inspiron 1720: want to upgrade video card (intel 965)

hello! this is my first thread! and very excited to see other 1720 enthusiasts!

as the title states, i would like to upgrade my video card, if it is possible and if it is worth it. my 1720 has the mobile intel 965 express chipset family. ive seen sigs (dr650se and someformofhuman) stating that they have the nvidia 8600m gt and was wondering if this is compatible with my 1720.

also i found out through this forum that i can upgrade my cpu (which is the measly t5450 1.66 ghz) to the beastly t9300, and add a 2nd hard drive (which is my first step in upgrading this dell because i only have a 160 gb drive).

i was looking for a new laptop until i came across this forum and found out the possibilities of my dell. i decided to stick with this and just upgrade it! thanks for the insight, and thanks in advance for all the help that i will be asking for!

 

There are two types of motherboard for the 1720, one with the integrated GPU and one with a connector for the discrete GPU. In order to upgrade your GPU, you'll need to replace your motherboard and buy the relevant GPU.

 

commander, can you please point me to the right motherboard that i would need to get?

 

Discrete:

http://www.parts-people.com/images/products/UK435.jpg

Integrated:

http://www.parts-people.com/images/products/UK434.JPG

I hate to show pictures as oftentimes eBay sellers show the wrong pictures, but I'm not sure if these boards go by codes other than "UK435" and "UK434". Just note the fat connector in the middle of the discrete board, and ask eBay sellers if their pictures are unclear.

 

Good work Commander.

@leyneslr, can you tell us what GPU you're using in your 1720? The 1720 uses the PM/GM965 chipset and it may also include the X3100 depending on your configuration from Dell. Cos' if you're using an integrated card, ie Intel X3100, to purchase another PM/GM965 motherboard to support the discrete GPU and buy a separate 8600M GT is not really worth upgrading to.

Unless if you have an 8400M GS, then yes the 8600M is worth the purchase as all you need to do is swap the cards.

Good luck.

 

someformofhuman .. how do i find out what gpu is in my laptop? isnt that the mobile intel 965?

edit: i have an internal x3100

is that bad?

 

If you have the integrated card, you need a new motherboard. However, upgrading to the 8400m GS or 8600m GT is a horrible idea given the solder issue. You'd be upgrading to a card that has terrible reliability.

 

Well as far as terrible reliability goes, I've never seen any forum activity of many 1720 GPU cards failing in a split second as opposed to the M1530, M1330 and other notebooks with 8600Ms which was released at the same time as the 1720. Then mine should've failed by then since its been running for 3 years till right now as of typing this thread. Therefore it's not a terrible idea. The 1720 and 1700 series aren't under Dell's list of defective cards. But still, precaution is better than cure.

@ leyneslr I would recommend not upgrading. It's just not worth the price for a new motherboard and a GPU. Though its cheaper as opposed to buying a new notebook, but I wouldn't advice doing so. Personally, if I were you, I would rather spend a little more and get something more up to date, and powerful that suits your needs.

 

lithus, solder issue?

on another point, i would like to eventually upgrade my cpu to the intel t9300. would THAT be pointless too because of my motherboard?

and also would the mobo affect me upgrading to a 4gb ram? ive read about somepeople BSoDing when they upgraded to 4gb?

 

No, your motherboard is capable of running the T9300 processor. It is a GM/PM965 and is able to support the 45nm 800MHz FSB T8100, T8300, T9300, T9500 and X9000 processors. Just update to the latest BIOS A09. CPU and GPU are different set of issues.

Well probably the other user may have a problem with his DIMM pin on his motherboard or his RAM may have been a defective unit. But as a whole, all 1720 users have no problems with 4GB. Heck, I'm running on 6GB.

 

Keep your current motherboard.

The 8400m and 8600m have the known faulty G86 and G84 cores. They will fail. Just google it. The BGA solder cracks.

Don't upgrade the notebook. Just save up for a new one.

 

Well speaking of defective cores, it's not a real known 100% concrete issue whether all 1720s with G86 or G84 cores will 100% fail, today or tomorrow, despite the fact that the temperature handling in this machine is excellent and the PCB design is proprietary, and occurrences of it failing in the 1720 are extremely rare as observed for the past 3 years but as I mentioned earlier, prevention is still better than cure.

And exactly, as a whole, I wouldn't upgrade anything either too. It's just really not worth it. What kind of games do you play (or planning to play) and applications you run on your 1720, leyneslr?

 

someformofhuman .. what is gm/pm965 and 45nm? could you please explain that to me?

and i read your thread showing you using more than 4 gigs of ram. also, i think i might have been imagining it but did you say that 6 is not enough for your needs? that you're trying 8?

 

You currenty have the intel GM965 express chipset.
It can support both merom (65nm tech, like your t5450) and penryn (45nm tech, like the T9300) CPUs.

The 45nm tech is cooler and uses less energy.

If you get a new motherboard with the 8600m then your chipset will be the PM965 (same as GM965 except you don't have the x3100 enabled).

You don't need more than 4gb ram for gaming.

 

im not really much of a gamer. the only game i play is combat arms and that runs fine with my current specs. majority of the time what i use my laptop for is school and work. mainly office suite/internet/school programs/work programs.

a lil info on myself .. i am an IT tech intern and have gotten experience fixing user common errors (viruses, restarts, hard drive malfunctions), and since then have just gotten into computers. i wanted to upgrade mine as a lil personal project even though knowing theres better out there.

so as far as upgrading now, the least id like to do is 2 bigger hard drives, and down the road, upgrade the cpu. im still looking at costs under a new laptop, right?

 

the reason i was asking about the video card was to see if it is feasible in my means without going over the budget. but since i would have to change the motherboard then that project is out of the question (unless i happen to win the lottery). and i saw that a lot of people who had 1720s had 8600m gt and thought it would be compatible with my dell in the first place. plus i thought if it wouldnt be TOO hard, that it would be pretty fun to rip open my laptop

 

moral .. i feel the same way (the sad face next to your t5250 1.5 ghz) when i look at my t5450 1.6 ghz

 

Well laptops are getting really cheap.

If you want a T9300 you're looking at around $150. + 2 big fast HDD, $200.
So you're looking at $350. And if you upgrade the motherboard ($200).
That's up to $550. Which you could get a dell inspiron with a dedicated GPU for that.

I could probably help you overclock your current CPU. It's probably worth spending $100 for a fast 500gb HDD. That's what I would leave it at.

 

GM965 and PM965 are named mobile Intel Centrino chipsets that are used in laptops starting in early ~2007. Chipsets are generally made to work with a set of processors in that release. In short, it's essentially various integral circuits that are made to work cohesively with your components that is on the motherboard.

45nm is the fabrication technology of a processor. Meaning that it shows how closely the micron circuits are packed in that processor. As time goes, the number becomes smaller, now currently 32nm for newer Arrandale i5 processors. Generally speaking, the smaller the number, the cooler the processor will run and will also thus leading to lesser power consumption, but is also affected by the Thermal Design Power, or TDP for short depending on the processor type.

Well I need more than 4GB due to the fact that I use RAM quite often for my photoshop needs. I always hit more than 4GB for my panoramic photography and illustrative needs.

 

According to CPUz I have a GM965 in my 1720 + 8600M GT. (45*C now, with powermizer disabled. So cool and nice )

Good ol' Moral, never stop trying. I've always thought our Dells are fixed notebooks that impossibly can't be overclocked. It has been like this for years and I too gave up all hope of trying. But since you came, you've changed everything. I'm willing to spot and share my PLL, which I have not spotted it yet despite I've opened my board many times to clean...

 

Any chance of a photo next time you clean it?

I might be able to help spot the PLL.

 

Sure. I will upload the full sized image. I will try finding too. Do you know roughly where it generally is located?

 

Not really. But this thread might help:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=429383

 

The Dell 1520 and 1720 are not listed as affected by this. They have a dedicated heat sync and seem to work fine.

I didn't see anyone else list it, but you will need a new CPU heatsync/pipe combo. The one used on integrated video is different than the one used with nvidia card.

 

Any chance this will help? I just took mine apart tonight so I could clean all the dust out so I took a few pics since I saw this before I was to do it. I have full sized pics if they are needed as well. I can also take the laptop apart in a few min so I may look for it tommorrow after work

EDIT: Pics removed as they were unhelpful, and taking up my space

 

I don't see the PLL there, it might be on the other side of the motherboard.

They will still die. They have the same chip with the same fault. The dedicated heatsink just gives them a longer life.

 

i definitely am dropping the idea of upgrading the GPU. it was just a thought, but replacing the motherboard and gpu sounds costly.

what i am currently looking at in the next couple weeks is picking up a hard drive caddy for $30, and a dell 360gb 7200 rpm sata hard drive with free fall sensor (what is this free fall sensor anyways?) for $60. once i get that, then a reload of my laptop sounds good, then replace my 160gb with another 320gb hard drive. i think ill be fine with 640gb plus i have a 500gb external hard drive. so my total is looking to be $150 for that.

with a lil more time and saving, a cpu swap sounds interesting. ive found a t9300 ranging from $250 to $700! where can i find one for $150 like u said?!

oh also, updating my vista x32 to a vista/7 x64 sounds reasonable. that way i could max the 4gb ram in my dell.

 

We had a T9300 go for $150 in the NBR marketplace.
There is one for sale there now for $195:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=448774

You might be able to get that price down. Ebay is usually the best place to get a CPU.

 

i did not know we had a marketplace! this forum is awesome!

 

I looked for it too, although I need a magnifying glass to read anything. Tonight I'll take the mobo out and check the bottom. For NBR of course . Maybe I'll have better luck on the bottom end.

 

Well, I got the pictures of the bottom of the mother board, and the spot under the GPU that was covered by a black plastic piece, but, as no good deed goes unpunished, my primary HDD died, currently reinstalling the OS now. I'm just glad it wasnt my backup, although in all honesty I have the secondary HDD backed up anyway. Just a hassle. I swapped my M17X HDD into the 1720 to ensure that the mother board was still good. I didn't see anything that could be the PLL, but maybe you have better eyes. let me know if you need the full res pics. these are scaled down to 30% of original size.

The first picture is underneath the GPU.

EDIT: Other pictures removed.

 

I have circled what I think is the PLL.

Sorry to hear about the HDD.

 

Yep. The XPS 1530 also suffers from faster memory (and thus higher temperatures), and is marketed as a gaming laptop and thus has a heavily-used GPU more often. But someday, if the GPU is used heavily at all, the flaw will eventually make itself known. Maybe not soon enough for an individual user to notice it before replacing the laptop, and maybe not within warranty. But eventually.

SomeFormOFHuman, I suspect CPU-z is incorrect there; I double-checked and PM965 is the integrated one. Wouldn't be the first time CPU-z is wrong, either - from 1.41 to 1.50 (IIRC) it had voltages on mobile CPUs incorrect. Wish I could get that low of temps on my 1520, though. Guess that's what I get for getting a smaller laptop!

leynesler, I agree that the GPU is not worth upgrading - even if it weren't for the engineering problem, the cost wouldn't be sensible. The 8600M GT would give you better performance than what you get in a new Inspiron with dedicated graphics, but a new Studio 15 would give you equal graphics with a propensity to fail, a better CPU, and newer technology all around. The hard drives make sense if you'll use the space, though (or want a faster main drive - get a 7200 RPM drive or SSD in that case), and the CPU does if you can get a good deal. You might want to consider a T6600 (2.2 GHz, 2 MB cache), T8100 (2.1 GHz, 3 MB cache), T8300 (2.4 GHz, 3 MB), T7500 (2.2 GHz, 4 MB), or T7700 (2.4 GHz, 4 MB) as CPU upgrades that would still give more than 25% performance improvement, but might cost significantly less than a T9300.

Subscribing in case anything new about Inspiron 1720 comes up.

 

PM965 means you have a dedicated GPU.
GM965 means the x3100 is enabled.
I read the datasheet for the chipset, if you want I can give you a link.

 

I'll try and get a better picture of the PLL tonight. Also got another WD Black 320 GB 7200rpm on order

 

dr650se ... ive read on other threads that the wd scorpio blue is a very unreliable hard drive ... is this true? or is there a difference between black and blue?

 

The Black models are the 7200 RPM drives. The Blue are the 5400 RPM. I thus far havn't had a problem with my 500GB WD Scorpio, but as I was taking apart the laptop to get some of these pics, my 320 GB Black died. Not sure how it happened but I ordered another one. I've had them over a year and used them quite a bit, but every hard drive is going to have a failure rate, regardless of how low. This is the first HDD failure I've had in years. I would still recommend them, as they seem reliable. If your looking for max reliablilty, SSD is the way to go. The lack of moving internal parts means no fragile platter. I always keep everything backed up though in an external HDD. I also just saw that there is a 3 year limited warranty. That will be on my to do list tonight, give WD a call, although I already have another one ordered and on it's way

EDIT: close up pics of the suspected PLL should be up after I get off work hopefully.

 

i just went back and reread the thread regarding the wd black/blue. they say that its loud. thats what the problem people had.

 

I have no problems with noise. I don't notice any noise so I'm inclined to say that to me it's a none issue

 

OK, I finally got around to getting a picture of the suspected PLL. Let me know if this helps.

 

Nice +rep for that.

Your PLL is a cypress PLL.

Looks like you cant use software to overclock though. From what was posted in this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=358114

For those who don't know, abo created setfsb.

You might be able to pin mod the PLL to overclock. But I can't find the datasheet.

 

I would say a pin mod is the only way to OC this; if I recall sometime back someone OC'ed a 1525 CPU using a pin mod or something similar? I would assume that is the same for most Dell notebooks.

 

What exactly is a pin mod? I'm not really interested in OCing the 1720, but just curious is all.

 

This is the pin mod (method 2 should work for you):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=393027

But you would need the datasheet for your PLL to know which pins to mod.

 

yay got my hard drive caddy from newmodeus today!

 

DR650SE, i see that you have your 1720 OCed, i was hoping you might be able to tell me how you did it, and also how did u get rid of that annoying speed-step?

 

For those interested, I stumbled on a data sheet posted for the PLL that is in 1720 (at least my 1720, pic above) http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=45038&d=1266060243

It was posted by hikko in the PLL mod, 200mhz to 266mhz help please thread in the Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades section of NBR

 

@DR650SE, do you have TME mode enabled?

Download setfsb, select a similar PLL, press getfsb. Click on the diagnosis tab.
Click on byte 15. Look at bit 7. If bit 7 = 1 then you have TME mode enabled.

Need to disable it to overclock.
Pin 32 is the TME pin.

Disconnect pin 32 from VDD and connect it to VSS (ground) with a resistor (~10K).

Then setfsb should work.

 

I'll check when I get to my room, but it's really too much work and I don't have the tools out here. I'm hoping that somone can come out of the wood work and pick up where abu left off.

 

So would this be an accurate diagram? Or I'm I on the wrong side of the PLL? I posted this on the "PLL mod, 200mhz to 266mhz help please" thread as well since its more toward that thread, but perhaps it can help 1720 owners as well. So I've posted it in both discussions.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=45042&d=1266071714