I want to upgrade my laptop, need advise.

[jimpl]

O.K. I'm definitely NOT a geek,but I'm trying.
I have an HP dv8130us. I'm not really a gamer but I use an RC flight simulator quite often. The HP runs it but not with all the bells and whistles turned on.
It is stock:
AMD Turion 64-ML40 2.2GHz 1MB L2 cache, (up to 1800MHz sys bus?)
2 hhd's. Toshiba MK1031GAS 100 gb each (4200rpm)
2 memory cards #403799-001 512mb pc2700 DDR 333
I think the video card is a part of the motherboard? and can't be replaced without replacing the motherboard. I think the video card and the memory are my bottlenecks?
I shopped on line some and it appears the hard drive upgrade is easy but I don't know how much memory I can put in. (1GB ea?)And wtf is 333?
Also, is replacing the ML40, feasable?
Thanks, Jim

[Gizmokid2005]

Well, before we go too far, laptops are really hard to upgrade. Most of the parts are proprietary. You will not be able to replace the Video card, it's built-into the motherboard. Most of the time this is the case with the processor as well, so you will most likely not be able to upgrade that.

If BOTH of your RAM sticks are 512MB you have 1GB RAM, which is plenty. What you can do to boost your graphics performance is to share more memory with your video card, done in the BIOS usually, which will give you better performance.

You should check with the owner's manual or with HP to see the maximum supported memory is for the laptop. Most likely it is 2GB, 1 per each slot.

333 is the clock speed of the memory itself.

As for your bottlenecks, in this setup, they are the hard drive and built-in video. The processor is a strong processor, and the memory is very decent also. A little more memory wouldn't hurt, but it won't help much unless you are running Windows Vista.

[knight0334]

You can definitely upgrade the RAM... find some low latency PC3200 DDR SODIMMs.. 2x1gb That way if you are able to dedicate in either the BIOS or thru software/drivers more RAM to video memory - it wont hurt you as much. PC2700 is limiting your memory bandwidth, the Athlon 64's can use 400mhz memory - which is what they are meant to use. ...not that crappy low speed stuff that the OEM's install.

Provided you have the latest BIOS, you might be able to use a faster processor. Not many lappy's use hard soldered or press pin CPU's these days. Most have a ZIF of some sort, getting to it to change the CPU may be a b!tch involving the complete disassembly of the laptop. You will also need to clean off the old thermo-paste/sticker and apply some good thermo-paste.

Harddrives - 5400 or 7200rpm HDD's will help too. Also get as much cache on each drive as possible. 4mb, 8mb, 16mb, 32mb, etc..

The biggest performance gain you can do for free is kill ALL the crap that comes with those laptops from starting with Windows and do an in depth Windows tweak/hack. Then uninstall anything not used.. then run the following

1. Start>Run>cleanmgr /sageset:15 (press enter)
2. When CleanMgr pops up, select EVERYTHING. Using the /sageset switch opens up more things to clean.
3. After you select everything, click OK.
4. Start>Run>cleanmgr /sagerun:15
5. After running Cleanmgr via line command, Run>defrag C: -F

WinXP is a damn good OS to tweak for performance gains. If you dont need those stupid visual enhancements and other junk options, you can have WinXP running as fast as Win2K - which will allow your hardware to run the other applications faster.

BTW: you can make a batch file to run commands in lines 4 & 5 so that you can have Windows run it as a task at a certain time or manually run.

[jimpl]

Thanks for your input. If I replace my memory with 2x1Gb, do I need to change the 333 clock speed? also while shopping the net I found this hhd:
Fujitsu 160Gb 2.5" serial ATA/150. # MH-2160-BH-K 5400rpm 8mb.
Will this work?
Thanks again
Jim

[Gizmokid2005]

If you buy the RAM, no. The bios should automatically increase the clock speed for the memory.

As for the hard drive, I can't say for sure. I looked for specs on your computer, but I can not find where it says what interface your current hard drives are. If the current drives are SATA, then yes, it will work. If they are IDE, you will need and IDE interfaced drive. Remember, that you currently have two internal hard drives, and it would be best to replace both at the same time.

****EDIT****

You currently have IDE hard drives, so NO, that drive will not work.

[knight0334]

I dont think that drive will work.. from what I can tell, your HDD interface is IDE, not SATA.

[Gizmokid2005]

The factory refurb replacement drives for your model are ATA-100 which is IDE.

[jimpl]

O.K. I went out on a limb and bought new stuff before I saw your last posts.
I got 2. Kingston 1GB pc2700 333 mhz memory cards.
2. Seagate 160gb 5400rpm hhd's 8mb buffer
I've never done this before. When I do the install, I guess I just put in the cd that came with the computer and follow the directions?
Jim

[Gizmokid2005]

If you go to HPs website it'll show you directions on the installation of the components.

Once you have them installed, yes, just insert the CD's and they should walk you through the rest.

[jimpl]

I'm back!
I replaced the memories and hard drives. hit the power button and put in the startup disk. I went to a page that says"wait while setup formats the partition" setup is formatting. Then after quite some time it says it could not format. That something may be wrong with the disk.
I saw somewhere else where they say to type in "FDISK" and press enter then select yes....
I never saw an opprotunity to do this. Am i missing something?
JIm