One more upgrade thread

I know there are tons of threads regarding upgrades and I just don't have the patience to sift through them all. I want to upgrade my CPU and video card but I'm weary since there are so many kinds. Here's a copy/paste from the dell website of my original system configuration. The only thing I've changed is the RAM (4 to 8). I'd like to go to an I7 but I'm not sure what other things I need to consider (heat sinks, compatibility with motherboard etc) Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Quantity Parts # Part Description
1 G29W6 ASSEMBLY..., BASE (ASSEMBLY OR GROUP)..., ANW, BLACK..., M15X, BURN 3...
1 TK041 Adapter, Connector, Video Dongle, DP2HDMI
1 F836R Pad, Mouse, Alienware, M17X
1 MT749 Keyboard, 83, United States, World Wide, M15X
1 K2490 Cord, Power, 110V, 6F, AlternatingCurrent, 3W, PROPOSITION 65..., United States
1 J408P Adapter, Alternating Current, 150W, Delta - Ac Adapt, 3P, World Wide, M09
1 C5GJX KIT..., DOCUMENTATION..., ANW, M15X, ENGLAND/ENGLISH..., D/B
1 DW6RN Kit, Software, W7HP64, Multi-Language, Alienware
1 J1CM4 HARD DRIVE..., 320GB, P11, 7.2K, 2.5, MX320-1
1 1HC8F Dvd+/-Rw, 8X, Serial Ata, SLOT, Hitachi Lg Data Storage
1 KVCX1 Card, Wireless, Half Mini-Card, DW1520
1 YNM15 Processor, I3-370M, 2.4, 3MB, Arrandale, K0
2 F073F Dual In-Line Memory Module, 2GB1333MHZ, 256X64, 8K, 200
1 NTVGT Card, Graphics, 5730, Parker
1 M960G Card, Wireless, Bluetooth, 370 Latin, 5DB, No Bios
1 H162K Liquid Crystal Display, 15.6, Full High Definition, Light Emitting Diode, True Life, Lg , Philips Lcd
1 T779R Battery, Primary, 85WHR, 9C, Lithium, Dynapack International Technology Corp

 

you can change to any i7 processor, i don't think the heatsink or anything would need to be changed. as for the gpu you can upgrade to the 460m, 5850m, 560m, 6970m, or 6990m (order of performance).

 

Thanks for the quick response!! Any chance I could trouble you for a link to good (reasonably priced) I7? What exactly does Arrandale mean?

 

means you can only use an arrandale series of i-7, not the newer sandybridge i-7's like the 2630 in my laptop

 

Yes sorry, I should have specified that you can't use the sandy bridge cpus. By arrandale he means the i7 720/740/820/920/940. You can't use the ones that have the 2 in front (i.e 2720/2820/etc.).

Check the NBR marketplace periodically. Other than that, on ebay. The trusted sellers are shirleyfu1117, laptopmonkey, extremeprocessor.

 

changing CPU is the one of the most hassle free upgrade for this notebook i think...

u can go up to i7 940XM, and ur notebook should be fly... even not as high as sandy bridge i7 (to be honest, even the mainstream version of sandy bridge, 2630QM on my cheap notebook is almost have double processor performance of my M15x - quite sad)

as for others part, u can consider GTX 460m or ATI 5870/6970 if u got budget..., and SSD would be nice..., X25 or X18 is cheap now, set as RAID 0 will definetely give u boost i think...

for processor, this one in ebay have reasonable price for the spec i think : eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

and u also can find from shirleyfu1117 as like khetik said above.., she/he sell good processor with reasonable price & good service...

 

If I go forward with this processor, will I run into a heat issue? Someone told me that I would have to evaluate the heatsink and possibly replace that as well but that my board (in it's current state) doesn't accept CPU upgrades. Any help?

 

You can use the same heatsink. Just be aware that the 920xm/940xm cpu's do run hotter than the i3's, i5's, and the lower i7's. The 920xm has a max tdp of 55w in comparison with your current i3-370 of 35w. If you couple the 920xm with a high vid card such as the 6970m or 6990m you won't be able to overclock them both to the limit because you will get shutdowns and run into throttling issues. The key there would be to find the balance between the two for good performance.

Plenty of people have the latter setup and are content with it. Great way to boost up your M15x.

**EDIT: what do you mean by your board in its current state won't accept cpu upgrades. Unless your board is defective (which in turn your laptop wouldn't work), there is no reason you can't make that upgrade.

 

I guess they may have meant because of the heatsink.....The laptop is fairly new (about 3-4 months) and runs great but I bought it with the intent of slowly upgrading it. I'll probably get the 920XM but I don't dabble much in overclocking so I would run it with out of box settings. Would you think I could run the 920 plus a high vid card without overclocking either of them without an issue?

 

If it helps at all, here is a print screen from CPU-Z I just want to be 100% sure this will work before I order. I hate being a pest and returning things. Also, thank you so much to everyone that is helping.

 

Running a 920xm with say a 6970m both at stock should pose to problem. Generally where people have run into problems is when they want to push both the cpu/gpu. You should have no problem upgrading to the 920xm. If you want you can wait for someone else to second that notion as reassurance.

 

Short story, as long as u didn't draw power more than what your psu and board can support, u should be ok..., seeing that u still use default gpu, upgrading to 920xm won't be a problem..

 

Time to revive an old topic Looking back at the specs I provided, would this processor be suitable for my needs? I find myself having a hard time running newer games (i.e. Skyrim). From what I've read and hopefully understood, this one should fit and it's in my current price range.

INTEL mobile i7 820QM 3.06GHZ 8M ,for PM55 chipset great value- laptopmonkey | eBay

Thank you so much in advance to everyone that has helped.

 

yup that works

 

How does that one compare to the 920xm? Obviously, the 920 is better but by how much and in what ways?

 

to keep it simple stock wise the 920xm is a bit faster and consumes abit more power than the 820m, the main advantage comes from Overclocking the 920xm with throttlestop, which you can't with the 820m.

 

Highly recommend the 920XM over the 820qm or 840qm. If you game there are games that already can and will start to bottleneck those CPU's while if you run a expensive GPU such as 6990M or 7970M again a potential bottleneck will become more quickly apparent.

Throttlestop is super easy to use on the fly. When you need the performance you can dial in settings that can match a 2820qm very easily and when you don't you can simply stick with stock clocks. Much more value for money upgrade. At the upper limits of an OC this chip can almost pull neck and neck with the 2860qm!

Also what are your intentions on the GPU front. Are you aware the 7970M also is a viable upgrade and works cooler than the 6970/90M while being noticeably faster!

 

I purchased the 820 and am currently awaiting it's arrival. I was able to pick it up for about $90. I'll eventually go forward with the 920 but all in due time. My next upgrade will be the GPU. I haven't looked too much into possible upgrades yet since I'm only doing 1 part at a time.

Just one question on the CPU upgrade. Aside from the obvious re-pasting, are there any other steps I need to take (or anyone recommend taking) that would assist in a smooth transition?

I appreciate all the help!

 

Not at all. It should be plug and play.

So next up if you want bargain and best price performance in the sub $300 range you should get yourself a 6970M.

If you want top end performance and can stretch to a higher budget then the 7970M is also a possibility in the M15x.

 

That is a very good price on the 820, though I would have sprung for the 920xm but either way you will see an improvement.

 

Thanks for all the help, guys!! I upgraded it in about 5 minutes!