Question Upgrade a laptops graphics card or CPU?

[Jgargo2L]

I've got a Dell Precision 5520 Laptop that keeps on shutting down when I'm rendering 3D objects in sketchup with VRay. I'm an architecture student in his senior year so I'd like this computer to last a little while longer before having to completely replace it. I'm a very mechanical guy, I've swapped turbos and more complicated machinery and I'm very familiar with soldering, but I know next to nothing when it comes to computer hardware. I'd like to know what I need to upgrade my computer with to keep rendering high quality projects. My computer came with the i7 7820hq cpu and intel HD 630 graphics card or maybe the card is the NVIDIA Quadro M1200, both are listed in the device manager window. I'd like to know which I should upgrade (if not both) and what to upgrade to. Cheap and expensive options would be great to know. I hope this isn't a lot to ask for, I'm not familiar with hardware at all like I said but you shouldn't have to absolutely spoonfeed me. Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

Laptops are really not meant for upgrading. RAM and HDD maybe....thats about it.

The CPU, even if it were changeable (unlikely) is already the top end of that chipset.
The HD 630 graphics is internal to the CPU.
The Quadro M1200 is midrange at the time it was released. But also not changeable.

How much RAM is in this, and what type of drive is in it, HDD or SSD?

 

[Jgargo2L]

Thanks for repyling, I have 16GB of RAM and a HDD, would it be better to get more RAM or switch to one of those solid state drives?

 

[DutchCanadian]

What you should do is download a program (forget the name of one) to see how hot everything is getting (CPU and video cards). Likely is thermally protected and because you’re working it, it is overheating and shutting off. But download a program and make sure that that is actually your problem.

What you can do then, is take off the bottom and see if dust or anything got in there and clean it up

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for repyling, I have 16GB of RAM and a HDD, would it be better to get more RAM or switch to one of those solid state drives?

Changing to an SSD will make a world of difference.

 

[DutchCanadian]

What you should do is download a program (forget the name of one) to see how hot everything is getting (CPU and video cards). Likely is thermally protected and because you’re working it, it is overheating and shutting off. But download a program and make sure that that is actually your problem.

What you can do then, is take off the bottom and see if dust or anything got in there and clean it up

HWMonitor is one of those for example

 

[Randi Poling]

Sounds like an over heating issue. If it is under warranty, Send it back to Dell. If not, maybe try replacing the thermal paste.

 

[OllympianGamer]

Ok I dont have much experience with dual gpu laptops but I would install afterburner and riva tuner, use the on screen display to verify the nvidia card is being used when running vray and to monitor the temps. If it crashes note the time and then see what happened in windows event viewer. If temps are ok I would use ddu to uninstal gpu drivers and then reinstall them.