fz cto configuration problems?

hi..i plan to buy a sony vaio fz cto4000 with the following configurations...i'll use it for autocad work,playing high end games like crysis,simple c++ coding,and downloading high amt. of content from my university lan network...
im really confused regarding these key points-
1)will upgrading the 200 gb hdd to 7200 r.p.m increase heat and fan noise significantly & how much of a difference will it make in terms of hdd perfomance??
2)should i consider 4gb ram as ive been told it will make the dual channel work better having slots of equal ram in it as compared to the 3gb one...does the 3gbram(2*1gb+1*1gb) disable the dual channel memory ability of the processor?
3)also is there lot of diference btwn t9300 & t8300 processor's(obviously yes in terms of price!) perfomances...
I appreciate any help..
Thanks a lot!

 

7200 rpm hard drive will always be faster and drain more battery.

And one more point, FZ's 8400M GT card is not for high end gaming.

 

As coolguy pointed out about the drive, 7200 will eat the battery a little more. I would go with a 250 or 320 (is that an option?) at 5400 - higher drive density is as fast or faster than lower density at higher speeds.

Go with 3gb - you will still get the dual channel benefit (good discussions on this in the hardware forum).

There are also a few threads on the 8300 vs 9300 - the price performance ratio is not that great. However, if it's $50, then it's a deal. If it is $150, go with a bigger HDD and 4gb RAM. As cool also pointed out, the 8400M GT is not that great - and typically people want the T9300 for high performance. Not a great match, IMHO. Save a little and go T8300.

 

As bubbatex said there is no requirement to have two memory sticks of the same size to get the dual channel advantages. I do think they must be the same speed or the system will throttle all memory access to the slowest of the two sticks.

Gary

 

i chose the 7200 rpm...it is not noisy..and hot..

 

hey..thnx fer all the replies..they really helped...
ill go wid 3gb then..as fer the hdd i chcked the vaio fz site and they r offering a 300 gb but wid 4200 rpm fer an extra 110$ ..so ill go wid the 200 gb...still confused bout the processor(have xtra cash in hand now due to the 3gb downgrade frm 4gb!!)..also is 256mb 8400gt video card offered by sony really outdated (fer crysis & future games) coz ill really need a strong gpu fer my basic designing and gaming requirements..ny idea wether sony is goin to offer a better one soon?..
i might even switch to dell xps 1530(which is more xpnsive even for an inferior config. to that of vaio...ny idea why?)fer the gpu..pls comment!
does the xbrite-eco offred by sony has 2 lamps or nly the xbrite high technology have them?.

 

Yep, would go for the 200gb HDD over that 4200rpm dog. If you look around, they are offering good deals on Dell XPS's almost weekly if the video card thing is that important - and it sounds like it is (there is a 25% off coupon on configs of $1349 or more until May 6 - that's a good deal). From what I have read here in the Sony forum, new models will be out in Q3 & Q4 which is probably why there are good deals now.

HiColor = 2 lamps, ECO = 1 lamp.