Upgrading Alienware m5500??

Hello Everyone!

I recently bought a Alienware m5500 and had some questions, so i figued i'd post here in hopes of getting some answers, and maybe some insight on things..

As things go it is as it came from the factory with the intel 760 processor core duo running at 2.0 Ghz with 512 megs of ram and 80 gig HDD.

What i'm looking to do is upgrade this laptop until I can afford a newer, better Alienware. I've done this on other desktops but this will be the first time digging into a laptop so please keep this in mind.

The first thing I would like to do is change out the 760 chipset with the 780, which will give me a bit faster processor speed (2.0 compared to 2.2) .

The second thing is to replace the graphics card. It came with the 6800 go and I know it is bad, I'd like to go better than the 256 it has and replace it it with at least a 512 card, but not sure which one to use. Need some suggestions on this, trying to keep it on a low budget while getting the most bang for my buck.

As far as ram goes, from what i've read read it wont take any more that 2 1gig sticks, but was wondering if this is true or not. Would like to add more if possible.

Any input from here is welcomed and will be taken into account. Thanks in advance for posting.

-AlienX

( btw first post here so be kind please )

 

Welcome to NBR.

I hope you didn't buy this laptop for more than $50. It's a six-seven year old computer, components for it are RARE to find and many of the parts are known to fail by this time. This isn't really a 'bang-for-buck' situation.

1. You don't have a core duo, you are running a single-core Pentium M 760. You can only upgrade to faster Pentium M's, but this laptop is so old it's not even worth it.

2. You'll have to find a service manual online, it's not nearly as obvious as desktops. Many of the screws are hidden underneath components, etc.

3. CPU, not chipset. As I said, I don't even think it's worth it unless it'll cost you <$10. Throwing money into something this old is not considered a wise investment. This laptop will run WarCraft 3 just fine, but anything past 2005/06, forget about it. This laptop would struggle booting Windows Vista/7, that's a good idea of how old it is.

4. I believe the 6800 GO is the best VGA to fit your laptop, the 6600 GO also works, but it's a massive downgrade. I'd be surprised if you could find one that still works and hasn't had major reworking done to it (and for a good price). Today's integrated graphics have more horsepower than these cards.

5. It is a 915 (Sonoma) chipset limitation (2GB).

Hope this helps, a lot is off the top of my head, what I remember from many years ago.

 

I got it for $25 at a yard sale and just wanted to upgrade it some. I know it's got alot of age on it, but nowhere near the age of the dinosaur I'm using now. And its a perfect project computer for someone just starting to get into upgrading it.

The PC I'm on now is a old Gateway M-6307 which only has hope for a brick after it dies...

Hope a get a better response soon...

Specs:

Brand: Alienware
Hard Drive Capacity: 80 GB
Type: Notebook
Operating System: Windows XP
Screen Size: 15.4"
CD/DVD: 8x DVD+/-RW NEC
Processor Type: Intel Core 2 Duo
Video Adapter: 5550 NVIDIA GO 6600 256MB
Processor Speed: 2.00 GHz
Memory: 2 GB

 

I always wanted one of these

 

You can upgrade the hard drive. And I think that you can get another 2 gigs of ram in it. Maybe throw windows 7 on it too. I knew someone from a different notebook forum that had the exact same model. I think that you can switch between integrated gfx and nvidia gfx as well to prolong the battery life when you need to. This is the m5500. I had the m5550 r3 which was a revision of the m5500 I think. I think for $25 this laptop is a steal!

 

I think you may be able to upgrade the graphics card to something pretty decent like a 9600m GT. Why don't you fully disassemble it and check.

LOL I just contradicted myself in another thread about the m5500. But you can definitely upgrade the graphics. Xonar, what makes you think no newer cards would work? It also takes an ATI x700. Even an x1800 would be a reasonable boost in performance, not to mention a 4650, 3650 ddr3 or 9600m GT.

With a single core, that would be pretty interesting to see how it performs with games made in the past few years.

Definitely don't change out the processor, unless its to profit on selling that one and get another one to overclock.

 

Fail on my part, generic pictures on ebay made me think this notebook used a proprietary form factor. But, you will need to set up manual-fan control (and possibly dremel if you upgrade beyond the standard offered cards). At least the BIOS allows you to boot with the new card.

Although, finding a working ATi before the HD2xxx & nvidia 9xxx is like finding a needle in the haystack. And anything newer will start to cost some $$ .

 

HD3XXX are pretty easy to find.

And here is a 55nm c1 revision 9600m which has fixed solder and is much less likely to fail:
nVidia 9600M GS G96-600-C1 MXM VGA Video Card DDR2 512M | eBay

This one is more powerful ddr3, and in new condition, but is 65nm a1 and probably ES:
nVidia GeForce 9600M GT 512MB DDR3 MXM II VGA Card | eBay

As for dremelling things, i did a lot of mods before I had a dremel, sometimes is actually much better to use a pair of pliers to break the metal. But it depends.

Not trying to negate everything you say, lol. Overall I agree that it wouldn't be easy.

 

I bought a m5500 r3 for my son. I put a x1800 GPU in it. It has been working very good. Always with a laptop cooler.

 

Hi seeing as you bought a computer that cant be upgraded, would you be interested in selling it?

The real reason I want it is because im giving back my m18x for a aurora r3 and i would like to have a really old, like ancient, alienware laptop for school stuff only hahah