What to do.... T8300 + Zalman NC1000, or just a T9300

Well I am going to do a CPU upgrade in my M1530 (From a T7250). And I am just not sure what to do. So what would yall do? I can either afford the T8300 and a Zalman NC1000, or just a T9300 with no cooler.

Pretty much have everything else in my computer maxed 320GB HD (5400rpm, yeah I could go 7200 but eh not yet), 4GB of ram etc.... And I do use the laptop as a "desktop". I have a 24" Dell that I plug the laptop into when I game (WoW and TF2). Other then posting on the forums, I do multi-track audio recording. Gaming. And that for the most part is it.

Some could say, just get the T9300 and then order the Zalman later. Yes that is a option. But I live in Alaska, and shipping up here sucks (NewEgg is not bad, but for example it is $15.00 to ship just the CPU), when I place a order online I like to make it a larger purchase. Because we cannot find anything like NewEgg has up here.

Thanks for the input!

 

Sorry for being a bit naive, but do you need a cooler in Alaska?

 

I say go with the T9300, tis a good cpu and if you undervolt it, you do not have to worry about the heat. From what I have heard the 1530 keeps cool in comparison to others.

@JJ - Because the houses people live in are kept warm...for obvious reasons. He doesn't have a -10F wind blowing through his laptop when he is trying to play TF2, so a Zalman would help.

 

Yes the heater is on constantly i bet the avg. room temp is hotter in Alaska than most places.

 

Yes, yes it is lol. I like a cool house personally. But my Wife likes it warm. It is about 60-65degrees outside right now (and just started being dusk @ 11pm), and I just looked and my house is @ 78f. Arggg, WIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah I am leaning towards the T9300. Kind of the "Just get the best and be done" mindset.

 

You wont notice much difference between the t8300 and t9300 unless your doing cpu intensive tasks like photoshop.

i downgraded from a t9300 m1530 to a t8300 macbook running vista and can hardly notice a difference.

And m1530 does get really hot!!! especially when playing games

 

T8300+zalman, and OC both the CPU and GPU to get even better performance, while keeping the system cool.

 

You need to get 2 houses.

 

Igloo

(10 chars)

 

hahah yeah I could use a Igloo.

And the M1530 idles warm. But right now at full load (with the GPU OC'd), my max temps are 62c on the CPU and 74c on the GPU.

 

What do you consider warm? My idles are 39-41 CPU and 59-61 GPU

 

You could also look at it this way:

Instead of getting the T9300 now and getting a cooler later,

get the T8300 and the cooler now and upgrade the CPU in a year or so. In the meantime the cooler will allow you to push your system further. And a year later you will still have the cooler to help out.

 

I would say T8300+Cooler as the cooler will cool other components as well.

 

Arggg you guys are killing me! So far the poll is 6 for the T8300+cooler and 5 for the T9300 lol.

And I am unable to OC the CPU on this laptop, so that is one knock for the cooler.

And to the gent that asked about what I consider warm, my CPU will get up to about 55c @ idle before the fan kicks on. I hope to see the Penryn drop that.

 

Well I think the most important question is what you'll be using the computer for.

If gaming, I'd say definitely go with the T8300 + cooler as your GPU is the bottleneck and being able to OC it higher will far overshadow the tiny benefit the T9300 has over the T8300 because CPU overclocking won't really do you much good in gaming anyways, so not being able to do so isn't a huge deal.

However, if you will be performing CPU intensive tasks then perhaps the T9300 will be more important (such as video editing, etc), otherwise you will not be able to tell the difference between the two CPUs.

 

The Penryns do run cool, and UNDERVOLT like crazy.
So you can OC and UV in the same time, keep the temps under control and OC even the GPU, courtesy of the cooler.
Simple stuff

 

I think I just made my mind up Thank you all!

T8300+Cooler

 

Lol, warm, my idl gpu is 70C, reaching 90C under full load, and cpu, while undervolted, gets up pretty quick too.

 

get the t9300, most cooling pads suck and do absolutely nothiong to cut temperatures. The T9300 should not run that much hotter because it has a 45nm technology, and it undervolts pretty well.

K-TRON

 

I'd say go for the T9300. I'd get one myself later on. I've decided to get nothing less than the T9300 no matter what reasons there is out there. lol. I'd also probably get a cooler later on but right now i can get by without getting one. Plus i can lower the temps by raising the bottom of my M1530 to get air flowing underneath so in my case a cooler is not critical.

I also plan to undervolt it if it will provide more benefits in doing so.

goodluck!