Upgrade Laptop CPU???

[jcmaz]

Hi,

My current laptop is based on the i945 chipset (Socket M) with the T5300 CPU.

What performance increase would there be if i upgraded to a T7600? Ie: Source games.

I have the X2300 Mobility w/ 128mb dedicated ram.
I think its equivilent to these graphics cards.

4 Ti 4600, 4 Ti 4800, FX 5700 Ultra, 6200, 8300, 8400 GS 9600 PRO, Mobility 9700 (128-bit), 9800 LE, X600 PRO, Mobility X600, Mobility X1300, Xpress 1250, Mobility HD 2300

Info:
T5300: 1.73Ghz w/ 2mb cache
T7600: 2.33ghz w/ 4mb cache

[Thund3rball]

That's a nice CPU upgrade but not sure what it's going to do for CSS? If you want to see real improvement on games it's the GPU that matters, sadly not so upgradeable on laptops. :\

How much is a T7600? I might just recommend you save your pennies and buy a used laptop with a better GPU and specs all around.

[jcmaz]

200 on ebay and ~300 brand new

but i was also looking at the ViDock2
ViDock 2: High Performance Dual Display Notebook Expansion

Do you think it'll work?

[Thund3rball]

Well as I said, if you really want better game performance, you can probably find a better used laptop. Something for about $500 would get you a C2D and 8400M GS (~10-20FPS improvement on FEAR or Doom 3 at 800x600) from the x2300.

[Oversized Rooster]

I am quite certain that a CPU upgrade will not help your gaming. You should look into a new or different laptop with a more recent integrated video solution or better yet a discrete video card.

[JD]

To give you an idea, my T8100 and Intel X3100 graphics can play HL2 at lowest of low settings but at 1280x800. However CSS doesn't fair nearly as well, it's playable but lags out from time to time making it rather difficult to play. L4D isn't playable at all though.

As others have said though, if you want to play things decently, you need to get a laptop with better graphics.

[DrPepper]

theres this sale on a refurb gateway on tigerdirect, T8400 DDR3 and a 9800GT for 900 bucks, as for your topic what type of CPU games are you using this for? if you use this for CS:S, is it because the get tired of waiting for maps to load?

[martin_metal_88]

A CPU upgrade will not really help, try to go in bios and adress more memory to the GPU. This is the most you can do. And about your thing Vidock2, that`s bullshit, Have you really see an external video card do well, no cause of USB interface. for photo or thing like that it could be cool but not for gaming.

Ask for more

[jcmaz]

it doesn't use USB interface. It uses ExpressDock 1.0 which is the equivilent to PCI E X1

[bojangles]

Actually guys, the CPU helps A LOT in Source based games, especially the older games like CSS, DODS, and HL2. I noticed a subtantial increase in fps when I when from my P4 Prescott to my C2D E6600. Source Engine physics take a huge toll on the CPU, so in this case it would benefit in this case, with both the higher clock speed and cache. Newer games like TF2 and L4D are the games that really up the ante on GPU power.

Overall though your laptop is seriously lacking in the GPU area as well so I would really upgrade to a new laptop when the funds become more available.