CPU Upgrade on Dell Vostro A860

I have a dell Vostro a860. Real nice machine!! I would like to get a better CPU than the Celeron one that it comes with. From what I've read its a pain to take apart the the A860, but I would like to get a little more performance with a better CPU. I have upgraded to 4 gb of ram but it is not much better than the 1 gb it came with. I would like to know what is the best CPU I can Upgrade to on my machine. Thanks

 

Swapping the CPU out of a Vostro is extremely simple (unlike the Studio I have, which has to be completely ripped apart!!). All you need to do is remove the same flap you removed to upgrade your memory then unscrew the heatsink/heat pipe assembly. There is a locking mech on the CPU socket that is controlled by a screw (will become apparent when looking at it). Clean new CPU with isopropyl or similar, clean the remains of the old heat paste off the heatsink pad, apply a little thermal paste then refit. Job done!

The top CPU you can go for is the T9900, 3.06GHz Core2Duo, which will be a stellar upgrade from what you're running at the moment. Not sure if it will be overkill for what you use the laptop for, but I suppose that's up to you

I hope this is helpful...

 

Here is the service manual link to show how to access and replace your CPU: http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/vosA860/en/sm/cpu.htm#wp1084976

Regards

 

I have a Vostro A860 with the Celeron D 560 processor. I want to upgrade, but I am not sure if I can.

Celeron 560 is a Socket M processor, but pretty much everything else that is decent has a Socket P.

Am I correct? Vostro came with a faster 800Mhz FSB processor, did it have a differenct motherboard?

Thanks!

 

The 560 isn't a Celeron D, nor is it Socket M; it's a Merom-based Socket P part.

I would assume that all A860s have 965-based motherboards, but there have been some cases where Dell has put cut-down motherboards in lower-spec configurations of their machines (there was a recent thread about a D520 having a 940 chipset instead of a 945 chipset).

So you might get some fail of a GL960 in your A860, but I'm just speculating.

 

Thanks for the clarification, I found the info after I posted. I got bad info on some other post and newegg's site that said it was a socket M.

The computer also came with a T5670 options, so I figured i could upgrade, but then i got confused by newegg!

Now I just have to find a new processor to upgrade it and i'll see a huge speed boost with the 800mhz fsb vs. the 533 from the celeron.

 

Can someone post a list of CPU's that I can upgrade to? Thanks!

 

It all depends on the chipset you have. If you've got the 960, you're officially supported up through Pentium Dual-Cores, anything faster is not guaranteed to work. If you've got a 965, you can use pretty much any 800MHz (or less) FSB Socket P processor.

 

So even if currently I'm at 533 FSB, with me having the 965 chipset, I can upgrade to any processor that is rated at 800 FSB. What processor would you recommend? Keep in mind that I'm not a gamer, but I am a little frugal.

 

I mean... do you feel constrained by your current processor in any way? Are you just looking for better battery life? If you're just doing browsing and email, the Celeron may not be the bottleneck.

All things considered, I'd say something like the T8100 is the best value you can get on the 965 chipset.