ACER ASPIRE 9510 Upgrade

[chrisstavrou]

Hi all,
i would like to upgrade this laptop (specs shown below as taken from CPU-Z) and i am wondering if i can:

a. Replace the existing T2400 CPU with a Intel® Core™2 Duo processor.
If yes can you tell me which one should it be ?

b. Increase the RAM to 4GB. The only question i have for this is, the current seems to be running on 1/2 of the speed that the bus can (Ram at 333 MHZ whereas Bus is at 666 MHZ).
Getting a RAM which is running at 666 MHZ will provide any additional performance ?



CPU-Z 1.44.2 report file
Processor(s)
Number of processors 1
Number of cores 2 per processor
Number of threads 2 per processor
Name Intel Core Duo T2400
Code Name Yonah
Specification Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2400 @ 1.83GHz
Package Socket 479 mPGA
Family/Model/Stepping 6.E.8
Extended Family/Model 6.E
Core Stepping C0
Technology 65 nm
Core Speed 1828.7 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed 11.0 x 166.2 MHz
Rated Bus speed 665.0 MHz
Stock frequency 1833 MHz
Instruction sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
L1 Data cache (per processor) 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache (per processor) 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache (per processor) 2048 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
Chipset & Memory
Northbridge Intel i945PM rev. 03
Southbridge Intel 82801GHM (ICH7-M DH) rev. 02
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Memory Frequency 332.5 MHz (1:2)
CAS# Latency (tCL) 5.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRCD) 5 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 5 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 15 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 21 clocks
System
System Manufacturer Acer
System Name Aspire 9510
System S/N LXABY05001626093AB2000
Mainboard Vendor Acer
Mainboard Model Kirkini
BIOS Vendor Phoenix Technologies LTD
BIOS Version V1.09
BIOS Date 07/07/2006
Memory SPD
Module 1 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, Nanya Technology
Module 2 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, Nanya Technology
Software
Windows Version Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX Version 9.0c

Thank you very much for your time.
Chris

 

[lostandwandering]

The 945PM chipset should be able to support any socket 479 Core2 CPU (T7200,T7400,T7600). You may want to ask Toshiba if that is actually an option before you go out and waste your money.

As for the RAM, the motherboard supports up to 4gb, so that should be an option. Also you RAM is 667mhz and is actually running at that frequency. CPU-z reports the same for me, but I know mine is 667 since it's what I ordered.

Depending on what you are using the laptop for, I'm not sure if you will see much of a boost from 2-4 gb of RAM. Also keep in mind that if you are using a 32-bit OS, you won't see all 4gb. Only 3.25 or so is reported by the OS.

 

[chrisstavrou]

Thanks a lot for the advice.

As a clarification, whats Toshiba have to do with this ? (sorry for being ignorant)

 

[lostandwandering]

As a clarification, whats Toshiba have to do with this ? (sorry for being ignorant)

Haha, no that was me being an airhead. I meant Acer. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[theworminator]

Btw, the RAM thing is correct, DDR2-667 (or any DDR) runs at half of it's 'rated' value in real life. But what it does is that it transfers data on both the rising /and/ falling edges of the clock signal, so it runs at an 'effective' 667 mhz, compared to single data rate RAM.

 

[chrisstavrou]

Ok,
i have upgraded the RAM to 4GB (2 x 2 GB) but after a lot of hassle:

- I had to upgrade the bios to a newer version (1.18) so that it the Video card functions properlly. Without that bios upgrade, the video card was mulfunctioning.
- Still with this Bios, the RAM reported by BIOS is 3GB. The same amount 3GB is also reported by Windows Xp and Ubuntu.

Any idea what could be wrong ?

Thanks

 

[cjl]

You're running a 32 bit OS. Nothing is wrong, it just can't address more than 4GB (including video memory and several other things). My laptop shows 3.25GB, some show 2.8. 3 is about what you'll see without going to a 64 bit OS.