Best spec upgrades XPS M1710

Hi, decided that it was about time to upgrade the laptop. To get best optimal performance.

Basically want to upgrade, CPU, HDD and GPU

CPU: At the moment i have a T2500 Yonah. What is the best performance Merom cpu i should go for? Or is there something else on the horizon?

HDD: Only have a Hitachi 80 gig 5400. Wanting to upgrade that to at least 160 gig 7200rpm. Recommendations?

GPU: This one im not sure about as i already have a 7900GTX and would it be worth getting a 7950GTX? Significant performance gains?

I dont think its possible to upgrade to a 8800m due to different form factor?

Main reason for upgrade: Longevity and gaming. Lastly would all these upgrades have any repurcussions to the heat levels of the laptop?


Also, where do i get these parts????? from dell themselves? im guessing a standard 2.5 SATA HDD should be fine though.
current os = Xp home
current memory: 2 gig.

thanks.

 

don't upgrade your laptop. it's 2 generation behind. a waste of money. just sell it and get a new laptop. if you really want to upgrade, get a t7200 and a 320gb 5400rpm hdd

 

the xps1710 is an awesome laptop, it has plenty of power to run even todays games.
It may be 1.5-2 yrs old, but it is by no means a slouch. I just upgraded my 6.5yr old laptop and now it runs as fast/faster than most current laptops. A new harddrive makes all of the difference.

The XPS1710 can be maxxed out with 4gb of Pc5300 667Mhz ram, up to a 2.33Ghz T7600 processor, a 7950GTX, and a 200gb 7200rpm drive or 320gb 7200rpm drive.

The difference between the 7900GTX and the 7950Gtx is not that large and the price of the 7950Gtx is around $575 so its not worth it at all.
The xps1710 does not feature an mxm type graphics card so you will not be able to upgrade to an 8800mGTS or 8800mGTX.

Since you have a 80gb 5400rpm drive, you are probably experiencing a drive speed of about 28-34mb/sec on average.
However you can increase your drive speed all of the way up to 52mb/sec if you so desire from a mechanical harddrive. You can go ssd but they are too damn expensive. I recommend getting the Hitachi 7k200 or the 320gb 5400rpm drive from Hitachi, Samsung or WD. All of these drives are able to maintain a 52mb/sec read speed on average, which will show a significant speed increase over your current drive. and these drives are only about $130 in USA
If you so desire, you can get a 320gb 7200rpm drive, which is about $250. This drive can do about 68mb/sec, so its performance will be even greater.

your processor is a bit weak, so I recommend upgrading that if you can find a nice dual core processor.
Here are the main cpu's worth while in upgrading too:
T5300, T5600, T7200, T7400, T7600.
The best bang for your buck is probably the T7200 or T7400. Your best bet is getting one off ebay since they are really expensive. The T7600 is most likely out of the question since it is like $500+

Make sure to update your bios before upgraidng your system. This will help to ensure stability and detection of new parts.

Also I recommend downloading i8kfangui and use it to control the fan speed. Your new cpu will get hotter, so you will want to be able to control your fan speeds.
If you do get a faster processor, check out the undervolting guide, so that you can get the most out of your cpu without all of the heat.

I hope this helps,

K-TRON

 

My opinion is not worth upgrading CPU both cost and performance. I know in some isolated synthetic benchmarks C2D is 20% to 25% faster than Core Duo. Well look at this link. Look at the difference? Going to a lower clock C2D could decrease performance. I know there are others "Photoshop" some brush or something C2D is 50% faster. But unless you use certain apps and functions T5300 and T5600 could retard performance. HDD is the clear and obvious upgrade all others pushing it value wise. I was made aware in a thread last weak that C2D is not much better in many games at the same clocks. Sorry I have not found the thread or link yet.

 

For best longevity leave the laptop as it is, but go ahead and upgrade the drive (yes, 2.5" SATA). 4GB of RAM might help as well, more than upgrading the processor for sure.

GPU? I wouldn't upgrade it. The 7950 is marginally faster than the 7900, and you are right that the 8800 probably will not work either. Not that it is much of an improvement...

Most games are bottlenecked by the GPU, and not the CPU. So unless you are seeing 100% CPU usage when playing games that stutter around...don't upgrade. You'll have to pull the entire notebook apart, it wouldn't help much at all, and it is costly.

 

I'd check some benchmarks for the T2500 versus say a T7400, but really I can't see the cpu giving you much of a boost in games.

I think your best bet would be upping your hard disk. Either a 7200rpm or the larger 5400rpm drives are both pretty quick.

Other than that I can't think of anything that'll give you a significant increase in gaming. If you play the very latest stuff then 3 or 4GB of ram could help too.

 

wow lots of excellent advice thanks guys!

HDD is a definate upgrade yeah. And i'll maybe get a 2 gig stick of ram (to upgrade to 3 gig as xp 32bit doesnt see more than 3 anyway)

The rest of it possibly not worth it i guess. save up - sell the 1710 and get the 1730 maybe.