Orig G73 worth upgrade from 720qm to refurb 840qm @ $120?

Newegg.com - Refurbished: Intel Core i7-840QM Clarksfield 1.87GHz (3.2GHz Turbo) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache Socket G1 45W Quad-Core Mobile Processor Model 612260-001

I have a spare unopened tube of OCZ freeze lying around.

I have the G73JH-R BBX0 version if that matters.

I don't have to worry about a warranty.

I have the original factory BIOS, does that need an update for this CPU?

...and I've seen some video of G73 disassembly, but never tried such a project myself.


I just saw this on newegg, so this is all more or less still in the window shopping/wishlist phase. Is it even worth it just for games and is there anything else I need to know?

 

Not worth it. You won't find much increase from 840M, instead, go for 920XM ES version, OEM version costs a few more bucks and does the same thing as ES. 920XM has unlocked multiplier, With ThrottleStop you can go up to 3.2GHz on all 4 cores when you have enough cooling while the 840QM can only do 1.86GHz when 4 cores are active.

 

920xm ftw.

 

...and where might I find such a chip within the vicinity of $120?

Because that would be about the extent of what I'd spend.

 

To tell the truth, you won't really find one under $200 at this time, maybe last year but not this year as most of them are out of stock on ES version.

 

Worth every penny you will see no difference whatsoever with the upgrade you are considering you could get more out of the 720QM by just overclocking it with SETFsb so the upgrade is pointless. ( I got 2ghz on 4 cores from my 720QM with SETfsb.

Go 920XM and do not look back.

 

Not worth it. Even though the Turbo multiplier on the 840QM does 2.13 GHz at 4 cores utilized compared to 1.73 GHz on the 720QM, the difference is too small to be noticeable. For games, there is zero benefit because most new games would be bottlenecked by the GPU before the CPU. You would see a bigger speed increase by using that $120 to get a good SSD.

The first generation mobile i7's are 3 years old and way beyond EOL by now. Like they say, you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Only thing you can really do for that rig is get a 920XM/940XM and overclock the hell out of it.

 

920XM is the only worth while upgrade for the CPU. I picked mine up last year for around $200. Unfortunately they are going for around $300+ now.

For $120 or less, you could find yourself a decent SSD and see huge performance gains.

Those are the two best upgrades you can do. SSD being #1 IMO.

 

The CPU is the only upgrade I'd be interested in, but $300 is way too much. I was hoping that the 840qm would be enough to improve a few games whose dips in minimum fps were low and often enough to hurt play and feel like CPU they're related [Witcher2 for example]. Most games run fine, but a handful just seem to give my 720qm/5870m issues and "a handful of games" is not enough games to justify $300+.


...since the chip is out of stock, I guess it doesn't matter anyway.


Was even looking at the i5 540m 2.53-3.1GHz thinking that the higher base speed would help games like Skyrim/Witcher2 without negatively affecting games that use quad enough to notice on that end.

 

Do not expect an increase in gaming performance it rarely happens the GPU is always the bottleneck. The 920XM is the only chip that will make a difference in CPU intensive games a small difference in clock speed will not.

 

Hate to say this but your GPU isn't strong enough for those games, even on GTX580M The Witcher 2 1080p high spec mode is only around 30~40fps, downgrading to i5 with a higher base clock won't do you anything.

 

I run a 1600x900 monitor.

The thing with the Witcher2 even though I picked it up @ launch, I sat on it while all the DLC came out. I used the 1st city after the escape to benchmark:

From the link in my sig:

Min 25, Max 37, Avg 30.467

Now running past the gallows itself gives 19-21fps.



I was hoping for the next set of die shrinks in 2014 to get a laptop.


...If I'm lucky, maybe spring '13 will have the AMD 8000m out early enough [since they seem to be jumping earlier in the desktop arena to answer Nvidia and they'll use the same midrange offerings as their top-line mobile components] to overlap the current Intel offerings on a sager/alienware model.

...that sounds a bit like a plan.

 

As I said the HD5870M isn't strong enough to run The Witcher 2. Even at 1600 x 900 your average fps is only 30 ish, also the 1080p on the GTX580M is only a reference, to give you an idea how much GPU power is needed if you want to run that game well. You need at least have a GTX680M to run this game with a solid 60 fps.

In the G73JH the fps is totally limited by the GPU, you'll be feeling disappointed to see the absolutely tiny improvement when upgrading from a 720QM to a 840QM.

 

You might want to tweak your settings I ran Witcher 2 at 900p mostly maxed (no ubersampling) perfectly fine getting 40fps on my 5870M. I was using 720QM as well but overclocked to 2ghz so maybe the 920xm will help. You could try turning off bloom and AA as that makes a big difference.

Here are my settings and screenshots.

 

Hi

i have just installed a 7970m in my ASUS G73JH.

when i play Battlefield 3 on my laptop i get 43 FPS in ultra setings @ 1080p and only 50 - 60 FPS in Medium. 60 - 65 in low.

i want to have atleast 100 Fps when i play, its a compleatly different feeling, i think my 720qm is limiting my fps a bit.

the problem is that i can not use a prosessor with more TDP than 45 W

so wil i get a bit more fps with an overclocked 840qm than an 720qm ?

 

Your not getting 100fps in battlefield 3 with a 5870m, regardless of the CPU.

 

True, but he did say he is running a 7970m he installed.... quite the upgrade!

The 720 was starting to limit me quite a bit in several games, your best bet would be to swap in a 920 or 940xm if you can find one assuming you are determined to getting the best performance out of your modified machine.... from my research and others posts I don't think a 840 will give you what you are looking for.... of course I'm not positive an XM cpu will either but that would be your best bet for performance from this chassis.

Curious, others love the 920, and I think it's 55w... you say you are limited to 45w I can only assume because of the gpu upgrade?

 

yes i have the 7970m installed, im geting 5800 points in 3D mark 11. it feels like the 720qm is the botle neck in my system !

problem is that the 5870m was 50W and the 7970m is 100W

and the asus psu is only 150 W so i think the 920xm might be just to much not sure tho !

 

The MXM port in the G73 is designed to output 100W max, thus the reason peeps have issue overclocking the 7970M. The mb should be able to provide teh power for a 920XM IF you don't overclock the GPU.