Opinions, upgrade laptop memory from 1G to 2G for FreeView?

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pstar008

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Ultimate Geek
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#26351 19-Sep-2008 12:40

Hi, I have been using a Pentium M 2.0G hz laptop with integrated Intel 910/915 Video card viewing Freeview HD for about a month now.
Most channels runs acceptable well with intermittent pause except TV3 which will out sync voice and video too offten. I also noticed that the hard drive are runing quite often and constantly , that makes me thinking that maybe upgrade to 2G of Ram will at least improve all the channels but TV3(possible TV3 as well?). But as far as I know, the most significant bottle neck for Freeview HD is CPU and Graphic card and my CPU is almost runing as 100% confirms to that. So I am afraid such a upgrade could be just waste of money.

Looks like 2*1G PC4200 or 5300 for laptop cost something like 100 on pricespy, if that is the case, I think an upgrade is worthwhile even for a marginal improvement.

PS: I am using Windows XP and I think it is kind of obvious given 1G Ram on my Laptop.

sbiddle

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#165622 19-Sep-2008 12:56

RAM won't make any difference - the reality is that unless you have a GFX card capable of H.264 hardware acceleration and a H.264 codec to take advantage of this GPU then you won't get a decent picture, particularly on TV3 which broadcasts in 1080i.

There isn't really anything you can do to improve the performance on your laotp since you can't upgrade the GPU.

Quidam

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#165637 19-Sep-2008 14:18

pstar008: Hi, I have been using a Pentium M 2.0G hz laptop with integrated Intel 910/915 Video card viewing Freeview HD for about a month now.
Most channels runs acceptable well with intermittent pause except TV3 which will out sync voice and video too offten. I also noticed that the hard drive are runing quite often and constantly , that makes me thinking that maybe upgrade to 2G of Ram will at least improve all the channels but TV3(possible TV3 as well?). But as far as I know, the most significant bottle neck for Freeview HD is CPU and Graphic card and my CPU is almost runing as 100% confirms to that. So I am afraid such a upgrade could be just waste of money.

Looks like 2*1G PC4200 or 5300 for laptop cost something like 100 on pricespy, if that is the case, I think an upgrade is worthwhile even for a marginal improvement.

PS: I am using Windows XP and I think it is kind of obvious given 1G Ram on my Laptop.

Hi. it sounds like you have a Pentium M 755 cpu which runs the FSB at 400Mhz. If your FSB can run at 533 then you could upgrade your cpu to a Pentium M 780 which runs at 2.26 Ghz (on a 533Mhz FSB) and may give you just enough juice to run TV3 smoothly.

Note these cpu's are hard to find and expensive for what they offer (by todays standards) but can be got off ebay.

"There is no way to Peace -Peace is the Way" (A. J. Muste)

pstar008

362 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 6

#165649 19-Sep-2008 15:04

Thank you Quidam for the info, my laptop model is a Thinkpad Z60t.The same model goes all the way up to 2.0GHZ, so I am not sure upgrade to a faster CPU is possible, but the good news is that it has a FSB of 533.

I believe it is a M 760, instead of buying a M 780 and swap the CPU(which sounds scary), do you think OverClock is possible for a Laptop(less scary)?

Quidam

291 posts

Ultimate Geek

#165699 19-Sep-2008 18:55

OK -Your CPU is already running at FSB 533.

Here's a list of CPU's in the Pentium M family

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_M_microprocessors

You will find your CPU near the bottom (search on SSID SL7SM)

The only faster cpu's are the 770 and 780 -both of which would definately be compatible with your laptop.

However, if you have never swapped a CPU before it is a bit of a scary experience (could do it in my sleep these days).

Overclocking may be an option, but I very much doubt your BIOS has any overclocking options (worth taking a look though)

most probably, holding down DEL (or possibly F2) when your laptop boots should take you there.

What you want to look for is an option to increase your FSB. But as I said, Laptops focus is on stability, not speed, so laptop BIOS's normally support no overclocking. If you can increase the FSB -be very careful. Make only small increases (say 2-5Mhz steps) and I wouldn't push the CPU to far -no more than 2.4Ghz would be my recommendation.

Lastly, download CPUZ:

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Great little app for telling you some of your basic system details.

Good luck!

"There is no way to Peace -Peace is the Way" (A. J. Muste)

pstar008

362 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 6

#165709 19-Sep-2008 19:53

I hanvn't check yet but think overclock thought BIOS is very unlikely, but I would like to try it first (maybe useing some software I hope) partially because I am not sure how much difference there is between a 2.0GHZ Pentium M and 2.26GHZ. I did check ebay and seems a second hand one will cost somehing like US $200, compare to that swap a CPU seems less a problem.

I had open up quite a few Laptops mainly to change harddrive add memory etc and never comfortable about that: too much screws to lose