CPU upgrade for Samsung R528

Hello all.

Current specs of the Samsung R528 (NP-R528-DS04UA) that needs to be upgraded:
CPU - Pentium DualCore T4400
Chipset - PM45
RAM - 1x 4GB Kingston DDR3-1333 CL9 (runs at DDR3-800 CL6)
GPU - GeForce 310M (625/1530/790, 512MB DDR3 with 64bit bus width)
HDD - WD Caviar Black WD3200BEKX
Display - LG Display LP156WHA-SLL1 (IPS)

I can get a Core 2 Duo P9600 for about $30, or a Core 2 Duo T9600 for about $25. As far as I understand both of these CPUs are compatible with Samsung R528.

My questions are:
1. Is it worth upgrading to these CPUs?
2. How much faster are these CPUs than my current CPU?
3. Can the cooling system of the Samsung R528 handle these CPUs?
4. Can the stock PSU (19V x 3.16A = 60W) of the Samsung R528 handle these CPUs?
5. Should I opt for a 25W model (P9600) instead of a 35W model (T9600) in order to keep the laptop quiet and cool?
6. Should I opt for a 25W model (P9600) instead of a 35W model (T9600) in order to not overload the laptop's stock PSU?

Thanks

 

This thread may be relevant.

Personally I would look for the 25W CPUs because of the lower heat and fan noise although you will probably find that you can undervolt any of these CPUs using RMClock.

John

 

[dr0], I upgraded my notebook from T5800 to T9600, and then downgraded to T4500, and can answer your questions.

1. Yes
2. Noticeably
3. It should if it handles your T4400 well. P9600 is safer.
4. It should if it handles your T4400 well. However, 60W doesn't seem enough for a C2D notebook with dGPU to me.
5. Depends on your luck with undervolting. It's very easy and straightforward on C2Ds using CPUGenie.
6. P9600 is safer.

 

I wonder, why would you do that? And how significant was the difference in heat, temperature, and battery life between T9600 and T4500?

In current configuration the machine is cool&quiet. Last summer I was stressing it with AIDA64 stability test. Ambient temperature was rather high, 27°C or so. I got 70-80°C on CPU an GPU after one hour of stress testing. There was no throttling.
When I play TrackMania Nations Forever (1366x768, high textures, 8x AF, vsync enabled, rest settings set to low), I get 50-70°C on CPU and GPU depending on map and ambient temperature.

In current configuration the machine doesn't seem to have any stability problems, even when stressed with AIDA64.

GeForce 310M has only 14W TDP and only 50 GFLOPS of processing power.
But I'm not much of a gamer. TrackMania Nations Forever is basically the only game I play on this laptop. And it runs buttery smooth with the aforementioned settings.

Normally, I don't run this laptop on battery. I always use it as a desktop PC, which I can carry in my backpack when needed.
Battery wear level on this laptop is 40%. So even if I wanted/needed to use this laptop on battery, I would probably have to buy a new battery before. But I won't be getting new battery for this laptop as long as the old one handles this laptop in sleep mode and allows me to save my work and shut down during power outages.

 

Undervolted to 1.125V T9600 was hitting 92-93C under Prime95+Furmark on a cooling stand, but last summer at 35C ambient I had to downclock it in order not to climb over 100C - very embarrassing. I didn't see many people blaming cooling on this model, so it is likely bad heatsink or that exact T9600 causing such high temps. T5800 was hitting up to 85C (its' throttling temp, doesn't show if it gets hotter). T4500 I didn't stress much, but it certainly runs colder than any of those - and noticeably slower than T9600. Battery lasts couple minutes with any CPU.

Reasons behind downgrading - T9600 with mediocre undervolting ain't dream of a CPU anyway, and I need money for a new notebook. While my 5930G with dead pixels screen costs nothing sold as whole, some parts are/were of value despite their age, and it still runs after downgrades.

 

It seems that T9600 consumes significantly more power than T4500 despite that both CPUs has identical TDP of 35W.
I wonder, if P9600 would draw more power than T4400...

 

It's a lottery. All these CPUs come from the same production line and get sorted according to how welll they work and what power they use. Later CPUs tend to be better than earlier ones as the process gets refined.

However, if there's a surplus of 25W parts (which had a price premium) then some would be sold as 35W parts in order to match supply and demand.

John

 

Just make sure you have some good Gelid GC Extreme or IC Diamond thermal paste.. Those things can suck up the extra heat and keep everything cool.. Hell they can cool 88W desktop CPU's well in the Clevo P750ZM laptop..

 

P9600 all the way if you ask me.
I have it and it works great when compared to the T9600 I had.
Getting a T9600 that runs cool is difficult... most seem to be C0 revision, whereas one would require an E0 revision which runs cool.

At any rate... I was able to undervolt my P9600 severely without any issues and maxed out (under load) temps don't exceed 65 degrees C.

 

Mine was E0, that didn't stop it from running hot. And look at that fabulous number in Deks' signature, indicating his undervolting success!

 

OK. Got it. P9600 undervolts really well, much better than T9600.
But how these CPUs compare while in stock? I mean temperature wise.
Because, as we can all see Intel's TDP ratings aren't very dependable.

Deks, could you please test your P9600 with default voltage?

 

Under default voltage, the CPU can reach about 75 degrees C under maxed out load.
Undervolted, I remove 10 degrees C without any performance loss.
I also used ThrottleStop for undervolting... which is quite simple to do.

P9600 also behaves a lot more stable compared to my older T9600.
Idle temps on P9600 seem to be around 32-35 degrees C, while medium load goes up to 55 degrees C.
Maxed out load goes to 65 degrees C with the undervolt.
Note: 0.925V seems stable for long periods of time, but I experienced a system freeze while running Prime95 (could have been an anomaly, but I doubt that), so I raised the voltage to 0.9375.
Temps remain unchanged (65 degrees C) and I am able to avoid a potential freeze if the CPU is stressed for very long periods of time.

It still undervolts much lower than T9600.
I suspect that the 65 degrees C is a lower limit to how much the CPU will go, because of inefficient cooling in my laptop.
I have also noticed from previous voltage tests that certain decimals keep the temps in a given range until you lower the operational voltage even further.

Like this, I don't lose anything really.

 

Deks, did freezes when gaming on your GT240M finally go away after you increased CPU voltage?

 

Didn't test the games, but the laptop experienced a black screen and system freeze a few hours ago while I was doing stuff online.
:-(
This was after the core clock reduction.
I think the 240M in 5930G can produce instabilities... that, or I simply got a bad 240M (which seems eminently more likely).

Looks like its my 9600M back into this laptop (this will be needed so I can give the laptop to my sister, and I don't want it suddenly going down on her if she's working).

EDIT: Something is strange with how the freezing occurs.
It's as if the GPU gets stressed in some way that produces the freezing, and yet, most of the time when the laptop is surfing the web, etc, it's stable. Even when playing an old game (Birth of the Federation), there aren't any freezes whatsoever.
Or even when working in 3d Studio Max.
They are extremely random at best.

 

Deks, it shouldn't be incompatibile since GT240M works well in my 5930G. And freezes occur when CPU is on stock voltages as well, right?

 

Yup, freezes/black screen occur on stock voltage.
Its likely a bad gpu

 

So, my P9600 has been shipped.
It works. Temperatures and power consumption are lower than I even expected. As for the performance, well, in short, it totally lived up to my expectations.

 

Glad to see the P9600 is living up to expectations.
Its a pretty good CPU actually.
I think I'll just swap out the 240M and replace it with my old 9600m GT before giving the laptop to my sister.