Upgraded Core Solo T1350 to Core 2 Duo T7200 on Aspire 5570 Guide | NotebookReview

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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(UPDATES: DIY Bluetooth module guide added below)

Hello everyone,

Im back again after my last post about upgrading my Aspire 5570 notebook more than a year ago. This time, Im feeling lucky to share some of my experiences about how I finally upgraded my CPU from a Core Solo T1350Core 2 Duo T7200.

Again, thanks to everybody here in Notebookreview forum especially adinu, hoggie, Mack1982, TehSuigi, krazyphire and bigozone for their insights and knowledge that helps me a lot throughout the whole process. So, lets get started!

Pre-upgrading

Please refer to these post before you start. It'll save you a lot of time and trouble later on.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=206137
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=251959

What youll need :

Your new CPU (make sure it's compatible with your system ie; socket, FSB)

Latest BIOS from Acer (upgraded to 1.3505 or latest)

A good thermal paste (I would recommend Tuniq TX-2 or Arctic Silver 5 as well)

Basic tools (screwdrivers, forceps, kitchen paper)

Body static discharger (I would definitely recommend this as a precaution)

Some alcohol, ear buds, sand paper grid 600,1200 & 2000 (optional for heat sink lapping)

Lastly TIME and PATIENCE (youll be needing these a lot definitely!)

When youre ready, lets get our hands dirty.

How to disassemble your notebook?
I found out a very good video tutorial on how to disassemble my Aspire notebook on YouTube. So please take your time to view it and follow step by step as shown to help you to go through the process.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fyZRRjgr5ME&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height='344' width='425'> Lapping your heat sink (optional)
Although its not necessary, but I would recommend this process as another way to improve heat dissipation on your newly installed CPU. Refer to this page for detailed instructions.

The simple process:

Clean your heat sink from old thermal paste residues with alcohol or equivalent of it using ear buds and kitchen papers.

Apply a 600-grid sandpaper to smoothen the heat sink surface which comes into contact with your CPU.

Repeat the process again with a 1200-gid sand paper until youre satisfied.

Finally, finish up by applying a 2000-grid sand paper to give you an almost mirror-finished surface. Wipe clean any dirt and residues left.

Replacing the CPU
Now, you're ready to swap the CPU. Just follow as shown in the video above about how to do this.
NOTE : Don't forget to apply some new thermal paste onto your new CPU. I used the "line" method for this process using my trusted Tuniq TX-2 thermal paste. Don't apply too much of paste, it'll do more harm than good. The basic rule here is "LESS IS MORE"! Post-Upgrading Reassembling
Now, youve just installed your brand new CPU onto your trusted notebook. Just reverse the processes shown on the video above to reassemble your notebook. That's all.

Summary
So far, I havent had any problem throughout the whole upgrading process. It wasnt that hard, just needed some patience and time. Please do some deep researches if youre planning to upgrade, know what type of CPU you could upgrade to or couldnt and know your system very well.

The only reasons why it took me a while before upgrading (more than a year) was because I couldnt find a used/new Core2Duo CPU here in my country within my budget until recently. After all, I guess its worth the wait. Here are some photos I'd like to share with you all (Sorry for its poor quality) . Thank you for your time and God bless us all

Before

The ever loyal Core Solo T1350

Core 2 Duo T7200

Work in progress!

The brand new mirror-finished T7200 installed!

The lapped heat sink (almost mirror finished, but hey! i'm just lazy!)

Putting it back all together again.

The final result.. walla!!

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UPDATES
<link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cakhyar%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cakhyar%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cakhyar%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><style>  </style> D.I.Y Bluetooth module

This is the latest upgrade to my Aspire 5570 done few weeks ago. Ive decided to add a Bluetooth module which could be turned ON & OFF by using the frontal button complete with the blue LED to my notebook after doing some search on several forums and website. Thanks to those posters for their guides, and heres how I did it.

Materials:
- 6-pin female connector (compatible with the CN19 male connector on board)
- wires (at least 5 strips)
- a Bluetooth USB dongle compatible with your laptop

Tools
- soldering tools
- cutter

Process

De-solder the Bluetooths USB connector in order to use the circuit board only (this is optional if you would like to save some space and if you do, dont forget to label the circuit board which side is UP)

Look up for the Bluetooth connector (labeled CN19)

Solder the wires accordingly as to the diagram I did below ( IMPORTANT: Make sure the orientation is correct as shown the not used pin is near to the RAM bay )

Youre done! You'll know what to do rest.. Enjoy your newly installed Bluetooth!

make sure the orientation is correct corresponding to the placement of pin connectors.

solder the wires from the female connector to your Bluetooth USB as above. (notice the Blue LED shares connection with the +5v)

de-solder & soldering process

the 6-pin female connector

Blue LED's working!

Bluetooth detected! (forgive me for the blurred image)

Thanks for viewing!

Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2015

keigo, Jan 23, 2009

#1

jon1432000 Newbie

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i have the exact laptop model, but the cpu is very hard to come by... can i use t5600 instead? thanks for the reply

jon1432000, Mar 3, 2009

#2

TehSuigi Notebook Virtuoso

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The T5600 is indeed compatible. Go for it!
Great guide, btw. +rep!

TehSuigi, Mar 3, 2009

#3

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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yeap, go for it! Thanks tehsuigi, couldn't done it without the help from you guys here..

keigo, Apr 10, 2009

#4

MoffiaJ Notebook Consultant

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How have you notice performance increases so far. My father-in-law has an Inspiron with the T1350 and I want to swap it for a T7200 for him. Would you recommend this an a viable upgrade, i.e. worth the time and money. Thanks

MoffiaJ, Apr 12, 2009

#5

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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Sorry for the late reply, MoffiaJ.
So far after nearly 4 months since I upgraded my CPU, I must say it was well worth of the time and money. I can see significant increase in performance especially when I'm working on 'heavy' applications ie. Photoshop and After Effects.. waiting time reduced and rendering video was faster than before.. if multitasking is your main concern, then go ahead with the upgrade.. don't hesitate anyway.. all the best and good luck!

keigo, Jun 7, 2009

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Hkcuong Notebook Enthusiast

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This is what I need for future upgrade (my notebook is of Series 5570, too). It is 5572ANWXMi and it has a core duo T2250 on chipset 945GM. I think the first video of your instruction is not necessary. To Upgrade CPU, I don't think we need to open the whole notebook. We only need the last 16 seconds of the above clip. Or, on youtube.com there is a clip that performs the heat sink removal (of Acer notebooks, of course), although it is not 5570. It is Aspire 4315 (or 5315???). In that clip, a man upgraded his current CPU to Core 2 Duo T5750 (he is also a member of this forum - LostBoyKev). It will be more reasonable if you replace the above clip with this one (in case the clip which you posted is not yours). People also told me that it won't be possible for me to upgrade my notebook but I'm convinced by your instruction. Thanks for the useful instruction.

Hkcuong, Jul 24, 2009

#7

mbo1 Newbie

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Hi,

This is a great article. I'm thinking that my 5570z can also use the T7200? I would like to do the same mod as well as add Bluetooth and upgrade the wirless LAN to N rather than G.

Regards and thanks again for the article,

MBO

mbo1, Jul 29, 2009

#8

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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Hkcuong
Thanks for your concern about the disassembly video clip above. I'd like to replace it but then it would against my intention of providing relevant resources as accurately as possible to the notebook model used in this guide (5570). Nevermind, I'll keep it that way for now for other newbies learn the basics. As for the rest with experiences, you may as well skip to the last 16 seconds like Hkcuong said or search for the video as well. Btw, good luck with your future upgrade. I do believe you could upgrade yours as well (mine is : 5570ANWXMi)

mbo1
Since you've reminded me about adding the bluetooth, I've added the guide for you here. Sorry for the late reply, quite busy lately. Good luck with your upgrading projects too

keigo, Aug 24, 2009

#9

mbo1 Newbie

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Keigo,
Thanks for the info! Your guide is terrific both for the original information and for Bluetooth. The Bluetooth upgrade went without a hitch. I also upgraded the wireless from "G" to "N", but the antenna appears to be grounding out somewhere in the lead and getting somewhat hot. I'll have to see if I can figure that one out eventually.

Thanks again.

mbo1, Aug 24, 2009

#10

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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sweet! glad and hope it has helped you some way along the process. btw, how much did you get for the wireless N card? any major problem so far with the connection?

keigo, Aug 24, 2009

#11

mbo1 Newbie

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Hi Keigo,
I bought it through eBay. I did a search on Wireless N and 5570 and found one for about $20. It works great except for the antenna. Now, I need to figure out how to find a CPU to upgrade the 5570z. The one I bought (T7200) causes rebooting when the computer's cold. I updated to the latest BIOS (the 5570 BIOS but couldn't find an update for the 5570Z) to 3508, but that didn't help, unfortunately. Maybe a T5300?

If you have any questions about installing the Wireless N, I'd be happy to help. Your info has been a huge help for me.

Thanks,

MBO1

mbo1, Aug 25, 2009

#12

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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What chipset are you using right now? Sounds more like compatibility issue to me. Here's a list of C2Duo procs for notebook, it helped me alot about choosing which procs to upgrade to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_2_microprocessors#Core_2_Duo_2

Thanks, I'll definitely look up to you about installing the N card if I'm planning to do so in the future good luck with the antenna issue too.

keigo, Aug 25, 2009

#13

runnyeggsham Newbie

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Keigo: How did you install hackintosh on the acer? I have an 5570 too and tried ideneb and failed. Tried to use a couple others and it always got stuck in a install screen halfway through. Is there a tut on doing it somewhere?

runnyeggsham, Sep 5, 2009

#14

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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Well, I'm not sure whether we are allowed to talk about it here or not, but I must say I did it the hard way, try & error (it wasn't that hard actually since I used the iPC package, follow the instructions given and install just what you need/have). What chipset do you have, 945GM or PM?

keigo, Sep 5, 2009

#15

mkm Newbie

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I've recently upgraded my 5570z to a T2450 (2.0 Ghz 533 FSB 2MB). Couldn't pass it up since the chip was only $35 shipped on ebay. However, I was curious if the T7200 will work in the Z model; which may be 533 FSB limited. I have the 943GML chipset onboard, but the various documentation is confusing. Obviously, the 5570 worked, but you stated a 945 chipset. I can't get my self to spend $100+ to "try it". I know I would appreciate the 4MB cache in the T7200, but I'm not sure I would appreciate $65 worth. My laptop is only my portable do stuff machine. If push comes to shove I can overclock the current processor to around 2450; about 655 FSB with SetFSB. It's stable running Prime95, but hits the high 60s/low 70s C; that's only 100% on both cores which is rare in normal use.

Any feedback about compatibiltiy of the T7200 or performace implications would be greatly appreciated!

mkm, Nov 14, 2009

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mbo1 Newbie

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Hi,

I did try the T7200, and it didn't work all that well, to be honest. The fan came on constantly, the computer did fire up. The problem is that there was not that great of a performance improvement to make it worthwhile, in my opinion. I reverted to the original CPU, and the computer seemed to work far better. I did install Bluetooth and an Intel wireless N module, that did add functionality and improve its wifi performance dramatically. Those two modules were purchased off of eBay at very good prices.

Hope this helps.

mbo1, Nov 14, 2009

#17

mkm Newbie

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Thanks for the feedback. I also purchased an internal bluetooth module from ebay, and that worked very well. The $3 shipped free USB bluetooth modules also work well in Win 7 on all the Acers. I've never made the switch to N, so the G wireless works fine when I'm mobile. But, it's good to know that N is an option in the near future

Interesting to hear about the mixed results on the T7200. Do you think the constant fan was a thermal issue? I saw that the 5570 manual stated temperature ranges for the fan speed, and it does go constant high when it reaches the high 60s; as with my Prime95 testing. I doubt that processor would run that hot unless the thermal paste was pushed off during heat sink mounting.

mkm, Nov 14, 2009

#18

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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Hi mbo1 & mkm,

Thanks for sharing some inputs on your 5570z upgrades. Well, I wouldn't say that I know everything or somewhat of expert in this field, but I would like so share some of my experience too. What I believe is that both of you are facing the same kind of compatibility problem with your 5570z mobo chipsets & the processor you're planning to upgrade to.

Not long ago, after successfully upgraded my 5570 (945GM) to T7200, I helped my younger brother upgraded his Aspire 3680 (940GML) celeron M to C2D T5300 after looking through & convinced enough from this original thread. But before deciding which proc to buy, we did some research too over the net and found out that T5300 is indeed our safest bet (& money too) in terms of risks of future compatibility or any other issues that might occur.

If you look carefully at this list, you'll notice that my bro's 940GML chipset 'officially' supports Celeron M, Core Solo, Pentium Dual-Core ONLY, yet we manage to upgrade it to C2D T5300. You might ask why T5300? not T5500,T5600 or T7200 & higher instead? Well, one of our main concerns was the FSB clock. T5300 was the highest C2D proc that runs natively on 533 MHz. Sure higher processor could be backward compatible, but we're trying to be on the safe side, not burning our machine & money on something that might not work. And so far, things has been running smoothly with his laptop, without hiccups or thermal problems.

So, what I'm trying to say is that you have 2 options here:

either take your chance & luck with any 667Mhz pro (ie. T7200) and deal with any future problems might occurs, or

go with a proven success way by landing to a step lower with T5300 (still a C2D proc!) that'll save your time & money perhaps.

mkm, since you mentioned your 5570z is running on 943GML, I would like to highlight at the footnote from this list page, that although you're mobo officially supports Celeron M, Core Solo, Pentium Dual-Core, "The Intel 82943GML mobile chipset unofficially supports Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, and Pentium Dual Core processors as well as 667 MHz FSB, which is a popular upgrade for many older notebook computers such as certain models of Acer Aspire 3680." How true that statement is, I don't know.

If I were you, I might probably settle with a T5300 proc. I do believe that FSB plays a big role in making sure your computer system run smoothly. When your processor, RAM and mobo has the same frequency, theoretically they would run at the same speed, right? Everything should be synchronized along the way. But again, that's just my 2cents, I might be wrong, who knows, right?

Hope you would take some time and read through these lists, they're really helpful for me.

List of Intel Core 2 microprocessors
List of Intel chipsets
Upgrade an Acer 3680-2633 Celeron CPU to a C2D T5300!

Lastly, Good Luck!

keigo, Nov 15, 2009

#19

mkm Newbie

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Just as a reference, I found this article that compares like Ghz Core Duo to Core 2 Duo;

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Core-Duo-vs-Core-2-Duo.2404.0.html

Yes, we all know Core 2 is faster, but this is a great comparison within the confines of the same upgraded laptop. This saves me the trouble of creating such numbers.

keigo, thanks for the recommendation of the T5300. If I can find a reasonably priced one, I might try that on my wife's 5610. $50 is what I'm currently seeing and that's not a bad upgrade price; althought not quite as good as the $35 for the T2450
Then I will be able to compare some basic benchmarks between 2Ghz Core Duo (my T2450) and 1.73 Core 2 Duo (T5300). I'm pretty sure the T5300 will win, but I'm curious by how much.

Thanks agian for the great feedback!

mkm, Nov 16, 2009

#20

keigo Notebook Enthusiast

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Sure, no problem mkm. Seems like you're pretty much good with benchmarking hope you'll get a very good priced T5300 and give it a run.. I'm sure you're eager to see how does a 2Ghz stand before a 1.73Ghz punch!

keigo, Nov 16, 2009

#21