Laptop processor upgrade

[Omniyoji]

Thanks guys for the help on the previous thread.

I have a friend who asked me a question the other day. He wants to upgrade the cpu on his laptop. I checked out the laptop and he's running a Pentium M 1.6GHz. The laptop comes from the manufacture equipped with the following configurations:

Intel Pentium M 2.00-GHz
Intel Pentium M 1.86-GHz
Intel Pentium M 1.73-GHz
Intel Pentium M 1.60-GHz
Intel Pentium M 1.30-GHz
Intel Celeron M 1.5-GHz
Intel Celeron M 1.4-GHz
Intel Celeron M 1.3-GHz

The highest rated one on the list is a 760 M but he wants to drop in a 780 (rated @ 2.26GHz). His reason is cause he can get a good deal on a previously used one. I told him that it probably wouldn't be a good idea cause his cpu isn't listed in the manual. On some laptops, the mobo/design is only made for a certain cpu ratings.

But I started second guessing myself once I found out in the wiki link above that the specs on the processor are exactly the same even the voltage/wattage as the above (minus speed). I'm guessing maybe his laptop was made at an earlier period since the 780M came out in July 05 (his is from Jan 05). It looks like it might work. Anyone done something similar to this before?

I'll probably have to contact the motherboard manufacture...

[Isiolia]

Depends on the laptop, but many of them use a ZIF socket pretty much like a desktop of that era. I've only really swapped laptop CPUs under warranty though.
It'd be a reasonable assumption that his laptop simply predates the 2.26Ghz CPU. It may require a BIOS update, but if the manufacturer never actually supported it, it's possible the motherboard may not work with it. You do see that with desktop boards from time to time, when new CPUs are released.

Might try googling to see if anyone has done a swap on the same or similar model.

I dunno, on eBay those CPUs are still in the 120-180 range or so, which is a good chunk towards buying a newer machine, or a netbook, depending on use. 1.6Ghz or 2.26Ghz, it's still an older Pentium M.

[The Stig]

In my opinion this is too much effort for too little of a gain. As Isiolia pointed out, for a bit more money you can easily buy a cheap laptop with 3-4gb of ram and some sort of low range dual core processor (AMD or Intel)

Plus, you can potentially end up with a rejected chip, which will become useless, and takes more time to try and sell again. Then you also risk killing the laptop. With buying a new cheap laptop you can store the old one for future/backup purposes (if the main one fails, etc)

[Omniyoji]

In my opinion this is too much effort for too little of a gain.

I know that, but try telling that to him lol (stubborn mule). I've mentioned the idea of saving the money and buying a cheap new one. He could scrap the laptop on ebay for extra cash. If he does decide to go with it tho, I'll help him install it (more interested in seeing if it'll work).

Thanks ISO & Damon Hill

[mootsfox]

What's the chipset and socket of the motherboard? That is what will determine what CPU will function.

Spending more than about $50 for an overhaul of this laptop is probably not a wise choice.

[Omniyoji]

It's i915GM/PGA-ZIF 479. I'm not sure what kind of deal he has but I was considered another option instead:

Posting this in case anyone else is interested:

Pin Modding and Overclocking a Pentium M Guide

Thanks again.

[mootsfox]

I've got to go to work soon, but I'll look into it.

And the pin mod is know as a BSEL (Bus Selection) mod, as you are basically tricking the motherboard into running at a higher FSB. You can also change the voltages that way, to get stable overclocks. The MAJOR drawback is that the motherboard has to support the FSB you are tricking it into. You can't BSEL a P4 400FSB to run at 800FSB on the same motherboard. At best you might go from 533 to 667 or 800.

Whether a friend's notebook or yours, Pentium M Dothan pin modding is possible only with "SONOMA" notebooks.

Also, that is bullshit. The BSEL mod works with any Intel CPU where the clock is pin controlled.

I actually wrote a huge guide on BSEL stuff like two years ago, I need to go find it.