alienware m15x issue, upgrade or something else?

[amateurhour89]

so, my specs:

i3 330m
6gb ddr3
5730 graphics

my issue is with gaming. my processor seems to be a choke, which i imagined with an i3. but not this bad! playing planetside 2, my fps average is only 15. spiking down to the low 11fps at even low crowded areas. on my old gaming desktop set up, i was getting 60+ on a phenom ii 720, 6gb ddr3 1333 and a gtx 550ti. which is a year and q1 older! yeah, i know comparing a desktop and laptop isn't really sound... and i may need an upgrade. so here is my predicament...

..i can get an i7 740qm (i think thats the name) for $65. or an i5 540m for $25. i don't want to dump $1000 into this machine so i'm leaving out the 8xx or the 9xx out of it because those are $160 for the 8xx or $350+ for the 9xx. i only have $20 into this machine i'd like to not go way overboard with it, as i have a desktop all set up. this is just more of a toy i'd like to play on travel or trips. mainly skyrim, planetside 2, eso and games of those nature graphically. my video card also comes into question (obviously) but any card higher than this seems to be very pricey. i'd like nvidia, they have always been easiest for me... i still can't get ccc working or opening after all the "fixes" i have found. a 67xx+ ati or 660m nvidia interest me as a last resort.

heat. first time playing with performance laptops over desktops. desktop gets too hot? upgrade heatsink. laptop gets to hot? idk... what kinda heat would we be talking, going from i3 330m to 740qm? my 13 idles at 53* (which feels hot coming from a phenom ii 975 @4.0 that runs 39*) i have arctic silver if i upgrade, so? i have also heard when buying a graphics card... almost any combination never plays well without ini tweaks or something of that nature.

user error. i'm only human, and as said before, i can't get ccc running. i've never had much luck with ati.. and it may be my own fault. drivers are up to date (checked in device manager) and through cpuz. any tips would be awesome, but i'd like to hear more about the cpu end of this over graphics unless you feel i've really boogered it up. which may be the case..

lastly, i know each of those processors are supported, i can change them myself, along with the graphics units. the graphics is a card which is replaceable, and the processor is also replaceable. again, i can do it myself, and need no warnings about said replacing physically or the labor needed to do so. i don't mean to be so blunt, its just every forum i've been on is filled with "you can't upgrade processors/graphics in any laptop, buy a new one!!" which is plain false. i've done it on many oems with no issue. but this is a bit more extreme than old athlon x64 or intel 7300 c2d.

any help would be great, or any advise from somebody who has done this exact thing on this particular unit would be appreciated!!

 

[mlga91]

Your best bet would be with the i7 740qm, the i5 that you listed is also a dual core, so, i doubt that you'll see much improvement there, put the i7 740qm, apply a good thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5 or something similar), clean all dust, set the fans to maxium and pray for it to work lol. Between the i3 330m and the i7 740qm there is only a 10w difference of tdp, so it could work.

 

[amateurhour89]

Your best bet would be with the i7 740qm, the i5 that you listed is also a dual core, so, i doubt that you'll see much improvement there, put the i7 740qm, apply a good thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5 or something similar), clean all dust, set the fans to maxium and pray for it to work lol. Between the i3 330m and the i7 740qm there is only a 10w difference of tdp, so it could work.

i see you are correct. now, i have heard as of bios update a09 people have been installing 940xm's in the m15x r2 (i do own the r2) with little issue other than 'power draw' and needing to upgrade the power supply to 240w... which is 55w vs 45w.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/430/Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_Extreme_Edition_i7-940XM_vs_Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_i7-740QM.html

which has me curious if there is a heatsink bump between these upgrades? or if the stock one (which seems beefy) was made to be safe for its socket cap?? i don't know, like i said. this is my first venture with laptop maxing.