Upgrading my Budget Laptop (AMD A8-4500M APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.9GHz)

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Selby9409

Selby9409

Commendable
Jun 26, 2016
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Hello everyone!

I'm new to this forum, and I didn't really know where to go to ask this kind of a question, but here we go.

I bought an Asus laptop a while back. Here are my current specs:

- AMD A8-4500M APU with Radeon HD Graphics 1.9GHz
- 4GB RAM (512MB dedicated video)
- 64 bit Windows 7
- 1TB Samsung EVO 850 SSD

I want to upgrade at least my memory, to 8, if not 12 GB, and if at all possible I want to upgrade my chipset to something a little faster. I have money to spend on it, but I can't seem to find any information on if it is even possible to upgrade my processor or how difficult it may be. I don't want to buy a whole new computer, as I am already in the process of building a desktop. I am decently experienced with computers.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what kind of RAM to get, or on any processors that might work? The way I understand it is the processor and GPU are combined and share memory, but I may be wrong on that.

I was thinking if I upgraded the RAM and the processor, my computer would be able to play more modern games. It gets me by right now, but wiithout more RAM and an upgraded GPU/CPU (APU I think it's called?), I won't be able to stay relevant for long, and I really don't want to buy a new gaming laptop.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
Solution
Ecky
Your CPU is of the Piledriver architecture and uses socket FS1. It has 4 CPU cores, and 256 shader units in the GPU.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-A8-Series%20A8-4500M.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_accelerated_processing_unit_microprocessors

After looking at Wikipedia, I'm pleasantly surprised. There is an A8 4600M with the same TDP and 384 shaders which would most likely work. There is also the A10 5750M which may or may not work - it has the same socket and TDP, and is even the same Piledriver architecture, but is the newer Richland refresh (as opposed to Trinity). I'd say chances are good that it would.

Those are your two options.
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Ecky

Ecky

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Feb 3, 2013
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Calling that a gaming laptop is a bit of a stretch, in my opinion. The integrated graphics on your AMD APU is only about as fast as integrated graphics on modern Intel Skylake CPUs, which is literally the slowest you can get in a new laptop.

A RAM upgrade is not likely to help much in games, but it might a little, and day-to-day use will likely improve with a bit more. You can use any DDR3 SO-DIMM - I'd recommend getting a pair of 4GB SO-DIMMs to ensure you still have dual channel - though you should check to make sure you have 2 slots, and that both are currently populated. If you have 2 slots and a single 4GB stick, I would recommend adding a 2nd 4GB stick.

Your CPU is socketed, but there aren't really any upgrades for it. Any significantly faster chip will also have a higher TDP and your laptop will not have sufficient cooling for it.
 
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Selby9409

Selby9409

Commendable
Jun 26, 2016
4
0
1,510
Right, the laptop is almost 4 years old, and I never called it a gaming laptop, I just use it to play games, and it actually does alright with most of what I want to play :). There are just a few other games I would like to play that I currently cannot.

As for memory, thanks for the help on that, I will look into it.

And I understand that my laptop would run hotter with a faster chip, but I would still like to look into upgrading it as much as I could for what I have, even if it only helps a little bit.

If you have any links to where I might find information on that, I would appreciate it.

Thanks for taking the time to respond!
 
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Ecky

Ecky

Honorable
Moderator
Feb 3, 2013
12
0
10,590
Your CPU is of the Piledriver architecture and uses socket FS1. It has 4 CPU cores, and 256 shader units in the GPU.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-A8-Series%20A8-4500M.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_accelerated_processing_unit_microprocessors

After looking at Wikipedia, I'm pleasantly surprised. There is an A8 4600M with the same TDP and 384 shaders which would most likely work. There is also the A10 5750M which may or may not work - it has the same socket and TDP, and is even the same Piledriver architecture, but is the newer Richland refresh (as opposed to Trinity). I'd say chances are good that it would.

Those are your two options.
 
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