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    Compaq Presario CQ61 CPU Upgrade?

    Discussion in 'HP' started by dill0n, May 7, 2011.

  1. dill0n

    dill0n Notebook Enthusiast

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    So, the Presario CQ61-410US I picked up off of craigslist the other day for ~150 currently has a Sempron M120 processor. For the condition the laptop is in, I think I got a great deal, but man does this processor struggle with the simplest of tasks. I'm interested in upgrading the CPU. My previous laptop had a low-end Core 2 Duo and it handled multitasking more than aptly, so I'm guessing the main reason this thing is slow is because it only has one core. Here are my questions:

    1) Would an Athlon II M320 dual-core be a viable upgrade? They share the same socket (S1g3) and this model is featured on the upgrade model of my computer, the CQ61-420US. They are also both 45nm, however, the Sempron has (according to AMD spec sheets) a wattage of 25W versus the Athlon's 35W. Would that alone render the upgrade impossible?

    2) I primarily run Linux distributions on my computers, I haven't yet tried Windows 7 on the new laptop. I know that windows drivers are much more specialized and typically better enable better performance, but could that affect the CPU performance? ATI's proprietary Linux driver doesn't support this HD4200 chipset.

    3) I wonder about the effects of running a 64-bit OS on the laptop instead of the 32-bits I've been trying. The laptop only has 2GB of RAM, so I know there's not a memory addressing issue, but does 64-bit better enable modern AMD processors? I know that when you hear "64bit" it's generally referred to as "amd64", I guess that means they originally developed or implemented the architecture. Does it make a significant processing difference?

    EDIT: Forgot one more. 4) Are there any decent service manuals for the CQ6*-series laptops? I couldn't find one on HP's support website. And do we have any documented successful upgrades on these cheap little machines?

    Thanks all.

    EDIT2: Huh, on second thought... this page suggests my chipset IS still supported by the Catalyst driver. I wonder...
     
    dill0n, May 7, 2011
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  2. Mr. Fox

    Mr. Fox BGA Filth-Hating Elitist

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    Dillon, I think you may find useful info over here: LINK

    There are some AMD experts on the other thread that may be able to answer some of your questions for you.
     
    Mr. Fox, Jul 2, 2011
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