While that CPU will work, bear in mind you may need a new power adapter if your current one is 90W or less (the i7 will need a 130 W adapter). It may also make it apparent that your bottleneck isn't the CPU but the GPU (which cannot be upgraded) -- or the disc drive if it's a conventional hard drive (an SSD is a better performance investment than a CPU upgrade).
The RAM cannot run faster than 1333 MHz, nor will newer generation CPUs work (beyond not being supported, most are designed to be soldered in, not socketed -- yours is among the last Intel mobile CPUs widely available in socketed form).
As it is I already have an SSD HD and it is also my experience that this makes more of a difference than changing processors - at least when the speed difference is not significant.
In this context, however, I now have a core I3 2.1 GHz processor and it's simply just too slow for the use I currently have (sound processing). Although the developer of the software I may be using apparently is working on using the GPU for some of the processing I am not sure this will end up being the case ... So I am either in need of a faster processor or a different computer.
With the I3 2.1 GHz processor being the reference I reckon the i7 will be noticeably faster - so maybe that's the one to go with ...
ejn63
9 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
2
November 3rd, 2015 02:00
While that CPU will work, bear in mind you may need a new power adapter if your current one is 90W or less (the i7 will need a 130 W adapter). It may also make it apparent that your bottleneck isn't the CPU but the GPU (which cannot be upgraded) -- or the disc drive if it's a conventional hard drive (an SSD is a better performance investment than a CPU upgrade).
The RAM cannot run faster than 1333 MHz, nor will newer generation CPUs work (beyond not being supported, most are designed to be soldered in, not socketed -- yours is among the last Intel mobile CPUs widely available in socketed form).
irpheus
1 Rookie
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7 Posts
0
November 3rd, 2015 03:00
Hi ejn63,
Thanks for your feedback - very helpful it is ...
As it is I already have an SSD HD and it is also my experience that this makes more of a difference than changing processors - at least when the speed difference is not significant.
In this context, however, I now have a core I3 2.1 GHz processor and it's simply just too slow for the use I currently have (sound processing). Although the developer of the software I may be using apparently is working on using the GPU for some of the processing I am not sure this will end up being the case ... So I am either in need of a faster processor or a different computer.
With the I3 2.1 GHz processor being the reference I reckon the i7 will be noticeably faster - so maybe that's the one to go with ...
Anyway - thanks for your feedback!
Jesper