Upgrading an Old Laptop [fun stuff]

Hi guys!
so i dug out my old Sager Np 5793 from waaaay back in the day a few weeks ago. Its running very nice, i cleaned the fans out, repasted the cpu and gpu, booted it up and now i find myself using it quite regularly at home.
so just for the fun of it, i was thinking of upgrading the Core 2 T8300 processor to maybe a Core 2 Xtreme x9000 or x9100.. and popping in a SSD
the fsb on this thing is 800mhz, but the x9100 supports the faster 1033 bus i believe. would a difference in bus speed cause an issue for the x9100? ow should i go for the x9000?
problem is that the x9100 can be found for about 60$ on ebay..while the x9000 goes for around 120$.

 

You need the x9000, the 1066 FSB will be an issue with your chipset. The x9000's are harder to come by and therefore the higher price.

 

ok thanks!!!

 

what other processors would you suggest as a good upgrade to a T8300

 

Actually with a pin-mod it can run @800MHz. So you can get an X9100 running in there. Better yet, you can get an X9100 E0 (SLGE7, QHBQ), it clocks pretty high, good luck finding it though.

 

If you want to max out this rig the X9000 is the best choice as mentioned above, if you don't want to use the pinmod. A SSD will give you the greatest Performance boost in daily use as well as RAM upgrade. So don't forget to throw in 8Gig's DDR2 RAM @800Mhz and eventually a GTX 285m (take care of the right MXM Version).

Then you have your Uber-Rig as of 2008/9 Standards! I like that!

 

Indeed, you'd need a pin mod for the X9100. If you don't want to go that route, the next-best options, in approximate order, would be X9000, X7900, X7800, and T9500. The T9500 and X9000 use a smaller process and thus generate less heat than the X7900/X7800, so whether the T9500 or the X7900/7800 is better depends on your cooling. The T9500 also has more cache than the X7900/7800, which may overcome the clock speed increase of the X series in some programs.

I went with the X7900 for my same-gen Inspiron, since the price was much more reasonable than the X9000. Got to 3 GHz on the overclock; you might hit 3.2 if you have better cooling.

SSD would definitely make sense, and extra RAM would be nice if you have a 64-bit OS installed on it. The max amount supported varies by laptop in that generation; some, but not all, support a full 8 GB. It may be worth checking in the Sager forum first before buying.

And if it does indeed support MXM graphics cards without issues, you could put a nice modern GPU in it. The 285M would be, what, slightly more powerful than the M370 in your MacBook Pro? Of course newer MXM cards cost a good amount, so if you're just doing it for the fun of it and don't plan to actually game on it, you'd probably be just as well with keeping the older card. Again, this is something to verify in the Sager forums before going ahead with.

 

good stuff guys! good stuff!
well im still looking around for a reasonably priced x9000..i ordered a 250 GB SSD and a 4 GB stick of DDR2 RAM..
lets get this project started!
its so fun tinkering around with old stuff and bringing it back to life

 

what is the likelyhood of a GTX 280m being compatable with my PC?

 

It is (if it's MXM 2.1 that is). It is the last MXM-HE (2.1) GPU. All 285ms and up are MXM-B (3.0), which is not compatible with your system. If you don't know the difference, check here: http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Tech_13.html You can also search for ATi 4850/ 4870, but they are EXPENSIVE (the most powerful MXM 2.1 GPUs, so that's to be expected).

 

Uups! Thank you for pointing that out! Yeah, you're right the "best" Nvidia MXM 2.1 Card is the GTX 280m which is on par with the Mobility 4870m AND both are really expensive because they are very rare on the market.

Maybe you will find these links useful:

Spoiler: MXM Upgrade

http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Table.html

Spoiler: Clevo 571tu Upgrade Guide

http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/m571tu.html

Cheers!