7811FX Upgrade

This has been my go to computer since 2009, but overdue for an upgrade. Disassembled the whole rig per the sticky (Thx!). The 2 heatsink grilles were caked with dirt/dust. Both fans worked fine, so I cleaned them up and put em back. Replaced the original T8400 with a new T9600, using Prolimatech PK-3 thermal paste. Also re-pasted the GPU. Only had one glitch. Removing the two connectors from the wireless PCB one of the connectors separated from the board. Fortunately they are plentiful, got a new one on ebay. Also added a Samsung 500GB SSD as primary/OS drive. With the 9600 and SSD, the 7811FX is substantially faster. Used Samsung Data Migration software to clone the old drive to the SSD, worked perfect. Guess I'll hang onto this rig for another 5yrs.

HW Monitor says the SSD idles a good 10degC cooler than the previous conventional drive. GPU idles around 40degC. Man, does this rig rock now!

 

WOW, that is good news. I am trying to get up the courage to do same with my P-7805U Laptop. But with x9100 processor.

 

Lucky you I did the same thing just processor to T9600 cleaned rethermal paste but didn't do the GPU will have to redo it again to see why my system freezes.

 

Awesome Waynet!!

Last "upgrade" I did on my 7811 was to install the same T9600, dual WD Scorpio Black 320's in Raid 0, and 8 gigs of ram. As you pointed out, it made a world of difference!

I don't use my ole girl much but when I do use it I appreciate the quality and longevity of these truly awesome laptops!

Like you, I purchased mine in 09 and it was the first "hotrod" laptop I had ever purchased. I can honestly say, I have never regretted the purchase.

 

Nice Avatar Waynet............

 

I still use my 7811FX every day. Only upgrades are 8 GB RAM and SSD. I think the screen may be loosing a little brightness but I just can't kill this thing. Bought a used one as backup for under $300 that works perfectly but of course other family member scarfed it up. I dread trying to replace it. I can't live with less than 17" 1920. I should tear it apart for cleaning but blowing it out still seems to keep it tolerable.

 

well 1920 is on 1080P as well but again you will loose from the 1200Pyou have now. Trust in I understand this, the P79xx I have would still be my primary if it were not for Windows 8 forcing me to get a new Windows 7 machine before it was too late.

Save grace is with the Samsung is while only 1080P it is LED backlit 400 nit and 120Hz. Side by side thee is no comparison with this new screen. So I have lost a bit of screen real estate but gained in image quality.

 

My 7811 (bought upon release) was unused for two years and then in a storage locker for another two but when I recently cranked her up she worked perfectly. I'd already upgraded to a P9700 CPU, an Intel modem, and Hitachi 7200 drives in RAID 0 so it wasn't even that slow, but never one to leave well enough alone I upgraded to a Samsung 250 SSD this week. Data Migration did not work for me, and somehow I pooched my RAID install so I ended up going to a fresh install of Windows 8.1 (which has improved a lot since first released) and I'm a very happy camper. I wish the keyboard was backlit, but it has tremendous touch and travel compared to most of the "chicklet" boards on today's laptops so this old girl is still a keeper, even as long in the tooth as she is.

I looked into another CPU upgrade but the power draw (45 versus 28) for a 10% at best boost in speed (plus the cost) held me back. In fact in one comparison I found from the old days the 9700 outperformed the T9900 in several benchmarks, so with the possible exception of adding more RAM I guess I'm done primping and tweaking this classic machine.

I'm really glad to see this new thread and that I'm not the only one with continuing affection for the 7811!

 

Actually the power draw is not the TDP rating. The rating is just there as a guide for the cooling solution. It say's to the OEM that they need to be prepared for their systems cooling solution to transfer the TDP's rating of heat. You will find most CPU's in a class all have the same TDP independent of a wide variety of clock speeds. What the TDP envelope allows is for the CPU OEM to then tune the clock to the binned voltage so that the chip runs reliably within it heat allowance. This is why under voltage is so widely successful in overclocking a CPU.

Now the newer iCores changed the game a bit in that they will try and run max core voltage to stay within a TDP even if just for short bursts and even on limited cores. In other words Intel took from the overclocking community and made it where the CPU will self overclock to get the best possible performance. This was the most recent, if not final, nail in AMD's coffin for the performance race.

 

Thanks for the correction. Would I be right, however, in assuming that the draw (and thus the heat, my real concern) of a CPU with a TDP of 45 would be greater than one of 28 in the same machine, say the 7811? With stock voltages and clocks, of course.

 

It can be. When an OEM test's their random units they will max load then see the heat output. While if rated at 45w it could technically pass if heat is not in that excess they usually only want to see , lets say, only 50% of that output. This places them well within specs. If they do not pass then a lot of time they would have either binned them lower or cut out extra feature4s like cache.

Now with a 25w part they again want lower than spec heat output to keep longevity. Obviously then the tolerated output would have to be lower than that of a 45w unit. Now there are no published numbers so there is no guaranty ofm which is truly better but the rule of thumb does exist.