Sony SZ - upgrading from 1.66 to 2.0 worth it?

Hi

I thought of uprading the CPU of my SZ from the Core Duo 1.66GHz it has now to a 2.0GHz. I don't want the 2.16GHz since it nearly twice as epensive as the 2GHz version and the difference is nonexistant.

To those who already changed their CPU: Is it done easily? What's up with the warranty if you do it?

The price of the 2GHz Core Duo is about to drop with the Core 2 Duo nearing and I thought it might be a good upgrade for the 1.66Ghz Sz model I'm perfectly happy with atm.

 

The Sony SZ is a SUPER easy cpu upgrade, it seems, according to a previous post a few days ago. You might search for it.

You may or may not feel the upgrade. If your current 1.66 is at a 533 FSB then the move to a 2.0 would be very wise, just for the extra 150 or so mhz of bus.

 

Buswise they are the same at 667MHz each. But I think I'm upgrading it because the prices came down a little (the 2.16GHz dropped nearly $80 the last week - still to expensive though for the little difference to the 2GHz) and will drop even more so I might get the 2GHz for around $300 and that's pretty much ok I think. ATM they cost around $380. Strangely enought the T2600 alread had that $80 drop I hope the T2500 will have soon. The T2600 is down from 600 to 520 now here. But you'll pay 200 on top of the T2500 to get that extra 166MHz, not worth it I think. I'd rather invest those in a 7200rpm hdd.

By the way, I found the pics showcasing the ease of the upgrade. Looks pretty easy indeed.

 

I would rather wait until Core2 launches early Sept to upgrade. By that time the all coreduo sure will drop much more.

 

Fixed for great justice

 

Just wait for core 2 bro should be much better

 

Maybe More Power Consumption !

Newly Released Yonah T2700 2.33GHz TDP : 31W

Merom T7600 2.33GHz 4M L2 Cache and SSE4 & EM64T Supported.

 

Well I consider my SZ2 everything else than outdated or last-gen. The merom is not that much of a leap. Most gain is under a 64bit OS and I don't have one. The 64bit driver situation is bad as well.

Besides I could update to merom BUT I won't because it needs a bios update. The CPU works in the SZ but power management doesn't. It always clocks at full speed. So an updated bios is needed to bring back those features and by god I'd be suprised to see Sony allowing us to upgrade instead wanting us to buy a SZ3 (future model with merom).

So I'd rather stay with a Yonah and bump it up from 1.66 to 2.00 - that's everything else than slow and will do the job perfectly for the next 2-3 years until quadcore systems will debut.

I'm not sacrificing speedstep and battery run time for a some 10% faster CPU (faster while same clock speed). If I'd want the fastest I could as well buy the T2600 or T2700 but they are too expensive for my liking. The T2500 is just perfect in the performance vs. costs departement. And it fits in the SZ2 without any problems or loss of features.

 

I'd recommend that you wait about a month or so. Then when Merom is sold in retail shops and in laptops, take a look around to find a 'cheaper' Yonah, like on Ebay or the buy/sell forum. There's bound to be people upgrading their laptop to Merom and selling their old CPU. (Assuming you don't mind used)

 

That's basically what I intend to do. Maybe I get one earlier as my local hardware store here could get me a cheap T2500 in the next 2-3 weeks. Cheap means in the region of $280-300 and that pretty much ok for me. Second hand is not my thing, no warranty and the risk ... no thank you.

 

You will not feel any performance increase. Unless you require more power for bechmarks, encoding or compiling, the upgrade is not worth it.

 

Well I'm interested in it for the long run. Core Duo will be replaced by Core 2 Duo and I'll be damned if Sony releases a BIOS update that fully supports the Merom. I guess the want us to buy the new SZ3 series then. I'd need the power when encoding HDV videos and for a game here and there. But most of all I want that machine to be still very capable in 2 years when my wife will use it (by the time I'll buy a quadcore notebook). Shes using my old Samsung Subnotebook now and that is a pain in the ass speedwise with its 700MHz Pentium and 384MB of Ram. You can work on it but serious stuff (Photoshop etc) is no fun at all. The SZ2 is VERY fast even with the 1.66GHz but will it be in the future? I'd rather add some MHz and bump it up to 2GHz while I still can (Yonah's will vanish in the next 6-12 months with Merom replacing them) and its not that expensive anyway. And given the fact that it is done so easily, why not?

I know that both the T2300 and T2500 will clock down to 1GHz most of the time but it just feels good to add a little horse power although you may never need it. And when they run at full speed the T2500 is quite a bit faster indeed.

 

Faster than I thought, I got the cheap T2500 today. The store just called me and I'm getting it later today. I plan to put it into my SZ2 the next days. One question though: I intend to apply some AS5 I got left from my Desktop days. This AS5 is not the newest, maybe 2-3 years. Is that a problem? Does AS5 become bad or unusable after some time or can I still use it?

 

Should we have any way to keep CPU alway at max speed. Some SZ owners said the CPU is alway clock down to 1 GHz if running Office (even when set power always on), and only accelerate to max speed if running Photoshop......?

 

No, I can set it to max at all times if I like. That doesn't work without help though. If you set the power scheme to desktop and are plugged in to AC it will run at max all the time. But if you are on battery it will always go down to 1GHz no matter what you set. But you can force it with NHC thought, works quite well. But why would you want to? Dynamic is far better, it reacts very quickly (not a single point of difference betwenn force 1.66 and dynamic in benchark tests) and saves power and keeps the heat down.

 

If on battery.....it should be down to save power....I am just wondering (as some people have said) whether it also goes down (1.83 -->1GHz) even plugged into AC in case the CPU is working under capacity (e.g. just surfing Web, open office files...)!
Your reply means the speed depends on AC, not on the use of intensive application. Right?

 

Both, it depends mainly on the power scheme you're using. On some it will always clock down, on some will switch dynamic and on "Deskop" wil run at full speed all the time. But it works differently when not on AC. "Desktop" will switch dynamicly here too. I was not able to set it to full speed without the help of NHC. But its not reccomended anyway. The power is there if you need it when using dynamic switching, why clock it to the max when there's no need?

 

Ok, thank for your sharing

 

Ok, got the T2500 yesterday and plugged it in today. All went smooth, extremely easy to do that on the SZ2. It really flies now if it must, nice performance indeed for the next months to come.

By the way, hows your temp? With the T2500 (using AS5) mine is 45 Celsius when idle and 65 under load (Prime95). Pretty much ok considering that the AS5 does get better after some time (BreakIn).

 

I am going to upgrade my processor. Do you have any recommendations or special instructions given your experience in swaping it out?

 

What will your update be? Given special hints, nothing special, just the usual stuff.

- Take your time
- clean the old thermal paster carefully
- use AS5 for the new set
- the heatpipe cannot be lifted up directly, it has to be rotated and lifted out at the same time

 

Upgrading to T2600.

Thanks for tips. I remember a link where someone posted pictures but cannot find it?? Does anyone have that link?