Sony Vaio VGN-C31GH/W Upgrade

[bharathbigb]

Hello Everyone

I got this old Sony Laptop.Here are the specs

Intel Pentium T2060 1.6 Ghz Dual Core CPU
512 MB DDR2 533 Mhz RAM
Intel GMA 950 64 MB mGPU
80 GB SATA II HDD
Windows XP (Downgraded from Vista)
13.3 Inch LCD 1280X800 Display
Internal DVD Drive included
Included 2 X USB 2.0,RJ45 Port,IEEE 1394 4pin (S400),Display Output connector,S Video In/Out,Memory Stick Slot,D-Picture card and all that good stuff

The biggie is...ExpressCard Slot !!!

The laptop was a workhorse in it's day and it's working fairly well as a secondary computer.I'm deciding to do a full-on Upgrade with a 120 GB SSD,Windows 7 Upgrade (Windows 10,If it's possible lol),Maxing out RAM (2 GB).

But the biggie is that I want to add an (very low end) entry level GPU like the HD 5450/GeForce 610/630 for getting a good boost in gaming.I'm gaming very old games like the GTA San Andreas and stuff.

Is it possible to do ? Thanks

 

[Gingerbread]

You can't add a GPU to this laptop. Also pretty sure adding memory to the laptop (512mb ram more would be the max) would be pretty expensive. Also you have no hope of running w7 or w10, you don't have enough ram to even boot.

 

[bharathbigb]

You can't add a GPU to this laptop. Also pretty sure adding memory to the laptop (512mb ram more would be the max) would be pretty expensive. Also you have no hope of running w7 or w10, you don't have enough ram to even boot.

Not even with the ExpressCard Slot ? I have seen somewhere about adding an eGPU as it offers better bandwidth than USB 2.0 (Nowhere near ThunderBolt though).

I already have the 2 1gb RAM Sticks and I got it pretty cheap.
How about SSD ?

 

[Gingerbread]

Well SSD you can put in the place of the dvd drive, but pretty sure you have sata 2 at best, so most likely the SSD won't reach it's full potential (if it's an ssd of the level of samsung 850 evo). The trick with the expresscard is possible, however you have a good chance to fry your laptop, or cause other problems, to put it simply - chances of it working are slim, at best.

 

[bharathbigb]

Well SSD you can put in the place of the dvd drive, but pretty sure you have sata 2 at best, so most likely the SSD won't reach it's full potential (if it's an ssd of the level of samsung 850 evo). The trick with the expresscard is possible, however you have a good chance to fry your laptop, or cause other problems, to put it simply - chances of it working are slim, at best.

Yes,It's SATA II.I'm not gonna use that 80 GB Hard Disk.I have a Samsung SSD 840 so gonna replace the Hard disk with this SSD.Will I notice the difference in usage ?

Well,How will an ultra low-end card like the HD 5450/GT 610 fry my laptop ?

So if I can't use the eGPU,How can I improve the gaming performance (I'm looking to play low settings at 30 FPS) of this Laptop ? Can I overclock the CPU,The GMA 950 GPU and the RAM ?

 

[Gingerbread]

Only way would be with an eGPU, however even with a gpu like this one, it will be hard, laptops are not made to run with a gpu like this, also low end gpu with that terrible CPU, you will have a hard time running anything at all. Also samsung 840 evo manages to reach around 500mb/s speeds, while SATA2 supports only around 265mb/s.

 

[bharathbigb]

Only way would be with an eGPU, however even with a gpu like this one, it will be hard, laptops are not made to run with a gpu like this, also low end gpu with that terrible CPU, you will have a hard time running anything at all. Also samsung 840 evo manages to reach around 500mb/s speeds, while SATA2 supports only around 265mb/s.

Oh so I'm dropping the idea of the eGPU I will install the SSD though.Let me see how it improves things.

How about Overclocking the CPU and that GMA 950 ? Possible ?

 

[Gingerbread]

Don't think so, even if it is, those 64mb of ram won't be of much use.

 

[bharathbigb]

Don't think so, even if it is, those 64mb of ram won't be of much use.

OK,Thanks for all your help Would just max out the RAM,Put an SSD and keep using it as a secondary computer.

 

[Gingerbread]

Yeah that's the best option.