Not much performance difference when upgrading from..

...a C2D T5800 to either a T9600 or a T9800, right? So it's fine if the price difference is $250 for a T9600 and $310 for a T9800, right? My seller told me his last T9800 was defective, and he offered me a T9600 or T9550 (I'd say go for the T9600, but I still asked him if he'd give me a discount on his T9900 lol wants it sold at $410).

I was also thinking about cutting waiting time from waiting for the warranty to expire to just right after my lappy gets fixed (busted half-LCD screen), so yeah..

Also, how much would you be willing to have the T9900? 410 bucks seems too much for me..

 

Why do you even need a faster processor? If you currently utilize your CPU at 100% load often, then you will notice a significant difference, otherwise the difference for most common tasks won't be that much.

 

I hit the 100% often, since I do moderate to heavy gaming, video post-production and Photoshop work.

 

Go for the T9600 then, $100 more isn't worth the bump to the T9900 IMO.

 

Hm I have the T5800 CPU and I was wondering the same - does it pay-off to upgrade the CPU if I do heavy gaming - Call of Duty : World at War mostly
I was thinking about the P8600 2,4 GHz CPU - anyone who could give a correct hint?

 

I would worry more about the GPu if I were you. T5800 is more than enough for COD WAW. But you want more power, it's up to you. P8600 is an excellent choice.

 

Why would you worry about the GPU?
Currently I can run every game on the market - I even get good results with Resident Evil 5 benchmark with high settings in native res - 20 to 25 fps but still....very playable and smooth looking

 

Because your GPU is your limiting factor. If you could upgrade your GPU, it would yield more of a performance boost than the CPU. Your current CPU is fast enough to run those games.

 

the upgrade from a T5800 to a T9600 is quite a bit when it comes to photoshop and video rendering I would strongly recomend the upgrade.

 

If you monitor your CPU use during gaming you won't have to rely on other people's answers. If you're not going over 90% there's no point in upgrading.

 

thx guys, I won't upgrade from T5800 then
When DX 11 generation GPU's become standard I migh get myself a good ol' fashioned PC with HD 5890x2 card and nice Quad CPU to boost the flavour

 

Just wondering, but how do you monitor the CPU usage? Also how would you do it during games?

 

Well this is my primary use for the laptop, maaan post-production could be a pain in the butt with this T5800, even making large-scale tarp designs take time for me (thought all I needed was >4GB RAM there) so yeah, thanks, also to the other dudes that shared.

I'm pretty much convinced that RMClock lets you know how exactly is your CPU utilized (have mine undervolted, so RMClock runs 24/7 on my system tray, with the gear-like CPU Meter down there). I'd use the CPU Meter provided by Windows Vista, though I think it adds to the actual CPU usage more than RMClock.

While gaming, however, I'd use RivaTuner statistics server. I mean, you won't see it while gaming, but you could keep track of it afterwards with its graph-like thingy, so yeah.