Acer 3690 cpu upgrade??

Hi all just joined up and hope to get some good advice ,
basically i'm looking to upgrade my current cpu to the most powerful one that my laptop can take, wether it be a core duo or would really love a core 2 duo??
here's my current spec's,

Acer 3690
Intel Celeron M 420 @ 1.60ghz
Codename - Yonah
Socket 479mPGA
Motherboard - Acer Grapevine
Chipset - Intel i943/940GML
Rev - 03
Southbridge - Intel 82801GHM(ICH7-M/U)
Bios - Acer v3.60
Also recently upgraded the Ram to 2GB


The reason for the upgrade is that i'm doing alot of online poker with multi-tabling, Rapidsharing , listening to ton's of music and general surfing the net all at the same time, i know multi-tasking .

Any advice or help on this would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

John.




Sorry: Mods please move to hardware components and upgrades if necessary.

 

Hi John and welcome to NBR.

The 3690 is quite similar to the 3680 and there is a dedicated thread to upgrading the CPU on the 3680 here.

Your main limitation in upgrading would be the chipset you have, if you have the 940GML then you are stuck with a single core. With the Core Solo T1350 being the fastest know CPU workingon the 940GML. If you have a i943/i945 then you could go up to a Core 2 Duo T7600.

Below is how to identify your Chipset on a 3680 but should be the same on a 3690. Most programs are not accurate enough to identify the exact chipset so they give you a more general answer, e.g. 940GML/i943 and the RAM sticker is currently the most accurate way of finding it:

If the Cover for the RAM bay is pulled off, on the Ram Bay there is a sticker. The code on the sticker identifies your laptop chipset.
Here they are:
MB.TEB06.003... If it starts with that it is a 940GML
MB.AZL06.... If it starts with that it is a i943
MB.TDX06.... If it starts with that it is a i945


Hessmachine has just upgraded his 3690 to a Core 2 Duo T5600 but he had the i943 chipset so it is possible. I have a 3680 and I had the same CPU as you and my chipset was the dreaded 940GML, I have also found that most 3680s with the Celeron M420 have ended up being the 940GML.

If you go ahead with the upgrade the thread I linked above has information on how to disassemble and more.

I was going to suggest the RAM upgrade but I see you've already done that. Another cheap way of getting more out of it would be a better HDD as the stock 4200RPM one is quite pathetic, there are some pretty cheap 7200RPM HDDs that will give a nice boost in performance especially in boot times and anything file based.

 

Hi Meegulthwarp cheers for the reply,

I just there maybe 20mins ago or so took of the Ram cover and found a little green strip with letters and digits written and what i got from it was MBAF70200 and alot of other numbers there too.

Wonder if thats any good to you for info??

thanks

John.

 

Just abit more information from Everest if it helps at all.

Field Value
CPU Properties
CPU Type Mobile Intel Celeron M 420, 1600 MHz (12 x 133)
CPU Alias Yonah-1M
CPU Stepping C0
Instruction Set x86, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
Original Clock [ TRIAL VERSION ]
Min / Max CPU Multiplier 6x / 12x
Engineering Sample No
L1 Code Cache 32 KB
L1 Data Cache [ TRIAL VERSION ]
L2 Cache 1 MB (On-Die, ECC, Full-Speed)

CPU Physical Info
Package Type 479 Ball uFCBGA / 478 Pin uFCPGA
Package Size 3.5 cm x 3.5 cm
Transistors [ TRIAL VERSION ] million
Process Technology 8M, 65 nm, CMOS, Cu, Low-K Inter-Layer, 2nd Gen Strained Si
Die Size [ TRIAL VERSION ] mm2
Core Voltage 1.262 V
I/O Voltage 1.262 V

CPU Manufacturer
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/processor

CPU Utilization
CPU #1 0 %


Field Value
Motherboard Properties
Motherboard ID <DMI>
Motherboard Name Acer Aspire 3690

Front Side Bus Properties
Bus Type Intel AGTL+
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 533 MHz
Bandwidth 4267 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties
Bus Type Dual DDR2 SDRAM
Bus Width 128-bit
DRAM:FSB Ratio 8:4
Real Clock 267 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 533 MHz
Bandwidth [ TRIAL VERSION ] MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties
Bus Type Intel Direct Media Interface

Motherboard Manufacturer
Company Name Acer Inc.
Product Information http://us.acer.com/acer/product.do
BIOS Download http://us.acer.com/acer/service.do
Driver Update http://driveragent.com?ref=59
BIOS Upgrades http://www.esupport.com/biosagent/index.cfm?refererid=40


Field Value
North Bridge Properties
North Bridge Mobile Intel Calistoga-GML i940GML/i943GML
Supported FSB Speeds FSB533, FSB667
Supported Memory Types DDR2-400 SDRAM, DDR2-533 SDRAM
Maximum Memory Amount 2 GB
Revision / Stepping 03 / A3
Package Type 1466 Pin FC-BGA
Package Size 3.75 cm x 3.75 cm
Core Voltage 1.05 V
In-Order Queue Depth 12

Memory Controller
Type Dual Channel (128-bit)
Active Mode Dual Channel (128-bit)

Memory Timings
CAS Latency (CL) 4T
RAS To CAS Delay (tRCD) 4T
RAS Precharge (tRP) 4T
RAS Active Time (tRAS) 12T
Row Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC) 34T
Read To Precharge Delay (tRTP) 4T
Write To Precharge Delay (tWTP) 11T
Refresh Period (tREF) 7.8 us

Error Correction
ECC Not Supported
ChipKill ECC Not Supported
RAID Not Supported
ECC Scrubbing Not Supported

Memory Slots
DRAM Slot #1 1 GB (DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM)
DRAM Slot #2 1 GB (DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM)

Integrated Graphics Controller
Graphics Controller Type Intel GMA 950
Graphics Controller Status Enabled
Graphics Frame Buffer Size 8 MB

Chipset Manufacturer
Company Name Intel Corporation
Product Information http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets
Driver Download http://support.intel.com/support/chipsets
BIOS Upgrades http://www.esupport.com/biosagent/index.cfm?refererid=40
Driver Update http://driveragent.com?ref=59


Alot of info there if it can be deciphered to let me know exactly what cpu my Acer 3690 is capable of upgrading to??

Thanks again,

John.

 

According to this your motherboard has the 945GM chipset which means you should be able to use a Core2Duo. So any Core2Duo with a FSB of 667 or less should work in your laptop.

 

That's the exact same mobo as mine, here's another one for you i actually went and bought a T5300 core 2 duo 1.73GHZ/2M/533 SL9WE from ebay late last week and it arrived today, i have just took it from the packaging and it looks perfect really clean no marks whatsoever and all and every pin is intact and straight.

I would be prepared to try it out for fitting but is it advisable if it doesnt work, are there any things that could go wrong?? I have everything thats needed to replace the cpu eg. arctic silver 5 thermal paste, anti-static wrist strap, isoprobyl alcohol for cleaning etc etc.

I wanted to ask here before i went ahead with it for advice.

John.

 

Well i went ahead with the upgrade, done everything accordingly cleaned cpu and heatsink, prepped both for thermal paste and applied both with a thin layer.

The T5300 C2D sat into the cpu socket perfectly and i locked it in place and it was secure, replaced heatsink,fan and put the back cover on and battery in.

So now i go and power it up and all i get is an initial fan and hard drive spin up and nothing else but a blank black screen, power button is lit up but it seems as tho the laptop is kinda just motionless, nothing happening with it ,

I actually took it back out and repeated the process with cleaning and re-applying thermal paste and the same thing nothing happens just blank, i thought too myself that im after messing something up so i cleaned up my Celeron M and it got new arctic silver and put it back into the laptop and powered it up and its back to its self good 'ol Celeron M ,

From what ive just done is it a non compatible cpu for my 3690 or could it possibly be a DOA cpu from ebay??

John.

 

Could be a DOA, would be nice if you had something that you know it would work in.

Or you may not have the latest BIOS. Try going to the Acer website and seeing if you can find one that is newer than yours.

 

I actually have the latest Bios V3.60, installed it about 2 weeks ago, cpuid, everest and PC Wizard all pick it up.

Do you know what it means when i boot the laptop up and its just blank with no picture or seemingly power like what happened when i replaced the cpu??

John.

 

Hi can anyone tell me for certain from the information i have given as to which chipset i actually have and what possible cpu upgrades i can successfully achieve? Hope to hear from someone soon,

Cheers,

John.

 

Morning all, i just ran GPU-Z on my 3690 and it has identified my chipset as a GPU i945GM, does this certainly mean that i can use the Core 2 Duo processor?

John.

 

Hey, i am thinking about upgradeing the CPU of my ACER 3690. The CPU-Z shows that I have this chipset thing i943/940GML. I checked the numbers below the RAM and they say
MB MBAFL02001
there is also another code below:
HBL 51

Does that mean anything to you guys? Is it this old chipset 940GML or maybe it is this 943?

 

Based off of this, you have a 940GML. But the 3690 is new territory for me and I do not know how accurate that website is, you may want to take your laptop apart and see what the chipset is for yourself as this would be the most accurate way.

 

GPU-Z has got nothing to do with the chipset. The GPU controller is embedded inside the chipset. To find out the actual chipset model, open up your notebook, remove the heatsink and check the code printed on the chipset die with a flashlight etc.

AFL02.001 is most likely 940GML, but if you want to be sure, you can checkout the code printed on the chipset die. If it is 940GML, you can upgrade to the T1350, which is still alot better than a celeron.