3 years ago I bought an Area-51m 7700 laptop. I bought it because I could upgrade it bit by bit. (or so I thought) It still holds it's own but it is still time to goose it up if I can. There are a few things I was thinking about doing but am sure I don't know enough to do correctly.
I want a 512mb nvidia video card
I was going to add 7200 rmp hard drives
and I was thinking of maxing out the RAM
I have heard that even though some computers will hold 4 gigs of RAM they can't always use/access it. I don't know if my machine is one of these. Also, I'm not sure if my motherboard can handle a 512mb vid card.
Would I need to change the BIOS? Where would I get them?
If I change my HDDs do I need new 3rd party scsi drivers or will the ones I have work? I am planning on running XP Pro.
I know There is another motherboard out and I have considered getting it as well but am not in a hurry to do so.
I am also concerned about my current power source, Will it be enough to do what I want to do?
I know I have not given enough information for fair advice but I'm not sure what info I need to give. I think I have a 800mhz FSB but dont know if it is intregreated into the motherboard or a seperate identity. Does it matter?
I ran Belarc Advisor and posted the results of hardware below.
I appreciate any help or suggestions.
Operating System
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
System Model
Alienware D900T Revision A
Main Circuit Board
Board: CLEVO D900T Revision A
Serial Number: 400
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies LTD 6.00 04/28/2005
2304 Megabytes Installed Memory
PC - 4200 DDR2
Slot 'J6G1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'J6G2' is Empty
Slot 'J6H2' has 256 MB
Slot 'J6H1' has 1024 MB
Drives
432.54 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
118.25 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
Optiarc DVD RW AD-7590A [CD-ROM drive]
Optiarc DVD RW AD-7590A [CD-ROM drive]
GENERIC USB Storage-CFC USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3
GENERIC USB Storage-MSC USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 5
GENERIC USB Storage-SDC USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4
GENERIC USB Storage-SDC USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4
GENERIC USB Storage-SMC USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 2
SAMSUNG MP0603H SCSI Disk Device (60.05 GB) -- drive 1
SAMSUNG MP0603H SCSI Disk Device (60.05 GB) -- drive 0
Local Drive Volumes
C: (on drive 0) 15.73 GB 3.93 GB free
D: (on drive 0) 36.70 GB 4.51 GB free
E: (on drive 1) 60.05 GB 29.77 GB free
Network Drives ? 0
Printers - 0
Controllers
Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 266F
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Default Monitor
Default Monitor
NVIDIA t Flat Panel [Monitor] (14.9"vis, November 2002)
Smart Link 56K Voice Modem
1394 Net Adapter
Atheros Wireless Network Adapter
RAS Async Adapter
Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Network Card MAC Address: 00:0B:6B:36:A3:54
Other Devices
Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Microsoft AC Adapter
Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
USB Human Interface Device
BisonCam, USB2.0
IrDA Fast Infrared Port
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
HID-compliant mouse
Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad [Mouse]
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
Patin Couffin engine
No matter what anybody says, Laptops are impossible to upgrade the main components of. You can change the hard disks and add RAM, but changing to new CPU revisions that the existing motherboard can't support isn't possible, and neither is changing the motherboard, or indeed the graphics card.
If you want better graphics performance, it's basically time for a new laptop, that is the main downside of laptops.
