Mobile CPU help; what can I slap in this notebook?

[dewdude82]

Hey all,

I've been out of the cpu buying game for sooooo long and it seems the exact specs I'd like to know are difficult to find or I'm just not looking hard enough, so I've come here asking for advice.

I've got a Compaq Presario V5000 series notebook (V5305WM to be exact). It currently has a Mobile Sempron 3300+ Socket 754 processor in it...and this 128kb of L2 cache is a joke. I know I've read of people putting some of the Lancaster core Turions in the thing as they're socket 754...and that's what I'd like to do, I'm just not sure what this thing will support.

From what I can read, the two fastest models are the Turion 64 ML-44 (2400mhz, 1MB L2, 35W TDP) and the Turion 64 MT-40 (2200mhz, 1MB L2 cache, 25W TDP). Now, one thing wants to tell me that either one of those will work...but I do remember a time that just because a CPU had the same socket and similar specs didn't mean the chipset would support it.

According to CPU-Z, my Northbridge is an Radeon Express 200 (RS480) and my Southbridge is an SB400. The motherboard is an HP 30AE.

Can I go ahead and go full-force with one of those Turion processors I mentioned earlier...would I have to scale back to something slower? Is there some freak thing where this thing won't support a Turion at all? I've read several reports that say yes (they may of even been on here), however, before I hop on eBay and start looking, I wanted to ask.

Thanks,
-Jay

 

[Dopekitten]

Frankly, i wouldn't know--i don't know anything about mobile CPU's, but i would look and see if Sony or whoever you bought the laptop from has BIOS updates for your motherboard--do that, and then try the CPU.

I don't think the mobile CPU's are meant to come out--i mean, heatsink wise and chip-wise. I think they are soldered in, but i might be wrong.

Yea, i think they look like this under the heatsink:
This

No IHS

 

[dewdude82]

I know from personal expierence on my now-dead Acer, the heatsink in that thing was removable and the CPU would come out. I think the game has changed in the last few years.

HP has a bios update I've already applied. Where'd you get Sony from? I didn't even purchase this thing it was a "gift", I'm just trying to make it more usable.

 

[hans007]

you can still upgrade most newer laptops.

the easiest thing to do is look at other laptops in the v5000 series. HP sold dual core versions of it most likely , so it will obviously have bios support for the higher end versions of the same laptop.

 

[imported_dpunisher]

I can't help you with those two CPUs listed; however, I did install an MT-37 in the exact same model. At the time (a couple years ago) I read the 200M chipset had problems with faster CPUs. Straightforward job.

 

[Harvey]

Here are a couple of links for Socket 754 CPU's that will give you a start:

Mobile K8 Athlon XP-M

Mobile Athlon 64

Turion 64 X2 Mobile

You may want to do a little more homework to make sure which your motherboard supports. The best first guess would be one that was out at the same time as yours was manufactured and has the same instruction and feature set. For example, you'll need to know whether your machine will support a 64 bit or dual core CPU.

Good luck.

 

[dewdude82]

ahhh...page 5-65 of the maintenance and service manual lists the supported cpu's with the turion 64 ML-40 being the fastest. rated.

 

[beat mania]

I had a Sempron 2800 laptop ... I went with a cheap $10 Turion ML-34 on ebay and tested that the laptop works with Turion before going with something faster and more expensive.

 

[VirtualLarry]

In a nutshell, why is Turion better than Sempron? Bigger cache? They both support CnQ, right?

 

[dewdude82]

the turion has a 1MB L2 cache vs the Sempron's 128kb L2 cache. Sempron doesn't have AMD64 where the turion 64 does. CnQ is NOT the reason i'm changing processors...I'm changing it becuase the Sempron with it's 128kb of L2 cache is simply a joke. It's like trying to run XP with 64MB ram..you just don't do it.

I picked up a Turion 64 ML-37 for $21 with free shipping on ebay. It's not the 2.2 ghz ml-40 I wanted, but it is a 2.0 ghz chip, in line which what my last laptop had (it had a MK36 Turion 64).

 

[dewdude82]

I returned home to find a nice package for me in my mailbox!!!

The Turion 64 I ordered Friday morning (at 1am) arrived today and was waiting for me when I returned home from running errands. So, having been waiting for this sucker for a few days, I anxiously borrowed another laptop, loaded the service manual and started disassembling it. 20 minutes later when I had the thing apart...I pulled the CPU out. CPU looked almost brand new except the seller put a security sticker ON the CPU core.....that kind of was a negative mark in my book since you need to apply thermal compound directly to the core...and the security sticker probably would of prevented it from working...also meant if it didn't work, I wouldn't be able to return it as I removed the sticker and compound. When I went to stick the CPU in, it wouldn't fit...that's when i noticed a slightly bent pin. I'm wondering what to think about this place and did I just waste $20....but...going to my workshop with the magnifying glass and tiny pliers (which i normally use for fixing DIP legs and tube-pins), i was able to gently straighten the pin.

http://pickmy.org/turion.jpg

Plopped the CPU in, applied thermal compound (has anyone else noticed the white stuff they're using these days doesn't seem to last?), then went through the process of reassembling practically everything. One I had enough of it together, I stuck the battery in, applied power...and..success! The BIOS reported a Turion 64! So now I'm not even worried about having removed the security sticker since I didn't have to be returning the thing.

http://pickmy.org/bios.JPG

anyway...before I took the sempron out I downloaded some Performence Test program that ran a couple of CPU benchmarks along with the rest of the system and after closing down ALL the programs in XP, I ran it about 5 times on the Sempron and kept the best result as a baseline. after reassembling the laptop and booting back up...in my excitement I ran another benchmark...with XChat and all my systray crap open, just to see what the results would be. the overall verdict is the Turion in some cases gave quite a performence boost but not in others...however; I know that benchmarks tell you NOTHING about real-world performence and will have to make the final determination in a few days as to just how much of a performence increase I got....but I do know that swapping out the Sempron with it's 128k of L2 cache for a Turion with 1mb of L2 cache is a good idea anyway..plus this thing now has x86-64.

http://pickmy.org/cpumark.png

all in all...it was fun and surprised me that I was able to get it apart...and back together, without losing any screws!