Dell E1705 Graphics, CPU upgrade

Hey,
I've been thinking about joining this forum for about a year now, hesitating about upgrading my laptop. I'm going to simply start by saying my parents won't let me buy a new laptop but that I have quite a bit of cash to spend on upgrades for my Dell E1705 (I know it sounds stupid, but it's just like that).
I currently have a Intel Core 2 Duo (T7200) 2.00 GHz CPU and a ATI X1400 video card.
It's not too bad, but I'd like some more power. I'm really an amateur for this type of stuff and have f***ed computers over pretty bad before (maybe this is why my parents won't let me buy a new computer).
I don't want to mess up this computer because if I do, my parents will kill me. I basically want to be able to open the laptop, do the hardware changes, close the lid, turn on my computer, and be able to do the usual stuff I want to do.
Ok, now, I can spend around 600 bucks on a new CPU and same for the video card. I can always stretch my budget a bit, but i'm basically looking for top of the line components. Could you help me out with this because I don't know anything about components fitting into my computer or not. I need you to tell me about a processor or a video card that would fit in my computer.

I've looked at guides but they are old and I can't post them here (one was on legitreviews and one of notebookcheck) so I was wondering if I could put a more modern video card and CPU in. Also, I don't want to order online because I don't have a credit card. I live in NYC so I'm pretty sure I can get this at a store, if you guys could tell me one that's decent I'd appreciate it.
Thanks a lot and I hope that everything will go as planned.
I hate do admit it by the way, but like 80% of the reason I'm doing this is to be able to play GTA IV smooth on my computer .
I hope to hear some responses soon,
Ben

 

I have 2 e1705's and like them very much...here's a few thoughts for you:

I think the max processor your motherboard will run is a T7600...from various discussions on another forum, most people say you won't see much difference between a T7200, a T7400 and a T7600 - most say the T7400 is the sweet spot for a balance of cost vs. performance - i.e. the T7600 isn't worth the extra cost for the small gain in speed. Also note that the e1705 motherboard cannot take advantage of the top dog T7600G processor which is overclockable when installed in an XPS M1710 motherboard. That said, I have a T7200 and am happy with the performance - it actually seemed to make the most noticeable difference in my e1705 running Vista....I saw almost no difference when installed in my other e1705, an XP MCE machine, so I left it in the Vista machine and run a T2400 in the XP lappy.

Speaking of operating systems, you didn't mention what you are running...but if Vista, I'd personally max out the memory to 4GB since memory is pretty cheap right now, at least online.

Your big limiter is the X1400 video card....you'll probably want the Nvidia 7950GTX with 512MB of memory, but they are hard to find for a reasonable cost, and they do run hotter and draw more power than the X1400. If you can't find a 7950GTX, you could substitute the card from the business oriented machines, the Nvidia Quadro FX3500M...it has 512MB of memory as well....if all else fails you can step down to the 7900GTX or the business equivalent, the Quadro FX2500M. Whatever you do, make sure the Nvidia card you get has the dual heat pipes so it doesn't cook itself completely. Also be sure to install a program call i18KfanGUI, which allows manual control (and automatic too) over the system fans so you can keep the system cool when gaming. If you install a dual heat pipe card into a laptop originally built with a single pipe base, you'll need to make a slight modification to the base, you can find this by googling it - I'm not sure if it's OK on here to reference another forum....

Good luck...

 

Thanks for the prompt reply Chris,
I will buy 4GB of RAM but don't they say the max on this laptop is 2GB?
I'll probably keep the processor.
I looked up the video card (the 7950M GTX) though and people say it's outdated. Can this laptop support newer video cards (9800M GT?). and do you know where i can buy the video card in NYC?
thanks again.
oh and i'm running XP by the way but I'm planning to upgrade to vista this week end.

 

I'm running 4GB of ram in mine, and while a 32bit operating system will not recognize all 4GB, it can and will show/use more than 2GB - mine shows 3.25GB with 2 2GB sticks installed.

As far as the video card: Sorry to say that the 79XX series cards are all the newer this laptop will support - BIOS issue, as well as fit, no doubt. Laptops aren't as easy to upgrade as desktops in this regard.

I'm not sure I would consider Vista an upgrade from XP - it does look nice and seems relatively stable, but it is a much more bloated operating system that will use more of the RAM....you may see a slowdown on your system with it...I'd personally stay with XP if it were me.

One thing I forgot from before, you could upgrade your hard drive to a 7200 RPM model, assuming it currently has a 5400 RPM drive, this will net another incremental improvement in performance.

As far as where to buy.....can't help much there...I live in Michigan and buy most of my computer stuff online. Ebay is likely your only option for the video card and they're getting scarce on there.

 

ouch, I really can't buy anything online...
I will probably upgrade the hard disk as well this week end but if I can't buy the video card, i probably won't upgrade my memory or my hard disk. If i do, i'll get a SSD or does the bios not support it?

 

Dunno about SSD - hopefully someone else does. I'm not sure how graphics/memory intense GTA IV is, but my lappy runs all the half-life games and expansion packs pretty well, but maybe they're not all that impressive anymore. I actually read a review some time back on one of the first laptops with an SSD and they weren't impressed - they said the seek time was pretty slow overall compared to a conventional drive, but perhaps things improved since then, although that was less than a year ago.

One other thing I forgot: If you do upgrade your video card and processor, you'll need a better power supply/AC adapter, either the 130W PA-13 or the 150W PA-15. These were used on the XPS series machines and can be found on ebay - just watch out for the cheap Chinese knockoffs. Also, if you don't have the 9-cell 80 watt-hour battery, you'll need that too - apparently the XPS M1710's with all these "upgrades" (mostly standard on the M1710, but upgrades to us e1705 users) won't boot on the 6-cell 53 watt-hour battery unless the system is plugged into the power adapter.....

 

alright, cool
thanks for all the tips and answers, i really need them
i'm going to be looking for a video card, hoping to find it (theres so much in nyc, its impossible to not be able to find this).
this week end i'm probably going to be buying ram and a faster hdd for this computer.
thanks

 

Upgrading the GPU is possible, but please note:
TJJP77 made a mistake: The FX3500M is not supported by the system, the FX2500M is

Here is a site dedicated to the upgrade of the E1705's graphics card.
I believe the best graphics card you can get for it is a 7900GTX/FX2500M.
I have never seen a E1705 with a 7950GTX.

http://eduncan911.com/archive/2007/12/11/why-the-inspiron-is-a-king.aspx

The cpu is also upgradeable. You can install a T7400 or a T7600 in it.
Their is no such thing as a T7600G. Dell added the "G" at the end because the XPS1710 allowed overclocking. Buying the T7600G was buying the XPS 1710 with a normal T7600 and a bios which allowed for overclocking.
My friend bought a XPS1710 with the T7600G and the chip inside was a standard T7600

You cant buy a new socket M cpu or a new graphics card in any store. You can only buy the new graphics card from dell or threw Ebay. I highly doubt you will ever find a T7400 or T7600 in any store.

You can always upgrade the harddrive and memory.
The E1705 supports a maximum of 4 gb of Pc5300 sodimm memory (2 x 2Gb)
The harddrives used by the E1705 are standard SATA drives, and you can install up to a 320gb 7200rpm drive or a 500gb 5400rpm drive.

K-TRON

 

I'll have to respectfully disagree about the FX3500M not working in an e1705 - there's plenty of folks on notebookforums.com who've done it. According to the folks over there, the FX3500M is the exact same card as a 7950GTX (which is known to work), so it should work as well.....there's a thread with all the mods/info related to the e1705 and M1710 laptops on notebookforums.com, but I can't link with my post count.

Also, while the 7950GTX may not have been sold in an e1705, it fits and can be made to work, again many folks have done it. Needless to say, you'll need different drivers to make either the FX3500M or 7950GTX work....

Now, what doesn't work is the FX3600M found on the newer M6300 business laptop. Even though it's the same form-factor and fits, evidently it makes the screen considerably dimmer even at max brightness. Apparently some folks have discovered that the lower end FX1600M does work though....

I'll give you the T7600G though - that may have just been a BIOS trick unique to the M1710.

 

I stand corrected by TJJP77, + rep
apparently the 7950GTX does work, here are the links from the search:
http://www.notebookreview.com/search.asp?q=E1705+7950GTX&sa=Google+Search&domains=NotebookReview.com&client=techtarget-tg&channel=NotebookReview.com&sitesearch=NotebookReview.com&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&flav=0000&sig=tcemdfeY1fGjMVd_&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en&btnAction=SEARCH

K-TRON

 

Cool - thanks! I hate to reference those "other" folks on that "other" forum since I know some forums aren't cool with that, but when I first got my e1705 (and even before, when I was doing research) I spent a bunch of time over there looking up mods I could do to my computer....this was back when the e1705 was just being phased out in favor of the 1720/21 series and there were a ton of threads on the e1705/M1710 back then....no doubt they're ancient history now....such is life with high tech devices....

 

Yes, the E1705 CAN actually support the 7950 GTX GPU. I know this because I witnessed, and helped my friend to mod his E7105 to a 7950 GTX... Their form factors with the 7900 GTX are nearly identical.

But that was quite a while back since I did it. And yes, I recalled clearly that you will need to snip some part of the metal holder to fit it correctly.

The E1705 personally in my experience and in my point of view is one of the most modifiable laptops I ever came across till this day.

EDIT: Unfortunately, the Inspiron 1720 doesn't follow fit. Probably Dell realized about this mod and changed the GPU slot design entirely for the 1720's release. I haven't found any 1720 with a higher end graphics card other than 8600M GT DDR2 - I'm stuck.

 

Yeah, the beauty of the e1705 is that other than spare video cards, there's plenty of parts out there to mod these units, both from an appearance and performance perspective. Moddability was one of the main selling points to me. Also the construction was nicer than the 1720 in my view - cast magnesium base, metal LCD backcover, easy to take apart/put back together. The price I paid on the Dell Outlet didn't hurt either....
The same basic laptop design spawned the:

e1705
XPS M1710
Precision M90
Precision M6300

So, if you don't like the white/silver look, you can get some parts from an M90 and give it a black/silver look. Or add XPS external parts....I personally liked the look of the silver XPS keyboard better so I modded both of mine to add this...also added bluetooth to both of them as well. Easy and cheap mods....

 

Hmm, the only thing I did to my 1720 was to swap the keyboard of a Vostro 1700 and its command cover to have a black and silver mix and mod it with 6GB RAM . Doesn't seem to have the same fate of the E1705's upgradability factor especially the GPU.

Oh yeah, I agree, M6300 is nearly identical to E1705.

 

I've always felt the T7600G was a bios unlock for the T7600.

But as far as I know, there's only one bios for the M1710 and that's MXG61 A07, with or without a "G" service tag.

 

Alright thanks. I'll really need to get the 7950 gtx or the fx3500M somehow, but i can't buy it on ebay...