Upgrading Cpu on Dell Inspiron 1520 from C2D 1.66 to ??? Suggestions please! Needs to last 2 more years!

Anyway I'm looking to upgrade my cpu on my dell inspiron 1520 from its C2D 5450 1.66 ghz to something thats at least dual core 2.0ghz.

Wondering what to upgrade to for the best price and performance.

I'm also wondering if the cpu is bottlenecking my gpu which is a 8600m gt that i overclock all the time, I also want to play sc2 on this laptop which can run it fine at medium with 40-50 fps but when there are too many units or particles(from custom maps) on the screen it drops to 5 fps. Suggestions about this?

 

You should go with a T7X00 series CPU, where X is an odd number. I would recommend a T7300 at the very least, but the T7500 would be my recommendation. Here's a T7500 on Ebay for $90 shipped:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHZ 4M 800 CPU - SLAF8 - eBay (item 130400227684 end time Jun-23-10 10:08:35 PDT)

Since you want it to last two more years, this could be a worthy investment, but you may want to consider a new laptop from the Dell Outlet if the reason you didn't want to upgrade is a tight budget. I think the 1520 has problems with the Nvidia GPU, does it produce a lot of heat? If it indeed does have heat issues, I would say just keep it as a spare or secondary laptop.

 

Hi,

Stick with what you have now. You don't know when your GPU decides to die.

Additionally, the performance boost is noticeable if the new CPU is at least ~30% faster. So going from 1.66 GHz to 2.0 GHz is not really effective.

Michael

 

So the 1520 is covered under the Nvidia recall? If so, then I will stand by the Dell Outlet suggestion.

However, the upgrade to a T7500 will definately be noticeable, because in addition to clock speed, the CPU has double the cache. The worst part about the T5000-series CPUs is that they only have 2MB cache. I wouldn't go any less than 4MB.

 

Save your money, cpu upgrades aren't worth it. Get 4 gb ram ($75 ish) and call it a day. You can get a better laptop for $400 new on sale with bing cash back etc.

"Faster" cpus don't perform individual operations faster. They can handle more operations per second. So your excel, word, firefox, and starcraft won't run any smoother since they don't require more than 5 percent of your current cpu processing power. Check task manager to see your cpu usage. Unless you know you are doinf cpu intensive tasks eg compilation, 3d modeling, video encoding (but not playback) just stick with the cheapest C2D or Core I cpu available for your model.

If you have extra money get 4gb ram and an SSD, and you laptop will handle any mulitasking office work with pep.

 

Already got 4gb of ram in it, and my video card runs over 10c cooler than my cpu(gpu caps at best at 65c overclocked), have to change the thermal paste soon. But I want to change the cpu in the process. BTW I overclock from 475/400 to 660/500 on my gpu and it still hits 68c max with furmark, also gets just under 5k in 3dmark06, same score as a 8600m gt ddr3 on stock)

However there is no dell outlet near my area because I live in Canada and the cpu's on ebay aren't that cheap, for $75 i can only get a T7300. Which is not bad at all but if i can shell out $120 i can get the T7500..

Edit: Nm i found a T7300 for $55 Canadian, let's see if i can find a cheap T7500 but of course they don't label it as T7300... just the pic of it n a link showing its details which is a T7300. Checked for a T7500, the cheapest is $112, but theres a T7700 for $123!

So If I get a T7700 and replace my T5450, will i see a difference? Even with a T7300, will i see a noticable difference?

 

You should definately see some difference, even with the T7300. The T7100 is no good though. The T5450 is a pretty low end CPU.

 

Here is a question. Do you regularly use the laptop in a way that the CPU hits 100% utilization?

Because if that is not happening then you are not going to notice a performance increase with a new CPU. You're better off investing in something else like more RAM (if needed) or an SSD to speed up your computer.

 

I already got 4gb of ram inside a 32bit system and my Cpu is always hitting 100% usage when im gaming or even sometimes when i got firefox(alot of tabs n windows tho) open and word open

 

Well then if hitting 100% a lot sure go for the upgrade. People are mentioning incompatable CPU's T7100/T7300 is socket M T7500 socket P. The good news is I see T5450 as socket P. Which chipset do you have? It matters for your CPU upgrsade options. But I do agree with others CPU upgrade might not show as much improvement as you might think. You have 4GB RAM next normal thing to look at for real world performance boost is your HDD. What is your current HDD?

 

Well my Cpu is a socket P, I researched that a while ago, the chips I'm looking at say that their all socket P as well. Their SLA45 and SLA43, which r both socket P.

My hdd is only a 7200rpm drive, not ssd.

The main reason I want to upgrade is for SC2, do you think it will have a significant boost in performance on SC2 seeing as how that game is a RTS which relies on the cpu just as much as it relies on the gpu n ram?

But now that I really want to upgrade, the question is whether to get the T7300 at 2.0ghz for $55 or the T7700 at 2.4ghz for $123, the FSB and L2 cache on both of those r the same.

 

You won't like my answer. Multiple FF tabs, word docs, and starcraft should not drive your cpu utilization up. An rts, even with 1000 units each doing 100 things per second that require a calculation will fall far short of 1% of your current cpus 1.6 billion calculations per second capacity.

As a first step I would check for spyware or a crappy antivirus eating up your cpu time.

Consider that the cpus you want to buy cost 25% of a brand new notebook, with better specs.

4 years total is an awful lot of wear and tear on notebook parts. After you upgrade the cpu, who's to say some letter won't suddenly stop working on your 3 year old keyboard 6 months later, or the gpu won't burn out...

In your place I would get a wireless N card if your lappy didn't have one - that can be had for $25 or so, and maybe a 60 gb SSD for $100, you can always transfer it later. Those two things will be immediately felt. Your CPU is not the bottleneck, and you won't feel any difference other than what's in your head.

Ask yourself - what do you think a faster cpu will improve concretely? Time to load starcraft - ssd, frames per second - gpu, time to dl a patch - wireless card, battery life - not at all.

 

Well I just don't like how slow everything on it is now, and how my cpu usage is always at 95-100% when im playing newer games, after i recorded it with a monitor. My system is clean and starts up within 30 seconds min but when i play new games, it slows down..

1.66ghz was slow when i got it and is even slower by standards now.

And it wasn't starcraft 1, but starcraft 2, I just want to run that game better as well as the physics in it require cpu power. I have no problem with my gpu because it's overclocked at about 35% faster than normal clocks and it keeps a max temp of 65c with my current setup even without my tube of mx3 on the chips. BTW my cpu runs 10c hotter than my gpu and thats when the gpu is overclocked.

I'm probly going to get the T7300 for $55, that isn't 25% of a new system but 7% of a $800 system that I was going to buy. (The acer 5740g with i5 430m and radeon 5650HD)

I'm aware that a SSD will improve my system but I have alot of data and I don't like carrying around a external harddrive with me, however if i find a good deal on a 120gb+ drive i may pick one up. I noticed when i played APB, my system would slow down when i went to new area's because it had to load it up a SSD would certainly help with this but will a newer cpu help?

Also on sc2 when i play on low and on medium gfx settings, I get roughly the same fps (1-2 difference). When i play on high or ultra tho the fps drops by 5-10 each level. So I'm wondering if something else is slowing it down if my fps doesn't increase much with lower gfx.

 

are you sure T7xxx series will fit because you said you have Socket P and i tohught all of the T7xxx series apart from the T7250 were socket M in which case wont fit. If you have socket P why not look at the T9300 its a great CPU and runs realtively cool.

I still dont think the CPU is you bottleneck considering notebooks such as the alienware M11x have worse CPUs and game fine. And what is your HDD because if its an older 7200rpm drive it most likely wont be that fast anyway in comparison with todays drives

 

Image/backup your drive, reformat and reinstall everything. Regardless of how clean it might already be, minor things can always muck things up. I was running SC2 perfectly fine on medium settings all the way through on my E1505, which I think has lower specs than your Inspiron 1520.

 

I had the similar problem with my old E1505. First thing I would do is clean the dust off of any fan, vents, etc.

 

The T7300, T7500, T7700, and T7800 are all Socket P.

 

my mistake but still id recommend the T9300 as its faster, will run cooler and should fit and doesnt cost too much. With something like a T7700 or T7800 that you might get very high temperatures

 

Thing is, I don't need something that fast, a T7300 is fast enough for my system.

BTW i can run sc2 at 60fps just playing melee maps but when i play custom/ums maps the fps fluctuates from 60fps to 2fps.. Those maps usually are the custom maps that spawn about 10,000 units, some doing special abilities and other map effects doing god knows what. Also from all the map triggers and scripts taking place, and particles everywhere going crazy with the physics.

Not a big deal but there is a 80% chance that i will just pick up a T7300, seeing as how i can get one for $55 Canadian.

Also not really into reformating after i just reformated 3 months ago.

 

Hallo!

I thinking about same cpu change in my 1520. Mine cpu is T2330 with only 1 mn L2 cache and 533 fsb.



I want switch to better cpu, something like T 7500-T7700.
I guess that max. supported cpu is T7800 from Merom family.
http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=26548

Mb chipset is Intel GM965 (rev. C0) and southbridge 82801HBM (ICH8-ME).

If i look at this review, they have same southbridge, so i think i can switch without problems to the T7xx cpu's.
Dell Inspiron 1520 Review - Laptop Reviews - TrustedReviews

Best solution is overlock old cpu at 12x166 or 12x200. But i did not found utility for overclock my laptop.

 

The Penryn supported CPUs are also for the 1520 and not only for the Merom T7xxx CPUs.

T8100 2.1GHz, T8300 2.4GHz, T9300 2.5GHz, T9500 2.6GHz are recommended 45nm power saving CPUs for the 1520.

 

Thank you for reply. Is nice to know.

I prefer 0.45 nm cpu's even if they have same TDP like olders 0.65nm cpus.

Which bios support penryn's cpu ? For my laptop is the latest available bios A09 - 14.7.2008.

 

Yes, BIOS A09 supports the 800Mhz Penryn CPUs as mentioned in my post. I'd recommend the T9300; it is cheap, runs cool and decently powerful to handle everyday gaming and some CPU demanding applications for the price.

 

If i switch cpu, lost my warranty? Because i have still over 1 year NBD now.

I found T8300 for 75$.

 

No, it will not void warranty as there is no warranty seal. And also Dell has not explicitly say upgrading any component completely voids warranty. I've upgraded my 1720 and M1730 throughout the warranty period. It'll be fine. Just be careful not to break anything while you tinker with the insides - electronics are sensitive to electro-static remains and skin oils.

Instructions for complete tear down disassembly and CPU upgrade for the 1520 are found on Dell's website. Good luck.

 

Will work rightmark correctly with T8300 at win? Because i use now "performance on demand" profile with low voltage at [email protected] and max load [email protected] also.