A noob with an old Vostro 1500

Well that and the IGP leeches it's VRAM from system RAM.

 

Hey guys, I just came back to thank everyone on this forum for the help that they provided. This is a really great place and a welcoming community for laptop owners.

I ended up upgrading my RAM from 1GB to 4GBs, and the processor from a 1.86GHz(single core) to a 2.4GHz(dual core). The performance has increased dramatically and I can finally watch 720p videos on youtube. You can still tell that this laptop would benefit greatly from a dedicated graphics card, but it works just fine as it is. The only other upgrade that I might do in the future is the hard drive. I also think I'm going to stay with XP, since I love its simplicity and the fact that some old software does not support anything higher. Windows 7 is nice, but I would really need a GPU for that.

So my current specs are:

Windows XP Home Edition Ver. 2002 SP3
CPU - Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4GHz
RAM - DDR2 PC2 5300 2x2048mb
HDD - WD 120GB 5400rpm SATA 1.5

Which brings me to my quetions.

Will a SATA 3.0GB/s Hard Drive work in my computer? And is 7200rpms(more heat) a bad idea? Also, is there any way to upgrade the cooling on this laptop?

 

Crestline GPU IMO is the bare minimum for Vista/7. X3100 should be able to handle 720p video with no problems. You should be able to go to Windows 7 no problems, my Vostro 1500 runs perfectly fine on 7.

SATA II will work with your laptop. 7200 rpm is only like 2-3C more than 5400 rpm and yields higher read/write speeds.

The cooling on the Vostro 1500 is pretty good as it is, have you considered repasting?

 

I have intergrated video, so I can't install a GPU without a motherboard overhaul. I actually did the repasting today, since I was installing the T8300. I also cleaned out the heatsink (first time since we bought the computer new). It was actually not that dirty, just a little bit of dust.

Right now, according to SIW, my CPU is at 24 degrees Celsius.

 

Crestline is Intel's codename for the Intel GMA X3100 GPU. Did you repaste the GPU as well?

What is your ambient room temperature? If it is like 60-70F then that temperature is good, the T8300 is 45 nm so it will run cooler than my 65nm Merom processor, also you get newer instructions set.

After all of that you can look at Flipfire's Undervolting guide. You will further be able to decrease your temperatures.

 

Is the GPU the other processor like chip that sits next to the CPU? When I removed the heatsink, there was a hardened thermal grease pad over the CPU point, so I scraped it off and put some Arctic Silver on the new processor.

The other "CPU" had a purple foam-like pad on the heatsink, so I decided not to mess with it since it didn't look like thermal grease and I wasn't sure what the processor was for. Do you think I should go back and replace it with Arctic Silver as well?

 

Did it look like that Intel chip? That is the GPU. There is a debate whether or not to remove thermal pads. My heatsink was able to be placed directly on my GPU, but IGP is usually a different story. I repasted my chipset and GPU with ceramic based thermal paste as it does not conduct electricity (if improperly applied with metal based it can fry your motherboard).

 

I didn't even notice that Intel chip. I'm talkin about the one above the DDR2 ONLY DIMM A, that's next to the pink socket for the CPU

 

I've never worked on laptops before so a few things were a little different, and it threw me off. I've also never seen an integrated video chipset. I googled for intel chipsets and it seems like you're right. The other "CPU" was a video chipset. I think I'm gonna leave it alone for now, since the temperature is pretty stable and it's operating normally. Or do you think it's a bit high?

Currently it's showing:

Video - 32C
CPU - 26C
HDD - 35C

My ambient temperature is about 70F

 

Those temps are excellent, no need to go any further