Questions on upgrading older FW590 from 800mhz CPU/Memory to 1066mhz...

Putting this here since the FW Owners thread is locked, so I don't really know where else to put it.

My for-work FW590F3B is still running reliably and well with the original 800mhz memory and T6600 processor, but it doesn't get the greatest battery life. I thought I'd check prices on a spare battery (cheap) and then wandered over to check a P-series processor since they're 25TDP instead of the T6600's 35TDP, and the lower heat would save the fans, thus extending the life. Wow! A used P-series pull from a working system is CHEAP, as in slightly more than a pizza and sodas. A near top-of-the-line one (P9600) would run slightly slower since its at 800mhz and not 1066, but it would have a lot more horsepower, run cooler and use less power, so it'd totally be worth it.

Then I double-checked the FW590 chipset and it's a PM45, and lo - it supports 1066 mhz bus! So this raises the question of whether it's worth it to go for a memory upgrade as well so that everything runs at full speed.

I'd like to know if anyone has done this kind of upgrade? I can't tell if the MB will take DDR3 1066 or it has to be DDR2 like the current memory, and I don't know if the BIOS will auto-select the right speeds and CPU power. It's a locked BIOS so I have no access to the config settings, and it would be Bad if the dumb thing sent 35W to a 25W CPU because it was hard-locked to it.

Any info on upgrading the CPU to a P-series, upgrading the memory to 1066 and/or unlocking the BIOS on this thing would be very much appreciated!

 

I'm pretty sure your not going to be able to go from DDR2 to DDR3 memory. Physically I believe they are not interchangeable. I had looked at upgrade the cpu in my SR vaio and there was some discussion about it and some people have done it. Therefore you are correct - if you know your chipset, you should be able to swap between the "T" series and "P" series. They are basically the same with the "P" series having a lower TDP and some L cache changes. You could even upgrade to the highest "T" series cpu (3.x ghz?) as long as it has the same TDP as your current T6600. I wouldn't go with any processor that has a higher TDP than your current cpu. As for bios, I wouldn't touch it or try to flash it. Too many problems. I'm not sure what to tell you about memory bus speeds, or if it will take the higher bus memory. If you haven't already, run CPU-Z and get all your motherboard and memory specs.
And finally, if you haven't done it, upgrade to a SSD, this will give a far more noticeable performance improvement over a cpu upgrade, unless you are doing cpu intensive stuff like video encoding.

 

Thanks for the response! I do have said specs (I use an older freeware version of System Information for Windows - Portable. It's a really comprehensive tool). And I've been running SSDs since JMicron days so that's covered.

The MB chipset is a PM45 which is confirmed to take 1066 memory and CPUs. But it appears all 1066 memory is DDR3 and 204 pin, where my current memory is listed as 200 pin. The MB memory sockets may be the showstopper there, so that's my biggest question.

But even if I can't upgrade the memory, that still doesn't mean I can't plug in the new CPU and have it run at 800mhz. It'll lose some speed but it's a P9600 so it'll still be better than my older-gen T6600. And it was a whole 22.00, so it's worth a shot.

And I also have an old Gateway 7811 which has the same chipset and can definitely take the P9600, so even if the Vaio won't, I have a home for it

Thanks again for your response, and please let me know if you hear anything more about the memory compatibility!