Improving the x8100.

So I Benchmark my machine.
Everything on ultra and everything to the highest. (Hitman Absolution.)
Avg 8 FPS.

So I consider Options.
A. New CPU best is 940XM (Worth 300$?)
B. New Video Cards 7970 or 6990M ( Cost 500$?)
C. New HDD (Get SSD)

Or

D. New laptop. (But I love my 18.4 and the only thing I see 18 inch is the 18mx from alienware.

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

For gaming nothing is going to improve your performance more the a new GPU. Roughly 90% of gaming (depending on game) will be base on the GPU.
Second best option would be a new computer. The largest by Sager currently is 17.3" but you can always hook up an external monitor and go even bigger then your current 18.4"

 

External monitor is no option. I move alot. and when home apartment is size of a closet.

Well I'm just worried that pairing a much newer video card with a older processor. Will bottleneck it.

 

It will a bit, but you will be able to unlock most of the performance especially at 1080p.

 

I have decided that I will save up for new video card's.
Newer cpu doesn't seem worth the money.
Debating between raid 0 of XT's or An intel SSD.

As for a newer laptop.
Don't need a faster CPU.
Don't need more ram
Don't need blu ray
Can upgrade the HDD's
Can upgrade the Video.
Network is just fine.

Yes it faster but how much faster is worth 2000$? or even more?

 

Not many games are heavily CPU dependent. I think some Blizzard games are, but outside that, a newer GPU will definitely help.

It will be bottlenecked to some degree, as Meaker said, though. And I personally would recommend the SSD over the striped RAID with XTs; the Momentus is a step up from the platters, but I think a good SSD will offer a better price to performance ratio in the end, and perform just as well - if not faster - than the XT RAID 0 setup.

 

I'd go with a 128GB SSD + storage HDD tbh.

You might want to consider a single 7970M for now and add another as you need it and maybe look into getting a 920xm if you notice you run into CPU issues.

 

What would a Dual 7970M Setup set me back. And its worth since I can't imagaine this laptop be worth that much for resell.

 

Last price i heard Sager was selling them at $430 each

 

Just contact them?
Or do they have a selling page?

 

Contact them directly is the best way they dont sell them individually on their site.

 

I got mine vBIOS flashed and shipped out the door from mythlogic for 440 usd.

 

440 for one? 880 for two? Rethinking this. This x8100 can't worth more than what 950$ at best???

 

It is when you put those cards inside

 

So with current hardware it's worth> 200$?

 

Meh as is it might fetch 500-600 USD.

It was 440 USD for 1. However 1 7970m is going to be about 3 times faster than your setup. Also from what i've read i7 3610QM's are about 43% faster than the i7 720QM. So a barebones P170EM runs about 800 USD i think. So those are the prices and performance depending on how you want to go.

 

I hate the laptop market. Some crappy dell/hp selling for 600$ my dream machine same price ....sad.
Thank you everyone. but I think i just going to stick with an SSD upgrade and just save up for the next machine.

 

With due respect its about 3.5 years old and you can't just upgrade the motherboard like a desktop so you are stuck with the first gen i7 which is really the price killer since it wasn't nearly as good as sandy or ivy. i7 940xm's can be had now for like 300 USD and be overclocked to like 3.8ghz and that in and of itself would revive the machine. But its your opinion to save for a new machine. I don't blame you but going into a laptop you have to know that they will depreciate out of value fast because they won't be able to do what you paid for them to do which is play games. I'm sure its still an amazing web browsing computer but thats why its priced as one.

 

Neither is a bad option in my opinion, both have their upsides and downsides.

Plumping for a single 7970M now is also not such a bad option.

 

I do understand but it my first really gaming laptop. I guess the self value is getting over my head. I don't think upgrade will be worth since the money I spend could be use for saving. Also I took a better look at how I play and realize I don't need all the graphic's on high in hitman. (I hate death of field view.)

Now the hard part is saving for the right one.
Still would like an SLI or Crossfire setup. But 2000$ is most I willing to spend.

 

Keep in mind you can get a dual card setup with a single card for now with the view to add a second card later.

 

I want to repaste my CPU and GPU's.
What thermal paste's do you recommend?
Also what size are the thermal pad's on the 5870's?

Thank you in advance.

 

I don't know this system personally so you would have to measure them yourself (at an edge where is was no compacted is best) and MX-4 or IC diamond are two popular ones, MX-4 is easier to use while diamond performs a tad better. Both are safe.