Kiss This Toad (emachines T5088 rehab project)

[Quirk345]

So I bought this crummy emachines T5088 from Frys about 2 years ago for very little $. It's a toad and I've always known that but it's provided very basic service befitting what I paid for it, back when I had dial-up, etc. It sufficed. No longer.

Lately I've been learning more and wanting to upgrade this toad into a bull frog. By bull frog i mean improved enough to take advantage of a DSL connection speed (up to 3Mbps downstream) for streaming video like ESPN360, HULU, etc. Maybe some light gaming too. no overclocking b/c the BIOS doesn't support that. The BIOS doesn't allow much of anything.

If the toad croaks while I try to turn it into a frog, so be it. I'm willing to take some chances so long as the cost remains low and my add-on parts remain alive to put to use elsewhere.

Here is the machine in question: http://www.emachines.com/produ...oducts.html?prod=T5088 It uses a coconut creek mobo = Intel CR94510J. Specs here: http://support.gateway.com/s/M...181R/4006181Rsp2.shtml I updated the BIOS via the Gateway website. not much to update. The machine uses VISTA BASIC (i know, i know).

If you're with me so far, thanks. I'm a newbie, not a dummy, on a steep learning curve. I haven't just come here right out of the gate expecting someone to do all the work for me. I've already done some stuff as follows:

Replaced the PSU from the weak stock Bestco 300w to a better Orion HP585D. Just did that last night in fact.

Bought a Sapphire HD2400 Pro on shell shocker recently and plugged that into the open PCI-E slot. Runs hot (no fan) but has imrpoved the graphics considerably.

Replaced the paltry 512 MB of RAM (!) with 2 GB of Corsair 800MHz DDR2 which was fortunately recognized by the computer (the spec calls for 533MHz and it looks like that's maybe all I'm getting out of the 800MHz sticks? but still a big improvement).

Tried replacing the stock HDD too (WD1500AJS i think) with a larger WD2500AAJS which I had on hand. Couldn't get the computer to detect the replacement so had to go back to stock for now.

Will be getting a 10/100/1000 LAN card since the T5088 is only a 10/100. I know where to find that on newegg. $10-$15.

Anyway, the BIG obstacle is now the SINGLE CORE CPU which I want to replace with a faster but still cheap 2 CORE. I took it off the mobo to have a look. THe Foxconn heatsink/fan combo looks fairly robust so I think i can keep that. The CPU is a 3.2GHz 800MHz 2MB L2 cache Intel processor.

Not sure what will be a good replacement. Any ideas? I'll probably go for the cheapest Intel 2 core I can get. Looks like the mobo supports "Intel® Core?2 Duo processor in an LGA775 socket with a 800 MHz system bus." I can shop for somesuch on the egg but I don't want to buy anything until I'm sure it's both compatible and will improve performance enough to make it worth the $.

Any advice? I"ll recheck later in the day. thanks. Al

 

[Quirk345]

Like this one maybe? http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116064

 

[heyheybooboo]

Read the following at your own risk

Overall, the '945' chipset motherboards (primarily Gigabyte) with which I have dealt will handle e2xxx microprocessors like these.

I don't think you will have a problem upgrading to an e2xxx with an OEM emachine '945' but I have never tried it ...

 

[Quirk345]

Am able to check in from another computer faster than anticipated today. thanks for your suggestion heyboo.

I neglected to add in my initial post that the streaming I want to do is HD streaming. It must handle that well or there's no point in me wasting more money on the toad. I'm assuming that the mobo won't limit me in the task but maybe that's wrong?
If the e2xxx series will perform considerably better than the one I linked to, due to larger cache or what have you, then the extra $ for it/them is no problem.

The risk involved is not really a problem unless the main danger is to the processor. If the main risk is frying the mobo then no big deal but if the main risk is to the CPU then that's tougher b/c I would hope to use a quality CPU in a new build if the mobo dies.

Is the processor I linked to just as risky in terms of frying stuff?

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: Quirk345
Am able to check in from another computer faster than anticipated today. thanks for your suggestion heyboo.

I neglected to add in my initial post that the streaming I want to do is HD streaming. It must handle that well or there's no point in me wasting more money on the toad. I'm assuming that the mobo won't limit me in the task but maybe that's wrong?
If the e2xxx series will perform considerably better than the one I linked to, due to larger cache or what have you, then the extra $ for it/them is no problem.

The risk involved is not really a problem unless the main danger is to the processor. If the main risk is frying the mobo then no big deal but if the main risk is to the CPU then that's tougher b/c I would hope to use a quality CPU in a new build if the mobo dies.

Is the processor I linked to just as risky in terms of frying stuff?

The HD 2400pro should provide hardware acceleration of H.264 and VC-1 lowering the CPU usage during video playback.

You are not at risk with any of the CPUs discussed (assuming they will be recognized by that mobo).

I doubt that Celly e1200 will push your HD even with the HD 2400pro. And yes, either of those e2xxx CPUs will considerably out-perform the e1200 and work well with the Radeon card in video playback.

Your software player will be the key that ties everything together ...

 

[mooseracing]

Alot of memory will downclock to the speed the mobo runs at, granted it can downclock that far. So what you are seeing is normal.

Also don't bother upgrading your NIC unless you have an internal network and are transfering files. You do understand your DSL is slower than 10/100?

 

[Quirk345]

thanks moose, no I didn't realize that my DSL is slower than the 10/100. I am about to upgrade to the ATT Elite speed soon (up to 6Mbps downsream) though so maybe that will warrant faster ethernet input. And if FIOS ever gets to this area I can really crank up the bps. I'll have to read more about such things. Good to know about the memory. It got accepted so that was a plus even if it isn't operating at full potential. It's still a lot better than the scrimpy 512 that was in there previously. I think i only paid about $150 for the whole machine, new, so i wasn't expecting a whole lot of features and performance.

 

[Quirk345]

thx for the addl. info heyboo. I hadn't really thought about a software player yet b/c both sites that i mentioned (espn360 and hulu.com) require the Move Media player which is the only thing i've used so far I'm watching all the back episodes of LOST so that uses an embedded (the right description?) ABC player at the site. ESPN360 is the bigger challenge for some reason even in SD usage. Maybe i didn't add it on correctly into FireFox but it often crashes and stalls even on SD content.

I guess I misunderstand what you said about "risk" of buying and using one of the e2xxx cpus. I was thinking you meant danger of damaging the mobo. If there's no such risk then I'll go ahead and try one of those b/c if it doesn't work out I can still use it in a new build with an even better mobo and everything else. Good to know that the 2400 Pro will help out on acceleration.

 

[Quirk345]

I look at this project as an opportunity to learn more while I turbo-charge the toad. If it appears I'm misunderstanding stuff in my descriptions feed free to jump in and correct. I love to be corrected when wrong or simply heading down a wrong path.

For example, after replacing the cpu, if ihe mobo accepts it, and upgrading the NIC after upgrading DSL, then I'm thinking the main bottleneck will be the '945' chipset mobo? Or will it be something else?

Oh, one other question while I'm typing. When i first plugged in the connectors for the new psu there was a 20 + 4 arrangement for the main connect. I plugged them both in and the computer wasn't able to start up properly. It went to an "attempting start-up fix" screen but couldn't solve the problem. I noticed that the old psu connector didn't have the + 4 connector so I disconnected that after shut off and restarted. That solved it.

Can the mobo only take so much power? Why was the +4 rejected and what does it mean for how the new psu is being utilized or not being utilized to its potential? thanks in advance. i'll be checking back in later tonight.

p.s. I won't keep pestering the board with more and more questions on this toady upgrade project. i'm sure it's not too interesting to most of the advanced members here. All the same I really appreciate the replies given and am starting to shop for the new cpu already. Al