Upgrade E6500 CPU to QX9300?

I have an E6500 with a T9400 CPU (Core 2 Duo, 2.53 GHz, 1066MHz FSB).

I would like to upgrade it to a CPU that is either a quad core or dual core with hyper-threading. The only CPU I can see that is even a possibility is the QX9300 (Core 2 Extreme, 2.53 GHz, 1066MHz FSB).

The CPU I have is listed by Intel as supporting BGA479 and PGA478 sockets. But, I don't know which my motherboard has.

The QX9300 is only listed to support PGA478 sockets.

Reading on here, it seems like even if I am able to upgrade, I might be opening myself up to heat problems.

OTOH, I also read that the the E6500 is identical to the M4400 except for the lid. And the M4400 is available with the QX9300 CPU.

So, can anybody tell me if I can replace my CPU with the QX9300? If so, would it require anything more than just buying the new CPU?

Thanks for any help!

 

As long as you undervolt the CPU, I don't see why it wouldn't work, unless they use a different motherboard or BIOS for the E6500 (over the M4400).

 

Well, yeah. That's what I'm asking. Is the motherboard (and chassis) the same as in the M4400?

It seems like it would be. But, if it is, it seems like Dell would offer the QX9300 in the Latitude, and they don't. I'm concerned that this might be a situation similar to my Inspiron 8600. It has "the same" motherboard as the Latitude D630. Except, when you get down to the details, the D630 motherboard has an onboard Ethernet chipset that supports Gigabit, where the I8600 doesn't. And the D630 has an extra set of USB ports on one side. In other words, the mobos could be swapped back and forth between chassis, but they were not identical.

What I'm worried about is that Dell might have done something similar with the E6500 vs M4400, where the motherboards look identical, but maybe the E6500 has a BGA479 CPU socket and the M4400 has a PGA478 CPU socket... Which is why I posted the question on here...

 

Well.... from what I've been able to find out, it *should* work. I hope so, 'cause I just ordered a QX9300.

How do I undervolt the CPU?

 

By following the undervolting guide. Note that if you are running 64 bit Windows, there is a link to a signed Rtcore64.sys near the end of the first post.

John

 

I installed it last night and it doesn't work.

When I power on my laptop, it turns on, but the screen never displays anything. It stays on for about 5 - 10 seconds, and then turns itself off. If I hit F2 (or any other key) while it's on, the keyboard backlight comes on, but nothing else happens and then it just powers back off.

I put the original CPU back in and it booted back up and runs just fine.

I'm wondering if I need to flash it with an M4400 BIOS.

Any ideas? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

 

I would advise against flashing with the M4400 bios and just accept that the E6500 does not work with the qx9300. If you absolutely need a quad core CPU sell the E6500 and get a laptop with either the qx9300 or I7 installed already. In my mind at least that's a better alternative than having a bricked laptop due to an incompatible flash.

 

Any particular reason that you think flashing with an M4400 BIOS will not work?

I don't mean that to sound insulting. I appreciate the input. I'm just wondering if you know something specific, or if your advice is just based on being generally cautious about such things.

If I can determine that the CPU definitely cannot be made to work in my current laptop, then so be it. I'll try to return the CPU for a refund or sell it on eBay.

But, if I can't find definitive info, I'm willing to experiment. I think it would be cheaper for me to buy an M4400 motherboard than sell my current laptop and buy a new one with a quad core CPU. I've got too much money already invested in other upgrades to this one.

120GB Vertex Turbo SSD
640GB HDD in media bay (in NewModeUS carrier)
8 GB RAM
external USB DVD+-RW DL drive
Docking station x 2 (one office, one home)
9-cell battery

and it came with backlit KB, web cam, Intel 5300 wireless, bluetooth, WUXGA screen, and nVidia dedicated graphics. The only thing it doesn't have is a fingerprint reader.

Getting a quad core CPU is the final piece to having my ultimate mobile software development workstation (with the best VM-running capabilities I can get on this platform).

 

It's a bios for the wrong computer and you are talking about risking ~$600-700 (estimated value of the computer) if you brick it. Note that I didn't say it wouldn't work, but that there is a very really possibility that it might not.

I think your idea about getting an M4400 mainboard is a much better plan which carries much less inherent risk (besides you get a better GPU out of that deal as well). If it was me I would go with this option.

 

Understood. But, am I missing something here? My thought is that if I try it and brick it, THEN I can put in an M4400 mobo and only be out whatever the residual value of a used E6500 mobo would be. Right?

And why would an M4400 mobo automatically be a better GPU? My thought would be to spend less money and get a mobo without the graphics card and re-use the nVidia graphics card I have now.

The chances that upgrading the E6500 with M400 BIOS would damage any hardware other than the mobo itself seems so small that I'm not even considering it as a remote possibility.