core duo cpu's

tmh88

Hey just wondering, how much better is the core duo t2500 than the t2400. I'm ordering an inspiron E1705 and I dont know if the t2500 is actually worth the additional $120.

I was planning on getting
T2400 or T2500
1 Gig DDR2 @ 533mhz
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
100 gig sata hd 5400rpm
nvidia 7900GS

I have no more than $1600 to spend and this comes out to like $1580 with the t2500

Sledgehammer70

It is about a 7%-11% increase in speed on average, a T2400 to a T2600 = 19% to 22% increase.

Is it noticeable? well my roommate has a T2300 and I have a T2600 and in folding and in games I see the difference. Also getting 667Mhz ram will boost performance.

tmh88

So do you think it would be better to get a t2400 with the 667mhz ram, or a t2500 with 533mhz ram?

Sledgehammer70

TBH, I would buy the littelest amount of ram through Dell and get a better CPU, than jump to newegg and save a buck or 2 on much better ram like OCZ.

tmh88

so then get like 512mb's of ram?

also since ive never had a laptop before, I've also never opened one up. Do you think I'd have any trouble adding more ram myself?

Thrax

Usually, it's a door on the bottom of the laptop with 1-3 screws. That's it.

Sledgehammer70

Here are some images of my laptop when i put the ram in...


The first one shows the ram after install, and the 2nd one shows the bottom of my laptop, the middle square dorr is where the ram is on my HP

Ram and Hard drives are usually the only easy upgradeable thing in Laptops, in some cases you can do CPU's, Wireless cards, GPU's, and Drive upgrades, but that it is some cases.

tmh88

sledge, damnit you knew my plan all along. I pretended to not know about laptops so that way you'd flip it over to show me where to put ram in. Then I was planning on copying your xp cd-key, but you were too smart for me and blurred it out.

Sledgehammer70

In this day and age you have to blur everything out, You never know how many morons will try to rip off your SN and PN# People are so Evil...

airbornflght

why did you blur the bar code on the dimm? what significance does it have?

Sledgehammer70

Does it matter what I do to my images?

tmh88

sledge I was just kidding about those images, I probably would have done the same thing. Anyway, I forgot to thank you for putting those up, so ummm thanks.

Anyway could you guys help me find a stick of ddr2 notebook ram that is cheap, but not bad. (dell charges an $80 upgrade from 512 to 1 gig of 533mhz ddr2, so something around that)

airbornflght

no, It doesnt matter the least, I was just wondering if the barcode had anysignificance, or if you were just having fun with the blue and smudge tool.

Sledgehammer70

OCZ Performance 1 Gig = 66 Bucks I bought the smae stuff for my laptop

http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45147

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227110

tmh88

just wondering, are there any other computer companies that offer the customization like dell?

specifically offering upgrades in videocards. I want either a 7800 or 7900 series card.

tmh88

One more thing, Is it worth the $120 extra for UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™? I'm probably going to be doing a decent amount of gaming. I'm getting the 7900GS so it should be able to handle most games fine.

tmh88

sorry, I usually dont bump threads but I plan on buying this tonight so I need some advice fast.

anyway, Is it worth the $120 extra for UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™? I'm probably going to be doing a decent amount of gaming. I'm getting the 7900GS so it should be able to handle most games fine.

Sledgehammer70

It is your call, usually the upgrade is noticable with LCD's but for me I opted out of the Ultra bright as it was way to bright for me.

As far as the Video card andthing with a 7400 or better should game fine.

tmh88

ok i just talked to a person from dell

the 17" ultrasharp UXGA's resolution is 1920x1200

the regular xga 1440x900

for an extra $120, im definately getting the ultrasharp, and combined with the 7900 GS....pretty good combo I'd say.

How much better is the 7900GTX, and GT, than the 7900GS?(in desktops, i know the cards arent as good in notebook). I know the only difference is the GS is AGP, but how many more FPS usually come out of the GT and the GTX?

Sledgehammer70

Maybe 15fps tops. the 7800GS is the fastest AGP card but you will see a difference with a 7900GTX, not so much with a GT. The GT and GS might be 8% difference

tmh88

Alright I'm going to buy this notebook tonight. I'll post the specs and tell me if you think I should change anything

Inspiron E1705 Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz/667MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included) Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
LCD Panel 17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™
Memory 512MB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (I'm buying a gig from newegg cause dells ram is a ripoff, so I'll have 1.5gigs)
Video Card 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7900 GS
Hard Drive 100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0
Combo/DVD+RW Drives FREE!8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
Sound Options Integrated Audio
Wireless Networking Cards Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps)
Office Software (not included in Windows XP) No productivity suite- Corel WordPerfect word processor only
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription
Primary Battery 53 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Hardware Warranty 3 Year Limited Warranty plus 3 Year At-Home Service plus Nights and Weekend
Accidental Damage Protection (Except in Florida) SAVE 10 %! Add CompleteCare Accidental Damage Svc to 3Yr Lim Warranty
Dial-Up Internet Access 6 Months of America Online Membership Included
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service and Support
Mobile Broadband No Broadband Expresscard technology is available in the market now
Operating System Re-Installation CD Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition re-installation CD
Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack - Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience

TOTAL:$1,604.00 after $750 rebate

Sledgehammer70

If you can get a 7200RPM drive get that instead

tmh88

too late, I already ordered. Yea I know that a 7200 rpm drive would help alot, but it costs $200 on top of the $60 100gig 5400 rpm....$260 for a 100 gig 7200 rpm drive isnt exactly reasonable.

muddocktor

Yeah, you can always just buy you a 7200 rpm bare drive later and install it in your laptop. Good call on your part.

tmh88

sledge, that $8 off the OCZ is a mail in rebate, correct?

I ordered a gig stick of it, thanks for pointing it out to me.


Thanks to everyone that helped me with this. I'll post some pictures/benchmarks when it comes. Dell said it should be delivered to my house around the 15th-18th.

TheLostSwede

I'm typing on the mentioned 7900GTX 512 card on the 1900X1200 screen and on the benchmarks i have read, the GTX is about 35% faster than the 7900GS so 1900X1200 might just be a bit too high for the GS i think. Laptop screens, and especially the glossy screens, just looks terrible in the non-native resolution.

It's not very often the cpu gets to 100% load over a longer period so i would choose the cheapest dualcore option available. You save a lot of money going for the 2300 instead.

Sledgehammer70

Wow it is a $350 differance... at Hp it is like a $175 upgrade, or it was.

But the 7800GS should be able to put up 1900 x 1200 as myu 7400 puts up 1440 x 1050 pretty well "in 50% of games" But the 7900GTX go series is a much faster card.

tmh88

Right now im running at 1920x1200 on my GO 7900GS and it runs very smoothly. I was playing half life 2 at this resolution and it was just a tad bit slow. I'm guessing i was getting around 25-30fps, but when I dropped it down one notch (i forget the numbers), it ran alot better. The 7900GS is a good card, but not amazing. I'd say it runs similar to an x850 pro or whatever the higher ones are.