Q: I was thinking of upgrading my laptop cpu from a t5270 to a t8400 (1.4ghz to 2.4). I have a 8400m gs oced with 3 gb of memory. I know I would see an increase in my 3dmark score but would gaming performance actually increase? I mean t8300
A: That's a pretty decent upgrade, you'll need to find out if the computer can actually handle it (the BIOS won't let you use what the manufacturer hasn't approved so they'd better have been a version of your laptop with that processor in it). Gaming performance for games that are CPU limited would increase (the CPU determines the maximum frame rate you can get while the GPU determines the resolution you can get that frame rate at) while those that are GPU limited will stay as they are. Might be worthwhile for some newer games but you'll probably find the ones that were unplayable only become playable at low resolutions. That's assuming your laptop even has a socketed CPU, some are just soldered onto the motherboard and even with socketed CPU's in laptops it's more for manufacturer convenience than end user upgrading.