upgrading from the P8400

ive got a toshiba p300-19Q which has a P8400 processor and PM45 chipset, now i was wondering whats the fastest processor i can upgrade to? is it the P9700? will it b worth it cosidering the cost (200 quid)? or can i get i upgrade to the Q9100? (although the 'intel compatability guide says it might not work, why not? would it over heat? has any1 actually tried it?)

Cristo

 

The problem is the wether the bios will recognise the cpu, it will almost certainly recognize the P9xxx & T9xxx range of cpu from intel as that series of satelite pro range of notepads was available with those cpu, and its unlikely it will recognize quads.

I would email Toshiba support to confirm which cpu you could upgrade, but a T9900 would probably be faster in most cases unless you are using applications that advantage of quads 4 cores.

Its quite possible that you might have to update your bios to the latest version.

I personally think upgrading your hardrive first would be better to improve the performance of your laptop, and P9700 cpu is the sensible choice to upgrade too, since it has a similar power consumption to your current P8400.

Regards

Joe Rubido

 

What are you using the laptop for that the P8400 is slowing you down?

 

I do not think that your laptop supports quad core processors.. as i beleive that it is a toshiba satelittle laptop. T9900/P9700 is the best processor you can get but cost wise T9600 is the best price uprgade.

 

thanks for the replies, i do just, that ill email toshiba and if it dont support the quad processors ill prob go for the mentioned P9600, its seems quite cheap. There wasnt anything slowing it down, just was thinkin i mite beef it up a lil bit with a faster cpu n more ram

Thanks

Cristo

 

If you aren't maxing out your CPU (90-100% usage) for extended periods of time then no, there won't be any benefit to upgrading the processor.

How much RAM and what kind of hard drive do you have? Also, what kind of applications do you use on a daily basis?

 

If you want to waste your money it's ok, but just don't expect any performance difference in having a faster CPU (or more memory) since when you don't use it to capacity, it will downclock to approximately half speed.