GL960 Chipset Processor Upgradability

I have an old Acer 2920Z featuring:
- Intel Core Duo T2370, 1.73 GHz, FSB 533 MHz, mult. 13x, volt. 1.075-1.175, TDP 35W, socket P
- ram 1 GB DDR2 PC2-5300 (333 MHz)
- motherboard "Calado", chipset Intel GL960 according to official specs, but Mobile Intel 965 Express according to CPU-Z
- bios Phoenix Technologies v.1.08
- hard disk Toshiba 160 GB, 5400 rpm, sata 1
- Windows XP Home

I'd like to replace the hdd with a ssd and the cpu with a more powerful one. My questions:
1) since the bios does not allow to change any parameters like FSB, multiplier, voltage, etc. I suppose I necessarily must use a cpu with 13x multiplier or am I wrong? e.g. T3400 or T7800 or T9600. The latters are Core 2 Duo, can they work on my mainboard?
2) is there a way to "unlock" my bios, letting me modify the values of FSB, multiplier, etc.?
3) can I install more than 2 GB of ram? support.acer.com says max ram allowed is 2 GB, but what happen if I put 3 or 4 GB?
4) do you think Windows 7 64 bit is too heavy to run on this machine, even if upgraded, or Windows XP (32 or 64 bit) is still the better choice?

Thanks for any help.

 

unless i'm wrong the FSB, Multiplier, Voltage are set by the BIOS according to the CPU detected. search the ACER forum for ACER 5315 CPU upgrade there is a bunch of info on there. i gathered the info and made the first 2 posts which detail upgrading everything possible on the 5315. it also has the GL960 chipset, but after upgrading the CPU to T5450 and swapping the top 1gig ram with a 2 gig stick, i have C2D cpu (which i upgraded again but can't recall the model #) with 3 gigs of ram, a 8x dvd burner, an atheros N wifi mini pci card and a 3rd antenna. i personally still like XP PRO 32 bit just for speed. and CPUZ reports the chipset as a GM965.

last time i checked the CPU GUIDES the T9500 was the fastest CPU made in the 478 socket P format, but that was over a year ago so the T9600 might work. the main thing i would do is check the changelog.txt files for the current and previous bios versions for your laptop. Acer was good about documenting changes made to each bios version and tells when support for different processors is added. but you may have to read all the different versions of bios changelog.txt files to find out what processsors are supported by your BIOS.

usually BIOS is the limiting factor as long as the cpu fits the socket.

 

last time i checked the T9500 was the fastest CPU the 960/950 chipset supported, but it's been a year since i checked for newer chips. the T9600 may work, but it would have to be a 478 pin socketP cpu.

 

thank Toshiba for a crappy BIOS... that is the problem. i've seen some laptops that only work with OEM parts such as network cards, DVD burners, and even HDDs. they do that to sell their parts at a premium, and to force users to upgrade laptops more frequently.

 

you should be fine... just make sure to keep the fan and heat fins clean... you could also use ARTIC SILVER thermal paste instead of reusing the OEM goop!

 

install the original processor and then make sure you have the latest BIOS installed.... if you don't then flash the BIOS following the directions found at the acer support site.

 

I live in Mazatlan Mexico, Have an Aspire 5715z with Intel T2370 socket P, chipset GL960, upgraded to Intel T9500 successfully bought the T9500 used for very little!

 

Success from Celeron 550 M Travel Mate 5320 201 blablabla.. with 533 FSB to >>> 800 Mhz FSB and CORE 2 DUO! cheap as never! 20 USD only! thx ebay!
See screen below and answer me plz for red text.. Really dont know its good or bad -)


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

The T8300 2.4ghz is probably the best value upgrade @ around $30 on Ebay. It made Left 4 Dead / 2 playable.

 

You could try undervolting with either Throttlestop or RM Clock, it's easier with Throttlestop, download and install, set multiplier as 10 and reduce the VID step by step to a stable voltage while stress testing with Prime95 or Orthos, you could reduce the temps significantly.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html

 

Hi, I have a HP 550 laptop with a 530 1,73 Ghz Celeron processor. According to CPU-Z this processor has socket 479 mPGA which if I am correct is socket M. The Intel website however tells me that I have socket P. Which of the 2 is correct and what are the compatible processors for my laptop. Are there people here that have successfully upgraded the HP 550 with a C2D processors

 

530 celeron M is Socket P. mPGA is other thing.. 7 week ago i have CEleron M550 2.0 Mhz - Now its C2D T5670.
With gl960 u can place here T7500 800FSB model or above. and i dont sure about Penryr model's like T8***,T9***... :hi2: GL!

 

hi guys.
i just stumbled across this thread by chance. i have a acer 5320 with Motherboard Chipset Intel Crestline-GML GL960...cpu 1.86/1mb/533.
im very confused with the socket i have..mpga479. i cant seem to get my head around it.no matter how mainy times i read up on it..lol.
so i was wondering if somebody could tell me my cpu upgrade options as to fitting a C2D??. i know its a old laptop but its served me well and would like to breath some new life into it.

 

CPU-Z didn't help me with the right socket on my laptop. I downloaded HWiNFO32 and it gave me a good report on the hardware of my laptop.

I just received my C2D T5800 processor with the post today. Bought it on Ebay for $ 9,-. Will try to install it on my laptop tonight. If I don't report back it means that I broke my laptop

 

Back online. So I guess it is possible to upgrade the HP 550 with Celeron 530 processor . To be honest it's a disaster to exchange the cpu on this model laptop. You literally have to pull apart the laptop till the last screw to get to the bottom of the motherboard.



The reason that I did the upgrade is because I am running Windows 7 and after several of those marvelous Windows updates I could not get the 720P Youtube movies to play fluent anymore. So it was either forking out $ 500,- or more for a new laptop or buying a $9,- T5800 processor from Ebay. I am running the new processor for less than an hour but till now I am really glad. Youtube and Vimeo HD movies play fluent again. Here is a before and after screenshot from HWiNFO32:

 

Ok. I discovered the first problem. After waking up the laptop up from standby the screen scrambles and the mouse becomes unresponsive. After a minute or so I get a blue screen very shortly followed by a reboot. Once rebooted everything is fine again.

I believe I read somewhere that this could be related to the speed of the memory?

 

Hi guys. I'm new here.

So, I got my hands on MSI MS-163 with gl960 chipset. I wanted to upgrade celeron cpu, so I searched on google and ended up here.

I found out that this chipset supports 533 / 667 / 800mhz fsb. I have installed Intel C2D T7250 cpu with 800mhz and laptop works without any problem.

here is screenshot of supported fsb and summary [from everest]:

 

I have a 1GB and a 2GG module in my laptop. Both are PC2-5300 module. After I replaced my Celeron processor with the C2D T5800 processor (see a few posts back) my graphic card gave a scrambled image. This could only be resolved by starting the laptop via the BIOS. After reading similar issues on page 9 of this topic I bought a (used) 1GB PC-4200 memory module.

Normally you would just go to the BIOS and adjust the memory timing. HP locks the BIOS in such a manner that there is no way of adjusting things like this.

Anyway, after replacing the 1GB module in my laptop with the PC2-4200 module everything works fine again. The timing is back on 4-4-4-12 and it starts up normally from standby and after complete restarts.

A big thanks for the people in this topic that inspired me to upgrade my laptop with a C2D processor. I'm happy with it.

 

After enough research (over 2 damn years), I think I can come up with a few conclusions.

The following conclusions may not be true. I simply believe them, based on my personal frustrations and what others have posted in this thread. Yes, I have read the entire thread.

-----

The Conclusions

Those of you reporting successful upgrades to an 800 MT/s FSB Core2 Duo are running on a 'modified' (downgraded) GM965 chipset. I'm guessing the limitation is simply the 3 GB RAM. Everything else appears to be stock GM965 which is why your Core 2 Duo works. SpeedStep will also work.

Those reporting that upgrades failed, have true GL960 chipsets. So you're stuck to 533 MT/s processors which looks like Celerons only. Core Duos won't work, despite having a 533 MT/s FSB. You'll also be stuck to 2 GB RAM. Naturally, SpeedStep won't work as the GL960 was only supposed to support Celerons.

It may also be worth running GPU-Z to see if the GMA X3100 is running at 400 MHz (GL960) or 500 MHz (GM965).

-----

What ASUS Has Suggested

Now, I have been told by ASUS that running two 2 GB DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) RAM modules in either of these chipsets will generate blue screens.

Officially, the GM965 supports up to 4 GB DDR2-667 (PC2-5300), so you could try two 2 GB 667 MT/s modules, or a single 4 GB module. This may or may not work for those of you with the fake GL960's. For true GM965 chipsets, it'll work. For true GL960 chipsets, you'll be stuck to 2 GB.

-----

Personal Experiences with an ASUS X58L

Myself, I have been both frustrated and confused over the past two years trying to figure out a suitable upgrade for my laptop. Like some of you have been reporting, CPU-Z, Speccy and Everest all report the GL960 chipset but Intel's tool reports the GM965.

ASUS's support isn't great. They just redirected me to the specifications of my laptop, which said GL960, but at the same time, the laptop's processor options didn't list a single 533 MT/s processor — only 667 MT/s and 800 MT/s. This didn't help the confusion.

This also leads me to believe that I have a fake GL960 — also known as a 'downgraded' GM965 where there's a 3 GB RAM limitation — but the front-side bus can operate at the full 800 MT/s. I also ran GPU-Z which said my GMA X3100 was running at 500 MHz.


Before the Upgrade — Celeron M 575

Before any upgrade, I was using a Celeron M 575, the lowest option for my laptop according to ASUS's specifications. Even that has a 667 MT/s FSB. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but a proper GL960 chipset wouldn't overclock its bus from 533 MT/s to support a different processor, would it? Another reason to think of a 'downgraded' GM965.


Upgrade #1 — Celeron M 925 (45 nm Penryn)

Before I move on, I should explain that my ultimate goal is to run a Core2 Duo T9300, which is both a Penryn processor and officially unsupported by ASUS's specifications.

As a cheap 'tryout' upgrade, I purchased a Celeron M 925 for £4.95 from eBay to see if my BIOS supported Penryns. Happily, it did as the upgrade was successful. Windows installed the appropriate drivers upon loading into the desktop.

For those of you with an X58L like me, you'll need BIOS 203 for Penryn support.


Upgrade #2 — Core2 Duo T5900

Yes, I know, back to a Merom. The simple reason was so that I had a reasonably powerful processor while I waited for a sensible T9300 listing on eBay. Both Celerons are still with me.

This is where I'm at now. It's running fine as it's the highest officially supported processor by ASUS. But even so, its FSB is 800 MT/s. A true GL960 chipset would downclock it to 533 MT/s, giving the processor a maximum clock rate of 1.47 GHz, not the full 2.20 GHz which is what I'm getting. SpeedStep also works, according to CPU-Z and Speccy.


Upgrade #3 — Core2 Duo T9300 (45 nm Penryn)

My ultimate goal is this. Now that I know Penryns are supported by my BIOS, I can proceed with a T9300. With a real GM965 or a fake GL960, it'll run at the full 2.50 GHz with SpeedStep. With a real GL960, it'll be fixed at 1.67 GHz without SpeedStep (assuming it even boots at all).

I have seen a user report a successful upgrade to the T9500 with a "GL960" chipset, although it's probably a modified GM965. This user also never specified if SpeedStep was working, or post any screenshots from CPU-Z or similar programs.

Some users have also stated that CPU-Z changed from GL960 to GM965 as soon as they upgraded their processor to an 800 MT/s Core2 Duo. Mine, unfortunately, still says GL960, even with the T5900 installed.

I'm also yet to try the RAM suggestion by ASUS. I'm currently running with 3 GB with no stability issues whatsoever.

-----

I have come here to help out. Those of you reporting GL960 chipsets may actually have a GM965 with a 3 GB RAM limitation. This limit sucks and I personally don't see a point in doing it, but such is life. I hate it when manufacturers use modified chipsets, I mean how hard is it to use a GL960 or GM965? Why be in the middle?

If you have any further questions about my experiences, please don't hesitate to ask in this thread, or PM me.

Kind regards,
Dylan.

 

Hello everyone,
Few days ago I purchased cheap Acer Extensa 5220.
CPU: Intel celeron m550
RAM: 1 G. (2x512mb)
CHIPSET: GL960

I tried to install an old Intel T7200 CPU (from old faulty Dell e1505 laptop), but unfortunately, that didn't work, the laptop boot for few second and fan kicked of and then shutdown. from what I read, I think my T7200 CPU is socket M and I need socket P.
I would like to know what is the best processor installed successfully in that laptop?
What's your suggestion?
thanks in advance.

 

Hello,

Indeed, the T7200 is a socket M processor. The GL960 chipset supports socket P processors.

Judging by what you have, and what Acer's specifications say, your laptop may have a true GL960 chipset. This means you already have the highest possible processor available for the GL960, the Celeron M 550.

However, if you're willing to take the risk, you could buy a cheap processor with an 800MHz FSB (or even 667MHz), and try it in your laptop. I did this with my "GL960", with a Celeron 925 for £5.00; mine was a success.

If this works for you, you may have a modified GM965 chipset. In such cases, any socket P processor should work, up to the Core 2 Duo T9500. (Yes, the Core 2 Extremes will also work, but I wouldn't recommend that for your laptop, considering heat constraints.)

Kind regards,
Dylan.

 

I'll try that.
many thanks.

 

Okay; let us know how it goes.

 

Hi everyone,
I'm glad to say that my upgrade was a success. I have upgraded my Acer Extensa 5220 CPU + RAM:
CPU: replace Intel M550 celeron with Intel T7250 Core 2 Duo
Ram: Added 2g. ram. the total ram now is 2.5g.

I was able to get 2 set of 2g. ram, but unfortunately, whenever I used both 2g. ram the laptop boot up (the bios display correct amount of ram) but shortly after windows 7 start loading, the laptop restart. In safe mode BSOD appear. I guess my motherboard unable to support 4g. ram and I have to settle with 2.5g.

My WEI:




Don't know why windows graphic score reduced 3.2 to 3.1.

I was hoping to find a better CPU and install more ram, but overall, I'm satisfied with the results.

 

Did you make sure that the other stick isnt faulty? Crashing while w7 started to boot sounds like a defective stick if system booted normaly once you removed it.

 

I made sure to try each stick alone. when using a single stick, the laptop booted normally. but whenever I try to install both 2g. sticks, the problem arise. The best I could do is to place 512mb stick in first slot and 2g. stick in second slot (reverse order does not work).

After reading previous posts, I concluded that Intel gl960 / modified (downgraded) gl965 maximum ram is 3g. (1g. stick at first slot + 2g. stick at second slot) so I'll try to exchange 2 x 512mb sticks with 1g. stick.

 

O.K.
I can confirm that Intel gl960 / modified (downgraded) gl965 maximum ram is 3g.
As I successfully installed 3g. ram (1g. stick as first slot + 2g. stick at second slot)
My Acer Extensa 5220 run Intel T7250 + 3g. ram


regards

 

Great to hear. Since you concluded that you have a downgraded GM965, you could theoretically upgrade to a T9500, if that's something you want for the future.

I'm still yet to try out a single 4GB stick - mainly because they're so expensive.

Regards,
Dylan.

 

currently I'm looking for T8300 / T9300 / T9500 with reasonable price.
I'll report back if I succeed.
regards.

 

I would personally choose one of the former two as they have much better price to performance ratios. The T9500 was a stupid action on Intel's behalf.

 

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your posts. It was a huge help.
Now just reporting:
Acer Extensa 5620Z with Intel GL960
Upgrading from T2370 to T7800 and from 2 to 3 GB RAM.
First upgrade BIOS to 1.35 and then I tried T5550 (a frend gave it to me just to see if the CPU is OK). It was OK.
Then I put T7800. Also absolutely no problem. The laptop is perfect now. No heating no nothing. 45-60°C.

 

It also means there's a crappy GL960 chipset present.

That's good to hear. The RAM limitation is the really sucky part of any GL960 laptop.

 

Hi, I have an old Acer Aspire 4315-2490.
CPU: Intel Celeron M 530 - 1.73GHz | 533MHz FSB | 1MB L2 Cache
Motherboard Chipset: GL960 (True GL960, Everest reports 400MHz vid chip speed)
RAM: Hynix PC2-5300S-555-12 1GB (2 x 512MB)

So I want to upgrade this to at least a Core 2 Duo.
My question is: which processor do I goto?

Something that's been confusing me is that people say that this chipset only supports Socket P. CPU-Z recognizes this processor as "Socket 479 mPGA" which I have googled to yield as the equivalent of a Socket M processor. This confuses me tremendously, please see the screen grabs below. Any suggestions and clarifications would be lovely. Thank you very much.

 

Hi there,

Some processor models are available for both sockets. However, you've stated that you have a real GL960 chipset and so you won't find any performance increase in 'upgrading' to a Core 2 Duo. You're best to stick to your Celeron M 530. You can always upgrade your RAM to 2 GB.

That's pretty much the best advice I can give to you.

Dylan.

 

Thank you for your suggestions...

 

The best value upgrade for a GL960 is an Intel T8300 with 3GB of RAM

 

Not under these circumstances. He/she appears to show the signs of a true GL960 chipset. For the most part in this thread, we've been seeing downgraded GM965 chipsets with the RAM limitation set to 3 gigabytes.

So, by all means, try a Core 2 Duo, but if you really do hold a GL960 chipset, the 533 MHz FSB will slow it down to nothing worth it.

 

Hi everybody,

Rearly do I see threads packed with useful information like this.

I have an old Acer Extensa 5220 (Celeron M 530 1.73 GHz, 512 MB + 1 GB 667 MHz RAM) and ordered a C2D T7300 processor for it. Unfortunately I was not wise enough to read the whole thread before my order, so I did not see the post from DylRicho with all those conlcusions. According to CPU-Z and Everest I have a GL960 chipset. I cannot check my GPU frequency at the moment, because the laptop is not in my house therefore I am uncertain wether I have true or false GL960.

The T7300 only cost me 10 USD, so even if it doesn' work I won't be bankrupt.
I will report as soon the processor arrives.

 

Unfortunately, you may have lost $10, never mind sell it and get back some of it, you currently have a Socket M cpu,but T7300 is a socket P and wouldn't fit.

 

There are two verisons of the Celeron 530 CPU, one with socket M and one with socket P.
I believe mine is the socket P version, since the Acer Extensa 5220 has several versions which include other Celeron CPUs, such as 540 and 550 which all have socket P and the motherboard should be the same for all of them if I am not mistaken.

 

I'm sorry for being too quick to misinform, my apologies.

 

No problem. Anyway thank you for your answer. I can't wait to upgrade my CPU. Hope it will work.

 

Good luck with your update. Let us know how it goes.

Unfortunately, there may not be a reliable method to detect the GPU frequency with Intel chips as they are apparently hard to detect. Thus, programs like Everest and GPU-Z use fixed speeds for them. In the case of the Intel GM965/GL960 family, it's 400 MHz for Everest and 500 MHz for GPU-Z.

Aside from the GPU differences, the only other visible identification method would be to see if your computer can take the full 4 GB of RAM. Fake GL960s will work with 3 GB, and true GL960s will only accept 2 GB.

Dylan.

 

I find it quite sad that tech comapnies (in this case Intel) refuse to provide official information about these matters. They really believe there is no place for laptop modders in their consumer society. However, this may be one of th reasons why it is so exciting, to do something "illegal".

EDIT: Oh, I have just realised this comment has nothing to do with this thread, so I apologize. As far as I see it cannot be deleted.

 

After the very long wait, I finally got to upgrade my Acer 4315. It's now running with T7500 at full fsb 800 as reported by CPU-z, downside is my excitement got the best of me as I immediately purchased 2pcs Samsung 2gb DDR2 800 which failed to boot as I installed them. I am now running one of the sticks at 667 with windows 8. In a few days I will probably be swapping these sticks to 667 and see if it would run at 4GB. Wish me luck.
Thanks for all the info and I will report back.

 

Hello,
I'm new here and i'm from Romania. A few days ago i managed to get my hands on a T9300 proc. I have a MSI VR601x who was equipped with a T2330 proc.(1,6 C2D). I installed the T9300 proc but it runs with the lower multiplier(6) at 1197.0 MHz.
Now, I tried ThrottleStop and works fine, is stable... see the pictures
Now the question: How can I make the multiplier fixed to 12,5 by bios, without aditional programs...i have the last bios update...(i think)
I post here aditional info about my laptop. Thanks in advance.

 

Have you checked by running CPU intensive programs to see whether it goes to the highest multiplier? if you can fix the multiplier at 12.5 with Throttlestop, your CPU works at 12.5 and I don't think you need to set it in BIOS ( I don't know whether you can do that in most laptops anyway).

 

Hy
If I don't fix the multiplier with Trottlestop it doesn't matter how much i sterss the processor. It will run only at 1197.0 MHz.

 

If Throttlestop works and stable I would continue to use it, I doubt you can adjust the BIOS settings in Laptops, if you need more help with the settings of Throttlestop, Uncleweb will provide more help if you post your questions here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...arket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html