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Better laptop processor upgrade

D

Domingow

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 3, 2001
Messages
3,876
Hello,
I am in the process of upgrading my HP NC6230 Laptop from a 1.86 Pentium M to one of the following:
Either a 2.0 Pentium M,
Or a Core duo 1.60 Pentium M.
What chip would be the best upgrade route?
Additionally there will be 2GB of ram, and I will be running Vista Business on it.
My thoughts are on the Core duo rather then the core solo—I also believe that this chip will offer better battery performance (or is this incorrect?) any suggestions?
TIA.
 
If you have a true Pentium M and not a Core Solo, then you're stuck with upgrading to a faster Pentium M. If you have a Core Solo then I believe you can jump up to a Core Duo, or even a Core 2 Duo if your BIOS supports it.
 
your laptop doesn't have support for Core branded processors, only pentium m.
 
This is what is in there right now, from what i can tell this is a simple 478-pin Micro-FCPGA chip.

I am thinking about sticking this in the laptop. This chip is also 478-pin Micro-FCPGA. So the chips are in tha same family, and can be supported per hp's CSN website. I know that i can't stick a Core2 processor in it (I tried and realized that the socket is different)

My main question is what chip will provide better performance under Vista. If nobody actually knows I guess I can buy the core duo chip (its about 50$ used on ebay) and give it a whirl.

Essentially I repair HP branded Laptops and Desktops at Work--mainly NC6000, nc6230, nc6400, tc4200, tc4400, nc4400, nc4200, nc4010, nc4000 and DC7700cmt/ssf DC7600 cmt/sff and DC7100SSF/CMT--so i have a few parts that i can pull and play around with. I got an old beater nc6230 laptop off eBay and plan in fixing it up and seeing what it can do once its maxed out.

TIA.
 
I don't believe the bios will support that chip. If it does let us know it could be good to know in the future.
 
As mentioned, a Pentium M cannot be upgraded to any core cpus. This includes core solo, core duo or core 2 duo.

Your only choice is another Pentium M, that's it. The core cpus are either socket M or P, while your Pentium M is socket 478.
 
hennessy1 said:
As mentioned, a Pentium M cannot be upgraded to any core cpus. This includes core solo, core duo or core 2 duo.

Your only choice is another Pentium M, that's it. The core cpus are either socket M or P, while your Pentium M is socket 478.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but per this website: http://www.cpu-world.com This is what is currently in the laptop, THIS is what I want to stick in it. Per the links listed previously the chips are both 478-pin Micro-FCPGA, both are running the same FSB. I know that the NC6230 supports up to a Core duo 2.0 Ghz (maybe higher? I have to research that) Additionally the system boards on this laptop series is identical from what I have seen come across my tech bench.

Lets not confuse the Core duo with the Core 2 duo, these chips are clearly different.

Ultimately, I think I will go and buy the chip off eBay (its only 42.00) and see what happens once it is in the laptop.

My main question however was with performance pertaining to what chip will perform better under Vista.
Thanks again,
 
My laptop came with a Celeron M. I upgraded to a Core 2 Duo T7200. It was around $300 or so as I recall. Though this was months ago I purchased it.
 
shyboi said:
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but per this website: http://www.cpu-world.com This is what is currently in the laptop, THIS is what I want to stick in it. Per the links listed previously the chips are both 478-pin Micro-FCPGA, both are running the same FSB. I know that the NC6230 supports up to a Core duo 2.0 Ghz (maybe higher? I have to research that) Additionally the system boards on this laptop series is identical from what I have seen come across my tech bench.

Lets not confuse the Core duo with the Core 2 duo, these chips are clearly different.

Ultimately, I think I will go and buy the chip off eBay (its only 42.00) and see what happens once it is in the laptop.

My main question however was with performance pertaining to what chip will perform better under Vista.
Thanks again,
Click to expand...

The Core Duo and Core 2 Duo do NOT work on boards made for Pentium-M. No matter what the bus speed or pin count is, the sockets are wired differently and they need different chipsets.
 
widefault said:
The Core Duo and Core 2 Duo do NOT work on boards made for Pentium-M. No matter what the bus speed or pin count is, the sockets are wired differently and they need different chipsets.
Click to expand...

This is simply not true. My motherboard in my Lenovo N3000 supports Celeron M, Pentium M, Core Duo, and Core 2 Duo mobile processors. It came with a Celeron M, and I upgraded it to a Core 2 Duo T7200.

Newer boards can be made backwards compatible but older boards can't made before those processors were released can not be made to support the newer processors.
 
Dan_D said:
This is simply not true. My motherboard in my Lenovo N3000 supports Celeron M, Pentium M, Core Duo, and Core 2 Duo mobile processors. It came with a Celeron M, and I upgraded it to a Core 2 Duo T7200.

Newer boards can be made backwards compatible but older boards can't made before those processors were released can not be made to support the newer processors.
Click to expand...

Thanks
That’s exactly the logic I was looking for.
Here is a real life scenario that pertains to this situation in my work environment. I deal with HP NC6000 and NC6230 Laptops both are Pentium M 478 boards. However the NC6000 is a 3+ yr old laptop and as such this board is not compatible with the Intel Core line of processors. However the HP NC6230 is a newer model (about 1.5 yrs old) and specifically has a model that has the Core duo in it I have researched the manufactures website (HP CSN) and determined that the same part number for the system board is used in the entire line of laptops for this model number.
So that means that this laptop does support the Intel core duo chip and may need only a BIOS update to allow the board to recognize this chip.

If I am wrong please post links to refute my line of reasoning.

At this point I believe that my logic is sound and will proceed with this experiment.

Unfortunately this still begs the question: what chip will perform better under vista?
(with respects to battery life and all around app performance)




Thanks guys, so far this is an excellent discussion lets keep the ideas and first hand experience examples rolling!
 
I think the confusion is coming from the socket desginations that Intel has used over the past few years.

Pentium M used Socket 479 and Socket M. Core Duo/Solo used socket M. If your laptop is indeed a socket 479 then a Core processor will not work in it. If it's a socket M then it will.

The confusing part is that both socket are 478 pin microFCPGA and are nearly identical.

There's also a few Core 2 Duo's that'll work in Socket M.
 
shyboi said:
Thanks
That’s exactly the logic I was looking for.
Here is a real life scenario that pertains to this situation in my work environment. I deal with HP NC6000 and NC6230 Laptops both are Pentium M 478 boards. However the NC6000 is a 3+ yr old laptop and as such this board is not compatible with the Intel Core line of processors. However the HP NC6230 is a newer model (about 1.5 yrs old) and specifically has a model that has the Core duo in it I have researched the manufactures website (HP CSN) and determined that the same part number for the system board is used in the entire line of laptops for this model number.
So that means that this laptop does support the Intel core duo chip and may need only a BIOS update to allow the board to recognize this chip.

If I am wrong please post links to refute my line of reasoning.

At this point I believe that my logic is sound and will proceed with this experiment.

Unfortunately this still begs the question: what chip will perform better under vista?
(with respects to battery life and all around app performance)




Thanks guys, so far this is an excellent discussion lets keep the ideas and first hand experience examples rolling!
Click to expand...

You are right on the money. I did the same thing to find out if I could use a Core 2 Duo mobile in my laptop. I used the same reasoning and gave it a shot. I didn't even need a BIOS upgrade and mine worked perfectly.
 
Dan_D said:
This is simply not true. My motherboard in my Lenovo N3000 supports Celeron M, Pentium M, Core Duo, and Core 2 Duo mobile processors. It came with a Celeron M, and I upgraded it to a Core 2 Duo T7200.

Newer boards can be made backwards compatible but older boards can't made before those processors were released can not be made to support the newer processors.
Click to expand...

Dan_D said:
My laptop came with a Celeron M. I upgraded to a Core 2 Duo T7200. It was around $300 or so as I recall. Though this was months ago I purchased it.
Click to expand...

SLAPS FOREHEAD! Goddam it's so obvious! :eek:

That's really interesting Dan, I've been looking at laptops recently and the reasonably priced ones seem to skimp on one vital area: proc, and the ones with decent procs are $$$$$$$$$$$ (or ££££££££££ in my case).

It'd be very cost effective just to grab a reasonably priced laptop and pop a new faster proc in.

I'm off to do some research :D
 
Dan_D, what Celeron-M did your laptop have? 3xx, 4xx, 5xx? What chipset? Just finding it really hard to believe, Dothan and Banias core chips even have a different pinout from Yonah and Merom.
 
widefault said:
Dan_D, what Celeron-M did your laptop have? 3xx, 4xx, 5xx? What chipset? Just finding it really hard to believe, Dothan and Banias core chips even have a different pinout from Yonah and Merom.
Click to expand...

Are you absolutely sure about that?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819111176


The pinout of the chip packaging has nothing to do with the die. Prescott was on two different sockets, Merom has had two different sockets, and Dothan had two different sockets.
 
Positive. Newegg is plain wrong calling it Socket M. Socket M was the designation for Yonah-based cores first, then Merom later. The Banias and Dothan sockets were Socket 479.
 
So in theory, I could upgrade my Celeron M 520 (Merom based) in my current lappy (see sig) to a Core 2 Duo ?
 
JaYp146 said:
So in theory, I could upgrade my Celeron M 520 (Merom based) in my current lappy (see sig) to a Core 2 Duo ?
Click to expand...

Depends on your chipset. For example, my laptop has a Celeron M 520 like yours, but the chipset is a 943GML and is limited to 533 FSB. So the only C2Ds I could possibly upgrade to are the T5200 and T5300.

Also, I believe the Celeron M 520 is a socket M part, so you'd be limited on which C2D you could use on that aspect as well.
 
ryan_975 said:
Depends on your chipset. For example, my laptop has a Celeron M 520 like yours, but the chipset is a 943GML and is limited to 533 FSB. So the only C2Ds I could possibly upgrade to are the T5200 and T5300.

Also, I believe the Celeron M 520 is a socket M part, so you'd be limited on which C2D you could use on that aspect as well.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure, I can't find the chip. I believe it was a 4xx or 5xx series.
 
4xx is a Yonah core. 5xx is a Merom core. Both are Socket M, so the swap to a Core/Core2 is simple. The 3xx series chips are based on Dothan or Banias.

shyboi, I looked around and all I find for the HP NC6230 are Pentium-M models. There is a NC6320 that is Core/Core2. Got me confused, that's for sure.
 
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