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    Upgrading Processor: C2D T5450 to P8600

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Thisisme, Dec 24, 2008.

  1. Thisisme

    Thisisme Notebook Geek

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    I have been thinking of upgrading the processor in my 6 month old laptop to a P8600 (2.4GHz), but I don't know if it would make a big difference in performance or if it is even feasible. The main reason for the upgrade is that I'd like to play newer games like GTA 4, Prey 2 etc without too much lag or slowdowns, reduce startup times and overall, make everything faster.

    How much difference will the upgrade really make in everyday tasks? The P8600 costs around $350 or so with taxes etc......so while I bought this laptop thinking I could upgrade the processor later, I now think that if I wait for 2 or more years to upgrade it, the prices might actually increase or the processor might disappear from the market. At the same time, laptops are becoming more and more powerful, and if there are dual core netbooks on the market next year for $399 or so, upgrading right now might not be a very wise decision.

    So, what do you guys think I should do?
     
    Thisisme, Dec 24, 2008
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  2. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    The P8600 is not compatible with your notebook. For an upgrade, you'll be looking at the 800MHz FSB Penryns - T8100, T8300, T9300, T9500....

    The performance boost with the upgrade will only be seen in CPU-intensive tasks like encoding, video editing, etc and games like GTA4. Basically any task that was being held back due to the CPU (i.e. Cores at 100%), will see an improvement with the upgrade.
     
    Andy, Dec 24, 2008
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  3. Thisisme

    Thisisme Notebook Geek

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    Thisisme, Dec 24, 2008
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  4. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    The new chips use a different pin out, I think.
     
    Greg, Dec 24, 2008
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  5. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    No it is not compatible. Ok, in Layman's terms - the P8600 is for the Centrino 2 platform whereas your notebook is based upon the Centrino platform.

    Now, the new will be backward compatible to the old, but the old cannot be forward-compatible to the new.

    The BIOS does not support the P8600, and the chipset does not fully support that CPU, and will downclock its FSB from 1066MHz to 800MHz, which would lower the CPU frequency as well (from 2.4GHz to 1.8GHz).
     
    Andy, Dec 24, 2008
    #5