Upgrading CPU need an advice !

Hi Gents

So its time to get my laptop a bit of a refreshment. I have an Acer Aspire 8942g with intel HM55 chipset and i3 2.13 GHZ CPU. I mostly do gaming and video editing and now i am considering of an CPU upgrade. I already bought 8GB of 1333 ram which is dowclocked to 1066.

My questions to you, what cpu should i go with an i5 or i7. To my understanding the i5 processors are just like i3 but with the turbo boost option. Whereas i7 is an quad core CPU as well with turbo boost.

My laptop is my desktop replacement so its always on my desk and therefore power consumption is not an issue although i do like to keep my temperatures low. I am mostly looking for something that will give me a solid increase in FPS in games such as Crysis 2, Metro2033 ...

Any ideas on what is better if a faster 2 core CPU (i5) or a slower but quad core i7 ?

Thanks for any inputs.

All the best ,

 

For intensive video editing a quad will be better. However, the TDP of the i7s is higher as well. You have to be certain the cooling in your laptop can handle the extra heat. For gaming, it will depend on the games, some will run a bit better on a quad while other aren't made for anything that more than 2 cores and will benefit a little more from the i5.

 

Id recommend finding the highest configuration that laptop can come with if you want to upgrade the cpu. If you get something other than that you better make certain its supported by the bios and can be handled by the cooling system.

 

Acer traditionally hasn't whitelisted CPU's so a Clarkfield i7 is a possibility, but if the cooling system can handle a 45 watt quad core, that is another story. Likely you'll find better answers if your thread got moved to the Acer subforum.

 

Thanks guys so far for the input. So far i have talked to someone who has the same exact machine and was able to put in a i7 720qm ,i even saw on a different thread that the extreme 55W cpu's were put in with success although i ma not looking to get that much out of my way.

I was thinking about i7 840qm from what you guys have suggested. The cooling right now is pretty good, i have the back of the laptop liftited up , cooling pad underneath. My GPU never goes above 70 and CPU not above 66.

1+ rep for all you guys, thanks for the help so far ... I am very picky so any input helps !

 

If anyone can move this thread to the Acer forum it would be much appriciated so i could get more attention. Thanks in advance !

 

How did it go? im considiring buying an i7 720qm for my aspire 7741g and the cooling system i think it can handle it

 

Heres compatible products -processors from arkintel,,it looks like 1st gen Core ix CPUS.

Mobile Intel® HM55 Express Chipset

Have to check bios feedback on what cpu's are recognized in your laptop.

Cheers
3Fees

 

Looking at the FRU (parts list basically) I am a little worried as they list motherboards specifically for arrandale (dual core) and clarksfield (quad core) with each GPU combination.

As for heatsink, there appears to only be one model so the cooling should handle it.

The quad core motherboards are listed to support the 720QM and 820QM processors.

 

At the very least, you can slap in an I7-640M dual core CPU. The quad would be nice.

Bronsky

 

Thanks guys again for so much input. I was considering the 840qm but now as Maker stated now maybe my motherboard does not even support the i7 ? Could you guys please clarify on that ? Thanks for all input +1 rep !

EDIT: appearantly according to this guy you cna go from i3 to i7 - http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...ades/550680-acer-8942g-processor-upgrade.html

So now question stands could i go as high as 840qm ?

 

Any idea on how to check this ? Or doesnt anyone know if i can just plug in the 840qm ?

 

Ah, well, if someone has gone from a dual to quad successfully then it looks like you are ready to go.

The thing is, people can't tell you 100% for sure if it will work, we know the 720QM works, and since the 820QM is listed in the FRU that's LIKELY to work, but who knows if the bios will throw a hissy fit at the 840qm?

I would get it from a source you can return it to if it does not work and give it a go.