CPU compatibility

Hi there.. I have recently bought a secondhand averatec 4200 series laptop. It is running a 1.6Ghz pentium m 730 CPU and unforunatelly the only avaiable info on the CPU is the chipset: it is 915gm.. anything else about the board is simply unknown (I also know that the top speed that the board can support is 1.6ghz and that it runs with 533mhz). My question is: can I put a pentium m 725 1.6ghz (which differs form the one I have at the moment just by the bus speed which in this case is only 100mhz instead of the 133mzh on the one I have at themoment) processor on the board? is it gonna run on the board without a bios update? and also, what is the difference in power processing between the two cpus? THank you in advance for your help.
regards

 

it's my beliefe that you are currently using the better CPU of the 2 mentioned... there will be little if any difference in processing power,,, and you'll never be able to notice it between those 2 cpus.... it is my feeling the the Pentium M 730 will likely use less battery power,, probably run a tad cooler,, and is a newer design thus better compaired to the 725.

i'm not sure why you would want to decrease your FSB speed,, i guess the increase in multiplier would be the only reason,,, but in downgrading the CPU from Pentuim M 730 to the 725 you are also stepping backward in CPU technology... the 730 is a DOTHAN based cpu,,, while the 725 is the older BANIAS technology...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=209284

for more exact details on thier differences check at intel or at wiki

but i'd bet you could swap the 2 w/ no problem,,, and no bios update needed
assuming the DOTHAN and BANIAS are pin compatible (i believe they are... but not positive)

later,
bigO

 

thanks for replying so fast.. the thing is: at the moment I'm using a pentium 730 but the bus is stuck at 100mzh and there is no way of putting it up to 133mhz.. that's why (andbelieve me I've tried every possible software change but with no help) I decided to get a 100mhz cpu and just get the 1.6ghz out of the multipliers.. I cannot figure out if it's the motherboard or the CPU (even if when I downloaded the intel software it told me that it was unrecognized and that something something and that the CPU was not made for sale.. )... that's why form the pentium 730 1.6ghz (which runs at barely 1.2ghz with the bus speed on 100mhz) i decided to downgrade to the 725 which should run even with fsb at 100mhz at 1.6 ghz.. Tell me what do you think. regards