I just upgraded my humble laptop as far as it could possibly go and figured I'd immortalize the achievement with a tom's hardware thread. It's a Compaq Presario CQ57-339WM that I bought for $200 back in 2012 for the specific purpose of college homework. The original specs are thus:
Intel Celeron B800 1.5GHz 2 Cores/ 2 Threads
Intel HD Graphics
2 GB DDR3 1066
320GB 5400RPM hard drive
15.6-inch 1366x768 Display
Windows 7 64 bit
Here's some stock photos of what it looks like:
View: https://imgur.com/Yfamat2
In 2014 I maxed out the RAM with 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1333 and installed a hand-me-down Intel SSD with half the space but multitudes more speed.
In 2017 it got a proper Samsung 500GB SSD.
Now today after years of tolerating the Celeron that is slower than most phone processors, I finally upgraded to a Core i3 2330M for a whopping $7. It took a lot of researching to find what would be compatible with both the motherboard and the BIOS. I initially ordered an i5 2430M for $8 but it wasn't outputting any video. I could hear Windows load but the screen was totally black. As far as I can tell the 2330M is somewhere around 2% slower than the 2430M so not a big deal. I believe this means the 2330M is the fastest CPU my motherboard and BIOS can handle. The bump is certainly noticeable so far especially for web browsing and streaming. When it comes to games I play classics from the 90's and 2000's on it so the Celeron was handling that fine already. I also use it to tune my car with HP Tuners. The new specs:
Intel Core i3 2330M 2.2GHz 2 Cores/ 4 Threads
Intel HD Graphics 3000
8GB DDR3 1333
500GB SATA SSD
15.6-inch 1366x768 Display
Windows 10 64 bit
Here's a side by side of the CPU-Z benches:
View: https://imgur.com/Arvah6k
Even though the CPU's are the same TDP it runs just a tad hotter. I used Gelid GC-Extreme thermal paste. After 10 years it needed a repaste anyway. I have no plans to ever replace the laptop unless it becomes slow to the point of unusable in the future. It's been a great laptop!
Intel Celeron B800 1.5GHz 2 Cores/ 2 Threads
Intel HD Graphics
2 GB DDR3 1066
320GB 5400RPM hard drive
15.6-inch 1366x768 Display
Windows 7 64 bit
Here's some stock photos of what it looks like:
View: https://imgur.com/Yfamat2
In 2014 I maxed out the RAM with 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1333 and installed a hand-me-down Intel SSD with half the space but multitudes more speed.
In 2017 it got a proper Samsung 500GB SSD.
Now today after years of tolerating the Celeron that is slower than most phone processors, I finally upgraded to a Core i3 2330M for a whopping $7. It took a lot of researching to find what would be compatible with both the motherboard and the BIOS. I initially ordered an i5 2430M for $8 but it wasn't outputting any video. I could hear Windows load but the screen was totally black. As far as I can tell the 2330M is somewhere around 2% slower than the 2430M so not a big deal. I believe this means the 2330M is the fastest CPU my motherboard and BIOS can handle. The bump is certainly noticeable so far especially for web browsing and streaming. When it comes to games I play classics from the 90's and 2000's on it so the Celeron was handling that fine already. I also use it to tune my car with HP Tuners. The new specs:
Intel Core i3 2330M 2.2GHz 2 Cores/ 4 Threads
Intel HD Graphics 3000
8GB DDR3 1333
500GB SATA SSD
15.6-inch 1366x768 Display
Windows 10 64 bit
Here's a side by side of the CPU-Z benches:
View: https://imgur.com/Arvah6k
Even though the CPU's are the same TDP it runs just a tad hotter. I used Gelid GC-Extreme thermal paste. After 10 years it needed a repaste anyway. I have no plans to ever replace the laptop unless it becomes slow to the point of unusable in the future. It's been a great laptop!
Last edited:
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