Upgrading the CPU of an XPS 1615, what is the "biggest" one possible?

Hi

I've had my XPS 1645 i7 1.6 ghz now for 1.5 years.

Yesterday I bought some more memory so I get 2 x 4gig 1333mhz chips.
(yet to arrive though)

At the same time I got tempted to get a new faster CPU and started to look for possibilities of the PM55 chipset.

I think the fastest one will be this one:
Intel® Core™ i7-940XM Processor Extreme Edition (8M Cache, 2.13 GHz)

But it is a 55watt cpu vs. 45w for the stock one.

Have anyone tried upgrading to such one?

I was also thinking of a core i5:
Intel® Core™ i5-580M Processor (3M Cache, 2.66 GHz)

Which is only 35watt and has a max clock of 3.33Ghz when turboed.

I'm using the computer for numerical analysis with a software that can only utilize one core at the time, so I'm actually in need of clock frequency.

But of course most tempted of the i7-940XM. Has anyone put one of those in the laptop and has some experiences?

Regards

Kristian

 

I do NOT recommend a Core i7 extreme in a SXPS. IMO the cooling system is not up to par for 45 watt quad core i7's, not to mention a CPU that will easily hit above 55 watt under turbo (if you don't use more than 2-3 cores at a time). You would be better off with a fast i5/i7 to get max turbo speeds for single core.