AMD Socket S1g4 CPU upgrade question

[jamesgalb]

So a friend of mine gave me and old note-book with Windows 7 on it, and after installing an SSD into it it is not NEARLY as bad as he made it out to be...

http://www.pcworld.com/product/1304567/toshiba-satellite-c655d-s5120-notebook.html

I want tup upgrade the CPU and Memory and see if this thing is worth keeping around for a while...

CPU is a Athlon II P340 25w (2.2Ghz Dual Core) in a S1g4 socket (m880g chipset).

2 questions.

2) If limited to a 25w solution, which would perform better for Photoshop/illustrator and the likes... Phenom P650 (2.6Ghz Dual Core) or Phenom P960 (1.8Ghz Quad Core)

1) Would it be ill-advised to upgrade to a 35w or 45w compatible solution? Seems the only limitation would be the thermal solution, so would there be any harm in testing it out?

 

[JWade]

i did a similar upgrade, i went the p650 route, though its only a dual core, its faster and will show overall better single threaded performance. the extra 800mhz makes up for being dual-core.

 

[jamesgalb]

After research I have decided to move up to a 35w processor and hope for the best If it overheats I will resell it and get a 25w part...

So my choices are now...

a) Phenom N660 (Dual Core - 3.0 Ghz) $30
b) Phenom N870 (Ti Core - 2.3 Ghz) $20
c) Phenom N970 (Quad Core - 2.2 Ghz) $65

Which would be better for browsing and photoshop usage?