M14x R1 worth upgrading and some issues

I have an M14x R1 which has been reasonable so far. However, recently I've had major problems playing Planetside 2 even on the lowest settings.
Alienware claim that one of the same spec runs it perfectly well, but I get about 10 FPS on absolute lowest settings. It's worse than it used to be.
The only difference is that I put Windows 8 on it. I've tried all drivers from Dell ones to nVidia and beta drivers but had no difference.

I'm just wondering if it could be Windows 8 causing the problem on the R1? I'm about to put 7 back on to see if that resolves the issue.

I'm also wondering if it's worth upgrading the Laptop a little. I was thinking of putting an SSD in it and upgrading the RAM from 4GB to 8GB. Would I notice much of an improvement with that?

(All windows are x64 FYI)

Cheers.

 

I don't think upgrading the RAM will see much improvement for gaming, maybe for like video editing/CAD and stuff. 4GB is plenty for most games but if you can afford 4GB more, why not.

And you will see a massive improvement in both speed and heat generation with an SSD- obviously this is offset with the price of the SSD.

 

I agree, but the problem is that the m14x R1 is limited to SATA-II speeds, meaning you won't get full performance from an SSD. Some solved the problem by
flashing a modified BIOS, but I've heard about serivous issues / OS crashes, so maybe just upgrade to the R3 when it's coming out?

 

Still SSDs at SATA II speed are way faster than a regular 7200RPM HDD, you'll notice a considerable performance improvement yet this would only affect data transfer (it won't improve the game's performance).

 

I agree with this. I'm just looking for some SATA II SSDs on ebay at the minute, the problem is though that at the time they were SATA II, the capacity was very small and there's no room for another drive in an M14x. Might end up just getting a 256GB SATA III SSD for it to be fair, although the first thing I'll be getting in the RAM.

 

Yeah thats what I was thinking, I have a 128GB SSD in the SATA II port of my M18x and it is still faster then when I had a 500GB 7200RPM HDD in there. Plus a huge advantage to me as a gamer is I find the less heat build up under my left wrist (in an M18x, is probably different in a M14x) keeps lengthy gaming sessions easier.

That is the trade off, you will struggle to find SSD's over 512GB. Keep in mind that SATA III SSD's will still work just at SATA II speeds.

 

I'll be looking at a 120gb tbh. I don't have the money even for that right now.


I just bought a 4GB stick of Corsair Vengence for £14 which is a bargin. I'm struggling to find another at a similar price. I'm just wondering if I can use that stick and one of the 2GB sticks that are already in the laptop until I find another bargin?

EDIT:
My 4GB stick turned up. I put it in, checked the speed was set to 1600 in BIOS and it works fine. Nearly doubled my FPS in some areas on Planetside 2 and seems to have lost the random freezes.

 

Have you tried this with your games?

 

Yes. It's definitely using the nVidia GPU

 

Planetside 2 has a very high CPU Demand. If you are running an i5 in your m14x i would think those frames are correct. You would want at least an i7 2630QM to run Planetside 2.

Note: If you have a i7 2630QM its running at 2.0Ghz which is still awfully slow for Planetside 2. At which point throttle stop would be nice.

PS: A SSD won't help your frames.

 

It's an i7 2630QM.

An SSD will help prevent the mini freezes since that is caused by the Hard Drive. That's why I was contemplating putting an SSD in there. Plus it improves load times dramatically.

 

But you'll still have to suffer horrendous frame-rate issues, perhaps it's time for an upgrade?