Upgrading M1530 Processor

So I want to upgrade my M1530's precessor from the 2.0Ghz one it has now (can't remember the whole name) to one with 2.4Ghz so it can play games better.

But is this possible and if it is, how do I do it and how much would it cost?

Thanks

 

Cost: There are lots of places to buy it, but I believe that I saw it at Tiger Direct for $130.

Installation: Very easy on M1530. Just pull bottom panel, pull heatsink, remove processor and install new one. But you have to be comfortable doing this procedure (Pulling heatsink, cleaning, and re-applying thermal compound).
You may not want to do this if you're not experienced.

Performance: I'm sorry to tell you that the difference will be negligable. There is virtually no difference between a 2.0g CPU and a 2.4g CPU as far as games are concerned. If you study the benchmark scores produced by M1530's (or any model for that matter) with varying processors you will see this. 200, 300 maybe 400 3dmark points at best (and that won't even be noticable in games).

The biggest factor is your video card. What card do you have (8400gs or 8600 gt)? If you have the 8600 then you already have the best you can get for the M1530. If you have the 8400gs then I'm affraid you will get nowhere by upgrading the CPU.

If you have the 8600gt and you are getting bad perfomance, post your max temps during game play by measuring them with Hardware Monitor. Post the CPU and GPU temps. Maybe we can help you.

Sorry to bring bad news.

 

Not sure how much of an improvement in games you'll see with a higher clocked CPU (2.0 --> 2.4)? Most games hardly use any CPU except some of the newer ones . And even then I don't think you'll see much if any improvement. The GPU does the brunt of the work. But if you really want to you can use the manual to upgrade.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsM1530/en/index.htm

 

Which 2.0GHz processor do you have now and which 2.4GHz processor are you looking at? If you're going from a T5750 to a T8300, you may actually see a significant performance boost and a drop in power consumption in some applications. On the other hand, if you're looking at going from a T7300 to a T7700, it probably won't make much of a difference...

As mentioned, GPU performance is far more important; I don't think even the T5750 is going to bottleneck your M1530 GPU (probably 8600GT?).

 

You must have been posting at the same time as me Thund3rball.

 

Man I would hate to see someone plop down $260 for 3 or 4 frames per second.

 

Well, you know, those extra three to four frames may be the difference between crap and playability in some game at some setting... hence "may".

 

No doubt. But I say forgo the CPU upgrade, fix the cooling system, and OC the GPU a tad -1000 points in 3dmark easily. Now that is a difference you really will see in games.

Hopefully the OP will respond. I would like to know his GPU and temps before giving anymore advice.

 

Can't disagree with you on that

 

yeah, ur best trying to OC the gpu. just make sure you have lots of ice on standby

 

Thanks for the replys,

Heres my Laptops specs:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6400 (2.0GHz,2MB,800MHz FSB)
3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [1x2048+1x1024]
250GB (5400RPM) SATA Hard Drive
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT with 256MB dedicated graphic memory
Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)


And these are the specs of one of the games I want to be able to play on it, (Lord of the Rings: Conquest)
* 2.4 GHz Core Duo processor or equivalent
* 1 GB RAM
* A 256 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 3.0 - NVIDIA 7800 or equivalent
* The latest version of DirectX 9.0c
* A DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
* At least 6 GB of hard drive space for installation.

So, from what I can see, my current laptop won't be able to play it but if I'm wrong, that'll make this whole topic pointless. xD

 

You're good to go Edd_15. You have plenty good enough specs. You won't necessarily max out the settings but your game experience should be pretty sweet.

But what's super important is that you identify whether or not you have a cooling issue. Run some tests and record temps. If you have a problem with the heatsink you will end up with temps above 85c, your card will downclock, and your frame rates will hit the dirt. You will end up with horribly stuttering game play during heavy scenes.

Post those temps.

 

just to note also, the requirements for the game say a core duo, and you have a core 2 duo. Unless whoever posted the requirements was just being lazy, i believe they actually mean the older type of dual core processors before the core 2 duos that are now just called pentium dual cores. The core 2 duos are quite a bit better than them so i think ull b fine with your processor.

 

Thats great!

How do I check temps?

 

I'm in a similar boat. I have basically the same Dell XPS m1530 and sometimes I feel I should be getting more out of the games I play.

My 1530 sometimes even shuts down when I start some games, games it should handle easily.

I will be following this thread for sure.

 

yeah this sucks. i thought i knew a thing or two about computers, at least intermediate or so.

i have passed on games that said 2.4 because i have 2.0. but now my 2.0 is fine, or should be.

my specs are almost the same as Edd_15, but i recently installed 4MB ram, an upgrade from my 2MB

so, should i play a 2.4 game to see how my system handles it? I played call of duty and my numbers usually hit 68c, maybe 70 or low 70'sm but never a lag.

 

google hwmonitor for temperature; it's the first link!