Squeeze more performance out of my laptop?

[Planterz]

My computer is a couple years old now, and even when it was new it wasn't "top of the line". But it got the job done. It still gets the job done...for the most part. But I'm wishing it was just a little bit faster. watching 1080p videos on youtube (and sometimes 720p) can get a bit choppy, even when fully loaded/buffered. Watching a downloaded movie in 1080p, and even 720p can be dicey too. Usually the problem is that the video playback gets all scrambly and digitized, but sometimes it stops entirely (while the sound keeps going normally). I think this has to do more with the bitrate of the video rather than the actual resolution.

Also, Diablo III comes out today, and although I haven't really gamed in the past 7-8 years, this is the game that might bring me back - if my computer can handle it.

It's an Acer Aspire 15.6".

AMD Turion X2 2.2ghz dual core
4gb DDR2 667MHz RAM
ATI HD 4570 video card with 512mb RAM (and up to 2304mb shared memory)
320gb 5400RPM HDD

My options for upgrading are limited. The motherboard is socket S2, which isn't compatible with S3 (or S4), so I'm limited to the S2 processor options. The fastest S2 is a 2.5GHz dual core. Would that be worth upgrading? It's (on paper) barely a 10% increase.

I can't add more memory, nor can I upgrade to faster memory (I'm pretty sure).

I know I can make some things faster by getting a faster hard drive, which I've been planning on doing anyway. Specifically, I've been looking at a Seagate 750gb 7200RPM drive that's a hybrid HDD and solid state drive. It's a HDD with a few gigs of solid state storage that it "adaptively" uses to boost boots and load times. I know this would make my computer a lot faster to use, but would it do any differently in playing video?

Any other ideas? A new computer isn't an option right now.

 

[avidknifeusersf]

HAHAHA. I spent all yesterday scouring the internet and talking to some of the nerdiest people I know trying to figure out if I could squeeze a discreet graphics card into my Dell Adamo laptop for this very reason. The concensus seems to be no.

You could probabaly up your ram to 8gb if its a two socket confiuration. For games the processor doesnt do a ton. Nor does a HDD. Your best bet would be if you can put a discreet laptop video card into your laptop. A Google search is probably going to be your best bet. I dont know if the card you listed is integrated or discreet, but some of the mother boards still come with the connections and room to add one. Though you have to be careful about overheating.

I know you said buying a new computer isnt an option, but for me after spending an inordinate amount of time, it seemed like that would be the best option, so it might be for you too. I think we found for about $400 we could buy a desktop that could run it. I'm trying not to pull the trigger...

 

[avidknifeusersf]

Oh also I would add that if your looking to speed it up seperate from Diablo, a clean install is best, as is going into msconfig and not auto starting a ton of programs. Also chucking your AV software for windows security essentials, and turning off your screen saver and windows aero type features will you get a decent performance boost.

 

[Planterz]

You could probabaly up your ram to 8gb if its a two socket confiuration.

It's a 2 socket and has a 2gb stick in each. Everything I found about the my laptop says the max is 4gb, but I suppose those specs could have come out before 4gb sticks were available (which there are now). Would there be any reason (size, compatibility) that I couldn't bump it to 8gb? Would that make a noticeable difference, or would the extra memory be wasted because of the mediocre processor? I know the saying is that one can never have too much RAM, but there is a point where more becomes superfluous.

For games the processor doesnt do a ton. Nor does a HDD.

What about for watching HD movies?

Your best bet would be if you can put a discreet laptop video card into your laptop. A Google search is probably going to be your best bet. I dont know if the card you listed is integrated or discreet, but some of the mother boards still come with the connections and room to add one. Though you have to be careful about overheating.

I'm not sure what you mean by "discreet". I do know it's a dedicated video card. Here's the specs. I bought this laptop specifically because it had a dedicated video card, so that if I wanted to do some gaming (mainly older games that I never played or finished), I could, and perhaps play some newer ones too.

If the video card is swappable, obviously that'd be a good upgrade candidate.

But what, if any of these, would be the best option for upgrading? Let's say that I can only do one, since upgrading everything would cost as much as a new computer.

Oh also I would add that if your looking to speed it up seperate from Diablo, a clean install is best, as is going into msconfig and not auto starting a ton of programs. Also chucking your AV software for windows security essentials, and turning off your screen saver and windows aero type features will you get a decent performance boost.

I've been meaning to do a clean install for a while. It's getting bogged down with junk. I've been putting it off since I've been hoping to get a new HDD.

 

[avidknifeusersf]

I'll have time to investigate this in more detail, or make some nerds in my office who are getting to buy diablo today to take a look, but quickly.

Yes some motherboards do have a max ram, but since your computer seems newer i wouldnt believe it would be 4gb. (those its poss) But 4gb, even ddr2, aint bad.

Your single best upgrade is going to be that graphics card. 512mb aint much for a video card. It will help tremendously with processing and displaying video for HD. Discreet equals non integrated. It used to be obvious to tell the difference, but now nvidea and ati both make integrated chipsets (soddered to the motherboard) that sound like there discrete.

A hard drive will help access stored data quicker but for games and such most of that is first stored in the ram, so thats where the bottleneck is. An HDD will help tremendously with boot up times.

I have a 5 year old laptop with an integrated video card that only as has teeny bit of a problem running HD. That suggests to me that your computer has crap on it you dont want. I'd go on an uninstall binge. From the uninstall menu. Also download and run security essentials on the most robbust setting before you go to bed. (it will take a while) Also go to Start>run> and type in msconfig ans start poking around services and startup. DONT MAKE ANY CHANGES UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT THE PROGRAM DOES, but so long as you keep good records and know how to boot to safe mode you can try messing around with some of it.

 

[jacktrades_nbk]

can't help you with the you tube videos, but for the downloaded ones, try and use a player like kmplayer, or even media player classic with core avc (get it separately) set as the default codec for hd media.
anyway, just the kmplayer helped me to play some hd movies on an asus eee netbook with celeron 900mhz, and a gma 900.

 

[Fanglekai]

You can get a new laptop with decent specs for $350 if you look around. I highly recommend just buying a new one over trying to upgrade yours. Upgrading the cpu won't do much, you already have the max supported RAM, and a new hard drive will not improve video playback performance. Yes, all motherboards have a max supported RAM. 4gb is very common for laptops a few years old. Even now the max supported for many is 8gb, which doesn't improve performance that much unless you are doing specific tasks. The problem is with the gpu, not the hard drive. You can do some small tweaks to improve performance, but it's not going to give you smooth playback of high def video.

Search msconfig and remove most of the startup programs.
Try vlc and other video programs.
Download and run ccleaner.

Aside from a few things you really cannot do much to boost performance of a computer other than removing startup programs and minimizing what you keep on the hard drive.

 

[proud2deviate]

As for the HDD, I can't recommend strongly enough going with a pure SSD. It's pricey, and the available capacity is probably still a lot less than what's available with traditional mechanical hard drives, but the speed will blow you away. 40 minutes for a clean install of XP? More like 12-13 on a SSD (Mine is a year or two old, I imagine they've gotten better.) You don't have the clicking and whirring of a HDD. Never defrag again. EVER. It's just so much nicer in pretty much every regard, except capacity, and I have an external for that. Might not be the best set-up for you, I suppose.

I gave $400 for a 160GB Intel X25-M, and I've never regretted a cent of it.

ETA - I haven't noticed a monumental improvement in game load times, even over the games I keep on my external. As stated above, there are other limiting factors in that regard.

 

[Fanglekai]

As for the HDD, I can't recommend strongly enough going with a pure SSD. It's pricey, and the available capacity is probably still a lot less than what's available with traditional mechanical hard drives, but the speed will blow you away. 40 minutes for a clean install of XP? More like 12-13 on a SSD (Mine is a year or two old, I imagine they've gotten better.) You don't have the clicking and whirring of a HDD. Never defrag again. EVER. It's just so much nicer in pretty much every regard, except capacity, and I have an external for that. Might not be the best set-up for you, I suppose.

I gave $400 for a 160GB Intel X25-M, and I've never regretted a cent of it.

ETA - I haven't noticed a monumental improvement in game load times, even over the games I keep on my external. As stated above, there are other limiting factors in that regard.

Solid state drives are still expensive at around $1/gb. The other problem is that the hard drive isn't the limiting factor on video playback. Instead of dropping $100+ on a SSD the OP would be better off just buying a new budget laptop for $350. I've seen plenty of 2nd gen core i3 laptops as well as AMD A6 ones for $350.

 

[StuntDouble]

If you want to see if you can play a certain game, just go to http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/intro.aspx.

 

[Planterz]

Your single best upgrade is going to be that graphics card. 512mb aint much for a video card. It will help tremendously with processing and displaying video for HD. Discreet equals non integrated. It used to be obvious to tell the difference, but now nvidea and ati both make integrated chipsets (soddered to the motherboard) that sound like there discrete.

So even though it's a dedicated card, it could still be integrated? Hm... I guess the only way to find out would be to take the thing apart and look inside.

 

[jacktrades_nbk]

Even if the card is in an mxm slot, upgrading is not quite what i would recommend, compatibility issues can arise, and the existing cooling system may be inadequate for the newer card.
Plus, it will not be very cheap.
Buying another laptop, with newer technology, may be cheaper, as suggested by others.
Try to reinstall your operating system, drivers.. see if it makes a difference in the you tube videos playing. Doing this will speed it up quite a bit anyway, so it's worth a try.
Tried the kmplayer video player yet ?

 

[Planterz]

If you want to see if you can play a certain game, just go to http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/intro.aspx.

Well, it appears that my processor isn't up to snuff for running Diablo III, although everything else is. Even boosting it to a 2.5GHz won't be enough - it requires 2.8ghz or higher. Crap. It looks like it should smoke on HL2 and Portal though.

 

[Fanglekai]

So even though it's a dedicated card, it could still be integrated? Hm... I guess the only way to find out would be to take the thing apart and look inside.

Dedicated = discrete. People use the terms interchangeably even though dedicated is probably the better term. Dedicated cannot be integrated and integrated cannot be dedicated. Integrated means the gpu uses shared system memory, like with Intel HD graphics. Dedicated means the gpu uses its own dedicated memory. An ATI 4570 is a dedicated/discrete video card. There's no way to upgrade integrated graphics, but dedicated cards have the possibility of being upgraded. However, in a laptop it's not worth the expense or the effort in most cases. You'll have to mess with settings and the voltages and cooling will probably be off because of the higher power draw. Normally laptops do not have power supply units that allow for upgrading easily so you might exceed the max power for your psu and end up frying your motherboard and/or other components or simply causing problems you won't know how to fix.

The bottom line is that if you are asking bladeforums tech questions about your laptop you really have no business trying to upgrade the psu, cpu or gpu on it. You already have the max RAM, and a new hard drive won't improve gaming or video performance. Save up and get a budget gaming laptop or desktop.

 

[wildmanh]

There are 2 main things in a laptop that can be upgraded, Memory and hard drives. Sometimes you can also upgrade your CPU. Some boutique laptops claim that you can also upgrade your video chip, but finding one a year later that will drop (socket or video board) in is really hard or next to impossible. If you actually find a video upgrade that is compatible with your machine, it's going to cost more then a new machine, at least in my experience.

Your best bet is to put the $$ that you would into upgrades into a new Laptop or Desktop. $400 to $500 can get you a nice desktop these days that will play Diablo III, watch movies, do home work, work, or what ever else you want. Plus a Desktop is way more upgradeable and cost effective.

 

[Planterz]

Dedicated = discrete. People use the terms interchangeably even though dedicated is probably the better term. Dedicated cannot be integrated and integrated cannot be dedicated. Integrated means the gpu uses shared system memory, like with Intel HD graphics. Dedicated means the gpu uses its own dedicated memory. An ATI 4570 is a dedicated/discrete video card. There's no way to upgrade integrated graphics, but dedicated cards have the possibility of being upgraded. However, in a laptop it's not worth the expense or the effort in most cases. You'll have to mess with settings and the voltages and cooling will probably be off because of the higher power draw. Normally laptops do not have power supply units that allow for upgrading easily so you might exceed the max power for your psu and end up frying your motherboard and/or other components or simply causing problems you won't know how to fix.

If I went with this option I'd only be swapping it with a card from the same series, just one with more RAM (like a 4650 that's on eBay for $100). I can't imagine that my laptop couldn't work with it, since my exact laptop was available with that card when I bought mine (but it was $50 more and out of stock and I couldn't wait).

The bottom line is that if you are asking bladeforums tech questions about your laptop you really have no business trying to upgrade the psu, cpu or gpu on it.

I'm not a novice to computers, I'm just out of date. But even when I was building my own computers, I refused to touch laptops, and they still scare me (hence all these questions).

There are 2 main things in a laptop that can be upgraded, Memory and hard drives. Sometimes you can also upgrade your CPU. Some boutique laptops claim that you can also upgrade your video chip, but finding one a year later that will drop (socket or video board) in is really hard or next to impossible. If you actually find a video upgrade that is compatible with your machine, it's going to cost more then a new machine, at least in my experience.

There's a suitable replacement or two (slightly more powerful, but 1gb instead of 512mb RAM) that I can get off of eBay for $100 or so.

[quoteFanglekai]You already have the max RAM, and a new hard drive won't improve gaming or video performance. Save up and get a budget gaming laptop or desktop.[/QUOTE]

Your best bet is to put the $$ that you would into upgrades into a new Laptop or Desktop. $400 to $500 can get you a nice desktop these days that will play Diablo III, watch movies, do home work, work, or what ever else you want. Plus a Desktop is way more upgradeable and cost effective.

I'm thinking that this is what I'll probably do. Back in my hardcore gaming days (Diablo 2, Halflife TFC mostly) I built my own desktops and was extremely anti-laptop. For the reasons stated above. Laptops (especially back then) were way too expensive for the performance you got from them, and upgradeability was minimal at best. But after my "retirement" from gaming, I didn't need a powerful rig built for it, and the mobility and convenience of a laptop outweighed the need for cutting-edge performance. Plus, the laptop I got was only $600 yet was more than twice as powerful as my old gaming desktop.

Newegg has a gaming desktop with an AMD 3.6GHz quad core, 8gb RAM, and an ATI 6670 1gb video card for about $530. It looks like it'd be screaming on Diablo 3, and would handle any game out there right now that I want to play, but that my laptop couldn't or would struggle with. I "reviewed" my finances, and I think I might be able to swing that in a month or two if I stop spending money on crap like beer and pizza (probably healthier too). If I can't swing it, I might still look into replacing the video card with a 1gb one, and wait until next tax season to get a new desktop. That is, if a fresh install of Windows doesn't smooth out my video playback.

Thanks for the info and advice, guys. It's much appreciated.

Oh yeah, and I got ahold of a Diablo 3 demo invite (you can only download it if someone who purchased the game gave you one), and I'll give that a whirl to see if by chance the extra RAM and superior video card (over the minimum required one) make up for the processor deficiency.

 

[avidknifeusersf]

Oh yeah, and I got ahold of a Diablo 3 demo invite (you can only download it if someone who purchased the game gave you one), and I'll give that a whirl to see if by chance the extra RAM and superior video card (over the minimum required one) make up for the processor deficiency.

You seem to know what youre doing but all the same be careful. I have two friends running it on full on gaming rigs that are 3 or 4 years old, well within the min specs, on lowish medium settings who are having problems. Everythings fine for a while, and then because of the way D3 renders things off screen using the GPU when too much starts to happen their rigs start to overheat. One of them is overclocked, one isnt. They have cooling systems, cases open and one even has a friggin full size fan blowing at it. Theyre both Dells, with meh power supplies and the vid cards located in dells fave spot near the bottom of the case, but still I was surprised to hear how much trouble their rigs were having. Which you know on a laptop could be disasterous.

It sounds like upgrading your video card to the other one that was offered is probably safe, but i'd call newegg and talk to them. Theyve been supes helpful with me in the past about part compatability and problems for my specific rig. Not sure if there CS is still as knowledgable.

 

[Planterz]

You seem to know what youre doing but all the same be careful. I have two friends running it on full on gaming rigs that are 3 or 4 years old, well within the min specs, on lowish medium settings who are having problems. Everythings fine for a while, and then because of the way D3 renders things off screen using the GPU when too much starts to happen their rigs start to overheat. One of them is overclocked, one isnt. They have cooling systems, cases open and one even has a friggin full size fan blowing at it. Theyre both Dells, with meh power supplies and the vid cards located in dells fave spot near the bottom of the case, but still I was surprised to hear how much trouble their rigs were having. Which you know on a laptop could be disasterous.

It sounds like upgrading your video card to the other one that was offered is probably safe, but i'd call newegg and talk to them. Theyve been supes helpful with me in the past about part compatability and problems for my specific rig. Not sure if there CS is still as knowledgable.

If that's happening, and it becomes common, it's a good thing that whatever I do, it won't be immediate. Let them work all the kinks out first.

I did try the demo. With all the settings on low and resolution set at 1280x800 it runs OK when nothings going on. An occasional stutter step here and there. But when the action hits, so do the slowdowns. Worse than Lightning Fury into a nest of sand maggots. And that's just single player.

 

[avidknifeusersf]

If that's happening, and it becomes common, it's a good thing that whatever I do, it won't be immediate. Let them work all the kinks out first.

I'll have to look it up, but I think (server nightmares asside) they said something to the effect of: thats not a problem, it has to work like that because of the online other players affecting your environment real time nature of the game. So it has to be processing it in case you decide to teleport to em or some such.

Anyway best of luck man! If you love the game I do not want to hear about it.

 

[Planterz]

Tried the kmplayer video player yet ?

Either there's some settings that I don't know about that I have to adjust, or kmplayer sucks balls. A 720p video looks extremely pixelated, like it's badly upconverting a 480p or something. Seriously, it looks horrible.

The only reason I tried it out is that vlc just came out with version 2.0, and I'm getting some glitchy playback that I didn't get with the old version.