Computers Upgrading my laptop

**Canofbier** · 06-14-2014, 04:17 PM

Some background - I bought my current laptop just a bit over three years ago. At the time, it had pretty decent specs:

CPU: Intel i7-2630QM, 2.00GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 460M, 1.5GB
RAM: 8GB DDR3

Nowadays, the old thing is starting to show its age. I am looking to upgrade the GPU for sure. I took the laptop apart earlier today to confirm that the GPU is replaceable, so no worries there. I also saw that my power source goes up to 150W, and even the fanciest mobile video cards don't look to go above 100W, so I'm not worried about that either.

My question is: what is the best mobile GPU I could get that wouldn't be gimped by my older CPU? If it would make more sense to upgrade the both of them, I would consider that, too.

Actually, I'm curious: if I upgrade both the CPU and GPU, will my laptop game as well as a new computer with those same two components? I'm pretty ignorant to how hardware is utilized, but I don't hear much about anything other than CPU and GPU when it comes to running intensive games.

06-14-2014, 04:17 PM	Topic Starter
Canofbier ¡RIOS MIO! Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Minneapolis Casino cash: $5716981	Upgrading my laptop Some background - I bought my current laptop just a bit over three years ago. At the time, it had pretty decent specs: CPU: Intel i7-2630QM, 2.00GHz GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 460M, 1.5GB RAM: 8GB DDR3 Nowadays, the old thing is starting to show its age. I am looking to upgrade the GPU for sure. I took the laptop apart earlier today to confirm that the GPU is replaceable, so no worries there. I also saw that my power source goes up to 150W, and even the fanciest mobile video cards don't look to go above 100W, so I'm not worried about that either. My question is: what is the best mobile GPU I could get that wouldn't be gimped by my older CPU? If it would make more sense to upgrade the both of them, I would consider that, too. Actually, I'm curious: if I upgrade both the CPU and GPU, will my laptop game as well as a new computer with those same two components? I'm pretty ignorant to how hardware is utilized, but I don't hear much about anything other than CPU and GPU when it comes to running intensive games.
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