6930g What upgrade path

Hi,

Sorry if this have been covered before but I had tried to search..

I have the 6930g - t6400 2ghz with the 9600gt ddr2 version.

My question is, what would give me a better in boost games, upgrading the 9600gt to a DDR3 model or upgrading the t6400 to something faster?

Reason I ask, most games have a high maximum FPS but drop to the low minimum's 20 fps in certain places.. was thinking maybe a CPU upgrade would increase my minimum fps?

Games I play are, COD 4 & 5 hopwfully MW2 - flashpoint Dragon rising. Mostly FPS's

Thanks
David

 

what's your score on 3DMark 06?

 

Neither upgrade is worth it IMO due to the relatively low performance boost for the cost.

 

I upgraded mine from a 9300M GS to a 9500M GS then a 9600M GT GDDR3, massive boost with the 9600, over both cards, i got T6400 too, i was thinking about an X9100, but i'm not sure how much extra power i would get for the money i would spend on the CPU....

Would it improve FPS at all guys? by putting a X9100 in it?

I also stuck another 500GB HDD in it, along side my 250GB.

Gonna chuck another GB ram in soon, but that's not really that important as 3GB is plenty, plus i would need to install 64bit windows for it to utilize it all anyway.

 

a better cpu can improve minimum frame rate. like when big explosions and alot of physics happen. but it's hardly cost effective. i think the sensible thing to do is make do with your current configuration and save up money for a clevo, which tends to have very good upgrade potential for a laptop. or build a desktop, 600$ desktop will probably beat a 2 grand laptop.

 

If you upgrade the CPU to something like a T9600, or P9700, then you should see a fair improvement with FPS.

 

Not so much in any GPU limited game (which are the majority)...

 

Agreed, but it's going to be hard to find a GPU that's worth upgrading for the price.

 

GPU-wise, your best upgrade path is to save up for a new notebook.

The 9600M is right in that performance gap, where no other 128-bit GPU is going to give enough of an upgrade to justify the cost.

If you're absolutely bent on spending $200 to $300, put it on a faster CPU. At least it wouldn't be a total waste there.

 

The fastest GPU for the 6930G is the ATI Mobility 4670 DDR3 but the chances of getting the card by yourself is very slim but the performance may be justifiable (Medium 8xAA native rez Crysis => High 8xAA native rez Crysis). The 6930 can support up to a T9900 or a X9100 but to be completely honest, I don't notice a big change in framerate when gaming.

TBH, the money I've spent on upgrades for my 6930G, I could have bought a base model Sager or an i7 desktop but I didn't like the prospect of putting a desktop as my airline luggage.

 

8xAA no way mang.

 

Yep, I call BS on that one. There's no way that a mobile 4670 can do 8xAA at playable framerates. Maybe if you had a QX9300 and were playing at 640 x 480, but not at native resolution, with max settings.

 

Playable but not constantly 30 fps and higher, more around 20-30 but still runs well enough to shoot North Koreans.
Done with a P7350 at stock speeds so it ran better with my T9900.
Also, when I said high, I meant high, not ultra high or whatever Crysis calls it.

 

With 8xAA? And at native resolution?

 

Yes, I probably should have screenshotted the other page too, forgot about that. And if you click on the image, the res is 1366x768.

 

Thanks for the all reply's guys

I would love to keep my 6930g but as mentioned here, probable better selling it and putting money towards a better laptop.. Wish I never sold my D901c now but wow they were big for taking to work and I wanted 15 - 16" laptop.

Anyway, thanks again

Regards
Bracken

 

It'd only 1364x768. What is so surprising about it? The hd4670 is the king of the 128bit mobile GPU.