Dell Latitude E6400 GPU Upgrade

I read this guide here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...-e6400-similar-performance-cooling-guide.html

My E6400 struggles with Minecraft with Optifine on the lowest settings, and newer games on low, such as DragonAge II, are almost unplayable. I don't want to run Skyrim on high or anything like that, but I'd like to be able to handle Minecraft and maybe some newish games even on low. The other E6400 motherboard has an Nvidia Quadro NVS 160M in it, and I have the intel version which has a X4500MHD. My E6400 should also work with an M2400 motherboard which has a Quadro FX 370M. The 160M motherboard costs $40 new on eBay and the 370M motherboard costs $60 new on eBay. I can afford either (but $60 is my maximum so I can't just buy a new laptop) but I only want to if it is worth it. Can either be used for any level of gaming over my better than my crappy intel GPU that would justify the cost? How great is the performance difference between each card? Thank you.

 

Hey man,

Yes the intel graphics is a dead bottleneck.

I would personally go with the M2400 mobo since you can actually put in a Q9000 quad core with precision motherboards. You can snap in a cheap Q9000 for like $45 on ebay down the road. Quad cores not compatible with latitude mobos.

Besides that, there really is not much performance difference between the two. Percentage wise? Perhaps yes, but with actual gaming, the two chips are still very weak that you won't feel much difference at all.

 

I haven't actually tried it myself, but I don't think you can put a quad in the M2400. See this post:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ision-m2400-owners-lounge-23.html#post4802198

Don't tell me BIOS updates either, cuz if they didn't support it then, they aren't going to support it now.

 

My god.... All my hopes are gone... I was going to swap in a M2400 mobo down the road..

 

I know it can support an X9100. I also know that a strong CPU can make up for a weak GPU with games, but it will still be bottlenecked. So what would you recommend doing? Can a CPU upgrade to an X9100 allow my laptop to run some games? Or should I upgrade the GPU still? I'd like some more input.

 

To be honest, the X9100 upgrade isn't worth it due to the price.

And although upgrading to the NVS will give you a bit of snappiness, the performance increase will stop with the rather basic games.

If I were you, I would save up and just get a laptop later. The only upgrade that I did on mine was putting in the SSD. But since you are referring to graphics performance, I would just say, if you are planning on using the Core2 Duo power for next few years at least, sure the $40 investment could be justified.

 

If I could find a list of CPUs supported by the M2400 that would be great because I could maybe support a better CPU. Google isn't helping though. Any ideas?

 

It was offered up to T9600 2.8GHz by Dell. The speculation is the possibility of supporting X9100 or T9900 which are 3.06GHz.

Without quad core support, that would be the best it gets. What CPU do you have in right now? If you have 2.66GHz and over I don't think it will make significant enough difference.

If you are REALLY serious, I would sell your system entirely and buy a cheap E6410 on Ebay. The graphics won't be any sunshine, but the hyperthread will really help. Especially if you can put in a i5 560M.

 

I know for sure everything up to T9900 (dual core that is) will work. I have not tried X9100 myself, but according to that post, that works as well.

Likewise, the CPU upgrade won't really do much if you are limited by the GPU...

 

Is the X9100 or the T9900 better? I guess those are the best I could get? If so, then the Fx 370 + the better of the two CPUs is the best I could get. Would this combination be able to do any gaming that I listed above?