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G74SX-BBK7 Upgrade

Retired
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Hi,

I am planning to upgrade my G74SX-BBK7, but im not very sure what upgrade would give better performance,

Basically I use my laptop for simple 3D modeling (Cinema 4, 3DMax) and to use some programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, and to some gaming to by the way,

I´m have two options in mind, upgrade the ram from 8gb to 16gb, or a bought a ssd drive instead of the 7200 rpm hhd,

So, the questions is, what would give me the best performance?

Thanks, any help it´s apreciated,
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8 REPLIES 8

jorlanm
Level 7
you should be good as it is...realistically not a lot of programs require more than 4GB RAM cause most of them were still designed to rung on 32-BIT OS...Even the newer 64-Bit version of the Program still dont need more than 4GB cause they were mirrored from theire 32-Bit counterparts but just made ready to use higher then 4GB in the event its actualy needed.
-ASUS ROG G73SW-3DE-
-Intel Core i7-2630QM Mobile Quad Processor
-Intel HM65 Express Chipset +ICH10
-17.3" 1920x1080 120Hz Anti-Glare Matte Screen
-nVidia GeForce GTX 460m 1.5GB GDDR5 VRAM
-nVidia 3D Vision Active Shutter Glasses
-Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0
-THX TruStudio
-8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM (Max 32GB)
-2x500 Seagate Momentous XT Hybrid HDD
-Blu-Ray 4x Burner
-Logitech Performance MX Darkfield Laser Mice
-Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

-XBOX360, PS3, Wii

Retired
Not applicable
Many thanks for the clarification jorlanm,

so in this case would be better to upgrade the 7200 rpm hdd to a solid state drive?

Regards,

Chastity
Level 10
The SSD will give you an overall performance boost, as the HDD is usually the slowest component. You can always add the RAM afterwards if you feel the need, and you can get faster RAM modules too.
[SIGPIC]Kicking Ass Since Today[/SIGPIC]

Ram is a cheap way to improve performance, but installing the SSD in addition to your existing internal drive will give you the best performance improvement. If you plan on using photoshop/adobe cs, you might consider using the SSD as a scratch drive for Adobe CS and for your hibernation and virtual memory. The other option is to install your OS on to the SSD and use the 7200 RPM drive for your mass storage (movies, games, itunes etc.). It all depends on how you plan to use your machine. If you boot and shut down frequently I'd go with the latter option, but if you tend to hibernate more and need the performance for AdobeCS and other programs that use scratch disks I'd go with the first option.

Retired
Not applicable
Chastity , irdmoose, many thanks for the explanation,

seems like the best option it´s to purchase a ssd,

i was planning to use it as a primary disk for OS and program files, but i´m gonna try both options since what i need it´s performance for Adobe CS5 Suite and basic 3d modeling

Regards!

Retired
Not applicable
Is it possible to buy a blu-ray player/burner for this laptop?

part number?

-Adder

Retired
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Yahooligan
Level 7
Personally, since you're doing 3D and other relatively memory-intensive apps, I would upgrade your memory. I had 8GB of memory in my previous PC and it wasn't difficult to get memory usage up to 80+%. I was able to actually suck up all 8GB and then some in Photoshop when manipulating and combining multiple images. Recent versions of any decent 3D or imaging apps will be 64-bit to take advantage of memory. Not to mention, more memory = more cache. Upgrading to an SSD will help, but the OS and apps will also take advantage of memory for cache so you don't read frequently-accessed files/data from disk as often. And memory is cheap, upgrading from 8GB to 16GB should cost less than $50.

Only you will be able to know which will be the most help. Have you monitored your resource utilization at all? If not, you should and then you'll be able to tell how close you are to using your current 8GB and how busy your disk is while using your apps.

You can track memory, disk I/O and utilization, and a bunch of other metrics with Windows' built-in Resource Monitor.
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Yahooligan
ASUS G74SX-XR1 :cool: