Where is the weak link? Gaming performance question.

~~This ended up becoming a much longer post than intended, for the short version, skip on down~~


Hey all! I just broke down and got my first laptop, as I basically reside in three homes, and toting a desktop computer around is just... Unwieldy. But in any case, on we go to the questions!

I ended up buying an Alienware Area-51 M9750, as I have heard from friends as well as online reviews that Alienware is a solid company with a great product. So far, I don't *really* have any complaints, just a few small issues I'd love to get resolved. First, the specs on my particular notebook.

Intel Core 2 T7200 @ 2.00GHz
nVidia GeForce Go 7950GTX 512Mb x 2 ( Running in SLI configuration )
2048MB DDR PC2-5300

Alright, as a quick note... I just attempted to run the memory test from Crucial.com and I got an interesting result. First off, it says that I am using two memory slots ( obviously a pair of 1GB chips ) but it says I have two memory slots free. Surprising that a laptop would have four memory slots, many desktops don't ( please remember, this is my first notebook, but probably around my 20th computer, and only the second of which I did not build myself. ) So according to this, I have two free slots for memory, but weirdly enough, it also says "We're sorry.
Crucial currently does not have any compatible upgrades available for your particular system." Odd... Perhaps a test error or something? Seems as though they would suggest at least another pair of 1GB chips for those free slots, unless I really don't have two free slots and the program is just insane.

Okay, all this rambling and I'm yet to actually get to the point of this post, I apologize, back on track we go! This notebook is amazing, hands-down. I upgraded to it from an eMachines t54xx, can't remember exactly, but it was over a year old with on-board video, and I'm truly a gamer at heart, it caused much distress. But I have noticed it being under my expectations at times, and that's what I'm trying to fix with this post.

I am willing to toss a few hundred dollars into my dear notebook, and what I am after for my money is better gaming performance. So really, I am looking for suggestions here. I am willing to do most anything I can as far as installing/removing software, tweaking settings, whatever someone could suggest to squish a little more performance out of my machine. I have been thinking of a few different options, any advice is certainly welcome, as my last top-of-the-line-super-extreme-gaming-machine was a fair few years ago when a 256MB video card was the ulta-beast everyone wanted, so I am out of the loop on tweaking, tuning and fiddling, especially when it comes to the whole SLI thing.

Enough rambling already, time to make some numbered lines to keep the train of thought on it's tracks.

Things I have been thinking of doing!

1) Upgrading to 4GB of memory ( or 6/8GB depending on if I really have 4 slots. ), many of the games I play are sitting at 800MB all the way to 1.4GB of memory usage. I can only assume that when they load new areas/zones, that memory usage will peak beyond what I see when bring up the task manager, meaning I could easily be edging onto or over my 2GB limit.

2) Upgrading my processor to an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz. I'm kind of concerned that the dual SLI 1GB video card beast would be more effective with a little faster processor pushing it. Mind you, that is just speculation, I tried to find some info on this, but I came up dry, unfortunately.

3) Changing operating systems. The computer came with Vista Home Premium 32-bit... Yeah, wow, that was absolutely terrible. Maybe I did something wrong... But it was devouring my memory... With everything disabled, including explorer.exe, I was sitting at over 300MB used. Any attempt to have a background program going ( generally iTunes ) while playing a game caused vicious issues that were unacceptable. I switched to Windows XP Professional SP2 32-bit, the errr... Kinda-maybe-not-quite-legal version... So I'm stuck at SP2, but it cleared up MANY of the issues I was having with Vista. Would a legal version of XP Pro, or... Vista Pro be better? Vista Ultimate? Maybe a 64-bit version of one of them? All I know is I can't use XP Pro 64-bit, since there is no compatible video driver to my knowledge, but for gaming, what OS would you all recommend and how much of a difference will it make for me?

4) Any particular video settings I should fiddle with for a performance increase? Any kind of optimizing programs? I know there used to be one I used that cleared out your memory, but like I said, I've been out of the cutting edge for a while, so any tips at all for getting the most out of my machine would be very, very welcome!

~~~SHORT VERSION~~~

My computer -
Intel Core 2 T7200 @ 2.00GHz
nVidia GeForce Go 7950GTX 512Mb x 2 ( Running in SLI configuration )
2048MB DDR PC2-5300
Windows XP Professional SP2 ( cannot get Windows updates )

Where is the weakest link for pure gaming performance? A graphics card update is pretty much out of the question, but the OS, memory and CPU are all viable upgrade options if it would mean a reasonable performance boost. ANY tips for getting the best performance out of this computer are welcome, as I have been out of the loop for a while, and most of the old tricks aren't effective anymore to my knowledge.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thanks for reading my post ^.^

-Travis

 

First off, flip the 9 and 7 around, its 7950 GTX.

Second, keep XP. It runs SLI better. I would say the RAM needs to be upgraded just because you only have 1 gig free when playing a game. Mind you, it will only read 3.5 gigs of it though. The processor upgrade would help also. I would just get both if I could.

 

Curses, you are right, blasted laptop name and GPU name having the same numbers, brings the old dyslexia back...

Do you have any idea of the real version of XP Pro ( ie-Updated beyond Service Pack 2 ) has any big fixes/changes/upgrades as far as gaming performance? At least enough to be worth $200 or whatever the Microdemons want for it now.

Also, would you consider 2 -> 4GB Memory + 2.0GHz -> 2.33GHz a strong/noticable/impressive/etc upgrade? Or will it just be more situational?

Thanks for the reply ^.^

 

How about your HDD?
If you have a 5400RPM, you may consider to upgrade it to 7200RPM on top of the ram upgrade.
It will help load games faster with a better HDD if you don't have one already.

 

yes, i would consider it to be a noticeable difference, even the processor will still probably bottleneck the graphics. let me ask, have you purchased this yet?

5400 --> 7200 isnt a huge upgrade. it can be noticeable, but not really important

 

Just checked, the HDD is already 7200RPM, and yes, I have already purchased it. I need to find some kind of benchmark, I have an odd feeling that something is either setup wrong, or maybe I'm just expecting too much out of it. Any ideas on a free, quality benchmark program?

You think a 2.3GHz dual core would still be holding back my video cards? That's what I had originally thought, but I figured I might be crazy. I just want to get as much as possible out of this machine.

Also, could I install the processor myself? I have built dozens of computers, but I have never peeked inside the laptop. Alienware says I'm allowed to work on it myself without voiding the warranty, but are there any advanced/specialized tools that are needed to work with one?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

I have noticed that I can hear the video cards seemingly randomly turn on. I have SLI Enabled all the time ( I'm pretty sure ) but yet I can hear one of the cards' fans turn on and off in the middle of a game. It's a distinctly different noise from the HDD spooling up, and it doesn't happen at load screens, but it will happen more frequently during heavy-load times ( lots of mobs, lots of brilliant effects, etc ) Maybe it's normal, just want to check, this is my first experience with SLI.

 

You can install it yourself, you just have to EXTREMELY careful.

HDtune is a harddrive tester. i think the processor would still bottleneck, but not by much.

 

Alright, so I'm not crazy in thinking that there could likely be a performance flood gate opened by a seemingly small upgrade from the CPU? And assuming I couple the upgraded CPU with some more memory, my best OS is still going to be 32-bit XP Professional?

 

As far as I know u can`t upgrade the processor in any laptop (yet) edit: without changing your motherboard which in your case must be really expenive..... But that processor really shouldn`t bottleneck anything in the market......

The RAM you should upgrade, I dunno about those four slots, you should contact alienware, I thought there were only two.

For the tweaking part you should go with laptopvideo2go.com
they have modded drivers for your graphics cards, check there if they have sli drivers for xp-64. If they do stick with that OS. If not get xp-32.

U may want to overclock too, but I really don´t know how hot that laptop runs soo its up to you.......

 

The processor is a Socket M format, which makes me believe there is a socket that it will plug into, much like the way it's worked forever. Obviously, I have no first-hand experience and would do extensive reading on the subject before actually popping the case and doing it, I have no plans to destroy my computer. I figure I'm best off getting a pair of 2GB memory chips instead of doing 4 1GB chips anyway, at least in the past it was always fewer chips = faster performance.

 

I´ve seen people in this forums get a huge boost in performance experimenting with the right set of drivers and a little bit of overclocking.
Your cpu isn't really that bad.

 

As far as I know M format sockets require the processor to be soldered, that`s holding laptops back in the upgradeability department.

 

I attempted to overclock by 1mHz using nVidia's tools, just to see if it would let me... It kind of laughed and said that I shouldn't do it. But the drivers... I definitely should look into that, I have the latest nVidia drivers, but maybe someone has made something better!

 

in c90s you can upgrade cpu ;>

 

My bad. I knew that in C90s and Clevo´s D9xxx you could but I didn´t know alienware was using that for the m9750......

 

with modded drivers you can overclock mobile gpus. there`s a guide in laptopvideo2go.com

 

Just found a basic guide to laptop CPU replacement, makes it seem like a very cautious procedure, but it does seem much the same as desktop CPU replacement, only on a much smaller, more sensitive and fragile scale. Well, the consensus is...

4GB memory + 2.33GHz processor + Current Video cards = Big 'ol pile o' win? And a noticeably substantial upgrade from my current setup?

And just one last check... Windows XP Professional 32-bit = Best O/S? How critical are the security/windows updates for gaming? Not sure how cutting edge Microsoft is about spitting out gamer-friendly updates, from the look of Vista, they could care less about gaming performance.

 

About OC'ing my video cards... I would assume they will automatically shutoff if I manage to screw up and OC them too far and they overheat? Also... How bad is the damage potential when OCing and thusly increasing the heat in that tiny laptop case?

 

I´m still not sure about the increase in performance with that processor......4GB you should go for it.
If you really want a noticeable difference why not check out penryn? that's a truly worthwhile upgrade. though I dunno If you'll be able to get your hands on one of those soon enough....

 

If you go little by little it should be fine, checking stablility every 5mhz or less, check around what other users have done with the same setup and aim for a bit lower clock speeds. That should be safe.

 

Actually, you can upgrade a processor.

 

Yes, you can, I don't know why he would say you can't and if you did you would have to change your MB, that person must be... well not very smart.

 

He can't upgrade to a penryn, as it uses another socket... And nearly all Non low or ultra-low voltage CPUs can be upgraded.

Going from a T7200 to a T7600 will give you a minimal gaming boost though...

 

Since you recently buyed i have to ask why in earth did you buy that outdated configuration when you could receive a penryn processor 2,6GHz 800fsb 6mb cache and dual 8800m gtx in under one month for very likely same price just curious.

 

Before buying a new processor, you should try just the 4 gigs of ram + new drivers. Then running all your games, check if your cpu is ever used 100% in both cores, if not, then I don't think you should upgrade it... atleast not yet. Wait a year for the prices to drop if you really want to do it, but I don't think that your cpu is in any way dragging you down.

EDIT: As far as OCing goes, get a program that monitors your cpu, and gpu temperatures (everest), and see how high the temperature on your gpus get, then slowly work your way up, checking the temps every time. That's really the only way to know how high you can go. I run everest every time I play a game, and monitor my temperatures whether I'm OCing or not, but that's just me...