Can I upgrade the CPU in my laptop?

I have an old Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-12H that I just used for browsing the web and watching films on. Some time soon I'm gonna take it apart to clean the fan/heatsink out again

While I have the whole thing apart (which isn't a problem as I've done it before) can I upgrade the CPU from a Pentium Dual-Core T2370 @ 1.73GHz to a Pentium Dual-Core T3400 @ 2.17GHz? If not, can I upgrade to anything above a T2370?

The difference may not be huge, but since you can get the T3400 for a couple of quid off eBay (used of course) I thought I may as well as I'm gonna put an SSD in it as well

Will it work okay with the fan/heatsink? (I assume the same fan/heatsink is used in more powerful laptops in the L300 range)

 

Well...they're from the same family and have the same socket. So theoretically you could.

To be honest, I'm just not sure with such an older CPU model. If your Toshiba's firmware/BIOS is locked in the sense it won't allow a stronger CPU, then obviously no. I'd say go for it, as the T3400 probably doesn't cost much.

List of Intel Pentium Dual-Core microprocessors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

You'll need to know the chipset the laptop uses. Then you can look it up on Intel ARK for compatible CPUs.

In general as long as the TDP is the same, there shouldn't be issues with the cooling system.

 

Thanks guys

Any way to tell if the BIOS is locked?

I found this

Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile microprocessor family

CPU-Z says it's socket P (478) so that list says it goes up to the 4500

However, by TDP do you mean the 0.65nm bit (if so 3200 is the max)?

I guess the 3200 is the best option?

 

Theoretically there are a lot of CPUs you could use for the upgrade:

T7100, T7300, T7500, T7700, T7700 (Those will work for sure. The T7300 is very cheap in ebay).
T5*50 such as the T5250, T5450 and T5550. Also the T5800 (Those will work for sure)
T3200, T3400...
T4200, T4300, T4400, T4500 (should work but not guaranteed. I myself could not use one of them on a Toshiba Equium L40)
T6200, T6400, T6500... (as above, should work but no guaranteed)
T8100, T8300 (Those will work since they work on the Equium L40)
T9300, T9500 (They are the same as the above so they should work too)

So basically any CPU either Celeron, Pentium, or Core 2 Duo ,with the FSB of 800MHz should work. The T4000 and T6000 mignt work or might not depending on whether your BIOS supports them. So with them it is case of trial and error.

The T9500 is the most expensive. The T9300 (I have one) is okay price wise and is very fast. It's clocked at 2.5GHz and it runs cool

Good luck with the upgrade.

 

The Satellite Pro L300 was offered with the Intel T3400 CPU; a search for "Satellite Pro L300 T4200" shows it was also offered with the T4200. You'll want to look more into the specifics of those notebooks with the T3xxx/T4xxx CPUs (ensure they have the same chipset as your notebook at the very least), but I'd say go for it. Get a T4200 or T4500; if those are too expensive, then a T3400.

The CPU won't be a night and day difference vs. your T2370 (which probably has enough power for what you're doing). Personally my first upgrade would be to max out the RAM (probably 4GB for you) and add an SSD. The SSD is a no-brainer upgrade because you can transfer that to another computer.

 

As this laptop was sold with the T4200 then all the CPUs I listed above will work

Go for the T9300, and you will not regret it.

 

Well, there's your answer. As far as the BIOS locking goes, I don't think it's anything to worry about with such an older model Toshiba. As the others have said, if that model came with a T4200, then any CPU from your model to the T4200 should work no problem.

 

Okay, just to confirm

I can use any CPU as long as it's socket P (478) and the TDP is <= 35W (which is what my current processor is)?

And it uses the same chipset (which is ICH-8M I believe)

Can I use a 45nm CPU instead of 65nm (the lower the better right?)

 

Err, Not quite. You can use any CPU as long as it can use the same chipset and has the same (or lower) TDP. CPUs with different process nodes tend to have different chipsets, so only in specific cases are 45nm and 65nm compatible.

To use the Core 2 series of CPUs you'll need a 965 chipset. Your laptop may use a GL960. Both of them use the ICH-8M northbridge, but they are not the same chipset (a chipset back then consisted of a northbridge and a southbridge). 960 and 965 are in the same family, but officially they aren't cross-compatible.

If you do happen to have a 965 chipset, the highest CPU you can go to is a T9500, but the T9300 is probably better priced. Basically any Memrom or Penryn CPU who's FSB is 800MHz or less is compatible with 965 chipsets. For 960 chipsets, I'm guessing you're limited to 533Mhz FSB.
Natan's sig has a nice link if you want to try some modding: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...intel-gl960-gl40-useful-info-pll-modders.html

 

That's not quite true. All laptops with the GL960 can be upgraded with Core 2 Duo Socket P CPU that has an FSB of 800MHz. The issue with some model (mostly HP laptops) is their memory controller does not supporting to run the RAM at 800MHz (that an effective FSB of 200). In those cases the work around is to use an 800MHz FSB CPU and a 533MHz (PC 4200) RAM

 

I ordered a C2D 6400 (only cost £6)

should be here tomorrow. will post back whether it works or not

 

I swapped it out and the T6400 works fine

Booted up Windows and it installed the drivers straight away.

Also, even though I did a terrible job with the thermal paste (and used it all so I couldn't fix it) it's running at 38*C idle

 

Good to hear that the upgrade was a success. The latest generation of C2D run at an amazingly low temperature. You can decrease their temperature further by using a software like ThrottleStop. My T9300 runs below 70c at full throttle

 

ok, now HWMonitor is showing both cores at 50*C min when doing nothing at all. I'm sure it needs the thermal paste re-applying but I don't wanna take it all apart again

it was like 30*C idle the other day :/ maybe it's because of the hot weather, and the radiator was on too

 

Download and run wPrime:
Multi-threaded Computer Benchmark | wPrime
It will max out the CPU's processing power - watch the temps during the 32M benchmark. If they spike real fast, yes, you need to re-apply thermal paste.

 

they went up to 66 on core 0 and 71 on core 1

 

Sounds OK to me. Load temps tell the real story.

 

Since the temps are alright during 32M, if you want to stress for longer, you could run the 1024 benchmark or download Intel XTU and run the stress test for how long you'd like.