Can I upgrade this laptop for better performance and gaming?

[zaitsev04]

Hello,
I am curious if it is possible to upgrade my current laptop. I am tech savvy but I am no professional and I am only slightly familiar with PC building. I am asking for recommendations if possible as to what exactly I should upgrade given the following parameters:

HP Pavilion dv6 notebook
Processor - AMD A8-3520M APU
Graphics - Integrated Radeon HD 6620G
RAM - 6GB (16max)

This is obviously a 64-bit system. I currently know it is possible to upgrade the RAM to 16 max using two 8GB sticks however I am unsure if it is possible to upgrade the graphics and if upgrading the graphics isn't possible then my question is directed towards RAM, will 16GB RAM increase any frame rate issues I am currently having while gaming?

Thank you,
Jeremy M

 

[millwright]

If you want to check your RAM just look in device manager, when you have it loaded up.

If the RAM isn't maxed, and I bet it isn't, then it won't help. 6 GIG is pretty big.

Of the millions of laptops manufactured to date, about 10 could change the video card, so I'm guessing no.
EDIT
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02842252.pdf

 

[pfunkmd]

You could go with AMD's newer A10-5750M APU and get a little performance increase but other than that you are stuck with what you have.

 

[zaitsev04]

You could go with AMD's newer A10-5750M APU and get a little performance increase but other than that you are stuck with what you have.

So I found an AMD A10-Series AMD A10-Series 2.5/4M Turbo frequency 3500 MHz A10 5750M APU for a pretty good price shipped from china for about 100 bucks. Do you think this would at least allow me to play games such as Endless Space, Civilization 5 on low settings with a reasonable FR (30-40)?

The benchmark values between the radeon 6620g (current) and radeon 8650g are still very low although this will basically double my processor speed. I have a desktop with a radeon 5770 and a quad core 2.5 intel and that surprisingly allows me to play whatever game I want normally on mid-range to good settings, of course I can't use max settings on newer 2013/14 titles. The benchmark for that graphics card is around the same if not a little better than the AMD integrated cards for my laptop so I am assuming the issue I am running into is possibly processor ability and getting a better one may alleviate this?

Thanks

 

[Blaise170]

So I found an AMD A10-Series AMD A10-Series 2.5/4M Turbo frequency 3500 MHz A10 5750M APU for a pretty good price shipped from china for about 100 bucks. Do you think this would at least allow me to play games such as Endless Space, Civilization 5 on low settings with a reasonable FR (30-40)?

The benchmark values between the radeon 6620g (current) and radeon 8650g are still very low although this will basically double my processor speed. I have a desktop with a radeon 5770 and a quad core 2.5 intel and that surprisingly allows me to play whatever game I want normally on mid-range to good settings, of course I can't use max settings on newer 2013/14 titles. The benchmark for that graphics card is around the same if not a little better than the AMD integrated cards for my laptop so I am assuming the issue I am running into is possibly processor ability and getting a better one may alleviate this?

Thanks

You also need to be careful with upgrading the processor. While some laptops allow you to change it, most do not. If you can, it may also void your warranty.

 

[pfunkmd]

So I found an AMD A10-Series AMD A10-Series 2.5/4M Turbo frequency 3500 MHz A10 5750M APU for a pretty good price shipped from china for about 100 bucks. Do you think this would at least allow me to play games such as Endless Space, Civilization 5 on low settings with a reasonable FR (30-40)?

The benchmark values between the radeon 6620g (current) and radeon 8650g are still very low although this will basically double my processor speed. I have a desktop with a radeon 5770 and a quad core 2.5 intel and that surprisingly allows me to play whatever game I want normally on mid-range to good settings, of course I can't use max settings on newer 2013/14 titles. The benchmark for that graphics card is around the same if not a little better than the AMD integrated cards for my laptop so I am assuming the issue I am running into is possibly processor ability and getting a better one may alleviate this?

Thanks

You also need to be careful with upgrading the processor. While some laptops allow you to change it, most do not. If you can, it may also void your warranty.

Every laptop I have ever had you could change the CPU. The only laptops I have seen where you cant change the cpu are the very low end models.

 

[jaguarskx]

Yes, you can upgrade the APU in that HP laptop. Below is the service manual for it. The processors and instructions on how to replace the APU starts on page 95 of the document.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02842252.pdf