Dell Vostro 1500 CPU Upgrade to 2.6ghz

Just in case anyone is interested, I just upgraded my Vostro 1500 CPU from the original 1.6ghz dual core to an Intel T9500 2.6ghz dual core Penryn 45nm etc etc....

My reason for upgrading was the 1.6ghz did not support VMX Virtual Machine eXtensions and I needed that for running Windows 7 64 bit with a virtual machine (long story).

Anyhow, it works fine. I had already upgraded the BIOS to the latest release and downloaded the manual from Dell's website. Any intermediate hardware tech should be able to swap out the CPU in about 20 minutes.

CPU benchmarks are up around 90-100% depending on which one and game frame rates are up between 30-60% (so far).

I haven't tried Fallout 3 yet but that's on the list.

That's it, no more upgrades for awhile.

CE

 

Good to hear it was a success. I upgraded my Studio 15's T5750 (2.0GHz/667MHz FSB/2MB L2) to the T9500 as well.

 

I have contemplated upgrading my dell to something like that, but my 8100 2.1ghz 3MB 800mhz FSB does just fine for gaming and multitasking. Mastershroom how was your improvement since it seems a little closer to mine (although you went from 667FSB to an 800FSB)? I love my dell and dont wanna get rid of it anytime soon, but also the thought of saving a few hundred for when I need to replace my 17in sounds nice too.

 

In retrospect, I'm not sure the upgrade was entirely necessary in terms of sheer performance, although I got an excellent price on it, especially considering it was non-ES. I do notice Windows appears slightly quicker to boot up, although it's a small difference and may very well be my imagination. Some games seem to have benefited from the extra 600MHz, notably CoD4, which used to be absolutely unplayable at 1024x768, and now works with a few lowered settings.

I don't do audio or video editing, so I really gain no benefit there.

I guess the main thing I've really gained from the upgrade is better heat management. The T5750 was an older Merom core 65nm processor, which was both warmer and used more power compared to the T9500, which is a newer Penryn core 45nm. My average idle temperatures dropped nearly 15 Celsius, although part of that may be because in the process of swapping, I replaced the poor quality Dell thermal pad between the processor die and heatsink with some fresh Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste.

 

Yeah I went with the new (at the time) 45nm for my dell and noticed a HUGE decrease in temps over the vostro 1500 with a merom we have at work. I do alot of programming and compiling, and might have to do some matlab(not sure how CPU intensive this application is) for future math classes depending on if I choose to further my encryption studies. I think Ill look into prices for fun and if they arent too bad Ill choose then. Thanks!

 

Matlab definitely loves CPU power. You'll get some good return out of that.

 

Yeah I thought I would, but the t9300 on newegg is $330 and thats a little much for me right now. Not to mention I dont have enough honeydo points built up for such a purchase. Ill just deal with what I have I guess, and maybe do my more serious number crunching on the t400 if I have too.

 

Here's a couple eBay listings for the T9500, non-ES:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core2Duo-Penryn-T9500-2-6Ghz-800Mhz-Laptop-CPU_W0QQitemZ270405054432QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ef565afe0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1234|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Intel-Core-2-Duo-Mobile-T9500-2-6GHz-2-6-GH-CPU-OEM_W0QQitemZ190312788565QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c4f86b255&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1234|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50

These are both under $300, excellent prices for the T9500. You can also find ES (engineering sample) versions for even less. There is a T9500 ES for $210 from a powerseller.

 

UPDATE:

I've Installed and run Fallout 3.
The auto setup gave me HIGH settings.

So far it runs pretty nice without overclocking the video card.

Fallout on a Vostro. Who would've thunk it?

CE

 

I loved my Vostro 1500. At the time, it was the only notebook under $1k that came with an 8600M GT.

Too bad I sold it to my girlfriend.


You might as well throw a 9600M GT with 512MB DDR3 in there. I know I would.

 

Wait, there's a 9600M GT in the Dell form factor?

CE

 

Is there a card compatible with the Vostro 1500 that makes this possible, or was this comment tongue in cheek?

 

Nope nver was, nver will...

 

Okay. Figured as much.