[SOLVED] Any potential upgrades for a HP Dv7-1135ea ?

[JXtechy]

Hello everyone.

My brother has an old Hp DV7-1135ea and I was wondering if anyone knows of any potential upgrades that could be done to push a bit more power out of it.
He only uses it lightly but wants to run a few basic games but also wants to be able to web browse and watch videos without it freezing or frame drops. At the moment he can just about watch videos (at 720p on a good day), web search and play Minecraft at 20 FPS.

The current specs are;
Core 2 Duo @2.2Ghz (could be the P8400)
4GB of DDR2
Nvidia GeForce 9600m gt
along with as the stock 500gb HDD
(I don't have the laptop on me so can't check the processor or HDD speed).

The only upgrades I can think of is swapping out the HDD for an SSD and maybe upgrading the RAM to 8GB. However, I know that it probably won't be able to utilize that much RAM.

If you could help me out it would be much appreciated

 

[delaro]

RAM.. Windows XP or 7 then 4 GB is probably fine for W10 then upgrade to 8GB.

Possible CPU upgrades above what you have.

Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9100 2.26-GHz
Intel Core2 Quad Q9000 2.00-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo T9800 2.93-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo T9550 2.66-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo P8700 2.53-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo P8600 2.40-GHz

For Minecraft, the most logical would be.
Intel Core2 Duo T9800 2.93-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo T9550 2.66-GHz

Until Multicore support happens then or games that make use of Multicore.
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9100 2.26-GHz

For Minecraft performance this help.
Turn off or close all applications you don't need.
Keep Java Updated.
Set Resolution- 900p
Set render distance- 2-4
Graphics set to Fast
Fullscreen- On
Mipmap - Find a balance in performance vs Visual ugliness " you will have to play with this one"

For everything else
Set Resolution- 900p or 720p and tweaks settings in the Low to Medium range.

Even if you don't replace the CPU consider cleaning the coolers and fans out and replacing the Thermal paste.

 

[JXtechy]

RAM.. Windows XP or 7 then 4 GB is probably fine for W10 then upgrade to 8GB.

Possible CPU upgrades above what you have.

Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9100 2.26-GHz
Intel Core2 Quad Q9000 2.00-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo T9800 2.93-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo T9550 2.66-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo P8700 2.53-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo P8600 2.40-GHz

For Minecraft, the most logical would be.
Intel Core2 Duo T9800 2.93-GHz
Intel Core2 Duo T9550 2.66-GHz

Until Multicore support happens then or games that make use of Multicore.
Intel® Core™2 Quad Q9100 2.26-GHz

For Minecraft performance this help.
Turn off or close all applications you don't need.
Keep Java Updated.
Set Resolution- 900p
Set render distance- 2-4
Graphics set to Fast
Fullscreen- On
Mipmap - Find a balance in performance vs Visual ugliness " you will have to play with this one"

For everything else
Set Resolution- 900p or 720p and tweaks settings in the Low to Medium range.

Even if you don't replace the CPU consider cleaning the coolers and fans out and replacing the Thermal paste.

Thanks delaro.

The laptop is on windows 10 so I'm probably going to upgrade it to 8gb. I didn't know that the CPU could be upgraded so this has opened up quite a few avenues for me, so thanks.

I will also try your suggestion of cleaning out the fans, changing thermal paste and etc.

I will also try those settings for Minecraft and see if it runs any better for him.

I will Reply with my results on here and thanks again.