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    Best cheap upgrades?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by havocxrush, Sep 6, 2012.

  1. havocxrush

    havocxrush Notebook Enthusiast

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    So.... I got my m15x in a trade. Its an i3, with a 240m.
    I majorly majorly need an upgrade here.
    I traded for this an m11x with an i5 and 335m.

    I do a ton of gaming, mostly mmos (Tera, Secret World, Guild Wars 2 currently) and just want to be able to do it smoothly.
    I can spend at most right now about ~$125 (extremely extremely tight budget)

    What are my best options to get this on par with what I need? Having a very hard time locating a place to buy the components right now.
     
    havocxrush, Sep 6, 2012
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  2. thehunterooo

    thehunterooo Notebook Consultant

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    Video card and CPU is what you want to focus on. Ebay has everything you need.

    Though, for $125 there is not a whole lot you can do video card wise. I would save some more money and try to pick up a better card in the $200 range.
     
    thehunterooo, Sep 6, 2012
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  3. onego

    onego Notebook Consultant

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    You could find cheap components here as well in the NBR marketplace. That's where I got my 7970M and various other parts in a less exorbitant price. Focus on the graphical upgrade (video card) if you want to play games smoothly. I'm currently playing GW2 as well and it runs smooth at 60fps with the 7970m.
     
    onego, Sep 6, 2012
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  4. Mexic00ls

    Mexic00ls Notebook Deity

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    Price to performance I would recommend an SSD, that has been my fav upgrade to date, next to the gpu
     
    Mexic00ls, Sep 6, 2012
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  5. txsizzler

    txsizzler Notebook Geek

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    ^ This ^ ... although a video card upgrade would be a huge improvement with regards to your fps in games. A quick boost would be the SSD, but if you want something longer term, go for a GPU upgrade. Definately scan the classified section on NBR, as you can often find better deals than fleabay. The CPU should be the last thing, if you upgrade it at all, that you do, if you are just trying to improve your gaming experience.

    GPU>SSD>CPU
     
    txsizzler, Sep 6, 2012
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