So I took my HP dv8408us apart yesterday...

As the title says, I disassembled my 3 month old notebook yesterday. It was a little scary even with my hardware experience, but I manged not to break anything. This is the first notebook I've owned, and I love to tweak stuff. I've o/c'ed every computer I've ever owned, but now that I use a notebook 24/7, it isn't really possible. That being said, I decided to take my notebook apart and use my favorite Artic Cooling MX-1 paste on it to cool it down. I run my cpu @ full speed (1.73Ghz) all the time via NHC. With my cpu undervolted to 0.9875V, my temps usually hover around 52-53C on each core with a 100% load. With that being said, I tore it apart and 27 screws later, I had access to the motherboard. The MX-1 has dropped my temps by 1-2C at idle and 3-5C under load. I would highly recommend this to someone that is experienced with computer hardware, but it is a tedious job. It's very easy for a novice to break something or possibly render your notebook useless.

Here is a picture of the shell with the LCD and motherboard removed.


Here is a picture of the motherboard removed:


The CoreDuo T2250 with heatsink removed:


The Nvidia 7600 Go. I wish HP hadn't been cheap and used a MXM interface but I'm out of luck. It sucks not to be able to upgrade your video card.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

THanks!!! i will do my own dissecting soon as i want to do some hardware cleaning...

 

Taking it apart JUST for a thermal upgrade? That takes some confidence,

I might drop a T7200 into my dv5000t, so it's interesting to hear another HP owner's comments about taking them apart. Good stuff,

 

I've been working on computers for nearly a decade with everyone being o/c'ed so I figured why not . I plan on ebaying this T2250 and picking up a T7200 as well after the intel price drops that are comming. As far as the thermal upgrade, well I run this computer with both cores loaded 100% 24/7. When your dealing with this small of a form factor, a few degrees is a big deal.

 

Why, oh, why did they have to make it harder than the dv4000 where it was 5 screws and you were done! I guess because it overheated...

 

Wow, I wish I only had to take out 5 screws. I'd even settle for ten. I gotta admit that it's kinda scary to have a ~$1300 worth of hardware torn apart with no directions on how to reassemble it properly. Thankfully I didn't run into any major issues.

 

You DO know HP has detailed disassembly and repair manuals online, right?

 

If you're able to provide a link for my exact model, then I must admit I do not know how to use Google properly. I spent quite a bit of time looking and the closest thing I could find was a manual that said it was for 8000 series, but there were quite a few differences compared to my 8408.

 

Yeah, HP gives you the location of ever screw in your laptop. Don't loose any though, the parts are extremely expensive!!!

 

OMG...now that is HARDCORE hacking!! You really took it all apart just because you can...cool!! fun stuff!!!


dagamer34:

You are so right about the HP replacement parts list. I happened across a replacement cord for the power adapter and it was $58...my jaw dropped so i called for the fun of it and YUP that is what they wanted to charge. BTW, that cord is pretty universal and can be had online or from older laptops that have been retired (or had golf balls hit into them with a 1-iron...because they were evil...yup, I actually had a client do that with a laptop once...it was a golf course pro shop and they really did have a possessed system. Itw as about the funniest thing ever.)

 

You mean you disabled SpeedStep? Why?

Nice job on the thermal paste upgrade though.

 

city how much u gonna sell t2250 for i may be intrested

 

If you read my OP, I now use my laptop by itself. I work with several CPU intesive apps (AutoCAD 07, Visual) so every once of CPU power is needed. If I leave SpeedStep running, then my cpus wants to scale down and down nonstop. If I need to take my notebook mobile, then it's quite easy to simply reinstate .

 

I'm not sure I understand---I did not see anything in your original post about this, and even so it is SpeedStep's primary function to scale your CPU clock multiplier (aka Frequency ID's) up and down on demand. There is no performance loss as far as I know, as the scaling occurs instantaneously with respect to the program instructions, and it helps to both keep your laptop cool (by operating at a lower voltage at a lower FID, unless you set the voltages for the highest and lowest states the same) and conserve energy...an easy way to save a few bucks.

 

I didn't think there were many / any differences between yours and the standard 8000 series. If so...my bad.

I do some encoding work every now and then, and it's at those moments I wish I had a T7200 rather than this Core Duo...

 

It's no big deal, but there are quite a few differences. I am planning on picking up a T7200 here shortly, and will be selling my T2250. I wish I could throw this cpu into a desktop motherboard that has a nice o/c friendly bios. If it can run completely stable and cool so undervolted, I'm willing to bet I could get at least another 600-800mhz out of it. I really miss the overclocking days .

 

Did you happen to notice what brands of hard drives/RAMs/etc...your laptop has?

 

My HD is a Seagate 80GB SATA 150 drive. The stock ram (which was a sad 512MB) was Hynix branded chips on a generic PCB. The motherboard was made for HP, by Foxcon I'm sure, with the obvious Intel chipset.

 

CCityInstaller, make sure you post in here how everything turned out after you put the new processor in because I think I'll be right behind you!

 

I'm sorry for not being clear. I run my cpu with both cores undervolted fairly low at 0.9875V. My temps are the same as if I ran then cpu @ normal voltages with SpeedStep enabled. As far as the dynamic switching, when you use a program that hits the cpu so hard, there is a definite difference. I guess it's hard to explain unless you use CAD and Visual daily. I also run Folding@Home on my notebook which keeps my cpu loaded at all times anyway.

Philgee, as soon as I find a buyer for my T2250, I will get the T7200. I will take a lot of pictures and post back.

 

I was thinking about putting together a cheap desktop with my T2250, too!

My parents are using a 1.4Ghz Tualatin Celeron system right now with 256MB of RAM and I have a 3.06Ghz P4 system they could use, but not until I have something new to play with