Laptop - Microprocessor upgrade, of sorts

Channel Hopper

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I have this Toshiba A10 Satellite laptop with the following processor inside


2,2GHz Celeron
Package Type: Micro-FCPGA
Bus Speed - 400MHz
L2 Cache - 256kb

http://download.intel.com/support/processors/mobile/celeron/sb/25130808.pdf


The socket on the board is a 479, despite the microprocessor being originally designed to fit into a 478 type.





Than, on a scrap board from another lappy here, sits a rather unused T5200 dual core with the following spcification
1.60 GHz / 2M / 533,

http://ark.intel.com/products/27252/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-T5200-2M-Cache-1_60-GHz-533-MHz-FSB

This sits in a uPGM 478 MT socket on the mobo.

I've seen many forums where the posters are indifferent on the 478 > 479 socket upgrades, some say they work, some say they wont

Without damaging the motherboard or replacement chip by usual trial error, can anyone confirm up front

if this microprocessor will fit in the Toshiba and power up, and if it might give any improvement on performance being a dual core jobby, higher speed bus (and a far higher F2 cache), despite being only 1.6GHz speed ?
 

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Some years ago I replaced the 1GHz mobile Pentium processor in my HP laptop with a 1.3GHz mobile Pentium processor using the information that I found here

http://ark.intel.com/

More recently I changed the 1.5GHz Celeron with a 1.7GHz Pentium in my Tosh a couple of years ago although I just plugged and prayed!
 

2cvbloke

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I can definitely say without a doubt that a T5200 Core2Duo will not operate in a laptop designed for much older type CPUs, despite them sharing the same style of socket... :)
 

Channel Hopper

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Thanks for being the bringer of good news (as usual)
 

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Channel Hopper

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Will they fit into a 479 socket ?
 

2cvbloke

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Channel Hopper said:
Will they fit into a 479 socket ?
Nope but they definitely fit my mouth quite nicely... :lol:

Back on the laptop, this would probably be a useful thread on the Toshiba forums:

http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=24178

Given the A10 is quite an old model, it's probably best just to stick with the Sell'n'run, the bus speed and cache are a bit lower than the top Pentium4 that was fitted to other A10s, but if it runs as is, then it's best to leave it as is because laptops aren't as simple to upgrade as desktops... :)
 

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I suppose I should say that the Satellite A10 was designed and built long before even the first CoreDuo CPU ever appeared, so the motherboard will not know how to work it as it was never made for Dual-core CPUs, plus they changed the pin layout on the C2D laptop CPUs, so although it will fit, it will not function, and would probably damage the CPU and/or the laptop... :)
 

Channel Hopper

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I was hoping to upgrade as she is not running well.

I've checked everything else (removed anything softwarewise that might be troublesome and now have a third of the 30GB drive free.)
There are quite a few fragmented files left over but I don't want to try the XP disc unless I have to as last time I had to format everything.


The processor herself may be on the way out, but the T5200 is the only thing I have that physically fits.
 

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Channel Hopper said:
The processor herself may be on the way out, but the T5200 is the only thing I have that physically fits.
Well, given that it is completely incompatible, if you did fit that CPU, then the laptop would run very badly indeed, doing absolutely nothing at all... :lol:

That said, if the laptop is running poorly, it could be the HDD itself, my laptop was starting to run quite poorly, and it turned out the HDD was breaking down, CPUs generally either work or not work, so unless it's throwing up BSODs regularly, I'd look at the HDD, RAM and the OS... :)
 

Channel Hopper

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The CPU fan cuts in a lot more often than she use to, and the bearings are on their way out, so she does make quite a racket.

Since the 478 processor is in a more modern 479 socket, I would have assumed there is some reason why Toshiba put the thing together the way they did. Couple that with the fact the duff laptop is running a far more modern processor, still stuck in a 478 socket, albeit different.

Is there a different progression of socket designs for Intel chips that is not mentioned ?
An early 479 that powers an ancient micro might deal with a - slightly - more modern dual core thingy

I may just take the plunge and try it as currently, I'm not doing much with her apart from listening to the fan cutting in every few seconds .
 

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Well, you could try cleaning off the old heatsink paste and applying fresh stuff, that can help immensely with improving the cooling, aswell as adding a drop of oil to the bearings of the heatsink fan to quieten it down... :)

I think the idea for the 479 socket is that they had made CPUs specifically for laptops only, but stil had 478 pins on the CPU but had one pin moved over in the "notch" corner to prevent insertion into a Desktop 478 socket, they designed some laptops to accept 478 CPUs (my Satellite A30 used a desktop-style P4 2.66GHz 478, altered for laptop use but was still an overheating power hog!!) but using the 479 socket on the motherboard which accept either (but may or may not actually work with them), but these designs were for the Pentium4 and equivalent Celeron lines only... :)

The later Core series CPUs only used the 478 arrangement (which they used Socket-M with, followed by the Socket-P for later versions) because it is smaller and incompatible with the same-generation desktop CPU sockets (which have the pins on the motherboard, not the CPU), the Socket-P CPUs are physically compatible, but they're electrically incompatible with a Socket 478, so a Core2Duo will not work in a Socket 478 motherboard, and vice-versa... :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_M

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_P

Still, if you want to upgrade that laptop to something a smidge faster, here's a CPU that should work:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111055346746

:)
 

2cvbloke

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I suppose a good analogy would be like with F-plugs, Cable and Satellite systems both use them, and they both are interchangeable between the two different systems, but if you hook up a cable box to a satellite dish and a satellite box to a cable access point, neither will work, even though the plugs are the same, it's basically the same with these CPUs, they fit, but they're not interchangeable... :)

As mentioned before, the Satellite A10 was designed and built long before Intel had released anything to do with a domestic Dual-core CPU, so the laptop motherboard will not work at all with it, hence Post #3... :)
 

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The best (inexpensive) upgrade to an old computer is to switch the HDD with an SSD.<br /><br />Recent processors (up to, let's say 5 years ago) offer more than enough processing power for light usage (by that I mean websurfing, and some light office work). The slowiness one might experience with an old pc isn't as much lack of processing power, but access time that is lacking. This is even more true for an old HDD which itself is also old technology.<br /><br />Also, if you do this, you will be spoiled and hate an all pc's that don't have an SSD ^^
 

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Channel Hopper said:
Channel Hopper, on 15 May 2013 - 12:41 AM, said:
The CPU fan cuts in a lot more often than she use to...
I recently gave my lappy a good clean out as the fan was running almost continuously and would go to full speed at the slightest work that the CPU undertook. I tried reverse blowing throgh the outlet with an air gun but I had to strip the lappy down to be able to get at the fluff that had accumulated inside on the the cooling fins. It was so thick that it looked like a layer of felt and I had to physically prise it off with a small screwdriver before giving it a blow through.

I then had a close look at installed programs, ran Ccleaner to tidy up bad links, registry entries, etc. and then defragmented the hard drive.

The lappy ran like a new machine afterwards. I intend to give the cooler a reverse blow through (oo-er, missus) more often to stop the fluff build-up.
 

Channel Hopper

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I've already cleaned out the dust clogging the vents within the copper heatsink, and the paste on the microprocessor is in really good condition.

If I went for the cpu in post 12, what is the estimated speed increase I might see, seeing as old and new are both 2.2 GHz ?
 

2cvbloke

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Channel Hopper said:
If I went for the cpu in post 12, what is the estimated speed increase I might see, seeing as old and new are both 2.2 GHz ?
Probably not very noticeable depending on what you're using the laptop for, especially with things like flash player hogging so much memory and CPU time these days, but the load on the CPU should be lower, but only marginally so... :)

The Pentium line usually had some "extras" built into them and their software, which made them more desirable for games and more CPU intensive programs, the Sell'n'run was just for basic tasks like you'd do on a work computer, just word processing, emals and light web browsing, and therefore didn't need the additional extras... :)
 
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