Studio 15 motherboard question

I bought my Studio direct from Dell. When i called they said that they couldnt add my thumbprint scanner, so they upgraded me from 2GB ram to 4GB, 250GB hdd to 320GB, and from the T5800 processor to the T8100.

Great deal, right.

My question is what motherboard do you think I am going to be getting becuase the T5800 and T8100 cant both fit the same kind of motherboard, so what are they doing? The T8100 isnt an option if you go online and configure it so I'm wondering what is going on

No complaints though... lets see thumbprint scanner, 2x ram and better cpu... hmmm

 

Why do you think they can't go into the same motherboard? The T5800 is at 2 GHz and the T8100 is at 2.1GHz. The only difference is the T8100 is the die shrink Penryn where the T5800 is a 65nm chip. The T8100 has 3MB cache and the T5800 has 2MB.

 

How did you get Dell to upgrade your order?

I have a Studio in production and Dell is unwilling to change or upgrade anything - unless I cancel the order and start over with a 4 week backlog....

 

That's a pretty good deal ... the fingerprint reader is only a $25 upgrade and you got free upgrades worth a lot more than that. You can get the palm rest with the reader and install it yourself, sounds like they pop up on eBay.

 

I just made the order online and they called me and said that I can wait 3 weeks for a thumbprint scanner and backlight keyboard, or get the upgrades so no complaints. I'll just ebay the wrist plate w/ thumbscanner and same with the keyboard

 

i thought that the T5800 and T8100 are not compatible. i checked the processor compatibility (many pages deep) in another topic and they weren't listed together.

 

They are the same socket...

 

They use the same chipset and socket so they are interchangeable. The new chips in the 1537/1737 aren't backwards compatible.

 

Good news from Dell today:

- they upgraded my order from a T9300 to a T9400 CPU and
- upgraded the 4 GB RAM from 667 MHz to 800 Mhz clock speed

They said order would be delayed until Jan 7th, but I think it is worth the wait...
2 Questions remain:

- can the RAM be further upgraded to 1066 MHz to match the CPU speed?
- can the OS be upgraded to 64-bit - Dell said this was not an option...?

Thanks, Ted

 

Here is the current build sheet specs - any suggestions or changes?
I would like to configure a this PC for 3-4 years of use...thanks

 

You can get DDR3 RAM since you have the Montevina chipset. Right now it is still pretty expensive so that is why Dell is using DDR2 at 800MHz. You really won't be able to notice the difference.

You can't upgrade it, you have to either pick 32 or 64 bit. They do offer 64 bit with the Studios and just about every model they have, so I am not sure why they told you that you can't do that.

 

Did I mention I got mine in 3 days?

Thank you.

 

Atbnet, thanks for your reply.

Should I request the DDR3 1066 RAM from Dell or is this only available aftermarket?

Regarding the 64 bit OS, would you recommend it or just stick with 32 bit for better driver compatibility?

Thanks, Ted

 

You would be better off buying it from a retailer such as Newegg because Dell will rip you off. Plus it will give you time to wait for DDR3 prices to drop.

It depends on how much RAM you plan on using. If you are going with 4GB then I'd say get it. If not, there isn't that much of a difference.

 

Thanks - what about the 64 bit OS? Pro or Con....

 

I have found Vista x64 to be more lean than the 32 bit and it was more stable for me. Cons, if you have older peripherals you might have difficulty getting drivers. Some programs complain about being ran on a 64 bit OS even though Windows can handle them without a problem.

 

You can not use the ddr3 in the studio machines. The chip set may be able to handle ddr3, but it is keyed different and has 204 pins vs 200 pins in ddr2

 

Thanks - I did not realize that DDR3 had a 204 pin design.

Is there any way to upgrade the RAM to 1066 MHz to match the CPU speed of the T9400 CPU?