Upgrade Tips for ASUS X55C

[JarlRicketts]

So it's a slightly older model, and we changed the HDD once already. The wife expressed a desire for better performance to get back into Minecraft.

Specs are...
Windows 7 Ultimate (went to this after replacing stock HDD that failed)
i3-2370m @ 2.40 GHz
4GB RAM
1 TB HDD

Any suggestions how to improve performance? I do regularly run defrag, Advanced System Care, and AVG.

 

[INSTG8R]

More RAM Though that may be expensive being DDR3 and an SSD that’s all you can really do.

 

[_JP_]

I'm assuming those 4GB of RAM are the factory supplied. If so, they are on the motherboard and can't be replaced.
You can, however, add another 4GB or 8GB module to it (DDR3, 1333 or 1600MHz), since there's a slot for it. That would total 8 to 12GB of memory. Should speed-up a lot of things.
Of course, get an SSD. Crucial is a suggestion for price/performance/capacity...but it depends on where you can get the parts.
On the long run and if you're used to meddle with laptops, I think you can also swap the processor for a i7 2620M or 2640M. Find those on ebay or aliexpress.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I'm assuming those 4GB of RAM are the factory supplied. If so, they are on the motherboard and can't be replaced.
You can, however, add another 4GB or 8GB module to it (DDR3, 1333 or 1600MHz), since there's a slot for it. That would total 8 to 12GB of memory. Should speed-up a lot of things.
Of course, get an SSD. Crucial is a suggestion for price/performance/capacity...but it depends on where you can get the parts.
On the long run and if you're used to meddle with laptops, I think you can also swap the processor for a i7 2620M or 2640M. Find those on ebay or aliexpress.

I think, given the age of the laptop itself, there will only be so much performance you can squeeze out of it and upgrading from a i3-2370M to an i7-2640m might see some thermal problems since the i7 runs almost a full ghz faster and only has a single heatpipe inside attached to the fan assembly for cooling.

an SSD will help load times but I think the laptop itself only supports upto 3GB/s transfer rates so you'll be missing out on the full speed of an SSD. more ram will definitely help in daily use and also minecraft.

But i dont think all these upgrades are worth it because the laptop is so old and while the upgrades will make it perform better and feel more snappy. I dont think they are the performance numbers you are looking for.

 

[BadFrog]

So it's a slightly older model, and we changed the HDD once already. The wife expressed a desire for better performance to get back into Minecraft.

Specs are...
Windows 7 Ultimate (went to this after replacing stock HDD that failed)
i3-2370m @ 2.40 GHz
4GB RAM
1 TB HDD

Any suggestions how to improve performance? I do regularly run defrag, Advanced System Care, and AVG.

Thinking of your situation and the possible budget you might spend to "upgrade" your laptop, you might be better off, buying a used laptop off of eBay. I've purchased several in the past and as long as you do your due diligence, you should get a good deal. Try and buy from a company selling on eBay rather than a consumer as they usually offer some kind of warranty or have a return policy if something goes wrong.

Did a quick search and found several laptops around $200 that has better graphics card, better cpu, more ram, about the same size hdd, some had SSD's which is alot faster.

When I buy a used laptop, I always buy a new battery and charger.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

When I buy a used laptop, I always buy a new battery and charger.

then that detracts from the value of a pre-owned laptop. Some batteries cost $60 if not more brand new. Though if you almost got the laptop for free then theres got to be something seriously wrong with it for it to be sold at such a ludicrously low price.. You might end up spending more then what you paid to get it back up and running again.

 

[BadFrog]

then that detracts from the value of a pre-owned laptop. Some batteries cost $60 if not more brand new. Though if you almost got the laptop for free then theres got to be something seriously wrong with it for it to be sold at such a ludicrously low price.. You might end up spending more then what you paid to get it back up and running again.

Correct! I've had bad experiences with batteries, so I rather just source my own so I know its good. Moreover, when I do buy a laptop, I'm usually spending around 1500+ for it. I'm actually in the market this year to upgrade my aging M4800. Those new mobile i9's look pretty sweet atm. Thank god for my work picking up the tab

Sometimes, laptops are cheap because there not the latest and greatest and also might be coming off lease program. My m4800 was a steal as it only had a bent graphics card exhaust slot as long as you don't mind cosmetic problems. (I did open the laptop and confirm the heatsink is still functioning as it should)

 

[JarlRicketts]

So from what I'm gathering, at most an additional RAM chip is really the only feasible option that isn't gated by the motherboard or venting and could be a minor stopgap while saving up some cash to find a laptop upgrade.

Would a newer Windows possibly make for better software compatibility for current Minecraft?

 

[INSTG8R]

So from what I'm gathering, at most an additional RAM chip is really the only feasible option that isn't gated by the motherboard or venting and could be a minor stopgap while saving up some cash to find a laptop upgrade.

Would a newer Windows possibly make for better software compatibility for current Minecraft?

Well without opening it up and seeing what your options are for RAM(how many slots, current RAM configuration) it’s hard to say. It could be a single stick with an empty slot for more, could be a single slot, regardless more RAM wouldn’t hurt for Minecraft I’m sure. I have Minecraft on Windows 10, the store version(never actually played it, not sure was drove me to purchase it) I could run it and give you some numbers as far as RAM consumption for reference if you want.

 

[newtekie1]

So from what I'm gathering, at most an additional RAM chip is really the only feasible option that isn't gated by the motherboard or venting and could be a minor stopgap while saving up some cash to find a laptop upgrade.

Would a newer Windows possibly make for better software compatibility for current Minecraft?

The performance, or lack there of, comes down to the extremely poor integrated GPU. Nothing you do will really make a noticeable difference to performance in MInecraft.

 

[INSTG8R]

The performance, or lack there of, comes down to the extremely poor integrated GPU. Nothing you do will really make a noticeable difference to performance in MInecraft.

Right I did gloss over the fact it’s an i3 mobile.

 

[silkstone]

Best thing you can do would be to tweak windows by preventing unnecessary apps from loading on startup, getting an SSD, upgrading to 8 Gb ram.

I still have an i5 540M with a 210M that is fine for windows tasks and Minecraft. It's snappy and powerful enough for anything that needs doing.

 

[eidairaman1]

Double the ram if possible lower the graphics details and resolution

 

[newtekie1]

Right I did gloss over the fact it’s an i3 mobile.

Even if it wasn't an i3 GPU, the i7 GPUs aren't really much better with the execption of the Iris and Iris Pro, and even those are pretty bad compared to even an MX150.

 

[silkstone]

Even if it wasn't an i3 GPU, the i7 GPUs aren't really much better with the execption of the Iris and Iris Pro, and even those are pretty bad compared to even an MX150.

It really shouldn't matter for Minecraft. That game can be played on a RPi which is significantly less powerful than a 2nd Gen i3

 

[newtekie1]

It really shouldn't matter for Minecraft. That game can be played on a RPi which is significantly less powerful than a 2nd Gen i3

MinecraftPi is a pretty stripped down version, and plus the Windows version of Minecraft is still still a pretty optimized piece of garbage. For how it looks, it takes too much horse power to run.

 

[silkstone]

MinecraftPi is a pretty stripped down version, and plus the Windows version of Minecraft is still still a pretty optimized piece of garbage. For how it looks, it takes too much horse power to run.

It runs on my old i5-540m fine, even with texture packs and stuff.

Prior to that, I had a 1st gen i3 in there and it worked okay in that too. The Gefore 210m has about the same horsepower as the iGPU, it'll work fine on a 2nd gen i3.

It also works on my other daugher's core2duo mobile cpu, but then that has some sort of old radeon chip that is likely more powerful that the 210m.

I'm sure the OP can find a 4th Gen i5 laptop for cheap though, and it would work much better on that.