Compaq Presario CQ60 Upgrades

Hi

I currently have the above laptop with the following specs:

AMD Sempron SI-40
1GB RAM
NVIDIA Geforce 8200M G
120GB Hard Drive

With Windows 7 Ultimate

Iv'e checked the service manual and it say's the following processors are compatible SI-40, SI-42, QL-60, QL-62, RM-70, RM-72, ZM-80, ZM-82.

Now I originally wanted to go for the ZM-82 as I thought that was probably the best, but research showed on some CPU benchmarks that the RM-70 was faster at some thing's.

So I'm a bit confused as what to get now, any advice would be much appreciated.

Eg. Is the ZM-82 my best option? For the price etc.

 

Whats the price difference between the RM-70 & ZM-82? The ZM-82 wont be a huge jump in performance but it does have +200MHz & a bit more cache. Since you are upgrading from a single core Sempron either cpu should do fine.

 

You could upgrade as everything is socket S1G2 but do you really want to? HP and Compaq have been notorious for very poor cooling system designs, not to mention that the Sempron you have is 20 watt and the Turions you want to upgrade to are 35 watt, an extra burden your cooling system has to deal with. That and Turion Ultra have been known to run very hot, and the ones you listed only offer more cache (unless you render/compile 24/7) the ones with less cache would be more beneficial.

 

I think on eBay the price difference is only about £10 - £20 as I live in the UK. I wouldn't mind paying a bit more if I knew it was worth it, but I'm slightly confused as I thought the ZM-82 is better on paper, but I seen on some CPU comparison's that the RM-70 is slightly better on some test's (although on some, the ZM-82 is slightly better).

So I was just wondering if anyone know's if there is actually much difference between the both?

I have had heat issue's with this, until I replaced the thermal paste with Arctic Silver 5 and cleaned the fan (the dust build up in the fan was horrendous, it was literally like a sponge clogging the fan up) since Iv'e done that it's been ok.

The only reason I'm wanting to upgrade is for a bit of gaming (not hardcore) like for WOW as I don't have a desktop, so to just give it a bit more oomph.

Also, I am currently using 32bit Windows 7 and was looking at upgrading the RAM (along with the processor) and upgrading to 64bit Windows 7, would this be advisable?

 

Well if you understand the risks and never had a heat issue (very rare with HP/Compaq, the main reason our tech shop RMA's them to HP is very bad heat problems), then go for the upgrade. If 40 dollars can save you from buying another laptop then it would be worth it.

If your laptop was capped to 4 GB, honestly I wouldn't waste your time going to 64 bit Windows, there is hardly a difference. If it could go to 8 GB (highly doubt it) then go for 64 bit Windows but make sure there are drivers out there for 64 bit..

 

I am slightly worried now as it does get warm sometimes (still) and if there is a 15W difference then that sounds a lot (although I'm not sure). Would it be wise to go for one with less wattage then? I assumed it would be ok as that is the highest one on the service manual, although I do know what you mean about the heat issue.

What about the Athlon processors that fit, or the non-ultra Turion's? Are they any good, and do they have high wattage?

Also I think I'l leave the 64bit Windows then. It states in the service manual it's capable of 4GB RAM and it only has 2 slots. So am I right in thinking that upgrading to 4GB RAM will also give me a good performance boost?

 

I'd go with the cooler running processor. The faster one will just downclock if it gets too hot anyway.