[SOLVED] Mobile CPU Ugrade?

[root user]

Hi all:

I have a laptop with a core 2 duo t6500, and I want to upgrade it to either a core 2 quad q9000 or the core 2 extreme qx9300.

The q9000 costs about half as much as the qx9300 does. Would there be significant performance loss by going with the q9000? (The system is used as a Linux box, and I would like some faster speeds. I have already upgraded the memory to 1066 MHz DDR2.)

 

[SamirD]

You've got a bunch of challenges ahead of you since it's a laptop. The first and biggest challenge is if the laptop will even recognize the cpu and boot from it. This will be dependent on the chipset implementation as well as the system bios. And even if you get past this, your new processors are 45W tdp versus 35W of your original. Now, on a desktop this wouldn't even matter, but on a laptop, it is a huge difference and more than likely will overheat.

Now assuming all this will actually work, the q9000 doesn't give you any additional single thread performance and mainly adds 2 more cores:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...s-Intel-Core2-Duo-T9900/1042vs1025vs995vs1014

https://www.cpu-world.com/Compare_CPUs/Intel_AW80576GH0836MG,Intel_AW80577GG0452MA,Intel_AW80581GH0416M,Intel_AW80581ZH061003,Intel_EU80580PJ0606M/

The qx9300 would be a nice bump in single thread performance as well as adding 2x cores, but because of the aforementioned tdp increase, I highly doubt this will work unless the laptop has been designed for 45W tdp processors.

An alternative to the quads is the fastest dual core, the T9900. I'm not sure how much it would cost, but would have single thread performance even faster than the qx9300, but would still be dual core. The good thing is that the T9900 is a 35W tdp processor so as long as it is supported, cooling will not be an issue.

 

[root user]

You've got a bunch of challenges ahead of you since it's a laptop. The first and biggest challenge is if the laptop will even recognize the cpu and boot from it. This will be dependent on the chipset implementation as well as the system bios. And even if you get past this, your new processors are 45W tdp versus 35W of your original. Now, on a desktop this wouldn't even matter, but on a laptop, it is a huge difference and more than likely will overheat.

Now assuming all this will actually work, the q9000 doesn't give you any additional single thread performance and mainly adds 2 more cores:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...s-Intel-Core2-Duo-T9900/1042vs1025vs995vs1014

https://www.cpu-world.com/Compare_CPUs/Intel_AW80576GH0836MG,Intel_AW80577GG0452MA,Intel_AW80581GH0416M,Intel_AW80581ZH061003,Intel_EU80580PJ0606M/

The qx9300 would be a nice bump in single thread performance as well as adding 2x cores, but because of the aforementioned tdp increase, I highly doubt this will work unless the laptop has been designed for 45W tdp processors.

An alternative to the quads is the fastest dual core, the T9900. I'm not sure how much it would cost, but would have single thread performance even faster than the qx9300, but would still be dual core. The good thing is that the T9900 is a 35W tdp processor so as long as it is supported, cooling will not be an issue.

I am considering the qx9300 as it is only 10 dollars more than the 9900 I found online. My laptop is an Asus U80A, and will it support the qx9300? (I'm not sure where or how to find this information. Ignore the cooling capabilities, I just would like to know if it is supported for the system board.)

If it won't support the qx9300, I'll just go with the T9900 instead.

 

[SamirD]

Generally what I would do is search for the complete system name and 'cpu upgrade' and read all the results as most everything has been done before on older platforms so you can typically find the answer quickly. Once I know a particular cpu I want to try, I'll even search the system name and 't9900' or whatever I plan to try and see if anyone did it already.

Now, that being said, it works if the system was popular enough to be upgraded by someone. Otherwise, you're getting nothing really useful and you're on your own pretty much--which unfortunately is the case when I search 'Asus U80A cpu upgrade'.

So based on the choices in front of you, this is what I would do. First, make sure the processors you're buying are genuine used real Intel processors and not that fake ish from the chinese. There's a lot of that trash being imported too so even domestic sellers in big port cities have that crap.

Next, if the return policy on the qx9300 (or you have a way to use it or sell it to get your money back) is good, I would try it first. Based on the architecture, the only thing that could hold it back is the bios, but Asus is pretty progressive so maybe it will support it. If not, then you get the T9900 and call it done as it is basically a newer and higher clocked T6500 and should have a high chance of working.

And most importantly, post back here with whatever you learn because you are the pioneer on the whole Internet for this machine!

 

[root user]

Thanks for all your help, I'll definitely try the qx9300.

Would it be informative at all to google the BIOS version number? Would it tell me the supported processors? (It's a standard American Megatrends bios.)

 

[SamirD]

You're welcome. It will be interesting to see what you find out.

It won't hurt to search those bios version numbers, but they may not help you at all. You can take a look at the bios-mods forum and see if there are any limitations that people are asking to remove--that could possibly give you some insight, but short of actually trying it I don't think there's a real way to confirm anything.

 

[DSzymborski]

There's no "standard" American Megatrends BIOS. They either directly provide source code or customize it for the system integrators. It's a platform, not something which you can use to determine compatibility of individual CPUs.

You're unlikely to find much in the way of documentation. Unless you can find the exact laptop also sold with a CPU or someone with direct experience on using the CPU, it's guesswork and it may simply not work at all.

 

[root user]

There's no "standard" American Megatrends BIOS. They either directly provide source code or customize it for the system integrators. It's a platform, not something which you can use to determine compatibility of individual CPUs.

You're unlikely to find much in the way of documentation. Unless you can find the exact laptop also sold with a CPU or someone with direct experience on using the CPU, it's guesswork and it may simply not work at all.

As you said, it's most likely customized for the Asus laptop. I didn't find anything that was remotely useful, so I suppose I'll just go ahead and take my chances with the qx9300.

 

[SamirD]

Definitely try it and report back. I'm hoping for the best and you get it to work, but it may even be locked out because of the TDP.

 

[root user]

Definitely try it and report back. I'm hoping for the best and you get it to work, but it may even be locked out because of the TDP.

That is a very good point, and it is possible that the laptop will do that with the qx9300. My current T6500 sits around 60C under full load, which makes me think that a CPU with 10 more watts would be too much for the cooling system.

I think I'll start with the T9900, as it is probably my best bet for compatibility and thermal performance.

 

[SamirD]

The T9900 should be a fantastic upgrade as it's significantly faster than the T6500.

 

[root user]

The T9900 should be a fantastic upgrade as it's significantly faster than the T6500.

Thanks so much for all of your help! I'll order the T9900 soon.

 

[SamirD]

You're welcome--definitely post back and let us know how it went!