Upgrading from a Pentium M 725A (1.6Ghz)?

I bought my laptop 3 months ago with the idea that I would upgrade the processor later for cheaper. I've seen Pentium M 760s (2.0Ghz 533Mhz FSB) go for $250 or so on eBay and I was wondering if I would get a nice improvement from my current processor (1.6Ghz 400Mhz FSB).

Just a while ago I read that my RAM runs at the same speed as the FSB, so I was wondering if upgrading to a 533Mhz FSB processor would be worth the upgrade. I know that upgrading from a 1.6Ghz CPU to a 2.0Ghz CPU would give me a nice upgrade (not sure really how much), but I am wondering if the fact that I get a ~20% FSB boost matters too?

Regardless, I plan on getting a new CPU, I'm just wondering if I should buy it now or casually save up for it later. HP was going to charge me like $325 more for a 2.0Ghz chip, so it's still a good deal.

Comments?

 

pin mod it.

 

Faster hard drive and adding memory will help more than the CPU.

 

I've already upgraded my HDD from a 40GB 4200RPM HDD to my 80GB 5400RPM HDD. An HDD upgrade would only decrease load times in games, not really increase performance while playing the game itself (especially if i get another 1GB ram stick, a faster HDD wouldn't do much).

What I really want to know is if a 1.6 Ghz 533Mhz FSB PM is better than a 1.6Ghz 400Mhz FSB PM in terms of gaming as my RAM clock speed is running at 400Mhz also (due to the 1:1 divider). If it is, then I'll upgrade sooner rather than later.

 

How safe is it to do a pin-mod? Also, I'm pretty sure it voids the warranty, but if I ever have to send my laptop back to HP for a broken screen or something, can I easily set it back to what it was?

 

250 bux to go from 1.6 to 2.0? doesn't sound like a very good price/performance ratio. i would be very surprised if you were able to tell much difference as a user.

i also doubt you'll be able to tell much difference going from 400 mhz ram to 533 unless you're also increasing capacity.

you should know that the majority of the work in a video game is done by the gpu, so upgrading the processor and ram for hundreds of dollars doesn't sound like a good way to go.

i'd say save your money and then buy a new notebook in the near future.

 

Yeah, but it feels like a could certainly get more FPS from WoW if I had a faster CPU.

Anyone with similar specs to my comp get around 35-40FPS at near max settings when playing WoW?

 

it could add a few more frames by adding a faster cpu, but im not sure the increase in RAM speed will be noticeable. Your primary focus should be the GPU and RAM for gaming. CPU speeds are almost irrelevent these days

 

I just upgraded my Celeron M 1.4Ghz 400FSB which was running 1.86Ghz 533 to a Pentium M 1.5Ghz 400FSB overclocked to 2Ghz 533FSB. It runs just like it a stock Pentium M 760, full Enhanced speedstep and 15multi. It was even running at stock Sonoma voltages before I undervolted it with Notebook Hardware Control.

I did a full 3hour burn-in; completly stable showing 46-48 degrees c at the end; idling at 36-38 degrees. I guess it's about as safe as it gets.

 

Do a search on pin mods in this forum. In your case, it would prove to be essentially a free upgrade from a 1.6 400fsb to a 2.13 533fsb (though you void your warranty). If you ever need to send back your laptop, its easy enough to change back to the original speed. The pinmod is nothing fancy, very well documented on forums and almost guarunteed to work with a PM 725.

 

So in other words, WoW would be much happier with another 1GB stick?