9300 setup & questions!

I just ordered this setup and am wondering if everything looks alright. Also wondering how well it will run games like BF2/HL2/etc..

Pentium M 740 (1.73GHz/533MHz FSB)
-------- Hope this is good enough!
17 inch UltraSharp Wide ScreenXGA+
-------- Is this screen going to be ok? I don't like reflection, but if I could upgrade my order to the better screen, should I?
256MB, DDR2, 533MHz 1 Dimm
-------- Looking to buy 2 sticks of this.. good pick? That means 2x 1 gig sticks.
256MB NVIDIA 6800
-------- Not Ultra.. but good enough I hope. Question below..
60GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
-------- No fast rpm here
8X DVD+/-RW Drive
-------- Burn CDs and DVDs - wewt!
80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
-------- Long lasting?


Now, I've never read anything on "overclocking" and I havn't the slightest idea where to begin. But I heard that the 6800 has enough headroom that OCing it would be a good idea. Anyone know of a good spot to read up on this? Am I right in thinking it would be a nice/worthwile upgrade?

Hope this setup is good! Thanks for all your help!

 

That looks terrific. To address your questions one at a time:

That processor should be plenty for today's games, since they are mostly GPU limited anyways.

Well, both of the screens have their pros and cons, but if you're worried about gaming performance and don't like the "glare type" screens, then the WXGA+ is probably the better choice. (Why is it better for gaming performance? The lower WXGA+ resolution leads to a few more "jaggies" but a lot less stress on the GPU.)

I can vouch that that's good RAM; I use 2GB of it myself, haven't had a problem yet.

The Go6800 is the second most powerful mobile GPU available today, second only to the Ultra. With good drivers and a little bit of overclocking, it can blaze through anything on maximum settings.

The 9-cell battery will provide up to 5 hours of battery life, depending on your power saving settings and what you're doing on your laptop.

On to overclocking: Overclocking is quite possible, fairly safe, and very rewarding on the Go6800. On stock settings and drivers, you'd be very lucky to even come close to 3000 in 3DMark05; with a good set of drivers and a bit of overclocking, you can easily reach scores of over 4000. Personally, I use the 77.70 drivers from Laptopvideo2Go. After those are installed, just open up the nVidia control panel, go to "Clock Frequency settings," select "Manual Overclocking," choose "Performance (3D)" from the drop down box, and click "Detect Optimal Frequencies." After a few moments, it will alter the clock rates to what it deems the maximum "safe" levels. Then just click "Apply" and you're done!

 

Awesome, thanks for all the input - I feel really good about my purchase!
Your information has enabled me to feel a little more at east about my purchase!

If anyone else has comments or suggestions for OCing the 6800, or purchasing RAM, or just to tell me again that I made a smart choice (love ya), feel free to!

Thanks again!

 

Your system is almost identical to mine...and I have been extremely satisfied with its game performance. I am a bit fonder of the glossy, higher resolution screen though.
Im hitting a graphics score of 3731 in 3DMark05...which is higher than my Athlon64 3000+/1gb DDR/Geforce 6600GT based desktop.

I did not overclock my GPU as much as Nvidia's "Detect Optimal Frequencies" said I could...I set mine at 325/650 (up from stock 290/590). Their numbers may be safe...but I am a bit hesitant since so much is at risk in a notebook. Im not ready to take many chances with overheating anything. (I am more comfortable overclocking my desktop systems)

Your GPU will handle HL2 with ease...but your CPU "may" bring you down a bit. The incredible physics engine of HL2 is very CPU intensive (unlike most other games). My Pentium M 740 hit a CPU score of 3390 in 3Dmark05 (compared to the 4345 of my Athlon64 system. (If you hit details after running 3Dmark...it will give you an additional CPU score))
I have played Doom3 and Chronicles of Riddick on my system...and they played very, very well at high settings/resolutions.