Hi everyone,

 

I just wanted some imput on upgrading my current laptop to something a little better. The laptop is an Acer Aspire 6930G, specs:

 

2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo

GeForce 9600M 512Mb

3Gb DDR2 RAM

320gb HDD 5400 rpm

32 bit Win Vista

 

As the laptop has a second Hard Drive bay, my thoughts are to keep the existing HDD for Windows and add a 500GB, 7200rpm HDD for FSX. Then upgrade the OS to Windows 7-64bit. The new OS would then allow me to upgrade the RAM to 6gb, by keeping the 2gb stick and replacing the 1gb with a 4gb stick.

 

My question is, will these improvements be possilbe in terms of hardware compatibility and will they bring an improvement to FSX?

 

Thanks in advance.

Does nobody have anything to say?

Would going from 32bit windows to 64bit windows on your laptop make a noticeable difference to FSX - No.

Will going from 3GB of RAM to 6GB on your laptop make a noticeable difference to FSX - No.

Will using 2 disks on your laptop make a noticeable difference to FSX - No.

Will the combination of the above make a noticeable difference to FSX - No.

 

I really wouldn't spend any money trying to upgrade a 5 year old laptop. If I had money to throw at it I'd consider a SSD but to answer your question - it would allow your laptop to load Windows and FSX noticeably quicker but once there FSX would have no extra performance from what you already have.

 

Sorry.

Thanks very much for your reply. I guess I'll just go with what I've got for now, until I can afford a good desktop.

A 64bit OS only helps if you have a problem with OOM crashes at the moment (I suspect you don't but you'll know if you do)

 

Your current RAM must run in single channel and making sure you have 2x2GB modules running in dual channel should give a small performance boost regardless of 32 or 64 bit OS.

 

Swapping your HDD for a single SSD will remove some of the hardest stutters you get in FSX at the moment on top of the much, much improved experience in Windows. (the slower CPU you have the more you'll notice the SSD in Windows actually. A netbook with HDD is almost unusable but a netbook with SSD is OK for general use. Well, that's my opinion). I wouldn't bother with adding a second mechanical drive but you could keep your current HDD for storage of movies and pictures. (oh, and you could use that SSD in a later desktop build as well and revert back to HDD only on your laptop when that day comes)

 

I hope this helps

Agree totally with PieEater. Save your money for a new laptop, upgrading your current one will help VERY little.