VAIO SZ processor upgrade to x9000, t9500, x7900

Hi guys I need your help have seen several people here who have been able to upgrade their SZ's to x9000 processors. I want to do the same but I want to know if it is as simple as putting the processor inn or do you have to do some modding. I am also interested in upgrading to a x7900 or t9500. Basically the x9000 is my first choice, x7900 is second and t9500 is 3rd and I want your advice as to what to do, and will I need to do any modding to put these processor in my SZ670? Thanks and any help would be much appreciated.

 

I wouldn't recommend x7900 or t9500, I would go x9000, t9300/x7800. The reason being the x7900 and t9500 aren't worth the price premium over the x7800 or t9300.

 

That's one of my concerns does anyone know if the t9500, x7900, x9000 are compatible with the sz670 or do you need to get a modified bios or something. Or will the latest bios on the Sony site which was back in early 2008, support these processors? Thanks

 

They all would fit. I would go for the T9500 if i were you because it is 35w 45nm technology compared to the others that use 44w. I would also choose the x9000 over the x7900 because of the 45nm technology, the x7900 uses 65nm technology.
It should result in may be slightly longer run time for you if you go for the one with the 45nm technology.

I don't know if you've read this but someone that owns a SZ6 on this board has upgraded to a x9000.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4640994&postcount=2

May be you could drop them a PM to ask about the BIOS.

 

Does anyone know how to do the processor upgrade?

 

Hi no they did not mod their BIOS. I pm'ed MXMoney to ask as i see now that you haven't posted enough to PM someone.

Btw, it is a simple job to do. Just remove the screws that cover the cpu and heatsink on the base of the laptop and you will have access to the CPU.
http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/10849.jpg

Just replace the thermal paste with something like MX-2 or Artic 5 and you will be fine.

 

So I was wondering whether I should order a x7900 or a t9500, because the x9000 I am able to find is a ES and the x7900 is the retail oem version, and so is the t9500. The T9500 and the X7900 are about the same price, the x7900 is about $30 more. What do you guys think? Thanks

 

I think everyone has Pm'd me now . I just haven't been reading here that much lately. I noticed this thread just after replying to the PM tonight. I bought the ES X9000 from China. It cost me $500 and it was purchased from AOpen, inc, the pc/notebook maker. I was very surprised at how well this sample CPU undervolts... I have it set to run at 14x (max) 1.06v and it runs much cooler.

Using Artic Silver 5 and when benching 100% CPU utilization the temp is 78c. Running stock voltage the temp was reaching 95c. Intel claims it can run as high as 105c without thermal throttling.

I think the battery life is very similar but as I told in my PM, I have three batteries and rarely need that much battery power. I get 2hours plus with everything maxed out and I only charge batteries to 80% using the Sony battery conditioning utility. Also, did clean install with Vista Business 64 bit. I really think this is the best setup I can have. Slightly off topic but if you are going for this type of cpu than might as well have the 500gb 7200rpm Seagate 7200.4 (250gb per platter) reaches 80-90mbs throughput. Only problem I have is, after clean install, can't get FN keys working?

 

First and foremost I wanted to thank you for answering all my PM's and everyone for replying on this thread. The solution to the FN keys not working lies in this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=222729 I used this link and downloaded all the drivers and Vista Utimate 64bit runs flawlessly on my SZ. Secondly, after two days of searching and doing extensive research between the three processors x9000, x7900, and t9500. I chose to go with the x7900, which I believe ought to work as it was a proessor older than the x9000. I figured this out after you told me that the x9000 worked soon as you popped it inn. The reason why it did is because the sz7 series and sz6 series have the same BIOS, and have a very similar architecture, instead the sz7 was designed for penryn cores and the sz6 for merom, and since x7900 is a merom core I expect it to work. Temperature is my biggest concern, I bought Artic Silver 5 yesterday as well, and am hoping it will keep the temps down. But after researching on the x9000 and x7900 I believe that they both of have temps which are really close to each other, as I couldn't find a single article which could prove that the x9000 ran cooler than the x7900. Theoretically, they both run at the same temp as they both of have the same TDP of 44W. Battery life was another concern, I read that penryn cores averaged approximately 5-15 mins more battery life than the merom cores, so I assume I may take the same hit on my battery life going from a T7700 which has a TDP of 35W. I chose not to go with the t9500 because it was a 2.6ghz core, and according to most benchmarks it lagged behind the x7900. I bought the x7900 off ebay yesterday, and am hoping to get in a few days. They had the x9000 as well but it was an Engineering Sample (ES) which wouldn't support CPU Temp monitoring and wouldn't show the CPU in system properties, which is bad because your system fans are going to be running 24/7 as they do not know the temperature of the processor, therefore it was an older ES than the one you have, I believe. I also found an article which talked about ES's which leaked into China several months ago and it talked about how you ought to stay away from them as most of the time those chips would be overclocked, lacking features, and have a shorter lifespan than the actual OEM chips. The x7900 i purchased was a retail OEM version, I verified the chip numbers through Intel's website, and it was there last production batch of the x7900. As far as pricing, the x9000 ES, was running $334 on ebay, the x7900 cost me $309 with insurance and shipping, and if I had bought the t9500 I would have paid $270, so they were all pretty close to each other in pricing, which was another reason why I chose the x7900. I also bought the Seagate 7200.4 250GB hdd. I bought the 250GB instead of the 500GB because 1. I didn't need the extra space 2. since it is 250GB per platter I assume there is a single platter in my drive, therefore it ought to perform better than the 500GB drive. Now that I am waiting on the CPU I am wondering how did you downclock the CPU using RMCLOCK? Thanks again.

 

Well I finally recieved the processor 4 days ago, and thankfully it installed flawlessly in the notebook. I just put it in where I removed the old one from, and turned it on, the BIOS recognized the processor and boote up. My battery life wasn't that significantly affected as I now get between 3.5-4 hours whereas before I recieved around 4 hours. But the laptop runs great, I am glad I upgraded from a T7700 to the X7900, it is significantly faster and doesn't take much more power from the T7700. As far as heating issues I don't have any, the SZ's cooling system is excellent it is able to keep the processor cool enough to run. The highest temps I have seen on my processor is 95 degrees celcius but that was when I was benchmarking. In normal condition it tends to stay between 45-60 degrees. If you are doing something CPU tensive than it seems to rise higher. In conclusion I am very happy with my purchase, and I thank everyone for their help. I also ended up getting the 320GB 7200.3 from Seagate instead of the 250GB 7200.4 drive, as I couldn't find that in stock anywhere.

 

I'm glad that it worked out ok for you.
Now this allows you to keep onto your SZ for even longer.
I would like to go the SSD route myself but whilst my laptop is in warranty i don't want to open it up. I have to write to Sony to get permission to do the upgrade also.

 

I don't know why you would be writing to Sony. I have had my laptop repaired by their onsite service people several times,and several times they have taken it apart, there is no way for Sony to verify if their laptop had been opened by the user, or their tech's as there are no such warranty stickers. Furthermore the hard drive and the processor are relatively easy to get to anyways, it almost seems like Sony made it this way so that the user can upgrade the laptop if he wishes to. As far as warranty your laptop will still be covered as mine is, the only parts that won't be covered will be the parts you changed out. So in my case the x7900, hdd, and RAM would not be covered as I changed those out myself. But then again, if you have purchased brand name components on your memory, hdd, and an OEM processor you are not going to have a problem with those components and if you do you can claim manufacturers warranty on those components. Hope this helps you in making your decision. Oh and the reason why I decided to do the upgrade myself, was because I saw a sony tech literally take apart my entire laptop like a month ago, and it seemed quite easy, and I had no problems doing the upgrade.

 

Thought that I would drop in here and reopen the CPU upgrade questions to help me decide.

I hava Sony Vaio SZ90PS. (Its a model that was one the first batch released in Japan). The only upgrade I will have done by Monday is replacing the hard disc by putting a Western Digital Scorpio Black 320Gb 7200rpm disc inside it, so long as the postman keeps his promise & delivers the box on Monday.

The next step is the CPU. The motherboard chip-set is one of these: ICH7. The CPU is one of these T2600 @ 2.16GHz. Which CPU upgrade choices have I got without buying Artic Silver and pouring it all over the motherboard! I would like to speed the beast up without turning it into a barbeque ; I have one on the terrace and would not wish for another one.

Answers on a postcard, or replies beneath.

Best wishes.

 

I could be wrong but I believe that the max. CPU you can put in is the following:

Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 Merom 2.33GHz 4MB L2 Cache

Good luck.

 

I read this somewhere afore, but I remember when the SZ first came out many wrote (in 2006), YES we can put Memrons into the board, but then, if I remember correctly, there was a lot of general confusion, especially when some people then stated that the Sony BIOS would have to be changed (hacked, scuppered and replaced by a Phoneix one and so on). More questions arose as to whether the bios or board would support the voltage change. Back then I decided to ignore the discussion because there was far too much speculation.

So, 3 years later in twenty-oh-nine:
I found this page and the voltage requirements for the T7600 are slightly wider than the T2600. Would this be a problem?
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27257&processor=T7600&spec-codes=SL9SD,SL9SJ

T2600
Max TDP 31 W
VID Voltage Range 1.1625V - 1.30V
T7600
Max TDP 34 W
VID Voltage Range 1.0375V-1.300V

Although, why not a T7800; Would it overheat?
Max TDP 35 W
VID Voltage Range 1.075V-1.250V

 

I'm not an expert, maybe someone else who has the expertise may be able to help you out better.

However, I belive that those earlier Vaio SZ notebooks (the ones with the gunmetal/silver palmrests) can only take Socket M & 667 MT/s Front Side Bus CPUs. Therefore, the max. CPU your Vaio SZ notebook can take is the Intel T7600. Anyway, for your info, the Intel T7800 will fit in the later Vaio SZ notebooks (the ones with the black palmrests).

The main differences:

Intel T7600 CPU - Socket M & 667 MT/s Front Side Bus
Intel T7800 CPU - Socket P & 800 MT/s Front Side Bus

 

Yes, mine is the one with the silver palm rest.
T7600 it will be. Thank-you for the advise.

At least I shall gain some clock cycles and a larget cache (from 2Mb to 4Mb)