Vostro 2510 CPU upgrad

Hi internets! Apologies if this is the wrong forum; I'm new here.
I recently upgraded the CPU in my old Vostro 2510 and I thought I'd share the pictures in case anyone else is interested.


Here are the tools I used and the new CPU, a T8300, ready for transplant.


The first step is of course getting access to the CPU. In this case it was really easy. It's right there under the access hatch.


Next I removed the fan


Followed by the heatsink. The CPU, chipset, and GPU are now exposed.


I cleaned the CPU part of the heatsink with rubbing alcohol. The chipset and GPU use thermal pads.


The old CPU is removed from the socket.


A comparison of the old and the new. 20% more GHz and 50% more cache.


The new CPU is inserted into the socket.


The socket is locked and thermal paste is applied. I didn't do a particularly good job thermal pasting.


Finally the heatsink and fan are replaced. I just reused the thermal pads on the chipset and GPU even though that's not the best.



It was pretty much a drop-in replacement without any issues. I'm not sure how accurate HWMonitor is but my CPU temps seemed to have dropped 15-20 C, so I guess I did a better job thermal pasting than Dell.