Where does my laptop stand?

I've got a P-172S FX.

It's got a T5750 CPU, 3GB DDR2, and a GeForce 8800m GTS. I'm going to upgrade the processor around the holiday season once stuff starts going on sale. I'll most likely get 2 2GB sticks of ram.

Some games I wanted to play are:

Left4Dead, Dragon Age series, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2?, Crysis?, StarCraft 2, Diablo 3 (too early to tell). Then there's my older games I know I can play... RTS/MMO's.

 

What's your question?

 

It stands on your desk.


I wouldn't even try playing much of anything on anything with a leading 8 in the name, you'll just kill it; but some of that should run fairly well?

 

You're definitely not gonna be able to play on max settings with those specs. Why not save up for a new laptop instead of doing a processor upgrade? You could try and see if your system meets the minimum specs on websites such as yougamers.

 

This probably should be posted under "Can my notebook run it?"

However, the anwer is: your GPU is maybe slightly better than the current line of mid-range GPUs, but substantially below the high-end ones. Expect medium settings on newer games, high on older ones and less intensive ones.

Your CPU could seriously use an upgrade, but should be sufficient to play most games, probably all of the ones on your list. Your RAM is more than I'm using.

 

Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2 - Shouldn't be any problems running on medium/high with good performance
Dragon Age: Origins - Medium settings with good FPS
Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2 - Medium/High settings with good FPS
Crysis - see here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/217805-8800m-gts-benchmarks.html
and here:
Notebookcheck: NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
StarCraft 2 - Medium/High with reasonable performance
Diablo 3 - Too early to tell, but should be able to run it.

 

Because your processor has a FSB of 667 MT/s, your upgrade options are limited. Most of the high end processors are designed to run on 800/1066 MT/s motherboards.

Seems like your best bet is the T7600, unless you're willing to overclock your base from 166MHz to 200MHz. The T7600 isn't a significant improvement for $200 (the price its going for @ Ebay)

 

I have had my 8800m GTS over clocked for almost 2 years. Most people had problems with the 8600m and 8400m. I had a 8600m gt die on .me in 10 months.

OP your laptop is still good for most games. I know left 4 dead and crysis will improve with a cpu upgrade but I dont have the other games you listed.

 

FYI just because the processor it comes with is 667 doesnt mean that's all the mobo will support. My Extensa came with a T5250 (667) yet i was able to put a T9300 (800) in, he would have to tell us the chipset to see what his best processor upgrade would be.

 

GAHHH I remember when the 8800m was TOP OF THE LINE!!! Its amazing how fast technology goes bad just like when my ATi X1400 was a good mid-level card... But yeah... A new laptop would be a very good idea instead of a new processor unfortunately

 

I would say yes to the CPU upgrade if you can do it for $150 or less. The T5750 sucks...I should know, I had one. It was always my bottleneck, and I had a much worse GPU than you.

Dont spend too much...if I was you I'd do a small upgrade now, and then get a new notebook in a year or so...however, if you can sell that one now...

 

I went from a T5550 to a X9000 and it really let my 8800m GTS shine. The 8800m is still a very capable card and is being held back by the OP's CPU.

 

It was a good mid range card ever?

The x600 was which was quite a bit older. That was surpassed with the x700 however.

 

The 8800 GTS is still a strong card abd should play all new games on high settings if u have a god CPU

 

Yeah the 8800m is still a very strong card. I think people forget that nvidia rebadged the 8800m all the way up to the gtx 2xxm series. I also don't like how notebookcheck.com list the 8800m GTS as a mid range card I like NBR's GPU list http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/302231-updated-mobile-graphics-card-info-page-most-gpu-qs-answered.html