CPU Upgrade - Is this woth it?

Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile Processor T5550
Processor Specifications:
sSpec Number: SLA4E
CPU Speed: 1.83 GHz
PCG:
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Bus/Core Ratio: 11
L2 Cache Size: 2 MB
L2 Cache Speed: 1.83 GHz

To this:

Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile Processor T7700
Processor Specifications:
sSpec Number: SLAF7
CPU Speed: 2.40 GHz
PCG:
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Bus/Core Ratio: 12
L2 Cache Size: 4 MB
L2 Cache Speed: 2.40 GHz

 

Whats the upgrade price, and what tasks do you run ?

The T7700 is a good upgrade over the T5550, and the performance boost will be noticeable mainly in CPU-intensive tasks.

 

If you run CPU intensive tasks like video encoding/decoding, programming, photoshop, etc. then it will be a nice upgrade.

I would however, upgrade instead to the equivalently clocked T8300 which has a smaller die size, more power savings, and less heat.

 

Wow! Thanks for the quick replies!

Mostly video editing/capturing and some gaming (Bioshock, L4D). I'm watching some CPUs on the bay and am trying to pick up for around $100 or so.

Possibly interested in T7500 (2.2 GHz) if I can't get the T7700 at the right price.

 

Try to monitor your CPU usage, RMClock is a nice tool for it as it puts an indicator in the taskbar.

If your current CPU is maxed out often, you will benefit from a CPU upgrade.

 

I have to agreed that the T8300 is a better choice than the older T7700 since they are roughly the same price range on eBay right now (~$170 USD).

The T7500 looks to be about $140 USD right now. I'd spend the extra few bucks for the T8300.

 

They dont actually save power or use less heat. This is because since they use less power and heat they clock them higher so they use the same ammoung of power and create the same ammount of heat but are faster.

 

I went form a T7500 to a T9300 which uses the same architecture to the T8300 and I got a better thermal footprint, my temps went down 10 Celsius which was about 25%, went from 40ish to 30ish.

Some here have told me it wasn't to do with the upgrade, but I didn't do anything else and if I can add, I had a lot less fan activity which you'd have to equate to using less power.

To me if you're going to hassle upgrading your notebook it would be counterproductive to not move to the next generation.

 

I upgraded my wife's SZ from a T7250 to a T9300 and it was cooler by about 10C as well but I attributed it to the fact that I used better thermal compound than the regular stuff that the manufacturer used.

 

I upgraded to a T8300 from a T5670.

Temps went down 15-20c (both procs had AS5 on it)

And I do notice a large improvement, even in just daily tasks, things load quicker, and even my MMO of choice, lotro runs smoother as well

 

I'v read on a site which did compound testing, that toothpaste and vegemite worked as well as many compounds.(Although I wouldn't know for how long)

Thermal transfer compound comparison >> If you think any particular grease is going to cause your CPU to run more than a few degrees Celsius cooler than any other grease, though, then assuming the grease is properly applied, you're dreaming.<< is a quote from this site, scroll down to Overall !

 

I usually use AS5 or MX-2, no real difference between the two. I find that the stock paste or pad most manufacturers use always lacking. A Compaq I had used some rubbery pad that kept shorting out the CPU and didn't provide very good thermal transfer. A few of my other laptops had crusty old stuff that I would swear was closer to something like ceramic.

As for the SZ, the paste used was likely to much as it oozed over the die. Too much can be as bad as too little in case of thermal paste. I'm sure their thermal paste was fine but it was how it was applied stock.

 

Dude I have no doubt that you believe what you're posting, but that doesn't mean it's factual. The Thermal compound comparison site is not the be all and it might not be 100% accurate, but to be able to comply such a comparison would take a high degree of accuracy, especially since he was given compounds to be scientifically tested.

You my friend are allowed to believe what ever you see fit, I care to believe Dan. :yes:

 

Under normal load, my (undervolted) 5550 runs between 43-45C and typically climbs to 55-57C when running a game; what are your temps like with the 8300?

 

My T8300 undervolted runs around 36C, and under load in ORTHOS for 4 minutes reaches 70C.

It runs around 56C when converting video files to DVD format.

 

Anybody have any input on Engineering Samples? Looks like there's a few for sale on the bay. Are they a good buy or a bad investment?

 

My T9300 ran 29c to 33c idling depending on the outside temps without being undervolted, if you pay with PayPal I can't see why you wouldn't at least give one of those ES a try since being refund is 100% through PayPal.

 

T5670 would max out at 65c load.

I haven't run an orthos test, but stressing the cpu with various applications and the the CPU intensive LOTRO I haven't seen the temps go higher than 55c

Idle temps are ~39c.

And I haven't undervolted yet... to many BSODs with digitally signed rmclock driver (vista64),