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    i7 720QM upgrade worth it?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Septimus_DSX, Dec 7, 2010.

  1. Septimus_DSX

    Septimus_DSX Notebook Consultant

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    Hey guys,

    I have an MSI Whitebook (GX640) with an ES processor in it (i3/i5 hybrid). Is it worth moving to an i7 720QM? I am mainly concerned about heat and if my 120W power brick would suffice or not?

    I use the notebook to game, type, benchmark a bit and run scientific software (Matlab, Origin etc). I don't think I need the upgrade as it does not seem that my CPU is limiting anything, but then, I was never a reasonable person to begin with. :D

    Do you think I would benefit by going with 8Gb RAM instead? All said and done, the price of RAM and processor are quite close.
     
    Septimus_DSX, Dec 7, 2010
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  2. min2209

    min2209 Notebook Deity

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    Get the RAM, set up a 4GB RAMDisk as a working directory, you'll have a drive with 7GB/s R/W.

    The GX640's cooling system is already almost at its limits.
     
    min2209, Dec 7, 2010
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  3. Septimus_DSX

    Septimus_DSX Notebook Consultant

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    Copy that. I have remedied the cooling a bit by adding RAM-Sinks to the GPU side. Dropped almost 13 C in full load FurMark temps. I will be beefing up the CPU side similarly.

    [​IMG]

    Is there a guide on how to move stuff to a RAMDisk and what benefits the most from it (Firefox, games etc?)
     
    Septimus_DSX, Dec 7, 2010
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  4. Bearclaw

    Bearclaw Steaming

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    Please use imgur or min.us next time, imageshack is annoying and clunky.

    A ramdisk doesn't help with games because it's only 4gb in size.

    Also, unless your application explicitly says it supports multithreading, then i7 is pointless. It's only got 2.4 GHz dual core frequency compared to 2.26 to the i5 which is a quite pointless upgrade.
     
    Bearclaw, Dec 7, 2010
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  5. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    What do you mean? 8 GB RAM is like 110-140 dollars. i7-720QM is like 350 brand new...unless you plan on buying a used one. Of course if you like dropping oddles of money for no reason, by all means go ahead, might as well go for that 740QM ;)
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Dec 7, 2010
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  6. Septimus_DSX

    Septimus_DSX Notebook Consultant

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    OEM 720QMs can be had on eBay for < $200 ;)

    After seeing the majority of opinions, I'm holding off on this upgrade. Thanks guys!
     
    Septimus_DSX, Dec 7, 2010
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  7. NotEnoughMinerals

    NotEnoughMinerals Notebook Deity

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    Yep, unless you know you'll be doing something that requires it, you don't need a quad. I only upgraded because I do video editing.
     
    NotEnoughMinerals, Dec 7, 2010
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