Best CPU for Sony Vaio?

So I've had my Sony Vaio since 2007, and I've recently started upgrading it. I upgraded my cpu from a Pentium T2310 1.46GHz, to a Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0GHz. I need a little more cpu horsepower to watch 1080p twitch streams and render videos in Vegas 12. So far, I've been looking at the T7800 2.6GHz and the X7800 2.6GHz. I've seen the T7800 for as low as $45 on ebay.

My question is the T7800 compatible with my VGN-NR120E which has a GL960 northbridge?

 

If it works with the T7250 it will probably work with the T7800. Do realize that the GL960 doesn't officially support anything better than Pentiums, though, so nothing is really guaranteed.

 

I would say you need to also look at your CPU socket and see what it say about the socket type and do a search on eBay for that socket or wikipedia search on that socket and you will come up with some information as what that socket support in processor. That is how I found out what works in my P205 and upgraded it to a T7200 from looking at wikipedia site and now it is formatted with Windows 7x64 before the install disk with would stop saying incompatible processor.

 

I would go for T9500. Will it work or not, depends on BIOS. It is really the best you can put there.

 

The motherboard is a Socket P. My T7250 works perfectly with the full 800MHz FSB.

 

I think I'm going to try a T9300 that my friend owns. Hopefully it works.

 

The T9300 should work, provided there's BIOS support. On my Socket P Dell, there was a BIOS update somewhere along the line (early 2008 IIRC) that added support for those CPUs. The T7800 would also work.

Technically, the best CPU for you laptop is the Core 2 Extreme X9000, but those are way overpriced compared to just-slightly slower CPUs. If your friend has a spare T9300, that'll give you most of what you could get from the X9000, so you might as well go with that.

 

Is there any chance that a Q9000 would work in my laptop.

 

No, Q9000 was introduced with _45 series chipsets. Alot of motherboards whitelist Core 2 Quads, even most Montevina laptops whitelist it. Most laptop's power circuitry can't handle the 45W quad core.

 

Status update: The T9300 works! Idle temps are down from 60C to 30C and I can finally watch 1080p twitch streams. I guess the VGN-NR120E is compatible with Penryn. Yeah!!!!

 

I know this is a late update, but it may be helpful for some.

After using that T9300 for a few months I decided to switch up my CPU, motherboard, RAM, and wifi entirely. I wanted to have a slightly faster CPU, better graphics (which would require a motherboard from one of the higher end VGN-NR models), I wanted more RAM (offered on the PM965 chipset) and faster wireless. After a fair amount of research I determined that I needed a motherboard out of a VGN-NR21S or equivalent. This motherboard is referenced by its model number: MBX-185. It has a Nvidia 8400M GT onboard with Intel's PM965 chipset. It uses a different heatpipe layout than my original GL960 board.

I purchased an X7900, an MBX-185 from a VGN-Nr21S, 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 and a new Intel 802.11ac wireless card. While I was at it I also purchased a new keyboard, bottom assembly, two new batteries and a USB 3.0 ExpressCard. In order for the different motherboard to work I needed to buy some extra screws that weren't originally used in my laptop and I needed the VGN-NR21S style heatpipe and GPU heatsink assembly. The installation wasn't very difficult, only occupying two hours or so.



Drivers on the other hand, were a burden. The chipset and wireless drivers were simple. SD card and sound drivers remained from the previous motherboard (I'm running the same installation of windows as I ran with the GL960 motherboard) although I don't think it's possible to find those drivers for the VGN-NR21S. Graphics drivers were the major headache. Nvidia's driver refused to install saying that it doesn't support my hardware. It turns out that Sony has the 8400M GT on my board locked down to only work with an OEM driver. So I followed the directions of some other 8400M GT owners on another forum and I modified the .ini file of a 2010 Nvidia Windows Update driver. It required a little fudging but I finally got the driver to install and my experience has been good since then. This driver does have its own set of glitches in programs such as Firefox, Steam, and Windows 10. I did try the Windows 10 preview a few months ago from the time of this writing and it seemed to run well but there were a few graphical glitches within the W10 UI and Office 13. I went back to Windows 7 after a week or so because the glitches were becoming to much. I think I'll just stick to my Windows 7 on this laptop for the foreseeable future.

 

So you spent a whole bunch of money upgrading an extremely outdated notebook that, in the end, doesn't work 100% correctly. That about right?

 

Ouch!

 

Haha. I can't imagine OP spent that much, and a good experiment that he got working. That being said, unless it was a "just for fun" experiment, you can get a $500-600 thin and light that will outperform that Vaio by a large margin.

 

Well I guess you could say that I'm attached to this laptop. I purchased it new in 2007 and it hasn't let me down. I'm addicted to the 15.4" form factor and the 16:10 screen. I like how solid and heavy the Vaio is. The trackpad is a godsend, much better than anything I've seen on newer notebooks.

As far as all of the upgrades I've put into it, I know that it may not have been a very logical decision to pour $300 into an old 2007 Sony, but it was very fun and interesting to cram all of this hardware into a machine which originally had a 1.4GHz Pentium, 1GB DDR2, and horrid Intel graphics. With its current hardware configuration, I can watch 1080p youtube and twitch, edit and render videos in Vegas, play GTA, Sims, and Source games, and just browse the web with the most accurate, no-nonsense trackpad I've ever experienced. After fiddling with drivers enough, this Vaio works 99% correctly. The only real issue I have now is a throttling issue with the GPU while the Vaio is plugged into the wall.

This project was mostly for fun, but also to revive my Vaio for daily use. I hope to enjoy another two years with this Vaio, so that I retire it on its 10th birthday!

 

After 8 years of use it it beginning to show some signs of wear particularly around the palm rest and track pad. The lid cover has its fair share of digns and scratches too.

 

Wow, My VAIO VGN-NR110E also very old but still working good.
I have upgraded it to T7700 CPU and 3GB RAM,
also placed two Hard Disks, 1-500GB and second is original one 120GB instead of CDROM
Ordered T9500 from ebay but looks like it get lost.
Thinking to order X7900 or T9500 again.

 

See my upgrade results for my Sony VAIO VGN-NR110E with T9500 on GL960 chipset success!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...or-upgradability.212097/page-32#post-10183410

 

See my upgrade Success with T9500 on GL960 chipset for VAIO VGN-NR110E

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...or-upgradability.212097/page-32#post-10183410