Dell CPU swap

Hi all,

I've got an E1705 with a T2500, and am considering also getting an E1505. I don't need as much processing power in the E1505 and will probably eventually be able to use the 64 bit processor in the E1705, so I was thinking about ordering it with the T7200 and then swapping the two. How difficult would this process be?

Thanks

 

Not hard, but will void warranty.

 

It wouldnt be too hard, especially since dell has complete manuals online on how do remove and install processors for all their notebooks. The only problem is that doing this would void the warranties for both notebooks. If its that important to you, and your willing to loose the protection on them, its not a very difficult thing to do, it would just take a bit of time, 1-2 hours of work if you wanted to do it right with applying new thermal gel like you should.

 

Here's a quote from Dell:

This limited warranty does not cover:
...
Problems that result from:
...
Servicing not authorized by Dell

( http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/policy/en/policy?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~section=010)

So as long as I don't cause any problems during the installation, any future problems (ones not clearly a result of the service, anyway) will still be covered? Or do they just assume that any future problem is attributable to the service?

 

If you run into any problems swap the CPUs back and you will still have warranty.

I doubt that you will though. I believe Dell uses thermal pads which is pretty crappy. However removing them may cause bad contact between the CPU and the heatsink. You can buy "better" thermal pads. Best way is to stick a thin piece of copper between the contacts. Anyway never reuse the thermal pads and since you are taking it apart might as well try something like Arctic Silver or Arctic Ceramique. Never apply too much thermal compound since that is counter productive and can be dangerous for your computer.

 

This is interesting:

The E1505 Processor Thermal-Cooling Assembly manual never mentions a thermal pad.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/sm/cpucool.htm

But the E1705 version is very specific about it.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins9400/en/sm/cpucool.htm

Also, at first this seemed like a dumb question, but now I'm starting to wonder: is there any reason to suppose that the processor module for the E1705 would be different than the E1505? It seems like it would have to be standard OEM Intel but this is Dell we're talking about.