Upgradeability of an Asus G1S-A1

Hello everyone. I've posted before in this forum regarding the upgradeability of my baby, the Asus G1S-A1. Well, if all goes well the RAM upgrade will happen in the next few weeks, followed by a HDD upgrade in the next few months.

However, at the time of that posting, I did not know about potential CPU upgrades, and would like to know what my options are in that category. I have a Santa Rosa platform with a T7500 @ 2.2GHz CPU, according to DXDiagnostic.
1. Is upgrading this component of my laptop possible?
2. If my CPU can be upgraded, what models are viable replacement options?
3. Is the CPU on my computer even worth replacing? I have heard in neighboring threads that CPU upgrades are not useful for increasing performance, but are useful for reducing heat and power usage.
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Also, I have heard from these forums that problems might arise for my notebook if I upgrade to 4GB of DDR2-667 RAM from my current 2GB. I have a 32-bit Vista, and I understand that I will not be able to use all 4GB, but in my opinion, if I get any amount of RAM over 3GB (i.e. 3.2GB or even 3.5GB) then it's a useful investment. Who needs 30 bucks anyhow? So anyways, is the rumor that G1S models work BETTER with 3GB than 4GB true or false? Someone claimed in another thread that they have had nothing but performance increases since upgrading to the 4GB, and I don't want to get stuck with 3 if 4 will work.
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In addition, the GPU I use (8600m GT) uses TurboCache and borrows system RAM for vRAM purposes. When I bought the notebook it showed 1023MB of video ram available in my DXDiag. Now it shows 1008MB. Is that going to continue decreasing? Why?
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LASTLY, in "Asus M70Sa-C1 Video Review 17" Notebook with Terabyte storage", it was said that the extra ~1GB of unusable RAM in 32-bit Vista can be shared with the GPU. Would this be the case in terms of my TurboCache? So in reality, I'm not losing anything by upgrading to 4GB?

Thanks again for helping me with my questions,
Batman

 

a) CPU upgrade.

I think you can upgrade to a Penryn model but I'm not at all sure. Anyhow, a CPU is pretty expensive and upgrade voids warranty. Coupled with the quite doubtful real-life performance benefits; and with the fact that actually heat and battery life will not significantly improve (say at most a few degrees and a few minutes), I would think that a CPU upgrade is not a good option for you. Go the RAM way instead.

b) RAM. I think 4GB should work well. Where did you hear that rumor? I think it's old, there were quirks with 4GB of RAM a while ago but after Vista SP1 that should be history. You won't, of course, use all of that.

c) TurboCache variations. I wouldn't worry about a variation on the order of MB. The probably fluctuates a bit depending on various things.

d) If that remark you mention is correct, then yes, you're not wasting any of the 4GB.

 

Lets talk about CPU first.

1. If you're talking about CPU, yes it is possible. However, you will void your warranty by doing so, so you may want to think twice before grabbing the screwdriver.

2. If I remember correctly, your laptop sports a PM965 chipset. This means you can upgrade any T5xxx, T7xxx, or even T9xxx. However, you might want to be ware of TDP numbers on the higher performing CPUs. G1S at best can only support up to 35W, therefore you may want to get a CPU that's 35W or lower.

3. In my opinion, your CPU is fine as is. However, if heat becomes a significant issue, and you're looking for a better performing CPU, you can take a look at the newer T9xxx or T8xxx series. They run cooler, and slightly better than their T5xxx/T7xxx counterparts. However, be ware that those CPUs are fairly expensive.

Typically speaking, you won't be able to utilize full 4Gb unless you have a 64-bit operating system. With XP or maybe Vista 32bit, you can only see 3.2Gb. Dropping money on that extra 200Mb may yield very little improvements, and in my opinion a horrible investment.

I'm not sure about this. If I remember correctly, you should be able to adjust shared RAM in your BIOS. The value should not change dynamically. As for your question, no its not going to decrease. If the amount of RAM alloted to the GPU is fixed, it will continue to stay fixed. You can also download GPU-Z from TechPowerUp to examine the amount of VRAM available to the GPU.

I'm not sure about this, and I'll need to double check. Theoretically speaking, you can forcefully allot an extra 1Gb to the GPU, since 32bit Vista will not recognize it anyway. So in theory, you won't lose anything by upgrading to 4Gb. However, 8600GT is not a powerful card, and having more than 512Mb of VRAM will not give you any tangible performance boost. So by allotting an extra gigabyte of RAM to the GPU, your GPU might perform worse.

 

I grabbed a G1S and did a little diagnostic. Here is the screenshot:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v30/johnli0615/Blah.jpg

It looks like 1008Mb is the maximum amount of RAM GPU is allowed to utilize. So far I cannot find another 2Gb memory stick to test the effect of 4Gb.

 

Naw... I've got 4gb installed in my G1S - and am running Vista 32 - DXDiag reports... Approx Total Memory: 1518 MB. So when/if you upgrade, it'll recognize and maybe utilize more. My system does run slightly smoother in almost all aspects since I upgaded from 2gb... just don't expect miracles.

As far as the CPU goes, upgrading to a Penryn is definitely a possibility. Asus released a bios update that specifically mentions the addition of Penryn support. What gains you'd get from this will vary greatly. It's supposed to eat less power, stay cooler, and will be available at higher clock rates. Also, it supports SSE4, which seems to benefit video decoding/encoding mostly(wiki). For me the price/performace ratio is way too high for any gaming purposes - at the moment.