Upgrade XPS m1730 from T7700 to X9000, can it be done?

Hello,
I just bought a XPS M1730 and even though I really like its performance I am already thinking of wether it could get any higher. Here in Sweden we are not able to choose X9000 CPU yet so I went with an T7700 (at the time of my order the T9300 and T9500 weren't available either). Now I'm wondering if there is any difference between my computer and those selling with the X9000 CPU (that I’ve seen available in Dells US store), in other words if it would be possible for me to upgrade my T7700 to a X9000.
I ran CPUZ and it reported the following about my motherboard (which I am assuming is one of those things that could break my "upgrade-plans").
Model: 0KX412
Chipset: GM965
Southbridge: 82801HBM (ICH8-M)
What does CPUZ say about your motherboard (those of you with the X9000 CPU)?
I guess another thing that could prevent me from upgrading are differences such as the CPU cooling. I hope the cooling is the same regardless of the processor but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn’t.
In the event of there being no technical obstacles I still need to open up the computer and that is a little scary. I’m thinking it can’t be that hard though. Do you have any experience with opening the 1730 for CPU changes / upgrades? Was it very complicated?
I hope you can help me get answers to atleast some of my questions. Thanks in advance!
/Robert Kajic

 

That would be a major waste of money.

 

i'm pretty sure it's posisble since it is on the same platform. although, i would return your laptop and buy a very cheap one, and then upgarde to X9000 to minimize your loss

 

I'm gonna go with Frozen on this one. I think it can be done (Or rather I can't find a reason why it shouldn't be possible on the M1730), but I can seriously not see any logic to try and push it further. The speed difference would be neglible in pretty much everything except from benchmarks and perhaps media encoding.

 

Lithus, Actually I would wait with the upgrade untill the X9000 can be bought quite a bit cheaper than today. Still, it would be nice to know now wether it can or cannot be done.

FrozenDarkness, Well, I also guess its possible but my guess is still just a guess. I would like to know for sure.

 

In my opinion it is a wast of money, both those processors are beast

 

Yes, there is a performance difference between the T7700 and the X9000. But for the work involved, plus the cost and problems associated with it, its not worth it IMO!

You would notice an improvement on CPU intensive tasks/programs. 3dmark06 scores go up a fair bit due to it being quite a CPU intensive test. But in everyday work and gaming, you wouldn't really notice much of a difference. Not worth it IMO.

But, if you're determined to do it, check out youtube. Ifti, a forum member here, has posted a number of excellent video's of him taking his laptop apart to replace the GPU. From what he said, to get at the CPU, you have to take pretty much the whole machine apart. His video's would be a great start though.

 

It sounds a lot tougher than I had hoped / expected. And since an overwhelming majority of you are telling me it's not really worth it I doubt I will attempt changing it myself. An idea came to mind though, does Dell offer to sell / install parts for your laptop (where they send a technician to install whatever you ordered)?

EDIT:
Having watched iftis videos I must say it doesn't look overly complicated (although I am aware it's probably harder than it looks when someone with experience does it). I would still need to figgure out how to replace the CPU on my own but as you said iftis videos would be a great start! Hopefully there will be some videos documenting a CPU upgrade by the time the X9000 can be bought cheaply.

 

It isn't worth it...period. Buying more RAM or a faster hard drive would yield you better results.

 

Kajicr, if you ever do decide to do it, please record it and post on Youtube We'd all love to see how it goes.

Seriously though, if you were going to do it, wait a while, the price of these parts will drop significantly over the next few months.

 

As far as I'm aware, aftermarket mobile processor prices rarely drop. They are only sold in small quantities and they are discontinued as soon as the next generation goes on sale.

 

Greg, I have already 4gb of ram and 2x200gb disks so I don't think I can upgrade those much there. The only thing that could actually get better is the CPU.

Pommie, Yeah, I will be waiting for the price to drop before even considering buying it. I have talked to Ifti about this and from what he tells me it doesn't seem very hard to replace the CPU once you reach the point in his video where he is about to replace the GPU. To me the hardest part seems to be the removal of the display since it is attached to the motherboard at so many places.
If I get my hands on a X9000 I will make sure to record it for you (but dont expect it to be as elegant as Iftis recordings)