Toshiba X205-S7483 Upgrade Question

Hi everyone,

I would like to pick you brains about an upgrade to my electronic stash. I currently have an X205-S7483 and I am thinking about upgrading the processor to a T9300 or maybe a little less depending on the difference I will see while gaming.

The processor stock runs at 1.66 and the 9300 is 2.53Ghz. This laptop comes with the 8700m GT and I upgraded to 4Gb of PC5300 ram.

I'm trying to figure out if it would be worth it upgrade the processor and if the new set up is going to stand a chance at running current games. I can play Dragon Age with all settings at their highest but in certain parts the FPS will drop and things will stutter, but just slightly. ..

Would a processor upgrade make a difference with this set up or should I be saving to update the laptop as a whole?

Thanks in advance.

Oh, and I'm running Windows 7 64 bit.

 

Save for a new laptop.

The reason is that your 8700m has the known faulty G84 core (google it). It will die.
So you should be ready to buy a new notebook.

 

8700M GT's don't usually die that easily but like moral said , better to save for a new laptop... T9300 won't really help much in games .. only 1-3 FPS increase so not worth it..

 

Thanks for the responses. So these days games are almost completely run off of the video card eh? I'm glad I asked before putting out 300+ dollars on a minor fps increase.

Any honorable mentions for a nice laptop to replace it with? Something that could potentially upgradeable and future proofed?

Or would the only way to do that is to buy a desktop instead? It would cost a lot less, I know but rarely do I find myself with enough time to play a game at a desk.

Do they even make upgradeable laptops?

 

You might have to start a new thread in the "What Notebook Should I Buy? " sub-forum.

While you save up for a new notebook you could overclock your GPU and CPU.

 

A lot really depends on what kind of games you plan to run. For many FPS games, no, improving your CPU won't give you a great advantage, as those games are highly GPU dependent. However, for a game like Dragon Age, which is much more CPU than GPU dependent, a processor upgrade would actually help a lot more. Most laptops allow you to upgrade the hard drive and RAM with little to no trouble, sometimes CPU, and usually the more expensive, boutique laptops give you at least the possibility of upgrading the GPU as well. However, yes, if you're serious about future-proofing, you're better off getting a desktop; the gap between notebook and desktop hardware is still quite wide, especially with graphics cards.

 

Honestly, my sister plays more on my laptop than I do. So there is a lot of simulation games going on, like Sims 3, Civilization and all the little games that are a breeze to run the system.

Personally, I like RTS, FPS and RPG's. Lately I've only been playing Fallout 3 or Dragon Age.

So I have noted that I should start saving up for a proper laptop to be set up as a desktop replacement with an additional bigger screen for days at home or just a brand new desktop. I kind of like the idea of having a laptop for the road so I present this question to you.

A T7700 is about a hundred dollars less than a T9300, so I'm flirting with upgrading to at least that and then ride it out with this laptop until the wheels fall off. Would that sound like a good idea? I know that the T7700 will heat up much quicker than a T5450 but I figure there has to be a substantial gain from going from 1.66 to 2.4 Ghz. For the heat I can just get one of those cooling boards that circulates air under the laptop.

Do you guys think that will be a solid 200 dollar investment? Any idea what kind of performace gain I might get out of the upgrade?

 

i would recommend T9300 then... it runs cooler ... is faster .. and should help in these simulator games...

 

Do you think I would see that much of a difference between a 7700 and a 9300? I only ask because the 7700's are about a hundred dollars cheaper on eBay.

 

I know I can overclock the GPU with RivaTuner but how would I got about overclocking the CPU if it isn't enabled in the Bios? You wouldn't happen to have any information regarding this for the x205 series would you?

 

Not for the x205, but I can help you overclock if you don't mind taking apart the notebook.

You should find the PLL:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=429383

Then you might need to pin mod the PLL:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=393027

 

The T7700 will probably make for a decent upgrade, although only you can decide if $200 is worth the cost. After all, these days, $200 is pretty darn close to a third or a quarter of the cost of a new, possibly higher performing notebook than your current one (there are a lot of good notebooks available for under $1000, take a look in the "What notebook should I buy" forum). In general, anything over about 2 GHz will probably work well enough for most things. As for seeing a big difference? I have no direct experience, but I personally doubt it that you'll see much difference from .1 GHz faster and 2 MB more L2 cache in general use. It may run cooler due to being a newer architecture, but that's harder to judge.

 

If you go for performance, save the $200 and do overclock..
You can still get better deal like a T9300 for $150 in NBR Marketplace

Goodluck!

 

I'm going to try and see if I can safely overclock tonight, hopefully it is easy to find my PLL. I'll upgrade the processor if I can manage to find a sweet deal somewhere, hopefully I don't end up bricking my laptop before then. =P