w870cu HTPC conversion: 920xm vs 520m - no gaming performance loss.

I am looking to convert my laptop into primarily an HTPC. Nice thing about this laptop is that it is sleek and looks great.

What I've done so far is sold the 920xm and got an i5-520m to start things off. I just installed it and am noticing cpu idle temps in the 30s. Think that might go down as the new thermal paste breaks in?

I am quite impressed with the i5-520m as well as far as gaming. I can play all my games and get the same performance as the 920xm. After selling the 920xm, and buying the 520m, I now have $300 to play with for possible upgrades.

I would like to be able to have a control that will function well with windows media center. I would like to be able to power on the w870cu without opening the lid, is that possible?

I would also like to reduce heat/power consumption which is why I went with the 520m. Now for hard drives. I've been thinking about going with a 5400rpm hard drive for media storage. Or should I just go external with the esata?

I am already noticing a quieter idle from both the cpu fan and video card after the 520m install. Perhaps this also has to do with installing new thermal paste on the video card as well.

Also is there a way to install an internal video capture card on this thing?

 

There are plenty of USB or Firewire video capture devices, although any quality HD recorders will cost considerably more. I have heard great things about this particular unit:
Newegg.com - Hauppauge HD PVR High Definition Personal Video Recorder 1212 USB 2.0 Interface

There should be many video examples on YouTube if you want to see real footage. I know some guys who use them to record Xbox 360 gameplay, and it comes out perfectly.


As for using the laptop while closed, I know it is possible, I just don't recall exactly how to do it at the moment. Although I believe the options are in the power settings in the control panel.


I'm also glad to hear about the gaming performance between the i5 and the i7. I personally ordered the i5 450m on my Sager 8690, because most games do not utilize all 4 cores right now. Although that will change with future games. The difference between the i5 450m and i5 520m is minimal, other than some Virtualization technology and a slight turbo boost downgrade, so I felt the i5 450m would fit my needs.

 

There will be a gaming performance loss in any title that is particularly CPU intensive or poorly optimised like GTA IV. Since the vast majority of games are GPU intensive I am not surprised by your observations. In a GPU intensive title, a 2.0 Ghz CPU can perform just as well as a 3.0 Ghz one if the GPU is strong enough.

 

I would not recommend doing any intensive task with the lid closed. The heat produced by the laptop might damage the LCD screen, creating dead/stuck pixels. I'm not so sure though.

 

Ya, sometimes you can feel heat venting through the keyboard if you put your hand over it.

 

Yah, you could always upgrade to a quad later. But they've been saying future games will benefit from quad core processors for how many years now? I think with sony and microsoft not planning to release next gen consoles any time soon, I'm guessing in the next three to five years, having a quad core processor for gaming still won't be necessary.