Hi,

I would like to know the possibilities for upgrading my laptop , so i can play games like Age of Empires 3 for example not really a HEAVY game but i need more memory and my guess is that my graphic card doesn't support the game. And do i need something more to cool the system ?

Thx in advance

Specs:
System Information
ComputerSystem: Hewlett-Packard Presario R3200 (PS712EA#ABH)
OperatingSystem: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (Service Pack 2)
DirectX: DirectX 9 (4.09.00.0904)
System Device
CPU: AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor 3400+
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
Motherboard: Presario R3200 (PS712EA#ABH)
Physical Memory
256MB
256MB
Harddisk: FUJITSU MHU2100AT (93GB)
VideoCard: NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64M
Monitor: Default Monitor
SoundDevice: SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio

You'd be better off researching laptops to find a good gaming laptop that suits your needs.

Laptops are pretty limited in what you can update...CPU, RAM, Hard Drive, and Wireless are about it. You could try some more memory, and your CPU seems powerful enough...



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My Rigs:

Athlon 64 3400+ (CG) @ 2.4GHz, Asus K8N-E Deluxe, 2 GB OCZ DDR400, BFG nVidia 6800OC 128MB, Seagate 200GB PATA, Seagate 160GB PATA, Dual Boot XP and x64, Antec 350W Mid-Tower

Athlon 64 3400+ (E3) @ 2.4GHz, Asus K8N-E Deluxe, 2 GB OCZ DDR400, eVGA nVidia 6800 128MB, Seagate 320GB SATA, Vista x64, Antec 350W Mid-Tower

Athlon 3400+ should be OK for any game now; it's the GPU, however, which determines if the game will run on your laptop or not. Yours is simply not good enough and unfortunately it's not upgradable. I believe you can run AOE3 (probably low settings) with this card but you need at least 1gb of RAM

Thanks for the replies !

With adding axtra memory is there any risk on overheating the system and losing warranty of the product ?

quote:

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Originally posted by: zDaR
Thanks for the replies !

With adding axtra memory is there any risk on overheating the system and losing warranty of the product ?

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Nope,there shouldnt be any issues with upgrading the memory and wont void the warranty. The warranty will only be void if you try to remove the keyboard and access the second memory module. The first slot is underneath the laptop and is quite easily accessible by removing the memory bay.

As others have quoted upgrading the RAm and probably the HDD will yield some better performance, but modern games are hugely impacted by the graphics card which on the R3000 series is pretty outdated and is not upgradable.

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HP Pavilion TX2500..AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-86, 3GB DDR2 800, 320GB 5400rpm SATA, ATi Radeon HD3200/M780G.

quote:

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Originally posted by: miner
As others have quoted upgrading the RAm and probably the HDD will yield some better performance, but modern games are hugely impacted by the graphics card which on the R3000 series is pretty outdated and is not upgradable.

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The laptop is about one year old and i can't stop loving it and buy another one. /wub.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":wub:" border="0" alt="wub.gif" />

Thanks for the advice

One more question i just found out.

My system said: Your computer is using a 64bit processor, but you current version of windows is only using 32bit of the available 64bits . You should consider upgrading for better system performance and security.

Will this have a great effect on my laptop ? i mean it's mainly for working in autocad/photoshop and excel+word use and i like to play some games on it in the evening or during the day so it's a mix up. Will it be recommandable ?

Thx in advance

Well, you can use 64bit Win XP Pro, but it is still not that widely supported in terms of drivers and you might have some issues with that. There should be some benefits but you are pretty much limited by the max amount of RAM which is 2GB and some programs might not work well with XP64. It is possible to upgrade but I dont think there will be major jump in performance.

IMO 64bit is still at a nascent stage, I would give it a year or so before it becomes more widely accpeted.

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HP Pavilion TX2500..AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-86, 3GB DDR2 800, 320GB 5400rpm SATA, ATi Radeon HD3200/M780G.