Update on nx9420 (from Summer 2006)

Well I decided to write something about my plans on maintaining my primary notebook which is the HP Compaq nx9420 purchased back in the summer of 2006. It has served me well and my next computer will likely be a desktop build and this will be a possible spare in the future. I do not intend to scrap this notebook as it is still sufficient for now.

I have had plans to upgrade for over a year now and it is slowly starting to pan out. Below are the original relevant specs of the notebook when purchased and I do have quite an extensive plan for the upgrade of this great machine.

- Intel Core Duo processor T2400 (1.83-GHz, 667-MHz FSB, 2-MB L2 cache)
- 17.0-inch WSXGA+ wide viewing angle BrightView display with 1680 x 1050 resolution and 16M colors
- 1GB (1x1GB) 533-MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics controller with 256 MB of discrete video memory
- 100GB 5400RPM Hard Disk Drive (Hitachi)
- 8-cell high capacity Lithium-Ion (68Wh)
- 90W AC power adapter

These specs are a bit outdated for today's standards but I hope to bring out the potential that this motherboard can support.

About a year or two ago, I decided to purchase another gigabyte of RAM so that brings it to a total of 2GB of DDR2 RAM which runs decently. I may run 4GB in the future but RAM can wait and is easily accessible.

Recently, I just purchased a GPU with the part number 441288-001. The official description on HP's part list is "Video PC board - nVidia graphics controller with 256MB of video memory" where I assumed it was probably the FX 1500M from nVidia since it even says FX 1500M on the GPU die. Well to my surprise it registered as nVidia's NVS 510M with 256MB of video memory. For those that aren't aware, this is roughly equivalent to the 7900GTX (I believe, CPUID shows that) and is quite the beast compared to the now dated ATI X1600 mobile.

Sadly, the ATI heatsink does not math up perfectly onto the nVidia board (the memory modules on the board do not line up with the heatsink) and I will probably purchase the correct heatsink to solve this problem. Currently the card idles at 60C which is a bit high in my opinion and maxes out at 90C when used intensely.

I also have plans to change to a WD5000BEVT (Western Digital, 500GB, 5400RPM) hard drive in a few months for a bit over $100 I believe. The CPU is also another component I am keeping my eye out for a deal on either of the following CPU's: T7200, T7400, and T7600. If anyone has a quote on what these CPUs usually go for, it would be greatly appreciated. I just missed on a deal for about $70 on a T7400 pull.

The battery isn't holding its charge like it used to (probably since I have it plugged into the slot and connected to AC adapter almost constantly). The power adapter may need an upgrade but so far, it is keeping up running with the new GPU, possible 135W if needed.

Lastly, it would be great if I could get a 1920x1200 screen in the future. It is not necessary but it would be nice.

So in summary,

UPGRADED
-GPU to nVidia NVS 510M
-RAM to 2GB

FUTURE UPGRADE
-CPU
-RAM
-Hard Drive
-Battery and Power Adapter (maybe)
-LCD screen (maybe)

Note: Sorry for the long post, I just tend to have tons of things to say at once. Any recommendations or further discussion is appreciated. Could also be a place to discuss how everyone's nx9420/nw9440 are holding up.

 

Upgrading ram, hdd, and lastly CPU will be the most beneficial. Especially the ram considering you only have 1GB. 2Gb running XP will be more than enough. Upping to a 500GB hdd will also see decent improvements in terms of time taken for applications to open. Lastly, going for the merom refresh CPUs (providing they are at a reasonable price) will also be a nice bump in performance.

 

Well I am currently running 2GB of RAM. If I end up running a newer OS, I may get more if required. The hard drive is almost guaranteed to be purchased sometime in September since 100GB is not sufficient for my needs. The CPU upgrade is mainly for 64bit support and hopefully it will be fairly useful in the near future.

I was looking into some 8710p/w parts and was wondering which parts are interchangeable. It seems like the battery and AC adapter are the same as well as the keyboard and touch pad assembly. If anyone has any experience with part interchangeability between nx9420/nw9440 and the newer 8710p/w, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Great to see that the MXM swap mostly worked. As I said my nx9420 is doing well, though it has some cracking near the fan (HP repair center's fault for forgetting to put in a screw).

Though I really would like an excuse to get an 8730w. I'm hoping the touchpad is interchangeable with that of the nx9420, because on the 8530w I've used, the buttons are terrible (you MUST hit it square center to get it to work).

 

Hey MGS2392,
My touch pad and keyboard are sufficient but they are worn quite a bit. My left button has lost some rubber material due to excessive use and some of my buttons on my keyboard are loose due to an incident with a cat... I have something planned out for that and I'll see if my plan comes to fruition. Feels like I've spent quite a bit this summer on random things but in reality, it's been under $200 so far which I think is moderate.

Also the GPU heat sink has been ordered and should arrive within 2 weeks, hopefully that will cool down the GPU more efficiently.