multiple computer upgrades and est. cost

Hi everyone
I currently use the Asus G50VT-X1 laptop, as I mentioned in a thread ~1 month ago, I asked about a processor, well now this thread has me asking about RAM and harddrives. (the upgrading will probably occur around christmas time)
How much and where can I get 8gb (4gbx2) ram sticks at 800 mhz?
What is a good brand for 500gb hard drives at 7200 rpm? (or is there something faster than 7200 for notebooks, or a larger capacity?).
Does the g50VT-X1 have 2 hard drives? or is it 1 hard drive in 2 partitions?

assuming i get the t9600 processor, how much would all of that cost? are there any problems i should look out for (not compatible, etc?)
I realize that this'll void the warranty, which is why im gonna get this done over winter break

Thanks

 

Before you upgrade, why do you even need 8GB of memory? You won't notice any difference in games and it will be a very costly upgrade. Unless you're maxing out your memory now for work, then I don't suggest it.

For the hard drive, a better place to spend your money would be in a speedy SSD. If you can support two hard drives (which I think it can), then get a small but fast SSD for the OS/programs, and a big 500GB 5400RPM drive for data.

Again, similar to memory, unless you are maxing your CPU load 100% often, you won't notice a difference in CPU upgrade. Most games are GPU limited, which is why you won't notice a difference.

 

i hit 100% quite a bit. by data do you mean like all the games/movies/etc? anyhow arent SSD's expensive? so 8gb ram is totally useless?
thanks

 

If you are maxing out memory, then you will notice a difference if you upgrade your memory, else you won't. Now the same with your CPU, you said you are hitting 100% load on CPU - then upgrade your CPU.

With Intel's new G2 80GB SSD at low $200, it is a much better upgrade than say $400 on a 8GB kit, because you will definitely notice a big speed boost. Everything will be quicker. By data, I mean store your work, movies, music, etc. Games are programs and can go with the OS. 80GB should be enough for just those.

 

although 200 is low for SSD, isnt that still alot compared to a normal hard drive? with 200 i could buy 2 500gb hard drives at 7200 rpm..

 

True, but it depends on your needs. You said you wanted something faster than 7200RPM drives. Faster usually means more expensive. If you can support 2 hard drives, 80GB is enough for OS/programs and 500GB should be good for the rest of the stuff you have.

 

the problem is that i do not KNOW if i can support 2. my harddrive numbers are so weird i assume they have been split into three (with one being the hidden, recovery partition). if i do not have the ability to hold 2 hard drives, what should i do? should i just get a 500gb 7200 rpm or is there some large capacity SSD?

 

you have 2 hard drive slots

 

oh cool! anybody know the est. cost of the 8gb kit (since apparently it DOES improve speed), an 80-100 SSD harddrive and a 500 gb drive, and the t9600?

 

If you're running out of memory w/ 4GB, an 8GB DDR2-800 kit will set you back $300+. The SSD will yield most performance benefit at $200+. T9600 around $300+. 500GB 5400RPM HDD around $50+.

 

what do you do that fills up 4 gigs of RAM?

 

When you talk of speed, what do you mean? What do you use your laptop for? This will make a big difference in what to get to see a difference

 

speed includes: speed of gaming (fps on max settings), speed of gaming with an antivirus running (this reallly kills my computer), opening up applications (randomly slow), and if possible faster internet speed (i doubt my computer can do much about that though). between running vista, my antivirus, and games i seem to use up a lot of ram and computer usage. i plan on getting the processor for 2 reasons: 1) able to run antivirus and games without horrid lag (whether i play on low or high settings ill lag with antivirus on) and 2) be able to play future games smoothly/on high settings. i do know that getting more noticable fps would require me to get a new graphics card, which i cant do...what exactly will the SSD hard drive speed up on my computer?

 

SSD will speed up loading and boot up times as well as reading and writeing large files


i don't understand how you are using 4 gigs of RAM browsing the internet


i played games and ran vista on 2

 

if im playing a game and i alt-tab it i notice that my ram usage is anywhere between 70-80 percent used, add in a virus scanner and that'll make my cpu usage go to 100, and my ram move around a bit, i noticed after i did some gaming for ~ 4 days while only putting my computer on sleep, my ram usage was constantly at 80 if i wasnt playing a game, and it was higher when i actually ran the game.

 

Scan at night when you're not gaming. Most of the upgrades you are talking about will not increase FPS or internet speed. To increase FPS, get a new rig with bettter graphics card

 

my gaming is very erratic so night time isnt always best, and i doubt i can have it scan when the computer is off. and i know fps is pretty much determined by the card...sadly..

 

Do you have to scan while gaming? If you can rid yourself of that habit, you can effectively save $300+. Also, can we get a list of your current computer specs (RAM, CPU, Hard Drive)?

 

By my own experience I tell you that you dont need 8gb of ram.

I upgraded just because it was cheap (in my case) and I use many heavy engineering programs, I code some programs that perform many memory convertions, hog math calculations, conversions of heavy files, I run like 4 virtual machines at the same time, turned off the pegefile thing, heavy multitasking...

But unless you do things like that 8gb of ram are almost useless not even a 15% performance upgrade from 4gb doing regular tasks...

Think twice before you buy those EXPENSIVE ram sticks. .