P-7801u Upgrades

My performance in games have started declining due to my CPU's bottleneck.

Here are my specifications:

1920x1200 LCD
2.26 Ghz Core 2 Duo P8400
4 GB DDR3 Ram
9800m GTS 1 GB VRAM

I know for certain that my CPU is the bottleneck since the graphics card handles games like GTA IV, Mass Effect 2, Modern Warfare 2 without any problems except when intense battles or hundreds of objects appear on the screen simultaneously.

I have three requests.

1) Which is the best mobile processor my laptop can handle?
2) Which is the best thermal paste I can apply?
3) Which notebook cooler should I buy?

Feedback is appreciated.

 

My choices
1) T9900 would be a good option (i haven't tried it though)
2) IC Diamond
3) Zalman NC2000

 

[1]T9900,=3.06 GHz, 6MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz front side bus, 35W or
P9700,=2.8 GHz, 6MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz front side bus, 25W
[2] Arctic Silver 5 easy to use
[3] the one you like

 

I think I'll postpone on the CPU upgrade since I don't think it's worth spending hundreds of dollars when I can do much more if I had a desktop.

I'm seriously considering the following:

1) Thermal paste (so far I have two options)
2) Cooling pad ( Zalman NC2000 vs. Rosewill RNA-7600W)

vs.

 

i would go for the zalman if those are your two choices in cooler. maybe take a look at the nzxt cryo lots of people say that one is better for the p78 as the fans line up better with the components but i personally think the cooler will only really keep one component cooler and thats the hdd.

as for which paste i would have to agree that ic diamond would have to be the best. that paste can replace thermal pads real well which this laptop uses in a few places. also i find this paste to be the best anyway thermal pad or not

 

i agree on IC diamond. it brought my temps down 5c at load compared to arctic silver 5.

 

I have the same laptop. Where can these mobile procs be purchased and is it proven that these will work on this laptop?

 

Are you all referring to the "IC Diamond 7" thermal paste?

I have ruled out the Rosewill notebook cooler due to the placement of the fans. It's going to be a tossup between the Zalman NC2000 and the NZXT Cryo.

I suggest not buying a mobile processor since they're $200+, which a third of the building cost of a new desktop PC that can play Crysis at very high settings. However, if you really want to find a compatible mobile processor, then search this forum for CPU upgrades using the search option. The Gateway FX series is well known for its easily accessible CPU, heat sink and fans.

 

ICD7 is good.

 

I'll be getting the IC Diamond 7 and the NZXT Cryo LX. I'll report back with results.

 

I already have a decent desktop that does what I want it to do, but throwing $200 at a laptop as a upgrade doesn't bother me at all if there is a significant performance boost.