Sorry but I'm going to post this question here too .......

When changing graphics cards do you loose the ability to send sound to an amp through the Digital Optical cable in the Xl 301?? I'm going to install the leadtek 8500 GT but it's more or less the same as the MSI one. I really nead the Optical connection to work after I swap cards.

Yes it will work fine. The Digital Optical output is unaffected by the upgrade. With audio output set to HDMI/SPDIF you get output from both the digital audio out and the HDMI (with the internal SPDIF cable connected). I have both connected so I can choose between TV sound or Cinema amp sound depending on the material.

So in summary, none of the 9 series range is suitable for a standard XL-201 because of either power usage issues or cooling issues?  So the 8500GT is the best option?

Well I received my MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH/D2 and found like others that the heatsink is too wide to fit. However rather than remove the PCI riser support bracket, I decided to follow the example of Timiboy from a German forum and modify the 7600GTL cooler.

It is fairly straight forward to remove the coolers from the cards. The top left corner of the 7600GTL heatsink must be removed to allow for a capacitor on the MSI card. A strip from the bottom of the heatsink must also be removed in order to clear motherboard components (the MSI card sits lower down). Then simply refit the modified cooler to the 8500GT with some fresh thermal paste.

After being switched on for a day the GPU temperature has settled at 65°C.

I have hosted some pictures of the process.







The extra cable on the 7600GTL is for the external video connections. As the MSI doesn't have this connector you do lose this functionality.

I am looking at following the guide from IT Troll but when I look online for the NX8500GT-MTD256EH/D2 most show a card that looks slightly different from the one shown in IT Trolls pictures. Of course the cooler is different but beyond that the mounting plate also looks different i.e. to long. Is there a different card available or does the plate need to be cut & bent?

The products online looks like this...

yep absolutely correct...very easy to change.  Its a tight squeeze for both dvi and hdmi (if you need to use both like myself). Mind you, i didnt do mine myself, i bought mine from fellow member Scoobyuser.  So far I have had only one problem - i have a 301 and had av switching issue - this happened the first time i changed the channel, it became nin responsive with no screen after i change the channel. however i hadnt updated any drivers.  Since the update i've not seen much trouble though i suppose i havent used the 301 much.

I've tried connecting the dvi to my optoma h30a projector but havent had any luck, but am waiting for blueunplugged to send me a replacement cable.

Long story short.. i think its worth the time and money, for the first time in a year and a half my screen display is at my tv's true native resolution connected throug hdmi rather than component and omg....wow

I'm going to fit an MSI8500GT over Xmas, and I didn't think there were any issues except some connectors at the front of the VAIO are lost (which I don't use).  However, I do use the firewire connections at the back.
Can anybody else confirm that the Firewire connections are lost, or is this a unique problem to the previous post?

Tried the MSI 8500GT this afternoon, and yes, whilst it worked, it did lose the Firewire connections at the back.  This is no good to me as I use a FloppyDTV to view TV.
I could use a Firewire connection on the motherboard, but I can't see one.  Can anyone confirm that the XL201 does not have a Firewire connector on the motherboard?

If not, I am considering looking for another graphics card with a connector that allows that extra cable to connect.
So what is that extra cable connected to the 7600GT? (the bigger one, not the SPDIF connector).  It's not a 10-pin IEEE1394 connector, as it appears to have 12 pins.
Does this other connector have a name?  Is it unique to the 7600GT?