Laptop Upgrades

Hi there. I'm using a laptop, and I can run the game, no issue there, but I'm looking to run on a higher graphics setting than minimum and I was wondering what I can do to upgrade. I have the MSI CX61, running the Intel i5 4200m, at 2.5 GHz, over clock to 3.1 GHz. It is socketed, 988 pin. It came with the Nvidia GT 820M, and I have 8 GB RAM DDR3, so for $700 USD, it's not a bad laptop. My question is, what can I upgrade to get the best settings possible, and what can I do to keep my laptop cool? I already have the stand with fans, but maybe there's something more? While playing, my GPU runs at about 61°C, and my CPU runs at about 65°C. I was thinking of getting bigger RAM sticks, but I don't know which ones I can/should get. Also, what processor can I upgrade to? I am aware that changing parts can void my warranty. Any assistance is appreciated. Thanks. I know just enough to be dangerous, but not enough to be positive that things will work together.

 

uhh your temperatures are already amazing, there is absolutely no need for further cooling upgrades, seriously, these mobile parts are specced to run at least 80 degrees continuously for years. As for your other parts, you can consider an upgrade to a quadcore i7 (e.g. i7-4710MQ etc) but I doubt this would yield much benefit in games (in addition to increasing your temperatures).
Your 820M is soldered to the motherboard so you definitely cannot upgrade that.

 

Buy an SSD. All the other components are fine.

 

Second the SSD suggestion. In particular, get something from Crucial, Plextor, Samsung, or Intel, as most other SSD drives will be using stock SandForce drivers or something equally bad.

 

Correct me if im wrong but the way sandforce handles data, they perform better on games than any other ssd brand right?

 

I've never read anything that claimed such.

SandForce drives have a hard time dealing with non-compressable data, which is partly why I generally recommend against them. Also, their reliability record is pretty questionable, especially for non-Intel SF drives.

 

This was true about 4 years ago when most other controllers were generally slow. Sand force excelled due to the data compression thing, basically delivering performance which was roughly 2 years ahead of its time. However, now, sand force has been well and truly surpassed, there is absolutely no need to resort to data compression anymore to deliver good performance.