Studio 1555 motherboard swap

Hello,

I am looking to replace the motherboard in my dell studio 1555. From what I can tell there are two types of motherboards available for the studio. The one with the ATI 4570M and the one with the integrated intel gpu. Looking on ebay they are approximately the same price. The only difference I know for sure is that the heat sinks for the motherboards are different. Considering the price of replaced motherboard, the heat sink is negligible.

If I have to replace the motherboard anyway, why not just get the one with the better graphics card? I will probably do this. I only have one concern. Are there going to be compatibility issues? I was told by a friend that the lcd screen may not be compatible with the new card. Also, will the new heat sink and motherboard fit into the chassis/bezel of my laptop?

Any help is appreciated!

 

I doubt the LCD connector would be different, just the 1555 doesn't support switchable graphics, so the ATI graphics would be on 24/7.

 

I agree with Tsunade; I would assume that the only thing you would need to replace is the heatsink. Everything else should be compatible.

 

Sorry to drag up a post that's a couple months old, but I thought it important for others considering a new board for the 1555 that I mention that the 155x series all uses the exact same motherboard shape and connectors. That means you can drop in a 1557/1558 to get access to i3/i5/i7 processors in your "1555" laptop. The 1558 had the option of a ATI 5670 with 1gb of video RAM in addition to the Intel integrated graphics option, though I think the 4570 in the 1555 had pretty similar performance in most situations unless more than 512mb of video mem was used.

Of course, buying a new CPU adds to the cost of the upgrade, (and probably new RAM also unless you were one of the lucky few with a 1555 that used DDR3, but DDR3 is dirt cheap) but it's defintiely an easy swap if you want to do it. My wife loves her franken-1558 with i5-540m processor.

Commander Wolf is correct on the heatsink, going from Intel to ATI on a 1555 you'd need a new heatsink, it's a single piece that has heatpipes to the CPU and video chip. The 1558 ATI heatsink is a little bit different than the 1555 ATI heatsink also if you're doing a 1555->1558 swap.

Also can confirm that the LCD connector is the same like Tsunade_Hime mentioned.

 

so if I have a studio 1555 with ATI 4550 dedicated graphics, i just need to replace the mainboard with a 1558's mainboard and then buy a core i7 processor?

 

so if I have a studio 1555 with ATI 4550 graphics, i just need to replace the mainboard with a 1558's mainboard and then buy a core i7 processor?

 

I think you still might need a different heatsink.

 

i have swap many motherboards on DELL laptops....and as you say...sometimes you can "upgrade" to the newer motherboard...for ex; sxps 16 (from ati 3670 to 4670)...same motherboard but different GPU.

before you buy a upgraded motherboard you must call DELL and check which part numbers who is 100% compatible with your studio 1555

thats the only way (DELL see all part-numbers in their computer system and then you know)

ps...i buy all my motherboards from top seller on Ebay.UK (just a tip...............much cheaper. Good luck.


ps...the screen have no issues at all regarding older or newer GPU.

 

Glad I popped onto this thread - hope one of you guys may have some insight.

Had a 1555 that wouldn't power on, respond to anything, etc., and replaced the motherboard. I've "improved" so that it now powers on, but the screen remains black and it throws only 7 beeps. Reading through various places, this could be either a bad board or a bad processor. I'm trying to figure out the following questions:
- Is there something else that might need to be done to the board to enable a proper startup?
- Could the replacement board also be bad (just in a different way)?

I'm working on this for a friend and he was willing to spend the $$ to replace the board, but not so sure he wants to continue falling down the rabbit hole chasing more parts.

Thanks!

 

If the only part that was previously damaged/broken was the motherboard, then all you should need to do is replace the motherboard. It is definitely possible that the replacement board was bad... did you not buy something that was guaranteed to be working?