Upgrading my SXPS 1640

Hi

I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, I'm all new here

I'm thinking about upgrading my SXPS. I thought about finding some parts on eBay or something and just replace them myself.

My main specs: P8600/2.4GHz - 4 GB RAM - 4670 - 500 GB 7200 rpm

About the CPU I thought of the P9900/3.06GHz. I don't know if I can have quad core? If so, what would my experiences be with quad core contra dual core?

And the RAM. I want 8 GB RAM, so it will be 2x4GB. I'm just wondering what kind of memory/specs I have to buy?

I have thought of upgrading the GPU to a 5730. Is this possible? Do I have do have something in mind if I'm going to upgrade the GPU?

And last, the HDD. I'm looking at a SSD at the moment, but they're pretty expensive so I think I'll just stick to what I got.

Any input on this or anything else? Thanks

 

1. your CPU is 25W TDP, and you're thinking about replacing it with a CPU that has a 45W TDP, that is a bad idea. You'd be better off shooting for something like the P9700, at about 1/3 of the price.

2. Any 1066 DDR3 would work

3. No, the only way to change the GPU is to change out the motherboard, and they never made a 1640 w/5730 motherboard.

4. An SSD is a great investment, and is a whole lot cheaper than the P9900 you were looking at.

 

Thanks for the reply

1. As far as I have read the P9900 is a 35W TDP?

2. Would that be 1066 MHz? I can't replace it with some 1333 MHz memory?

3. Hmm, I mean I've seen it somewhere that you can take out the graphic card separately?

4. We'll see

 

I doubt you would notice the change in processors. I did a similar swap in my XPS 1340 to a P9600 and didn't notice any change whatsoever. If you want a noticeable change get an SSD or get a new sandybrdige laptop.

 

1. Maybe, I was looking at the x9000, as I was unable to find the P9900 specs on Intel's site, but still, 35W is a significant increase from 25.

2. You could, but it would downclock to 1066, so it would serve no point. The chipset only runs at 1066.

3. On some laptops, like Alienware's, but not on ours. The GPU is soldered to the motherboard.

 

1. 10 W increase for 0.606 GHz increase, it doesn't sound to bad? How is the possibility to change from dual core to quad core on this chipset? If there is a possibility, is there any point going to quad core?

2. Thanks for clearing that up What would you consider as the best memory?

3. Ah, that sucks... I guess it's not going to be cheap to change the whole motherboard then

 

1. That sounds horrible. 10W is huge for a laptop, especially for a throttling prone one like the 1640. Besides, unless you can find somebody else that has gotten a quad-core to work, I wouldn't risk it. Even though the 1645 and 1647 have identical hardware/socket/chipset, people trying to upgrade their 1647s (dual-core) to a quad-core CPU, the laptop won't boot. The BIOS won't recognize the CPU.

2. They're all pretty much the same really. There are only 3 major RAM manufacturers, Hynix, Elpedia, and Samsung (listed from best to worst, but the difference between them all is so small that it's irrelevant, especially for laptops, because you can't overclock them above rated speed anyway). All memory companies do is put chips from those 3 manufacturers on a stick, add their sticker, and sell them. As long as they're rated DDR3 1066, and have a lifetime warranty, just get the cheapest you can find on newegg.com. For example, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231294

 

to increase your system's performance I highly recommend you upgrade the ram and SSD. For RAM, just get the 8GB (4GBx2) rated 1066Mhz (don't bother getting the expensive 1333 since it'll be downclocked to 1066) at newegg for about $80, you can go for G.Skill, Crucial, Patriot, Corsairs...they're all good ones.
Newegg.com - Laptop Memory,4GB,DDR3 1066
Also, go for an SSD. Good brands are: intel(any), Corsairs Force series, OCZ vertex 2 or samsung...these are great SSDs with good warranty coverage.

Doing these two upgrade should give a huge boost to your system's performance while upgrading the CPU only gives you slight speed difference. In real life, you won't even notice the new CPU's speed increase at all. Anyways, if you want to upgrade all that: CPU, motherboard, GPU....it is still cheaper to buy a new computer than to do these upgrades.

 

What could I expect with an SSD contra HDD?

 

Faster system response time, faster write speed, faster read speed...you'll know the difference once you use it. Imagine a system that takes 2 minutes to boot up...will end up using only 30 seconds. That's how fast it is

 

8 GB RAM and some thermal compound ordered for now I'll order a CPU/SSD soon I believe.

 

30 seconds? My i7 desktop and my Vostro 1500 both with SSD have a usable desktop in ~17 seconds.

 

30 seconds? My i7 desktop and my Vostro 1500 both with SSD have a usable desktop in ~17 seconds (not counting POST, only start timing when Windows logo comes up).

 

I would go as far as to say that 99.9% of home users, including gamers will not benefit at all from a 4GB to 8GB memory upgrade, and the remaining 0.1% will benefit in very limited circumstances.

Think of the CPU as a car factory located on one bank of a river, and the disk with all the data is a parts warehouse on the other shore. Each time the factory needs parts, it sends a ferry over to the other side for more.

Sometimes the factory needs to hang on to a part for a while and it stores it temporarily in a small store room right in the factory. That's your RAM. If you don't have enough RAM, the store room gets full then parts need to start getting shipped back to the warehouse across the river.

Buying an extra 4 GB of ram is like building a second store room. It will only help if you run out of space in the first one. Buying an SSD is like putting a jet engine on the ferry. Every single bit of data used by your processor will be delivered much faster.

The point is that 4GB is an awfully large store room, and most people will never come close to filling it. If you want to see how close you are to using all your RAM, run windows performance monitor

(start->Run->type "perfmon->click Ok".
Select "Performance Monitor"
Right click -> Add Counters
Select Memory -> Available MBytes -> Add

Click on the counter, and you'll see your avialable memory (last, average, min, and max)

Now leave perfmon running, and do the most resource intensive thing you ever plan on doing on your laptop - load up that video editing software, favorite game, photoshop, etc.

After you are done go back and look at performance monitor - what's the number in the "Minimum" slot. That's unused RAM. If that number didn't come close to 0, then you're wasting your money.