Question Old laptop NB Chipset upgrade ?

[Vulmaro]

Hello,

I've got an old laptop. It's Toshiba Satellite L450-18P. I managed to upgrade the CPU (It's not BGA) from Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400 @2.20 Ghz w FSB 800MHZ to Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.40 Ghz with the same fsb and higher L2 Cache. My mobo chipset is Intel GL40, some other laptop models with the same motherboard have Intel GM45 chipset, which is much better than GL40 because it has 1066Mhz bus speed CPU support with, 8GB max ram support instead of 4gbs. I did some Googling but couldn't find much due to ancient tech. Also Toshiba is not in laptop business anymore so I can't find good support. Only some forums and posts with more than 10 years ago.

I found this datasheet and it was a great help:

https://www.recomb-omsk.ru/publishe.../82gl40-82gm45-82gs45-82p45-82pm45-320122.pdf



Buying a new Laptop is not an option for me but, I found a spare GM45 chipset and a good BGA soldering / reballing expert with decent prices. Also I can buy a second hand Core 2 Quad Q9100 which supports the same socket and chipset (478-pin Socket P).

• I would like to know if I can get the chipset upgrade done and then leap from 4gb max ram support to 8gigs and dual cores to quad cores. I am not sure about any BIOS problems though.

• I also wonder that the 10W higher TDP difference might be a serious problem with the cooling. I know that the CPU die is dual in quad cores and heat spreading will be worse due the fact that the copper heatsink my laptop has, was designed for a single die. I can fill the thick gaps with thermal pads and spread Arctic MX4 thermal paste to direct contact points apart from pads. I created a nice laptop cooler with four PC case fans running on 12v at higher amps. Wouldn't mind to buy a vacuum cooler just in case. I run T8300 at 60c degree in stress benchmarks.

I hope I can achive what I intend to do.

Some other links I found about the chipset and the CPU compability info:

https://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/GM45_Express.html

https://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_(chipsets)/GL40_Express.html

https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_2/Intel-Core 2 Quad Mobile Q9100 AW80581GH051003.html

https://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Core_2_Quad_Mobile/Q9100.html

My notebook:
Toshiba Satellite L450-18P
Intel Core 2 Duo T8300
Rated Bus speed 797.7 MHz

Motherboard
Toshiba NBWAA LA-5822P

BIOS
UEFI Yes ( I don't think so though,)
BIOS Date 11/13/09 ( I don't know and can't check the version number)

Chipset
Northbridge Intel GL40 rev. 07
Southbridge Intel 82801IM (ICH9-M) rev. 03
Bus Specification PCI-Express 1.0 (2.5 GT/s)
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Size 4 GBytes
Channels Dual, (Symmetric)
Memory Frequency 398.9 MHz (1:2)
CAS# latency (CL) 6.0
RAS# to CAS# delay (tRCD) 6
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 6
Cycle Time (tRAS) 15
Host Bridge 0x2A40

Thank you for your help.

 

[USAFRet]

Considering parts + labor, upgrades to a laptop like this are rarely cost effective vs selling the current laptop, and buying something more recent.

The socket is what it is. Which limits your possible CPU options.
Then, the cooling situation.

 

[Vulmaro]

Considering parts + labor, upgrades to a laptop like this are rarely cost effective vs selling the current laptop, and buying something more recent.

The socket is what it is. Which limits your possible CPU options.
Then, the cooling situation.

I can get the chipset and the labor done just for 30$ which might sound like a joke. However, there's a super devaluation in economics where I live, that's the reason for that. The Quad Core CPU costs around 20$

I intend to save my time rather than the money amount. Getting the chipset and the CPU from different places, then taking my laptop to the notebook repair store are unfortunately time consuming. Shipping is not an option.

People can afford Android smartphones here and everything they look for are all CPU cores rather than detailed specs for phones, as well as computers. I can't sell my very old laptop for a reasonable price with its dual core. On the other hand, I won't need to sell it if the upgrades can be done. Upgrading my CPU to T8300 from T4400 has been very significant for me although the clockspeed and cache differences didn't look that much. (Intel Virtualization Technology is a plus with the newer CPU but I'm not sure if that's the impact to thank for.) So, going for quad core would be perfect for me I guess. I would be so glad if I could get more advice in that matter. Many thanks.