The ownage is complete! 7738G rebuild.

[Meaker]

Well through several graphics cards, and configurations I have now settled it.

Original spec:

Q9000 2ghz Core 2 Quad
4GB DDR3 7-7-7-21
GT240M 1GB DDR3
2x500GB 5400rpm HDD
DVD-RW Drive
1600x900 screen
2-channel Intel 5100 wireless

Final spec:

Q9200 2.93ghz Core 2 Quad (1.1v)
8GB Kingston Hyper-X 6-6-5-15
HD6770M 1GB GDDR5 (1.1v core voltage, 875/1125 gaming clocks)
1x 64GB crucial M4 SSD, 1x 500GB 7200RPM Western digital black
Sony Bluray Reader/DVD-RW drive
1920x1080 Screen
Bluray
3-channel Intel 6300 ultimate-N wireless
Internal bluetooth

I applied some finishing touches such as the bluetooth and more recently I replaced the Alps touchpad with a Synaptics one.

Benchmarks:

Almost 1850 in 3dmark 11:

Result

Over P8000 in vantage:

Result

My gpu clocks are 900/1150 in both of those.

1920x1080 no AA/AF at High settings (except post processing at medium).

FFXIV bench at 1920x1080.

 

[joxang]

Nice. Did you change any of the cooling to handle the new gpu?

 

[Meaker]

Nope, handles just fine under the stock cooler.

I have replaced it once since it got a bit damaged over all the different cards and slight angles the larger ones sat at.

 

[d_brennen]

Is it worth the money spent? I've seen your posts, fair play, there should be more modable laptops

 

[Meaker]

Yep, running like a dream =)

As an esimate, getting hold of a second hand machine and some clever selling of the old parts....

Dropping the SSD and 8GB of ram you could do it for around £630 now.