T9500 and X9000 Mobo Compatibility

I have seen several people mentioned that their laptops have the option of having T9500 (2.6 GHz C2D) or X9000 (2.8 C2D Extreme) even though the 2 processors have different power requirements. But how about those laptops that officially support T9500 but never officially mention X9000? Do all motherboards that can accept T9500 also support X9000?

How about Sony FZ? It never mentions X9000 but it officially supports T9500. What would prevent an X9000 to work with Sony FZ motherboard?

 

Any mainboard that supports the T9500 can also support the X9000 as long as the BIOS recognizes it. That will increase the 2.6ghz of the T9500 to 2.8ghz for the X9000. The X9000 can be overclocked via the BIOS, but the Sony FZ won't have the options to do that. So the X9000 would run just as a 2.8ghz 6mb L2 and 800fsb. TDP ratings are higher for the X9000, so expect it to run warmer but I don't believe it will be too hot for your current laptop even though the TDP ratings are higher, because the Penryn 45nm chip itself should run cooler not to mention most of the time the CPU will be speedstepped unless you're running intensive applications. Give it a shot if you can, and post back and let us know!

 

If your laptop is not offered with the X9000, you are at risk for overheating as your laptop's cooling wasn't intended to work with that card.

 

I was thinking of buying FZ with the cheapest CPU I could find, take out the original CPU, sell them at eBay and put in the X9000. The net amount I spend for the 2 CPU would be cheaper than buying the one with T9500. But the problem is FZ is not so easy to take apart. I have not seen a step by step guide with lots of pictures on how to upgrade the CPU.

 

Is the FZ a 15.4" model? Keep in mind that most laptops that come with the X9000 are 17" models. I can't think of any off the top of my head that are smaller. I know Dell only offers the X9000 in 17" laptops because of the TDP and cooling requirements. So try and beef up cooling if you can or use devices like a cooling mat etc if you are going to try it out. I wouldn't try the X9000 in anything smaller than a 15.4" laptop.

 

I am in a similar quandry. I want to buy the XPS M1530, and upgrade the base processor (T7500) to an x9000. Am I better off going with the T9500 which is the top Dell upgrade? The notebook is a 15.4 system. I am also worried about heat, but thought the upgrade would negate heat as the x9000 runs cooler.


__________________
Homemade Desktop - no laptop (not counting wife's macbook pro 17")
C2D x6800 2.93ghz 1066FSB 4mb L2
EVGA nvidia 680i
EVGA 7600 gt
4gb DDR2-1066 (4-4-4-12) Crucial Ballistix
2 WD Raptors 150gb
1 WD 750gb SATA
1 Seagate 750 gb SATA

 

I'm not sure that an X9000 in a M1530 is advisable, because the M1530 is a somewhat slimmer 15.4" laptop and cooling would be more of a problem. It definitely is possible though, but I'd expect your fans to be on almost all the time and running at higher RPM so noise may be a factor. Also I'm not positive that the X9000 runs cooler than older 65nm Meroms as you mention. It might be lower voltage, but at a higher clockrate it may even run hotter although I'm not positive on that.

Also remember that you'd top out at 2.8ghz with the X9000 even though the multiplier is unlocked, because the BIOS on your laptop won't support changing the multi like the XPS 17" does. Besides, anything over 2.8ghz would be really unadvisable in a smaller 15.4" lappy in my opinion anyways.

 

Thanks for the quick response. One other question, would you recommend a 15" macbook pro over an xps m1530 if both are maxed in performance or would the lower price of the m1530 always outweigh the mac's purported superiority in performance?

 

This I think would be a matter of taste and how much you want to spend. I could give you my opinion but go with the two criteria that I just mentioned. All aside though, performance wise they essentially equivalent given the same specs because they use the same plaform/chipset and even the same video card. The MBP has a 512mb dedicated 8600M GT available as an option (256mb version is standard) but I don't think its necessary or worth the price.

Any 'purported' superiority in performace would come down to the OS/software (OSX vs XP or Vista) since the hardware is essentially equal. Otherwise I think people's claim for Mac performance are largely unjustified, after all why would it be faster if all the hardware is the same? If you don't use Mac OS and plan on running Windows, save yourself a lot of $ and get the XPS.

I actually just found a thread here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=233301&page=4

MadeiraG said they did exactly what you want to do, he put an X9000 into a XPS M1530 and reports that it runs well! You might want to PM him if you have other questions, but it looks to not only be possible but to be entirely feasible.

 

I can run x9000 on a Sony SZ seem as cool or as hot as the T7100 that comes with it

 

does anyone know if the dv9700 can handle the x9000 without any problems?

 

yeah it wud if it does support the santa rosa cpus....bios will be a problem though....if upgrading to the latest one wont help to get the overclocking options u mite need to get a custom bios made which may screw up ur notebook warranty....
I upgrade my D630 which had a T7300 to a X9000....worked flawlessly....but didnt show up the overclocking options and i thought i wud have been better with the cheaper T9500....so i came across BIOSMAN and he made me a custom bios for $80....which even had the FSB RAM ratios, FSB frequency options and loads more options available....but it does kill ur warranty even though I didnt have any ....it is advisable to use AS5 and anactive cooling pad when doing cpu intensive tasks as my temps use to go upto 63-64*C when ripping DVDs and stuff....just sold that laptop last month for $1699....more than the retail one and it costed me less than $500 to make it..

 

Geez that's handy, I saw a post on hacking the hp phoenix bios in this forum which lets you unlock some options, but I didn't know about BIOSMAN.
My dv9700 is living on a docking station which is pretty high up (on top of some marble tiles which I placed on my table, apparently it absorbs excess heat) and it's got enough ventilation, that my temps rarely change even while encoding video. My chipset is the 965GM and I currently have a T9300 so I'm pretty sure the cpu is compatible.
I saw an ES x9000 on ebay for $420, and I'm thinking of buying it.
Has anyone every upgraded a dv9700 to the x9000 before?

 

go for the X9000....but definitely not for the ES....!! the es cpus that are available as used have presumably already gone through some really HARDCORE testing and stuff....so it ll be like almost half dead....!!
I bought an es Q6600 for my desktop and it died 2 months later giving scanlines whenever I ran it....!!
since the multiplier would already be unlocked there wud be no sense in buying an ES....look for a cheap cpu shipped from china....I bought one for $340 unboxed....!!

 

MBP vs. XPS1530 is up to you, but you should know that the processors on the MacBookPro cannot be upgraded as they are ball-grid-array (BGA) - they are soldered on. The XPS 1530 processors can be upgraded, as they are pin-grid-array (PGA) - they are connected with pins. So you won't be able to get an X9000 in a MacBookPro.

The dv9700t runs on Santa Rosa CPU's. The equivalent AMD version (9700z, or 9500z if it hasn't been upgraded yet) won't run any Intel CPU's, including X9000.

 

sorry but what does that mean..??

 

The dv9700t (the Intel version) runs Santa Rosa CPU's and will run the X9000 (provided it doesn't get too hot and the BIOS supports it adequately). The dv9700z (the AMD version) won't run the X9000 or any other Intel CPU.

I wasn't sure at that time if the dv9700z was out yet or if the dv9500z was still current - HP AMD versions tend to come out a bit after the Intel versions.

 

ohh....but no AMD designed motherboard would support an intel cpu....they are completely different....!!