Upgraded Acer 3680 Celeron CPU to a T5300!

Congrats on getting it working correctly again.

Another pretty simple and cheap speed boost is upgrading your HDD to a 7200RPM HDD. The stock 4200RPM HDD only gets around 40 MB/sec read/writes while a 7200RPM should get around double that. It should greatly decrease most load times and so on.

60*C - 70*C seems a little hot, did you use AS5?

 

The temperature has been around 50°C on both cores, and around 55°C in ACPI Thermal Zone using a Belkin Laptop Cooler, I just used some thermal grease on it, should I buy some Arctic Silver? How much should I put in?... Also I've been getting the constant rebooting when I turn the laptop on, the first 2-3 times it reboots right after the bios screen or sometime in the middle of windows-loading, after it starts correctly it works fine and I can turn it off, restart, etc with no problems; but after night let's say I turn it off at night and when I turn it on in the morning it does that again for 3 or 4 times then it boots correctly; could it be due to bios not updated? i've got v.1505 bios...

Update: I'm undervolting to 1.0500v on the 6.0x multiplier with the others set on automatic undervolt. been getting temperatures of around 49-50° doing normal websurfing but working on graphics-intense programs as adobe after effects can get me up to 80-90° celsius...

 

Big thank you to everyone here! I've upgraded two 3680's and one 5315 so far, and I'm having a ball!

I've been looking for what else I can do with these laptops, and one thing I found is that the on-board audio amplifier is really quite strong on the 3680. It easily handles an 8 ohm load, and it produces full-range sound. (It doesn't save power by using a 250Hz high-pass filter like some laptops I've had.) One thing I've done is taken the speakers out of old Satellite Pro's (the steel flying-saucer-looking ones), tied them in parallel with the internal speakers, removed the sheet of plastic from the memory cover (where it probably is planned for cooling for upgraded video), masked off all but two small squares from the inside using electric tape, and super-glued the speakers to it from the inside. Now it sounds just about as good as basic cheap desktop speakers.

I also second the comments I've seen regarding upgrading the hard drive. A good 7,200 RPM 320GB hard drive can be had for around $70 nowadays, and those 80-ish GB hard drives that came with these are pitifully slow by comparison.

 

Arctic Silver is the best I've used for these Intel chips without heat spreaders. I would put just a single, thin layer on top of the die and make sure the copper surface of the heat sink is very clean. A little alcohol on a paper towel may help clean up the surface of the heat sink.

As for the rebooting problem, I doubt it has to do with the BIOS. (By the way, do you mean 1.3505? If so, I think that's the newest one you can use.) I kind of suspect the missing screws as well, since these things have some pretty close tolerances. (I recently encountered one whose video connector on the motherboard only worked if the cable was pulled out just a tiny bit on one corner. The lid switch was a bit tricky, too.)

Be sure to check the screw mounts where the heat sink bolts onto the MB. The screws should all have plastic washers on them to hold them in place. If the plastic washers are missing, then one corner might be tighter than the others, making the heat sink tilt upwards from the other corners. Similarly, if the posts they bolt into are uneven, you'll get the same problem.

 

Guys,
I'm sorry.. I'm brazilian and my English is not good.
About my notebook... CPU-Z indicates: chipset i943/940GML - 82801GHM with Meron M530 1,73GHz skt479-mPGA (skt M ??). Upgraded the CPU buying a T2080 1,73GHz/533 and it didn't work. I've read some pages of this forum and I thought it would work. This is best forum that I found. Can you help me?
thx.

 

u mean your had the plastic washers in?

will it be better if the plastic washers removed tat will make it even tighter?

 

First of all, can you tell me what the memory sticker says?

MB.TEB06.003... If it starts with that it is a 940GML
MB.AZL06.... If it starts with that it is a 943GML
MB.TDX06.... If it starts with that it is a 945GML

Also make sure you have the latest BIOS, which is ver 1.3508, all this information and a link for the BIOS download can be found on the first page of this thread.

Do not remove the plastic washers, if you do you may damage the CPU. They are there to act as a shock damper and as shake-proof washers. Also try getting BIOS 1.3508.

Nice find on the speaker upgrade, I have found the stock ones quite pathetic. Now I'm going to have to source some laptop speakers to try out that upgrade. In the interest of making the speaker upgrade slightly easier, do you know if you could use anything else other than other laptop speakers? I don't know too much about speakers but I'm assuming as long as they fit and are of the equating ohmage and wattage and such they should work just fine.

 

As meegulthward said, you may damage the CPU if you take off the washers, but you may also break the motherboard, and you will probably warp the heatsink.

Meegulthwarp, I'm trying out some different approaches to the problem, and I started a thread related directly to the speakers in 3680's and 4330's. I had spectacular results upgrading the sound in the 4330, which is really rather loud and crisp but has only treble. I found that even an old internal PC speaker produced a lot of midrange sound, but space is the main concern, since the magnet on those things usually presses right up against the motherboard. I've got more 3680's coming in, and I'm going to try for my best effort on the next one, using a separate amplifier (probably an lm386), separate enclosure attached to the inside of the memory cover, and using a single woofer with a neodymium magnet.

If you are planning to try this out, I recommend having a CD and a small cup on hand. That way, you can try various speakers placed against the CD and the CD against the cup so as to make an enclosure. I found plenty of winners and losers among the salvaged laptop speakers I tried. It seems to me that by far the best choice is the old metal flying-saucer looking drivers found in Pentium and P2 based Toshiba's. They don't have magnetic shields, and I think they use strontium magnets, but I have absolutely no concern about data loss from such a small magnet that is so far away from the hard drive.

The thread where I hope to post updates is here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=366452

I work on computers, and I'm also an acoustic engineer, and I never buy pre-made speakers for myself. I'm no audiophile at all, but I do appreciate good sound kept completely out of sight, preferably made of free parts. I think the biggest hurdle to a sound upgrade on the 3680 is that the front speakers lose so much of the top-end treble (above 12 KHz), and the 4330 has such poorly designed speakers with awful standing waves. There was practically no engineering involved in the speakers on the 4330.

 

I tried searching this thread for more information about the 940GML's supported processors. I couldn't find much other than that the Celeron M 4xx and Core Solo chips work fine. I stuck my Celeron M 520 in, and it booted just fine. It seems to me that the top chip the 940GML will work with would be the Celeron M 560, which is basically a Core 2 Solo at 2.13GHz. The Celeron M 560's cost less than $50 from eBay stores, so it seems to me that the older Acer 3680's have a fair amount of upgrade room, too.

If I'm not completely right, or if this has been covered on this thread already, I apologize. If you happen to have one of the earlier 3680's, I suggest trying out the Celeron M chips. The 560 should be considerably faster than even the fastest Core Solo T1500, plus it's EM64T capable (though it seems to be a real feat to get more than 3GB of RAM to work on these boards anyway).

The Celeron M 520 is only around $8 on eBay, so if you just want to switch to a "Core 2 Solo", that could be a good choice.

As an aside, since this 3680 came in, I already have some new plans for upgrading the speakers.

 

meegulthwarp,
my notebook isn't a Acer..it's a TCL-D5 - CCE (brazilian company), mobo Alwil. I know this forum is about Acer, but , i think the technical informaton is the same. sorry, if i'm wrong. the BIOS version is Phoenix 2.02.CCE, 11/14/2007. CCE's support told it's the most recent BIOS (nothing more). Everest Ultimate also says i940/943GML, but, supported FSB: FBS533, FSB667. for all i've read here, i believe that T2080 should work, but, it did not. Anyway, I will talk to seller, because, it can a faulty processor. i'll post here. Thank you, so much!. if you have more informations, thank you again.

 

sorry... mobo is Standard L41II8 - UNIWILL (it's a ECS group company)

 

Hmmm, that's a problem because the BIOS for the Acer 3680 supports the newer CPU's but I cannot tell you if the BIOS for the TCL-D5 will support them.

Ok wait, I just took a look at the CCE website and it says your chipset is a 940GML. Which means you should only be able to use Core Solo or as ben has just pointed out, any Celeron M. So that means your best option would be the Celeron M 450 or the Core Solo T1350. This is because the 940GML chipset doesn't support and Core 2 Duo or Pentium Dual Core and your T2080 falls under that category.

I don't think this has ever been covered before and very well pointed out, most people were too focused on the C2D to notice the plight of the 940GML owners. But I believe the M 560 is a Socket P chip and the 3680 uses Socket M. That would make the fastest Celeron M (socket M) chip a M 450 rated a 2Ghz (all this is based of the wikipedia lists so feel free to correct me).

One thing that I think has never been tried is using a faster Core Solo than the T1350 on the 940GML chipset. I think this was due to the belief that the 3680 only had a FSB of 533 but recent studies have shown it should go up to 667, so it would be nice to see if a Core Solo T1500 would work in the 940GML. I just took a look on Ebay but no results for a T1500, if I see one I'll buy it to try this out.

The reason I got the T1350 was because it has speedstepping and also had a lower TDP than the Celeron.

Nice thread on upgrading the speakers, I'm going to have to study that one for a while before I start anything. Too much information to take in in one sitting

 

meegulthwarp,
When I bought it, specifications in Americanas.com said i943. I saw in CCE i940 too. I found in Intel.com a datasheet of i945/943GML/940. it says i940 doesn't permit dual-channel and doesn't have graphics controller. My mobo permit dual-channel and has Intel graphics GMA950. So, it only can be i943GML. Do you agree?.. please, verify these informations. I've talked to seler. He is helping me, like you. you have patience. By the way, how is my English? thank you, once more.

 

IIRC, all of the Celeron 5x0's are socket M, and all of the 5x5's are socket P. One thing I can say is that I read the chipset itself, and it's certainly a 940GML, and the chip in it is a Celeron M 520. I believe that the only difference between the 520, 530, 540, 550, and 560 is multiplier. At the very least, my 3680-2022 is running Vista 64-bit and openSUSE 11.1 64-bit. (-:

It's probably not too far fetched to pin-mod a Celeron M 520 to a slightly raised voltage and FSB. Since the cooling is enough for a 5200, it's reasonable to assume there's some room for slightly increased wattage. Fortunately, the 520's are really cheap, so it's I wouldn't mind losing a chip or two to get it right.

As for the speakers, I think I really need to take some pictures. I'll try to do that tonight, but first I want to try the headphone driver idea. It's simply a superior driver.

I usually get my CPU info from www.cpu-world.com but they seem to have very generic information when it comes to socket. My 4330 has a dual-core Celeron T1400, which of course is confusing to anyone looking for a Core Solo T1400. One of my 5315's had a T1200, and the other had a Celeron M 575 underclocked to 1.86. (To add to the confusion, many T1200-equipped laptops are listed as having single-core 575's.)

 

*searches some more* You know, I'm not sure anymore. The 530's are socket M, the 540's and 550's are listed as socket P's while the 560 is not specified. I'm gonna see if I can figure it out and get back to you.

 

okay, so far it looks like the SL9VA Celeron M 530 may be the fastest Core 2 based chip the Acer 3680-2022 can use. I would tend to think that performance-wise the Celeron M 530 is faster than any of the Core Solo's, and they're cheap, ~$12.50 on eBay. I'd love to try modding the 530 to a slightly higher voltage and FSB nonetheless, which would result in a nice 2.16 GHz Core 2 chip.

 

You beat me to it. But why would you say the Celerons would have better performance than the Core Solo? The only differences I have found are the implementation of 64-bit on the Celerons but the Core Solos have 2MB L2 cache.

 

Your English is great

I don't fully agree, I think it may mean a on CPU graphics controller, which means it has to use an external graphics controller and hence the GMA950. A lot of companies do not list the exact chipset and just list a more generic i943/940 and this can be most annoying. I still think its a 940GML but I'll try and find another way of finding this out for sure.

 

The Celeron 5x0 series chips are basically Core 2 Solo's with less L2 cache and a few disabled features. In addition to the SSE2 and SSE3 that the Core series chips have, the Core 2 has SSSE3, which gives streaming media a big boost. For example, Cinebench gives the T2250 1,537 points in single-core mode, where the Celeron M 530 gets 1,615.

3DMark06 gives the Celeron M 530 739 CPUMarks, where the Core Solo U1500 (sorry, closest match I could find) gets 545.

The T2250 is 1,700 MHz. The Celeron M 530 is 1,730. The Core Solo U1500 is 1,330 MHz. Adjusting the Cinebench scores to account for the difference in clock speeds gives the Celeron M 530 the advantage at a 1537:1587 comparison. Small difference, but the Core Duo T2250 has another core to take off overhead. 3DMark06's CPU-Mark scores, when adjusted for clock speed, gives a 708:739 performance ratio clock-for-clock with the Celeron M holding the lead again. (Yes, the Core Solo U series chips are ultra-low voltage, but otherwise they're the same chips.)

Keep in mind that these are in 32-bit compiled and optimized code. The performance difference is greater with 64-bit binaries.

Don't get me wrong, though. The dual-core chips offer a huge advantage over the single-core chips on these particular machines with up-to-date Intel video drivers, now that the newer drivers are able to take advantage of idle CPU cores to perform video processing. Heck, the 3680 with a T5200 does an excellent job playing World of Warcraft, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Half Life 2, where its single-core cousin, the 520, kinda sucks at it. Core Duo's do almost exactly as well at offloading GPU work as the Core 2 Duo's, so if you plan on doing light gaming, you're almost just as well with a Core Duo as with a Core 2 Duo. But if you -can- use a Core 2 Duo, absolutely go for it. (-:

I pulled my data from this site: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

I also have quite a number of chips on hand and might just do a simple series of 3DMark03 comparisons on chips from the 440 to the T5200.

 

(oops, slip of the mouse, and I accidentally clicked "post") Anyway, it would certainly be nice to have a true apples-to-apples test, since the list I pulled my data from may have had different supporting chipsets and therefore not be completely fair.

For Windows users, much code is -not- optimized for 64-bit processing nor for SSSE3 extensions, so your gains may be small. For Linux users, though, Core 2 chips blow Core chips away thanks to better code optimization. I would -guess- that Mac would also take advantage of Core 2 chips, thanks to its BSD core.

 

You are right about GMA950, but I think 'dual-channel' answers the question, right? - I want to believe it.. -)) - Please, try to find i943GML data sheet in Intel website. Maybe, I had not understood(?) right. I'm not using my pc right now. When it's possible, I'll post its link here to help you. If you are really correct, I'll give up and send bak the processor to seler. but, I really hope to upgrade my processor.

 

benvanderjagt,

I've ansewred to meegulthwarp, but your informations have been very important too. I'll be pleased if can help me. thy.

 

Guys,
here is the link: http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/datasheet/309219.pdf
see pages 29 (i940) and 30 (i943). post yours conclusions here, please. ty.

 

Thank you. I will try to be helpful, too. Considering what I have read, I think Meegulthwarp is probably right. I think you probably have 940GML chipset, which means you can probably use the Core Solo T1500 or the Celeron M 530 (SL9VA only). The difference is that the Core Solo T1500 is a 2 GHz 32-Bit processor, and the Celeron M 530 is a 1.73 GHz 64-bit processor. It is hard to say which one is faster, but the Core Solo T1500 can use less power when it is not busy, so your battery will last longer. I think I would suggest that you keep the Merom-based Celeron M 530.

 

Thank you for the extra information, but Intel's document is wrong. (Intel makes a lot of mistakes on their documents.) For example, it says that the 940GML only supports 533 MHz FSB, and it says that it only supports 2GB maximum RAM. My Acer 3680-2022 with a 940GML chipset now has 3GB of RAM. However, that was good research.

 

My processor is M530 SL9VA. CCE website says my chipset is i940. Please, go to link above. You can verify that diference between 940 and 943 is "dual-channel possibility' in 943. Everest, CPU-z and PCWizard confirms my mobo has 'dual-channel'. First read it. If you don't change yours opinions, I'll agree.
ty.

 

I think I should be more clear. If your laptop doesn't support the Core Duo processor that you have, then I think there are three main possibilities:

1) The processor you received is not working right.
2) You have a 940 chipset, and single-core chips work but dual-core chips don't, and CPU-Z and PCWizard are incorrect.
3) You have a 943 or 945 chipset, but the rest of the laptop (mainly the BIOS, which I cannot help you with) does not properly support dual-core processors with your chipset.

I hope this helps. Have you opened your laptop and taken the heatsink off of the chipset to see for sure which one it is?

 

1) I'm verifying with seler. before, I shoud solver these questions.
2) Everest, CPU-z and PCW say the same: 943/940 - it's not exact. beacue of "dual-channel", I think chipset is i943. Did you read datasheet?
3)You probably right about BIOS - I'm verifying latest version. now, It's 2.02.cce 11/14/2007 - the mobo's (L41II8) manufacturer is Uniwill. website has a version 1.11 of 4/3/08 for L41II. I think I'll trie it.

I've opened it, but I had not this information. It seems obvious to me. I think it's easier than what i have looked for.
I'll do before bios updating. thank you very much.

 

You are right. It says the same for i943, but Everest and PCW say that it suports FSB533 and FSB667. I've read statements about processor with FSB 667 running in i943. Im not sure. Intel's information isn't reliable. What your processor? I'll try 3GB too.

 

On my 940GML-based Acer 3680-2022, I have a Celeron M 520. It used to have a Celeron M 440. I tried the Core 2 Duo 5200 and the Core Duo T2050, and they both don't work.

 

My laptop (which has the 940GML chipset) says it also supports dual-channel and also FSB 667. I wouldn't trust Everest, CPU-z, PC Wizard nor the Intel spreadsheets, none of them tell you exactly what you have, the best option is to look at the chipset itself and then you will know for certain. Try downloading the latest BIOS and if the new CPU still doesn't work then I would say you most definitely have a 940GML.

It was originally thought that the 3680 only supported FSB 533 as read from the Intel spreadsheet but it seems that it does support FSB 667 and Intel didn't want people knowing as then people may end up buying the cheaper chipset.

 

Guys,
I made a mistake.. my processor is SL9UY LF80537, not SL9VA.. sorry
I can't identify chipset. I found it, but there's not information on it.
I think it's the end. (

 

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Celer...537NE0301M (BX80537NE0301M - BX80537530).html

Notes on Intel LF80537NE0301M
Bus frequency is 133 MHz. Because the processor uses Quad Data Rate bus the effective bus speed is 533 MHz
Part LF80537NE0301M is an OEM processor --> SL9UY
Parts BX80537NE0301M and BX80537530 are boxed processors --> SL9VA
This part is also offered as an embedded microprocessor
Celeron M 530 microprocessors were offered in socket M-compatible and socket P-compatible packages. Please verify compatibility with your system before buying the processor

 

Here is information about the Celeron M 530: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Celeron_M/Intel-Celeron M 530 LF80537NE0301M (BX80537NE0301M - BX80537530).html

The part number (LF80537NE0301M) corresponds to both SL9VA and SL9UY.

 

Oops, I made a mistake again. Well, in any case, you must have the socket M version if the Core Duo was able to fit. Socket M and Socket P are not pin-compatible.

 

of course.. the T2080 (SL9VY LF80539) that I recieved is skt M.
I've opened my laptop and I can't identify chipset. I found it, but there's no information on it. any idea?? Do yuou think I should update BIOS? ("now, It's 2.02.cce 11/14/2007 - the mobo's (L41II8) manufacturer is Uniwill. website has a version 1.11 of 4/3/08 for L41II.") - I'm not sure L41II8 is really similar to L41II

 

I think my chipset might definitily be i940. I've changed BIOS to 1.11 of 4/3/08 for L41II (Uniwill website says it) and date is wrong (Setup show me 5/8/07 - oldier than 2.02 11/14/07). now, I shall have to get money back, sending processor to seller, if it's possible. So what i can do is to give up. Thank you very much, guys. I'll often be visiting this forum. see you soon.

 

I hope we were helpful. Good luck, and I hope to see you again soon.

 

Sorry about that, try getting a Core Solo, you can get them for around $15-$20. If that works then it is most definetaly a 940.

 

What model Core Solo do you suggest?.. where can I buy?

 

I believe the only known working Core Solo is the T1350 @ 1.86Ghz. The other higher models should work but have never been tried. If the T1500 works then it will be good but otherwise just upgrading to the T1350 from the 530M shouldn't have so much difference and may not be worth it.

I usually buy second hand from ebay (when buying older CPUs). Usually very cheap and never had any problems with my CPUs.

 

thanks to this thread, successfully upgraded my lil' bro's 3680 laptop to T5300 few weeks ago

 

I'm trying to upgrade to 7200 rpm SATA and I got a Fujitsu MHW2160BJ which comes with SATA/300 interface. Does anyone know how to force it to SATA150? TIA.

 

Hmm..I thought Aspire 3680 has a IDE/ATA interface..

If I'm right you can't upgrade to a SATA HDD you'll need to get an IDE/ATA HDD.

 

I was given an Acer 3680-2682 laptop with a bad hard drive. I had a used drive so I stuck it in there, reloaded it with the Vista and it ran perfect although slow. (still only had 512mb ram) I started doing some research and thanks to this forum about the 3680 line and decided to give it a try. I replaced the processor with a t5300 (1.73Ghz core 2 duo))and upped it to 2 gig memory. I was amazed at the performance. Gave it to my girlfriend and she loves it. So I decided to look for another one for myself. Picked one up off ebay for 230 with 2 gig already in it. Ordered a t7200 (2.0Ghz core 2 duo) this time and it runs incredible. I have since replaced my CD-RW/DVD with a DVD-RW. Next will be a 7200 rpm drive, 320 or 500GB.
I would however like to have more than 2gb ram, and a webcam. Has anyone tried installing 2 2gb modules for a total of 4 gbg memory? Does anyone know if this model ever came with built-in webcams? And if so would it be possible to replace the LCD plastics with a webcam?

 

Oop, my mistake. This is for a Toshiba notebook I'm working on.

My Acer 3680 does come with a SATA 150 HDD.

Anyone knows how to force SATA150 in a Fujitsu SATA300 HDD (MHW2160BJ G2)?

 

*fizzles* Uh oh, now I'm confused again. I've bought so far six Aspire 3680's (models thus far include 2022, 2633, and 2682), and all of them have SATA interfaces for the hard drives.

I'm sorry that this doesn't really help you with your question, but I keep questioning my sanity. Figure I ought to ask a bunch of strangers online whether they think I'm sane.

 

I refuse to believe that you are sane.

 

They come in both IDE (PATA) and SATA taste, still the sticker on the ram bay comes in help:
MB.TEB06.003 Main Board SATA.940GM.UMA.W/RDR
MB.AZL06.001 Main Board SATA.943GML.UMA.W/RDR
MB.TEB06.001 Main Board ZR1.PATA.940GM.UMA.
MB.AZL06.003 Main Board ZR1.SATA.943GML.UMA

 

yay, thanks for the very thorough answer, letmealone. (-:

and ben2go, regarding your sig, I have been fighting the anti-DSL ads for years. so many of my clients hear the cable ads that say they're "way faster than DSL", and they always believe it at face value. when Cable offered 6Mbit, I got 7.1 through DSL. when business cable offered 12Mbit, I got 15/15 through SHDSL.

nevertheless, you're right. sane people don't swap laptop CPU's, paint the plastics, and install subwoofers.