram in some games and I feel as time goes on 8GB cards will even be bare minimum!




  • ParadigmFusion
    ParadigmFusion Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Indeed, I was oringally going to just put in a board with a i5 8300h and a 1050ti and those two alone would have been a good increase over the 7300hq 1050 non ti version. But when I was board huntin the Predator board was only $15 more at the time.
  • ParadigmFusion
    ParadigmFusion Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Top Board is the Helios 300 board, bottom board is my AN515-51-5082 board, sorry its upside down, but the differences between the two are minimal, the USB header is different, and the heatsink is different, thats it.

  • ParadigmFusion
    ParadigmFusion Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    By the way... doing this WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY!!! Attempt at your own risk.
  • masterfox999
    masterfox999 Member Posts: 1 New User
    edited January 2019
    Dont go the eGPU route, thats just horrible in a lot of ways unless you have a laptop that officially supports it, youll also lose your WIFI and Bluetooth if you go this way on the Nitro 5..

    Now, the question of "upgrading" your laptop is more of a question of what are you willing to gamble to make it happen.. Let me tell you a story..

    Once upon a time.. I had a Acer Nitro 5 AN515-51, Core I5 7300HQ, GTX 1050 (non ti) and I wasnt going to be able to afford another gaming laptop any time soon, and with the Helios 300 at around $1300 at the time I was stuck with what I had.. until I did some digging..

    The Nitro 5 and the Helios 300 share many of the same components.. including motherboard size and port location.. I studied pics of the AN515-51 motherboard and one of that of a Predator Helios 300 G3-571 and with the expection of the right side USB 2.0 ports everything else matched up in terms of of ribbon plugs and location..

    So I go on eBay and find a "Cheap" helios 300 motherboard, and I find one for around $380 from China.. ok well its the cheapest Im gonna find right now so I order it.. after begging my girlfriend for a short term loan..

    About a week later it arrives, and with its stock heatsink too.. BONUS.. because that wass the other part the Nitro 5 and Helios 300 dont share.. though the fans do, same with heatsink and fan location.

    I go ahead and pull the mainboard out, and put the helios board in... fit like a glove, I go ahead and wire everything up, and everything is looking good until I hit another minor snag... the SATA cable for the 2nd hard drive.. now this problem was on Acer, some nitros and helios use the plug style cable, some use the ribbon style, its roll the dice either way.. and of course the USB 2.0 port plug didnt fit either but I already knew that and had the helios ones en route, I later found a ribbon cable from a an515-53 for $2 on ebay that would work fine.. and it did too..

    So after I get everything hooked up and put in, I go ahead and snap the bottom back on but not screw it in just yet, I hit the power button.. it was the most nerve racking 15 seconds of waiting I ever did (the board had to detect and configure the new RAM sticks before POST) and finally the Predator logo appeared.. WOOHOO!!!

    I go ahead and do a clean install of Windows 10 Pro, and proceed to get drivers and everything set up, and after about 2 hours of installing, updating and tinkering I have a Acer Nitro 5 with a core i7 7700hq and a 6gb geforce 1060..

    I later sold the original board on eBay for $325 but it took a while, so in total I spent about $100 total on a CPU and GPU upgrade for my laptop.. and what a difference between the 1050 (non ti) and 1060.

    Also, the Power button, keyboard, touchpad, speakers, AC Adapter, keyboard backlight, wifi antenna and webcam all worked right away
    hi, i was inspired to try the upgrade like yours, but i couldnt find a working helios 300 motherboard, however i found one on ebay that, as described by the seller, doesnt recieve any charge. Do you think that i could buy it and later bring it to a repair shop to get it working again? Thank you for your answer and have a nice day. 
    (this is the motherboard: https://www.ebay.com/itm/264134364255?ViewItem=&item=264134364255&ssPageName=ADME:X:COCE:US:3160 )