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    "Vintage" early 2000s Alienware M5500 Upgrade Help! :)

    Discussion in 'Alienware Area-51/Aurora and Legacy Systems' started by Carl Oak, Aug 1, 2016.

  1. Carl Oak

    Carl Oak Newbie

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    I bought a dirt cheap Alienware M5500 (pre-dell) laptop with an Intel Pentium M 2 GHZ a gig of ram and a nVidia GeForce Go 6600. It was in rough shape when I got it, but I fixed it all up! (new thermal paste, dusting, new OS) Runs very well now.

    Now, my plans for this system is to use this as a more "vintage" gaming computer. From late 90s to mid 2000s. It looks great and is a classic design. Please note, I know this is an older computer. I don't want to run the latest games!! I just want to max out this design. No motherboard upgrades.

    My question is, what is the max upgrade I can do with this model? I believe that graphics card is MXM standard (see photo) and an old PC Mag review said I could upgrade it to a nVidia GeForce Go 7800GTX (only $20 extra today). Can I upgrade the card any higher? Is the card I have MXM and upgradable? (please see photo)

    Another question is, can I upgrade the CPU (pentium M included) any higher? Maybe a first gen dual core?

    I know an SSD will help, but IDE SSDs are very expensive and not nearly as efficient.


    [​IMG]
     
    Carl Oak, Aug 1, 2016
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  2. protivakid

    protivakid Notebook Evangelist

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    You have an older revision of the m5550. Unfortunately CPU wise it looks like your cpu uses a 479 socket. The m5550 uses an M socket which supports the superior Core 2 Duo CPU's. My m5750 is just the 17" version of the m5550 and I've detailed a lot of my upgrades in the thread link from my signature.

    As far as the GPU goes I am not sure if you can upgrade to a 4670/50, 3870, or the rare 4870/50. It looks like you only have room in there for a Type II card and of course VBIOS & system BIOS compatibility is a whole other animal as I detail in my thread. Just because it fits does not mean by a mile that it will actually work. Even MXM upgrade doesn't list much for this model: http://www.mxm-upgrade.com/Uniwill.html

    If you google your model there are a few old upgrade threads from the 07/08 era.
     
    protivakid, Aug 2, 2016
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  3. Carl Oak

    Carl Oak Newbie

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    Carl Oak, Aug 3, 2016
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  4. protivakid

    protivakid Notebook Evangelist

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    Hoping that wasn't you who did the botched thermal paste job?

    But yes that is a H-PBGA479, PPGA478 socket CPU. Your upgrade options will be limited compared to a m5550.
     
    protivakid, Aug 4, 2016
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