Upgrading laptop for better gaming performance? Or would it not work? (Lenovo Y580)

[Dazz5]

Hi,

I have a 4 year old Lenovo Y580 which I use for general movie watching, some work (ms office only) and a fair bit of gaming. To run in particular the most recent games some of the performance is quite slow (Total War, XCom 2) - any suggestions how I could get the most out of the system, and whether upgrades or just looking at a new comp is a better route?

Spec:
- intel i7-3610QM @2.30 GHz quad-core
- 8GB DDR3 RAM
- Windows 7 64bit
- geforce GTX 660M 2GB DDR dedicated
- 1TB HDD
+ 64GB SSD msata (which has never really worked, and I cannot get it 'initialised')

Any thoughts would be great, I am happy to do the upgrades myself but am just not sure if it is worth it.

Many thanks!
Darek

 

[jaguarskx]

The 64GB SSD acts as a cache for the HDD. You may need to go into the BIOS to switch it to act like "normal" storage. Having said that the only thing you can really do install more RAM and install a SSD. That can improve overall performance, but it will not improve game performance.

If you want better game performance, then you need to buy a new laptop. Compared to more modern laptops, the GTX 660m is somewhere between the performance of the 845m and 940m. Therefore, if you are considering buying a new laptop, then you should have your be around the $800 to $900 budget range which can get you a quad core i5 laptop with a GTX 1050 that will be a very significant upgrade from the GTX 660m.