processor upgrade on aspire 3050-1150

so i was wondering which dual core cpu i can put i n my laptop. it has socket s1 so i looked on wiki and found out that there is a turion x2 tl-50 or tl-52 , so can i upgrade to one of these, if i can would i need to update my bios or something. i've built pc before so i kinda konow what i'm doing. here is cpuid snapshot.

 

It'll fit physically. Obviously it will void the warranty. But then there's the BIOS issue, somehow I doubt Acer would provide a BIOS to enable CPU upgrades they don't endorse. Of course there's the possibility that it'll work without a BIOS upgrade...

 

Yes you can upgrade to any turion X2 TL-xx series processor that uses socket s1 like your sempron. You don't have to worry about BIOS because the aspire 5050 which is the turion version of your 3050 uses the same BIOS as your 3050, (the motherboard and components are near identical, therefore the only real difference between the 2 was the processor).

However as was stated by the previous poster upgrading your processor will void your warranty keep that in mind and proceed with caution.

 

thanx for the reply, but how ill they find out if i put the old processor back?

i found a tl-50 for $100 you think its a good deal? also will it run hotter then the sempron if so how much hotter. my idle temp on the 3050 is about 42C. is there much difference between 256 and 512 of cache, also how much faster will the new cpu be, cause i had the first macbook pro with core duo 2ghz and i liked how it ran/multitasking.

 

If they have to do anything with your processor they will automatically know as you won't be able to put back the original thermal pad acer uses, that alone will tip them off, but if the repair doesn't concern the processor you *may get away with it.

The price you listed for the TL-50 sounds like a good deal see if you can find a TL-52 as they are a little quicker than the TL-50. Based on your current Idle temps the turion won't be any hotter than your current sempron as my TL-50 idles around that temp or lower @800mhz. Besides I can see from your cpu-z that the sempron's voltage @800mhz(0.95v) is higher than the turion's(0.8v) which *should mean lower temps for the turion. The cache issue I am not certain on, but you will be able to multi-task much easier as the turion x2 is a dual core processor and the sempron is a single core processor.

The speed of the cpu will be dependent on what you are doing; for day to day task (word processing internet browsing etc) you won't notice a difference but in CPU intensive processes the core duo @2ghz will be much quicker than the TL-50 (1600mhz vs 2000mhz IMO you shouldn't be comparing these 2).

 

thanx for for the help.

 

it will work fine as you've already found out; and normally it will be too late to be charged because by the time they found out that you changed the cpu they will already have the parts there in front of them with the machine in pieces

 

How simple/possible is it to upgrade a MK-36 with a TL-56? I'd probably put it into a shop, not confident enough to do it myself. Just typical that the year after I buy the model it comes with a dual-core processor!

 

you might need a bios upgrade first, considering that you mention that your unit was out some time before the dual core ones were but i think that'll be fine.
in order to upgrade the unit you need to completely separate the upper and lower covers, then remove the mainboard, then remove the thermal module ; this will give you access the cpu... i wouldn't say its too difficult but if you do intend to do it yourself i would recommend you take note of where everything goes and which screw came from where just to make sure that it all goes back together again.

 

i took it apart yesterday to change thermal grease(still burning in). but yeah it was kind of hard taking it apart, but it all went well, i put everything back together and what do you know no extra screws left. i usually have 1 or 2 extra.it wasn't to hard since this is my 4th notebook i'm taking apart, i did it on my mackbook pro and inspiron 1100 before, so when i will buy the cpu it will be easier for me. can anybody tell me where i can get service manual for it. i looked on those site that you have on the forum but could not find my model.

 

does anybody know where i can get plastic mesh that acer uses inside the notebooks on the vent holes?

 

you could try looking for the 5050 model as thats the same unit with a different cpu.... its basically what you're gonna turn your unit into.

i've only seen the plastic mesh as part of a new cover and isn't available separately; i'm sure you'll be able to find an alternative material to use.

 

so i got the the processor today i went with the tl-50 got it for $50 of ebay they had tl-52 for $100 but i can not afford right now.
so my question is is it better to do a clean install of xp after i put it in or will it work with out a clean install after i remove the AMD CPU driver?

 

never mind. got it installed everything works fine, runs way cooler then the sempron, its dual core, hopefully will get better battery life. thanx for your help guys.

 

So, after reading this I found inside me the guts to try and upgrade my 3050... just bought a tl-52 and I am waiting for the arrival...
anyway, will I notice a big deal of improvement or just be slightly faster?
another thing that has been bothering me is that when I first got my 3050 I loaded up vista on it but due to the massive slowness (Oh God! Slow as slow can be) I decided to return to XP, hence my question: using tl-52 instead of a sempron could I use vista without the urge to tear apart the reality whenever i try to open anything?
Anyway, is this upgrade a good choice or jus for the fun of the ride?

 

Certainly as far as the socket and bios go, I would agree. However, I would personally be a little concerned about heat. The Sempron is a 25W TDP processor, while the Turions are 31W and 35W.

Now, the Aspire 5050 is listed with either an MX-38 or a TK-53, both of which are 31w processors, so you're probably safe at least that high. I'd be a little hesitant to try a 35w processor, personally. I'm just not sure what the HS/Fan are designed for in this particular case. Anyway of finding out?

Really? I find that interesting. Under heavy load it should run hotter, as the processor can put out 6W more heat, however I suppose under light-moderate load it finishes executing significantly faster so it's able to kick in PowerNow a lot faster.

BTW, are there any hidden screws under the keyboard or anything?I took out all of the screws I could find, removed the HD and CD-Drive and carefully pryed the front of the case around the front audio jacks, but it seemed like the case was still held down somewhere about midway back (somewhere between the RAM and miniPCI??). Also, how do you seperate the top and bottom of the case back by the battery? This is the first laptop I've disassembled.

 

Haven't done it yet, but my speculation yes. You'll be doubling your per core cache, which will give a marked improvement, even though you're loosing 200MHz. Windows runs a lot of processes simultaneously, so the second core should help significantly, as well.

Unless you put more than 512MB ram in there, Vista is still going to piss you off. There's a 2 1GB sodimm's over at Frys.com for $50 after $20 rebate.. If you're in the US, I'd jump on that. Otherwise, add at least 512MB more before Vista starts to feel decent.

For XP, you need a min of 512MB before it runs alright, and 1GB is great. For Vista those numbers are 1GB and 2GB. Running 512 for vista is like 256 for XP. The 5400rpm HD doesn't help, either, so get more ram so it doesn't have to swap to disk.

?? Do you mean an upgrade of necessity? Every upgrade is a choice. Nobody twists your arm and forces you to upgrade, lol.

 

what I meant is, will the improvement be that diferential that the risk involving doing that are less that the rewards?

 

The majors risks involved would be accidentally breaking the case somehow during disassemble (prying too vigorously, etc), damaging the heatsink, and reapplying the heatsink improperly.

If you don't reapply the heatsink correctly the processor and northbridge could overheat. The processor has protection against this, so should not be permanently damaged. I wouldn't expect this to be the case on the northbridge. So apply properly or you may damage the northbridge and require a new motherboard.

As long as you're aware of that and have built desktop PCs before or worked on other laptops in this manner, I would rate the risks as rather low. I will definitely be doing this once I figure out how to get the rest of the case apart and CPU prices drop again.

 

I just did the upgrade on my 3050-1594. I bought a TL-52 for 50 buck and everything went fine. I had to upgrade to Vista 64 bit to take advantage of all my memory though. Also my core temps average 70 to 77 C. I not sure what it idles at since if I am awake it never idles. Is that too hot? The specs I seem to find on the internet say 41-95 C. are min-max. I hope I am not burning up my system.

It really screams now BTW, super fast!

 

It's been a few days now and my temps went down from 70-77 c to 52-62 C average. I bought a cooling pad. This is great and so fast comapard to what it was.