upgrade inspiron 8600 cpu 1.7ghz cap?

I have a Pentium M 1.4ghz in my 8600. I want atleast 2.0ghz. I've looked in my manual and it said it can only handle from 1.4ghz to 1.7ghz. I also looked at sysinfo with I8KfanGUI, and it also said 1.7ghz is max. Someone please tell me the info is simply wrong.

 

I believe your Inspiron 8600 can only take the original Bainas Pentium M CPU, and that version did not have clockspeeds above 1.7GHz unfortunately.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_M

 

Ah, you have the same inspiron 8600 as I do! I also have the 1.4 GHz CPU. Unfortunatly, the original model can only take up to a 1.7 Banias CPU. If you want more performance from it, you can upgrade to a faster hard drive or upgrade your memory.

 

Just cuz someone says it's wrong doesn't mean that it will magically change what your computer can support.

 

lol this is the third time i asked this question. the first two time was at some other forum (not really a laptop forum) where one said they think, and the other said you can definitely do it, and everyone agreed. I just put it off, until now when i saw the sysinfo, so i asked again.

my phone, motorola ming a1200 does not have edge. the manual says it does not have edge. i called motorola up to see if it has edge. 90% ppl in the motorola forums said, "there is no edge hardware in the phone". 3 months after having my phone, someone discovered a way to enabled edge in the phone, and it worked. it doesnt have to be magical.

 

But the problem is that the Banias and Dothan Pentium M's are not pin compatible (I think). Banias (I think) only went up to 1.7GHz, which is why this will not work.

If you want to know for sure, download and run the CPU-Z utility. It will tell you what type of processor you have. Any upgrades for your machine have to be the same type of processor for it even to be possible.

In the case of that EDGE phone, it was a matter of enabling hardware that was already installed but not activated. With a processor series and upgrades, you have what series you have and it cannot be changed.

 

i know, i was jsut hoping that it was pin compatible (can someone confirm this? I saw 478 and 479 being thrown around. I think it's only different from the p4's and all the PentM is the same pins) if it's pin compatible, maybe someone wrote a flash for the bios maybe, like the phone, and enabled usage of the dothan cores.

another question, is there any other motherboard that will fit inside my laptop? I was hoping I could get a duo 2 core in here instead. then a 7900gtx maybe.

 

This isn't a desktop... so these ideas you are throwing around are pretty much not an option. If you want a c2d and 7900 then you have to get a new laptop.

 

No...all the Pentium M's do not have the same pins. Layouts change as specs are changed, features are added, and bus speeds are increased.

On the motherboard side...no. It wouldn't work, there are no parts for it, and a 7900gtx would not even fit in less than a 17" laptop. Don't ask if that would work anyway...there is too much heat coming from it.

At this point, it sounds like you really want a computer that has more performance than your current one. A 2.0GHz P-M processor would probably not give you the performance boost you want. I'd say stay away from upgrading your current machine (there really isn't too much any laptop can be upgraded anyway) and saving the money for a new computer.

 

You have to research and then research more!!!

Not many people do swaps like your talking about because laptop parts aren't typically so easily upgradeable. Most do faster HDD and Ram and then go buy a new machine when that no longer satisfies their needs. I like tweaking things myself and on HP's, parts that can be upgraded that are within the series, IE 1000, 2000, 5000, 7000 series, etc. I have a dv1207us, originally it had a 1.3G celeron, 4200 hdd, 512ram. After alot of research on HP's site I figured out I could keep my current HDD and Ram and upgrade to a dv1530us which has a mobo with a faster 533bus(was 400). I could have even gone further as my wife has a dv1660se with Duo core, etc. but I would have had to upgrade hdd and ram again which was cost prohibitive. I guess my point is you need to uncover what was the highest/fastest model they went to in your series and then go from there. The mobo has to be the exact physical configuration as your current one but a newer chipset that will allow a Dothan or ??? to be installed. If your model peaked at 1.7G and they went to an entirely new physical structure for your laptop then you're screwed and need to move on to a new one. But if the case is the same but they continued on with the series only altering its internals than you can figure out what is most cost efficient and go from there. Ebay will be your friend as buying new parts will be well beyond the price of a new laptop.
My prices for upgrades,
7200 hdd $100 (new)
1G ram $100 (new)
1.6G Pentium cpu $40 (ebay)
Mobo upgrade $150 (ebay)

As you can see that is very close to the price of a new Core 2 duo rig that will still outperform mine hands down. The only reason I did the Mobo/cpu upgrade was because I had bought the ram and hdd awhile back so in my mind it was only a $200 upgrade plus I just like tinkering. Also be ready for a few headaches as it won't be a simple plug and play. You will basically be building a whole new rig so be prepared for roadbumps.

In short, do lots of reading/research on your model(s) and good luck.

Leon

 

when I bout my laptop, the proc speed went beyond 1.7ghz. I guess they just gave me an old model mobo than. I always thoguht I could upgrade later when the price for the price for proc will go down. Now that it did substantially, I cn't upgrade. I know this is a really old laptop, but I like to bring it's capabilities to the max before I move on. My desktop is much faster.

BTW I DO do a lot of research. I read that because of the centrino, the CPU underclocks itself to save power until it is needed. IS this true? There's a program that keeps it at it's max, but it's designed for XP. I've just installed Vista Ultimate (hence why I recently felt like doing all this upgrade. If I use that protein strain breaker (god, I forgothte name of the program but I really hope ou guys know what I'm talking about) that utilize the CPU, will that keep my CPU running at top speed?

 

Applications like NHC (Notebook Hardware Control) can alter the speedstep settings to keep your cpu running at top speed, however speedstep can move your cpu from idle to top speed in a tiny fraction of a second, and it of course puts it straight up to full moo under load so there's little point in turning it up, you'll just stress it out and increase heat output.

The deal with the different Pentium-Ms is this:

I *think* they both use socket 479 which has 478 pins, but it so called because it has a different pin configuration from the previous socket 478 (Pentium 4s). The Banias core (1st gen. Pentium-M) is 130nm and uses Intel 855 chipset. It has 400MHz FSB, 1MB level 2 cache and up to 1.7GHz.

The Dothan (2nd Gen.) Pentium-M is 90nm and uses the intel 915 chipset. It has 400 or 533Mhz FSB, 2MB level 2 cache and goes from 900MHz (ULV) up to above 2GHz.

The two kinds of cpu are not interchangeable.

 

is it normal for cpu-z to say my core speed is bout 600mhz?

multiplier is 6
FSB is 100
buss is 400

y isn't the core 1.4ghz?

 

Yes that's normal, your speedstep clocks the cpu down when it's full power is not being used to save battery life and reduce heat output.

 

ok i understand that speedstep underclocks it. I'm using superpi and it's staying at 600mhz when it's running at 100% (says windows task manager). Is THAT normal?


edit: ok guys, seriously, how confident are we that the banias mobo can not be upgrade to a dothan?

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_upgrade&thread.id=52105&view=by_date_ascending&page=1&c=us&l=en&cs=&s=gen

(I wasn't looking for you guys to be wrong, I was researching bluetooth modules) look at his sig... not, if we're not sure, jsut say so, I'll go to the dell forum and start bothering them.

edit: edit: ok, I did the research, for my system, it is possibleto upgrade to a dothan as long as I have atleast the A12 bios and limited to the 400mhz one. I can't use the 533mhz. I hope this helps soneone later in the future.

 

I believe I said something about "research"

I'm glad you found the info. I personally would be PM'ing that guy as he will have a bunch of invaluable info to share. Good luck and let us know how it turns out

Leon

 

Hi.

is there any way to overclock your cpu, if it`s not upgradable?

it might be worth a look.

regards.

John.

 

I realize this is a 7-month old thread, but a quick word...

I am sending this using my Inspiron 8600 with an intel M745 (Dothan 1.8) CPU. Working fine for over a year.

Dell Inspiron 8600
Dothan M745 CPU
ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo
1920x1200 Display
1.2GB RAM
80GB 5400 RPM HD
Asus 802.11N mini-PCI Wi-Fi
Dell 350 Bluetooth 2.0

What, Me...modify?!?

 

I also realize that this thread is old, but I, like Tybalt39, don't want those who find this thread via google to be misinformed. Much of the info in this thread is incorrect. You can use drop any 400 Mhz FSB Pentium M CPU into the Inspiron 8600 up to and including the 765, provided you have the latest BIOS update (A014, I think). The Intel specs are all available here: http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ParentRadio=All&ProcFam=942&SearchKey=.
You can read about the experiences of those who have successfully upgraded to Dothans here: http://tinyurl.com/6mfjzx.

 

1.8GHz+ Dothans are stupidly expensive anyway, with the low cost of brand new budget notebooks, there's no point to try to upgrade to it yet. (I've been watching ebay prices trying to upgrade my 8600)
I'll pay maybe $30 tops to get another measly 500MHz out of my machine. Maybe another year or so...

 

Guys,

Please dont revive old threads...create new one instead(you will likely get a response faster and avod misinformation due to old information).