Upgrading My Dell Inspiron Laptop

Harvey Meale said:

Hi ishmael9100,

I'd be delighted to take a look in the morning. Good luck.

Thanks,
Harvey Meale

Thank you very much! Here's my problem, its what I posted on my thread:



I have a Mobile Intel® 4 Express Chipset Family (GM45, 4500MHD) and something rather strange happened while playing a game. I was playing Speedball 2 via Steam and the game is a pretty Graphic Intesive game. I usually play the game at medium-high settings and I usually get 8 FPS (which is playable for me). Then I decided to turn on Shadow Count and the FPS stayed at 8 (Shadow Count should lower the FPS because it puts on Shadows on all objects). Then I decided to take off Shadow Count and the FPS increased to a wapping 25 FPS. But, nothing was changed? I turned on shadow count and then turned it off, So no setting changed. My question is, what made it slow before? Every time I start the game now, I have to turn on shadow count and then turn it off to get the 25 fps? What is going on? I have all the latest DX drivers and graphics drivers btw. Thanks in advance!

I know that was a lot to read Harvey, sorry for that but I need help. Do you have any idea what it is?? Thanks!

ishmael9100 said:

Thank you very much! Would you recommend a CPU to upgrade to? I was thinking about the new 2010 iCore Processors. I wouldn't want the i3 nor the i7 or i7 Extreme so I think the i5 meets my needs. But, it is really expensive. Hmm... I don't know. Any processor better than Celeron.

I have the Dell Studio 1558 with the Core i5 (see my specs). I got it in May. I have not played any games on it yet as I am in school. I did a clean install when I got it and created a second partition. It runs fast and a desktop widget from Intel sits in the upper right hand corner. It is a meter and I can monitor it going up for example, from 2.40 to 2.80, etc whenever it thinks it needs to bump up the CPU speed. Like when opening VMware Player running Server 2003 on my second partition.

As far as price, I originally bought an i3 with integrated graphics from the Dell Outlet for $389 with a 15% off coupon. It had an issue with the fan throttling and Dell replaced it with a brand new i5 and ATI HD 4570, 512 instead of the integrated graphics. I don't know if you have the option of buying from the Dell Outlet in the UK or not. If not, just watch for a sale and coupons. I bought my Mini 9 netbook (which I sold) from the Outlet as well and it arrived in perfect condition.

The i7 can run a bit hotter so this suits my needs and I sure can't complain about the price. I will never get another laptop that does not have a back-lit keyboard. I love it. Please see my specs for more information. If you have any other questions about it, just ask.

MoInSTL said:

ishmael9100 said:

Thank you very much! Would you recommend a CPU to upgrade to? I was thinking about the new 2010 iCore Processors. I wouldn't want the i3 nor the i7 or i7 Extreme so I think the i5 meets my needs. But, it is really expensive. Hmm... I don't know. Any processor better than Celeron.

I have the Dell Studio 1558 with the Core i5 (see my specs). I got it in May. I have not played any games on it yet as I am in school. I did a clean install when I got it and created a second partition. It runs fast and a desktop widget from Intel sits in the upper right hand corner. It is a meter and I can monitor it going up for example, from 2.40 to 2.88, etc whenever it thinks it needs to bump up the CPU speed. Like when opening VMware Player running Server 2003 on my second partition.

As far as price, I originally bought an i3 with integrated graphics from the Dell Outlet for $389 with a 15% off coupon. It had an issue with the fan throttling and Dell replaced it with a brand new i5 and ATI HD 4570, 512 instead of the integrated graphics. I don't know if you have the option of buying from the Dell Outlet in the UK or not. If not, just watch for a sale and coupons. I bought my Mini 9 netbook (which I sold) from the Outlet as well and it arrived in perfect condition.

The i7 can run a bit hotter so this suits my needs and I sure can't complain about the price. I will never get another laptop that does not have a back-lit keyboard. I love it. Please see my specs for more information. If you have any other questions about it, just ask.

Your Laptop is amazing!! I have never had a Laptop with a good Gaming Experience. My last Laptop was a Compaq Presario 2500 and was a good Laptop (Only for researching and staring at your screen wondering what to do next until realizing that there was nothing else you could do on that PC but research... ) but the GFX Card was the WORST GFX Card in the history of PC Gaming. It was the ATI Radeon IGP 345M. An ATI Intergrated Graphics Card. Its pretty funny that if you type in ATI Radeon IGP 345M in Google Images, my old Laptop shows up . I can't really complain about my Intel GFX Card though. Its pretty good (Not for gaming but for watching Blue ray movies and stuff). So overall, Im proud of my Laptop.

MoInSTL said:

I just added a quick image to my first post of the Intel widget CPU meter in action so you could take a look. It goes higher than 2.80. But I can't remember what it maxes out at.

Where did you obtain that?

I just did a print screen. Turbo boost gadget can be downloaded here: Processors — Intel® Turbo Boost Technology Monitor

Edit: I was curious to find out what the max frequency of my chip is. It's 2.93.
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47341

MoInSTL said:

I just did a print screen. Turbo boost gadget can be downloaded here: Processors — Intel® Turbo Boost Technology Monitor

Edit: I was curious to find out what the max frequency of my chip is. It's 2.93.
Intel® Core™ i5-520M Processor (3M Cache, 2.40 GHz) with SPEC Code(s) SLBNA, SLBNB, SLBU3

Thank you very much! Sadly, My processor doesn't have Turbo Boost Technology so I cannot use that. But thanks for your help. You've earned some Rep.

MoInSTL said:

Thanks. But as I mentioned before, you may consider the Outlet prices coupled with a coupon or a sale with a coupon if you decide to pick one up. Btw, the i3 does not have Turbo Boost.

Thanks for the information, friend! :)