Dell Vostro 1500 (questions)

I have a Vostro 1500 with a 1.6 GHZ cpu with an Nvidia 8400M GS. I also did a A06 BIOS version upgrade DELL LINK.

It is currently running XP/32 and am intending to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate.

I'd like to know if this link I found in your forums would be relevant to myself and my current setup which came out a month ago on another website as well? Or does it correspond to Motherboards with integrated Intel Graphics?

NOTEBOOKREVIEW.COM LINK

Also, Could the laptop run a 64 bit operating system such as Windows 7 64?

I have intentions to upgrade my ram with 2 2GB sticks giving me 4gb in total memory. From what I have found that should be enough to run the OS, but again I am unsure if it is capable to run alongside with a CAD program running.

Should I consider upgrading the Video Card to an 8400M GT, or 8600M GT? Or is there something better that I don't know of?

Also I do have intentions to upgrade the CPU, but am unable to find a list of CPU's that would be acceptable on that board. Can you guys provide me a complete list (I assume there isn't that many) of CPU's that would correspond to the Vostro 1500 that would work?



Thanks a bundle

 

I had a vostro and did upgrade the 8400 to the 8600GT, I used the heat pipe assembly from the 8400 as my 8600 came from a 17 inch vostro.

The link you posted seems to be addressing an issue with the Intel Video, not the 8400/8600 GPUs

you can run a 64 Bit OS, but I believe the chipset is limited to 4 GB so you will gain a little bit of memory but can run a 32 Bit version as well.

4 Gb of memory will work fine.

I used to have a list of CPUs but which one do you have right now ?

 

The bios says the FSB is 667 so I think it's the T5500 according to wikipedia but, yet again, I really don't know.


From the research I came across someone put a Penryn and another person an Extreme chip in theirs and it worked, but ran really hot. Concerns for that came down to the Arctic Silver layering which was too thick and not in enough spots.

But this still doesn't provide me with a complete list of possibilities of upgrade types. If the board supports a CPU of 65nm stock and people are putting in 45nm (from what I sort of understand), is there no limitation with this mobo?

 

BIOS is the main issue, not all CPUs of the same socket type maybe supported

though most of them will most likely work. I usually search around for the same laptop and see what others have done

 

The Vostro 1500 is the sister of the Inspiron 1520, they have the same build quality, specs and is pretty much an Inspiron 1520 painted black and sold around the same time. I have an Inspiron 1520, although for some reason I was able to use 6GB of RAM (4GB + 2GB) whether or not this will work for you I'm not sure because the RAM is determined by the BIOS not the processor (like it is nowadays). So, you can stay with the 4GB and if you want to test the waters later on you can get a 4GB Stick and try it then.

You should be able to run Windows 7 (x64) without an problems and for a full list of hardware and CPU compatibility list that you can add to your laptop just look at this thread. The hardware is pretty much the same as it is with the Inspiron 1520, you theoretically should be able to add all of those things. For a CPU, I would recommend getting the Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 as this will give you the best price/performance ratio. I got mine for $120 about 6 months ago, you could probably get one for $100 easy (unused/new, of course).

You can get most of these parts unused/new really cheap via eBay, as that is where I've done it and made a killing. If you have any questions, just let me know.

 

I went ahead and picked up the ram i needed (4gb) a couple of days after posting. Installed W7 Ultimate. Tried to find all the 64 bit drivers I could...got them all. I didn't go ahead with the 4 and 2 gb option because I just went to future shop and got what they had. I could've done the whole ordering thing but didn't have the urge to wait.


Current Issue that I have is that the 64bit nvidia driver I have installed keeps crashing whenever I run flash in firefox in multiple windows. For instance if I load a feed from a news source and twitter and even someones webpage, the driver crashes. I know adobe hasn't reached the 64bit stage yet but should this give me intent on changing the card?

Here is my current CPU-Z stats.

I intend to max out the computer because I need it for CAD use.

I been to that Thread you mentioned. I just need to know the best cpu.

So if we were to forget about price and fully max it out to the best specs, what would those specs be and how much?

This may just be a STICKY 'HOW-TO' on this website for maxing out a Vostro 1500.

BTW whats a good benchmark program that would equate well towards CAD programs? I need to run some current tests. I'll post the results.

 

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 (cooler alternative, 2.6GHz/6MB Cache) or Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 (will run hotter and way more pricier) - 2.8GHz/6MB Cache but can be overclocked.

Hard Drive/Solid State: Intel 320 600GB (SATA II), Crucial M4 512GB (SATA III), Samsung 470 256GB (SATA II)

Memory: You can try adding a 4GB card and see if you can get 6GB total out of it.

Screen: WSXGA+ (1680x1050), WUXGA (1920x1200)

For the 64-bit Issue, google it and you'll find the solution. I had a problem with mine and I reinstalled Windows 7 (64-Bit) Home Premium and everything was working afterwards. You may need to do a manual JAVA Update as well. Sometimes browsing the web can cause your JAVA to stop updating for whatever reasons.

 

Wow this is an old thread. This was made ages ago and I never found the time to come back to it. Shame that.

I was going through some old data and came across this. I never had the time (nor remembered) to put it up over the last few years (personal health and all that), but I have some time now and I hope this data I put up helps those that intend to do the same.

As you can see from the image I made slight changes here and there over time and kept track of the details. I run a clean system with the latest updates as always.

Take care and thanks for the help back then. Hope this helps those that need it.




Edit: The image didn't upload into full resolution, so I cropped it and uploaded it somewhere else. Enjoy.