T2330 - T8100?

I have dell inspiron 1525 with 3gb ram and a 5400sata hd. I'm thinking of upgrading the processor but i'm uncertain as to how much of a performance increase i will gain. I use the machine for audio, running Live 8 and maschine.

Things like loading projects and browsing for samples can be slow going. Also my cpu can't handle the more intensive vstis. So will a T8100 give a significant performance increase?

I was planning to get a new laptop but a lot of current systems seem have a similar overall spec so it seems the smarter thing to do is upgrade the processor. Please advise!

Cheers.

 

I actually suggest getting a T8300 for your laptop (2.4 Ghz), its a decent performing chip and btw all of the C2D series are excellent for laptops and will be a huge gain over Centrino, Celeron and Pentium M series.

 

The T8100 will run cooler and use less energy, so you will see a difference.

Also your FSB will go from 533mhz to 800mhz which will help a lot.
The T8100 also has 3 times more cache.

Yes it is a very good upgrade.
But the T8300 is better if you can find it for a good price.

Any penryn CPU is going to be a great upgrade from your merom.

 

tjphilips,

based on what you have said, I would recommend a HD upgrade and possibly an O/S upgrade.

The CPU will give you a faster system - but loading your projects and browsing for samples will still be just as slow. The speed of the HD is what mostly determines that.

Are your hardware/software tools you use/connect to this machine compatible with Windows 7? That would be my first recommendation - especially if you're running Vista x86 currently.

Even if you cannot switch O/S's too easily, I would still recommend to you the Hitachi 7K500 500GB HD. Along with a clean install, this should give you quite an improvement over your 5400 RPM HD - especially if it's over a year old.

See the following link if you want to explore these ideas further:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=441674


The second, third and fourth link in the post above should be very helpful in helping you decide.

At the very least, download a trial of PerfectDisk 10 and see if that helps your slow system. Again, the link above will give you an idea of what you can expect with PerfectDisk 10.

Also, you may want to try eBoostr - especially if you're using Windows XP, but even if you're running Vista or Win 7.

See this link for more information on that:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=439258


Ultimately, I'm not suggesting you to ignore the CPU upgrade - but if your system was running fine when 'new' then to me it just needs a 'refresh' with the comparatively simple upgrades software solutions above - instead of open heart surgery to remove/replace a CPU and still be possibly at the same place you originally started from once you're done: a slow system, overall.

 

Mine is a C2D which is why i was asking. I've read mixed reports about actual performance gains. I've found a T8100 for a good price and it makes the T8300 m almost twice as much! If i get the T8100 could i overclock if i needed the extra performance increase?

 

Your BIOS should throttle your CPU down regardless if you have the T8100 or T8300 (by default) with the Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology. Most newer laptops support that feature. So battery life could be very similar.

 

I can agree that the battery life will be too close to call, but when you take into consideration that the price doubles (for tjphilips), then it is not worth it money/performance wise.

For half the cost the P8100 is the better choice. But tjphilips, what is the cost?

 

Its not easy overclocking a laptop and its generally not recommended. The thermal design of most laptops isn't adequate enough for overclocking let alone the hardware. Go for the CPU that is priced better for you, if you have the cash get the faster processor, the T8300 operates very nicely and is speedy with a 5400 RPM drive. I would also recommend a 7200RPM drive as soon as you can afford it Seagate make some fast Hard Drives.

 

Cheers. I found a T8300 with 6mb cache on ebay but it's from Japan.

 

make sure the shipping is included in the price!

 

Since when does a T8300 have 6mb cache?
Are you sure it's not a T9300?


Also, I might be able to help you overclock. Let me know if you are interested.

 

The T8100 is £79.29 but it's out of stock at the minute. Lowest i can find a T8300 is £163.30 other than the one from Japan which is £105. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Intel-Core2-P...aptopMotherboards_CPUs_CA?hash=item1c0e95788c

Does that sound right to you?!

 

Have you tried a local shop where are you located? Id suggest ordering from a place within your country.

 

Shipping is free!

 

The T8300 doesn't have 6MB of L2, it has 3.
That said, it's a great processor. My laptop never gets too hot or slows down.

 

I'm in the UK. I'd rather order from somewhere closer to home but that is a really good price!

 

Actually that one on ebay is an ES, so it may really have 6mb cache.
But it's technically stolen from intel, no T8300 with 6mb cache was released to the public.

I would have sold you my T8100 for £79, but I already put it to auction on ebay.

 

Your T2330's 533Mhz FSB is a let down on it's performance.
If not upgrading to a newer CPU, a O/C to 667Mhz FSB will provide a noticable improvement in performance. Inspiron 1525 has been successfully overclocked by performing a PLL pinmod as shown here.

 

If i can find one for the right price i'll get the T8300. Cheers.

 

You seem all excited about a CPU upgrade, I hope that it gives you what you need.

As you didn't respond to my first post here, what O/S are you running?

See:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-7-performance,2476.html

 

I'm not sure what stolen from intel implies but it sounds dubious! If i buy a T8100 i assume i can overclock that?

 

Thanks. I think i'll get the T8100 and see how performance is with that. CPU performance overall is pretty good considering the spec of my processor so a T8100 will be like adding turbo. I can look at pinmodding later. Cheers.

 

Sorry, windows 7 rc.

More like impatient! I'm just happy i can upgrade my machine, wasn't looking forward to having to transfer everything to a new system.

Cheers.

 

Any ES CPU is stolen from intel.

Intel sends the CPUs to people for tests, and some people dont give them back to intel. The CPUs are still considered property of intel.
So you are buying a stolen CPU if you buy an ES version.
But I'm sure intel wont come knocking on your door asking for their CPU back.
Usually when you buy a CPU on ebay from china, it's probably an ES version.


You can overclock the T8100, see the link in my sig for my results (2.76ghz).
But you will have to do the pin mod (I did the same mod to my notebook).

 

Did you try defragging the HD? Either with Defraggler or with PerfectDisk 10?

This should give you a noticeable increase in how responsive your computer feels. In my testing, PerfectDisk is superior because it not only defrags the data and system files, it also rearranges them optimally to provide a real and noticeable performance boost.

To quote myself from that link I originally posted:

My VAIO's stock Toshiba HD went from 145 seconds to a usable desktop to 66 seconds - quite an improvement. That is just 5 seconds away from the Hitachi 7K500 I just purchased, which has at least a 30-40% increase in RAW HD speed advantage over the Toshiba.

What I'm saying is, don't underestimate what a good defragging solution can do.

 

I see thanks. That's a healthy clock speed for the T8100! Now if i can just find one. I'm tempted to go for one of those ES processors. I wasn't planning to spend a lot, it was more of a short term thing til just to give my cpu a kick til i'm ready to upgrade. Is it worth looking at the T9300 and T9500? Faster the better but at retail prices i may as well keep saving for a new laptop...

 

No but i'm gonna try it! I currently use Auslogics disk defragmenter. My hd is filling up and i've been moving unecessary stuff onto an external drive so i can defrag it properly and organise it. Brings me to a question actually; does it decrease performance if you partition a sata hd? I have mine in three; windows, audio and data. This way if windows gets messed up the stuff on the partitions is safe and i can just reinstall windows. I will be getting an external hd to store all my sample content etc. Then i'll remove the partitions if they are significantly decreasing disk performance. Cheers.

 

Yeah, I guess you could say I'm a PD 'nut', but I've also tried Auslogics disk defragmenter products and they are at about the same level as Defraggler in my opinion.

Try PD10. Double click on C: drive, check the 'Aggressively consolidate free space' box, start a 'SmartPlacement' defrag. Check the Boot Time box for C: drive, reboot and run a 'SmartPlacement defrag once more. You should notice a much improved system.

Performance doesn't decrease and may actually increase by smart partitioning, especially when used in conjunction with PD.

I wouldn't change that part of your setup - you have a good strategy going!

The smart placement that PD does really does greatly reduce future re-fragmentation and by partitioning your HD so that the O/S files stay relatively 'untouched' performance is maintained for a much longer period (between defrag runs).

 

Do you have a thread or a link for this pin mod I am kind of interested. Every time I OC this laptop the Ethernet just randomly stops working.

 

T9300 is great if u can get it. It gives ther best performance for the price.. 2.5 GHz and 6 MB L2 cache.. Try finding that if u can't get a T8300.

 

Thanks for the tips tilleroftheearth. I've smart partitioned and defragged the windows and audio partition as you recommended. Projects still seem to be taking the same time to load though. The graphs in PD showed improvements but i haven't noticed anything significant yet. Overall CPU isn't too bad, it's load times that are the main issue. Perhaps the hd is more of a bottleneck than i realised and i will need a faster hd as well. If that's the case i may as well go the whole 9 and get a new laptop! Is there anything else i can try to speed disk access times? Cheers.

Think i've found part of the problem. My paging file was on the audio partition. Completely forgot i'd moved it there and this was before i started using it for audio! Could explain a few of the issues i've been having. I'll reboot and see if there's an improvement.

 

For the Inspiron 1525:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=421279

another guide:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=393027

 

tjphillips,

could you tell me the model of your 5400 RPM HD?

Seems like one way or another, this may be your biggest bottleneck in your system and will be the key component to replace for a real and noticeable improvement?

Also, in the meantime with PD10, do an online Smartplacement of each partition and then an offline defrag of each partition. Once rebooted into Windows, do another online Smartplacement defrag. Now, is there an improvement in load and or browsing times using file explorer?

Oh! Where is your pagefile located now and how big is it?

 

It's a Toshiba MK1246GSX. My pagefile is turned off until i clean up my hd. My hd was clearly in need of a good defragging but i'm surprised i haven't seen much of an improvement. I've analysed C: and PD says my drive is optimized for peak performance. I'm giving the drive a thorough clean, taking all unnecessary files and data off. Once i've done that i'll rerun PD. I'll try the boot defrag first as it takes so long to defrag.

Iirc my page was set to 3gb which is the same amount of ram i have.

I must say, transferring large files to and from the hd seems to be faster. I'll post with an update later on. Cheers.

 

Thanks. T9300s do seem to be more easily available and i've seen a few on the bay for around the same price. Cheers.

 

tjphilips,

you are definitely in need of a HD upgrade, sorry!

See:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2.5-hard-drive-charts/Average-Read-Transfer-Performance,675.html

(BTW, I can't see your specific HD listed, but just simply comparing it as if its close to (or worse) than the MK1237GSX 120GB Toshiba model).


Even at its prime, it is/was easily one of the slower drives available.

Almost any modern HD you get will give you a more noticeable boost in the response your computer has than even more RAM or a dramatic (costly!) CPU upgrade will.

To put this in perspective, you are working on a HD that has the performance I was using in desktop systems around 2003/4.

Time to move on!

What I recommend now to you in light of this new information?

Don't waste your time in continuing to optimize your current HD - it is what it is.

Buy a new HD, switch them, and do a clean install of Win 7. With two separate HD's you don't need to rush the new install. If you need to work with your computer, switch HD's and work as usual with your current installation. When you're done, switch them again and continue installing/setting up your new installation until it matches or even surpasses your current one.

The following link may help you in optimizing your new HD, so that you'll minimize these same issues in the future that you're encountering now with your old one.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5617217#post5617217


I hope I was of some help?

Good luck.

 

Ouch!

It's actually good. Someone in the past suggested having two hds and swap out as needed. The good thing is that when i replace my laptop i will be simply be able to put the new hd in. Question is which drive???

People recommend WD as a brand but i am not up on the latest tech. I've read that WD scorpios are good drives for media.

You're answers have been of great help thanks. I had thought most of the disk defragmenters were not worth the cost and that free ones were sufficient. PD goes a lot further than most other programs i've used an i will probably add that to my list of essential software; i need my hd to be optimised for audio and am always trying to glean more performance out of my system.

Cheers.

 

u could get the hitachi 7K500... it comes in 500GB size or 250GB size... but its available only in US...

 

I know this is the "Components & Aftermarket" area, but before spending any money on an upgrade, have you tried all other options? I read postings on partitions, exporting and defraging, but have you done a cleanup of your registry? I'm running XP on one of my notebooks and after running CClean the overall performance as well as shutdown time improved.

 

That looks like a good drive but yeah, not available over here yet. Are these WD drives prone to failure? I've found a nice deal on amazon that includes a caddy. Will 8mb cache be fine for audio or should i get one with 16mb? Right now i want to get a drive asap so i can get started on the transfer. Cheers.

 

Yes i use CCleaner all the time. I have noticed an overall improvement after running PD but there's no getting around the slow drive. An ew hd will help with the transition to a new laptop anyway. I'll probably buy some imaging software once i create a new install then i'm backed up against any future hd failure. If any one can recommend an hd for daw use and multimedia i'd be most grateful.

-TJ