What beholds for the future of my I9300???

I just bought my I9300 about 3 months ago, to my suprise after checking Dell's website today, my laptop is now old news. This kind of pisses me off, but whatever you gotta roll with technology i guess. My question is, how long will my laptop be able to keep up with new games coming out? The specs are in my signature, i realize that the graphics card 3 months later is already obsolete and you can't even find them in the Dell systems. So what am i looking at here? I was thinking about maybe selling this laptop and getting a new one with the Duo Core processors and the 7800's...but is it really worth the extra money if im going to be in the same dilemma another 3 months after purchasing that. Also whats up with the Dell coupons? are they not doing coupons anymore? thanks

 

Well, I have nearly the same setup as you...I got my in the begining of December . You should fair pretty well on up and coming games. I play FEAR no problem and that is one of the toughest out there.

If you are looking to upgrade you can get the 7800GTX and then you will need the 9-cell battery and new northbridge and the XPS bios.

I wouldn't sell it straight off...you should be good for now. We are scoring pretty high for the computers that are discontinued now. I get 4500+ in 3dMark05...which beats about 80% of laptops out there...not too bad.

 

Interesting, just a quick question, is your 6800 softmodded? If so, any info on it? also did you have to modify anything or can the card be pumped up a tad bit without getting to hot? thanks just looking to give the lappy that extra kick

 

The 6800 go is actually still pretty good for how long its been out now.

It will be able to run new games well for about another year, and will be able to run them at acceptable performance for ~ 2 years. It really all depends on how picky you are with graphics.

I personally would stick with the 9300, but if you are someone who needs the greatest performance, then go sell it and go for the E1705. Just keep in mind the 9300 is still a very good notebook and will be for a while.

And actually, the E1705 isn't that big of an upgrade from the 9300. The Core Duo will only benifit you sometimes... and IMO the 7800 go isnt as big of an upgrade from the 6800 go as it's name suggests.

The E1705 will probobly be around for another year. The 9300 had already been out a while when you got it. Also dell will most likely put out more coupons. They usualy just wait a bit in between sets.

 

I am in the same position as you. Same specs except I have 2 gigs and an 80 gb 7200 HDD. I was debating if I should just sell my system and either buy the i9400 or get the cheapest i9300 I can find and mod it with the geforce 7800gtx. I would do it to my current system except I would be wasting my money since I bought the 3 year accidental damage/3 year warranty packages ( which I feel like was a mistake now ) . I bought this thing back in September 05. I paid $1,800.00 shipped and spent $590 on upgrades / additional things (2 gigs of ram at $90/each, 80 gb 7200 hdd and external enclosure at $200, mx1000 at $60, bag from circuit city for about $40, audigy sz notebook for about $80, and a pair of headsets for about $30.)

 

Yeah, I OC'ed my card....specs are in my sig...I lowered it a little bit now due to temps before I got my laptop cooler. I was hitting 74C when I would play for a while. Now I never hit above 68C which is really nice

I am using the X-treme G drivers.

 

I was recommended the Xtreme-G's...and they actually benchmarked higher stock then the Omega's.

OC'ing is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing and don't watch the temps of your card. I have I9kfangui that watchs my temps and adjust the fans accordingly.

With the OC'ing being dangerous...it is not bad if you be careful...everytime I OC'ed a little more I ran 3dMark05 video tests 4-5 times and checked the temp...which now I don't have to worry about with my laptop cooler.

If you are scared to OC yourself I would recommend letting the driver detect the optimal settings. To do this make sure you ran the card so that it is "warmed up" like run a game for an hour or 2 then detect optimal settings.

If you want to push it...then must raise it slightly and write down what the safe settings were. Raise it in 2-3Mhz increments. Play for a while and then check temps again.

Safe temps for the GPU is around 80C or less is what I would consider safe.

 

what kind of laptop cooler do you have USADdude

 

I have the BYTECC Notebook Cooling Pad found here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834999336

Granted my laptop hangs about 1/2 inch off the left and right side. But it is great because it holds the laptop at a great typing angle. You will have to put rubber feet on the back so it doesn't scratch your desk. It lowered my temps by about 5-7C on average and higher when I push the laptop.