Hi DJ COOPER i have the same laptop m17x mid 2009 and i also have been looking at cpu upgrade options the best upgrade that i know of is the 

Intel Core 2 Extreme

QX9300 2.53 GHz Quad-Core CPU Processor

SLB5J 80581QX9300

i believe it does fit our system as from memory back when i configured mine online that cpu was an option but was like another $1,800 extra so i went with the same cpu as you have the T9600 core 2 duo, i have been looking on ebay for buying one myself.

ok. those are expensive. Will a Q9300 work as well?

I found QX9300 for $550 but the Q9300 are $80

Thanks

Um no the q9300 is a desktop processor

The qx9300 is the best available option

You can g a little less like the qx9100 or the qm9000 but other then that your not gonna get much for that old of a machine

qx = quad extreme... it   was designed for overclocking so  its much an unlocked cpu...  so its limited by power  and heat   as your   limit ..

well  when I had my m17X R1... I had originally a core2duo  and dual 260m's it  ran left for dead fine back  then , ran  tf2 ran css ran league   of   legends ran much  everything from that erra fine.. I also went to a Q9000(2ghz quad)  and dual 280's and 8 gig ram and seen   very little performance change in these games....  and to  be  honest,  my Samsung note 4 has more processing power  then the M17X R1 ever could..lol  let alone the graphics probably aint   far off haha sorry

but   not  gonna lie, your  video   is   probably  gonna struggle to   run  resident evil   unless lower video settings, don't expect to   run it   high settings...

your   better bet would   be to sell it   off and  upgrade to   something newer if  you  want the  power ability to   run newer games with  decent   settings..

K. thanks. I think Ill order one soon. I want to be able to play Left 4 dead 1 and 2. Also the new resident evil remastered HD.

What about overclocking the QX9300? what is the safest/best configuration to get faster?

ok. i think I have a nvidia dual graphics card. it shows up as 4gb. i ALSO HAVAE 8GB OF RAM.

it  should meet the recomended system requirements if I can overclock.

what s the best config for overclocking?

ok. im sure my current cpu supports overclocking. Im not going to mess with it, I'll just upgrade.

as for my video card. its a Nvidia GeForce 9400M G. is this one good or should I get something better?

Just wanted to say this is an awsome forum and you guys are really helpfull and reply fast.

the M17X R1 came  with 260m or 280m ..  were 1 gig cards.. so if   you have 2 in SLI = 1 gig  ram it dosent stack  and double ram.. and performance of older generation is  only  about  50% more  for second card added....

the 4 gigs video  ram   you  see is  that it  uses some   of system ram to help ...

overclocking   is   done   in bios of  system and if   you don't know  how to do   it   you can damage system very easily as overclocking usually requires overvolting, heat become issues, but again proper overclocking is done in bios.. and menu's will be   unlocked when such cpu  is  installed that is unlocked

garbage the 9400m is  the onboard video card... 

ok. really? what is a good card or cards for it?