CPU/GPU upgrades and current consuptions/thermal budgets

A thought has struck me while looking for a prospective GPU upgrade candidate for my now-aging 9300M GS, and for a while I had my eyes set on either an HD4650 or HD4670. But seeing as how expensive/rare the cards are, respectively, I decided to look a little bit nearer, so now I have my eyes on a 9600M GT.

What I suddenly thought of was, has anybody already considered thermal budgets/current capacities of the laptop upon upgrading? I, for one, have experienced how hotter my laptop runs with the T9600 which can hit up to 80C now, compared to the 70+C I was hitting when I was on the T5800.

So questions:

1) How does one figure out his/her laptop's thermal budget and power supply wattage? (I've been hearing 90W and 120W etc..)
2) Would it be so much a jump from a 13-watt 9300M GS to a 23-watt 9600M GT that I should be wary of upgrading? Or could I just ignore it?
3) T/F: As the fabrication process gets smaller, heat output goes down.

So for now that's all. Thanks in advance.

 

Actually , your T9600 should run cooler than T5800.. smaller process you see.. maybe its because you didn't apply thermal paste on ur new CPU properly..You shouldn't worry that much about a 10W TDP increase in your GPU as long as you set it properly and apply thermal paste , undervolt and use a cooling pad.. and most important , you adapter can give out more power.. if you got a 90W one you should have no problem cause i use a 90W one and i have similar specs as you.

 

sean is right. The T9600 should run cooler. He is also probably right in assuming its a thermal paste issue.

As far as those cards, I'd go for the 4670 (if you can get your hands on one). Triturbo is the only person I've ever heard of getting one...

You can try the 9600m GT, but I would only consider it if its DDR3. It also has some compatability issues.

I have a 4650, and would also recommend the DDR3 version (faster)...(the DDR2 version runs about the same as the DDR3 9600m GT.

See my sig for 4650 upgrade info, and here is triturbo's 4670 thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26&page=3&order=desc

 

I'm not so sure that the T9600 will be much cooler if any different compared to the T5800, especially if you undervolt it. Despite the higher manufacturing process, it has lower frequency, cache, and FSB, and only a slightly higher voltage, which all these factors contribute to the power consumption and hence temperature. Assuming the cooling system is capable of handling either at load with ease, on idle, the temps would be similar, while at load, the T9600 would consume more power and be hotter.

 

Well the T5800 actually runs hotter at idle, about 45C, while the T9600 can go up to 35C per core due to SuperLFM. I just can't get why it reaches 85C when I play esp Mirror's Edge which isn't supposed to be CPU intensive.

Oh and this happened when I went 64-bit. I also reapplied thermal paste already, but right now I'm wondering if the Jetart Diamond compound is really that good, since it has I think 60% silicon. I'm thinking of getting Gelid GC-xtreme since ICD7 isn't locally available here.

And I'm actually looking for a 4670..though I'm a bit leaning away from it since both triturbo and you, classic77, reported having temp problems after upgrading, and you even have bigger, more cooling-efficient rigs than mine!! lol.

I see a number of DDR3 9600M GT's out on eBay right now, and unless I'd see a cheaper 4650 or an opportunity of grabbing a 4670 somewhere, then I'd seize the 9600M GT and just OC and UV my way through it or something. It's still a decent upgrade from my 9300M GS after all. (but honestly I'm desperate for the ATI's lol)