Solved! Speeding up ASUS Laptop

[npt2404]

Would like to upgrade, if possible, my Asus laptop mostly to speed up applications used for Web browsing, MS Office work, video streaming. No gaming, Adobe Creative Suite photo editing, etc. Any upgrades such as CPU or GPU available or is this one of those situations where not much can be done except to replace? Worth tearing in and cleaning up the dust inside after years of use? Thanks in advance!

Model: F55U-NH21
CPU: AMD Dual-Core E2-1800 (1.7GHz)
RAM: 4GB
Hard Drive: 320GB HDD
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7340
OS: Windows 8

P.S. Thought I'd post some relevant and irrelevant HW Monitor stats taken mostly while watching a YouTube teardown of a similar ASUS laptop. Any of them raise red flags?
Temp: 65-68 C
CPU Fan: generally 3500 RPM
CPU Clocks: consistently around 1700 MHz
CPU utilization: mostly 100%
GPU memory: 667 MHz

 

[androbourne]

Honestly the best thing you could do for that system is install an SSD.

And clean out the dust for sure. It will assist with lowering the temps.

You are kind of at a limitation because it is a laptop with an old duel core CPU.

If you really wanted to throw money at it, you could also upgrade the memory to 8GB but first make sure your board supports that much.

 

[npt2404]

Honestly the best thing you could do for that system is install an SSD.

And clean out the dust for sure. It will assist with lowering the temps.

You are kind of at a limitation because it is a laptop with an old duel core CPU.

If you really wanted to throw money at it, you could also upgrade the memory to 8GB but first make sure your board supports that much.

Thanks for the post and the suggestions. So a CPU upgrade is a no-go? Was afraid that would be the case.

I believe my RAM max is 4GB so I'm maxed out already. I'll double-check just in case.

 

[androbourne]

90% of laptops use integrated chips. It's not possible to replace the CPU unless you replace the whole motherboard.

It sounds like you are better off looking at a new system altogether.

 

[npt2404]

90% of laptops use integrated chips. It's not possible to replace the CPU unless you replace the whole motherboard.

It sounds like you are better off looking at a new system altogether.

Understood. I'll just need to abstain from intense tasks with this one and use other devices more. I'll try to clean it up though. Probably plenty of crud on the heatsink, fan, etc from 4 years of use.

 

[androbourne]

Oh yeah for sure. I normally dust out a system at least every 6 months.

 

[npt2404]

Oh yeah for sure. I normally dust out a system at least every 6 months.

That's totally my bad. I need to be more diligent. I've never done that regularly but will going forward.

 

[npt2404]

Wow, impressive difference in CPU temps after the clean up and application of fresh thermal paste. (That heatsink was nasty.) It's about 6-10 decrees C lower and, as expected, fan RPM's are lower also. Don't think there will be a significant performance improvement going forward given that I can't add RAM, upgrade CPU, etc but it's ok. I may consider upgrading to SSD but not sure when.

 

[androbourne]

Nice. Im sure that will help.

 

[npt2404]

Nice. Im sure that will help.

So far so good! Given the success... I'll try to apply some of these same steps with an HP dv4 laptop to bring temps down. I have other issues with it that warrant a separate thread.

 

[androbourne]

Yeah when SSDs first came out thats what I did. Upgraded all my old laptops with them. It was a big improvement and kept my old laptops in the game for a bit longer. In newer laptops, it's just a standard it comes with an SSD, or at least should!

In that other laptop it kinda depends on where the heat is coming from. But for sure clean it out and check those temps again. See what is reporting high and troubleshoot from there. (maybe it needs new thermal compound applied on the CPU) etc...

 

[npt2404]

Yeah when SSDs first came out thats what I did. Upgraded all my old laptops with them. It was a big improvement and kept my old laptops in the game for a bit longer. In newer laptops, it's just a standard it comes with an SSD, or at least should!

In that other laptop it kinda depends on where the heat is coming from. But for sure clean it out and check those temps again. See what is reporting high and troubleshoot from there. (maybe it needs new thermal compound applied on the CPU) etc...

The more I read about it the more it makes sense to start saving for an SSD upgrade on the main computer. Should be easier to actually get it done than I originally expected.

And the HP laptop... I'm not sure how to isolate it. I'll probably start by taking it apart -- hope it won't be harder than the ASUS -- and cleaning things up. I estimate it was manufactured in 2009 if not 2008. Not worth throwing a lot of money at but the CPU issue, battery failure and display problem are worth addressing and should not be very costly.

 

[androbourne]

Yeah I've seen some older HP's being a pain to open. Hopefully yours isn't to bad.

 

[npt2404]

Yeah I've seen some older HP's being a pain to open. Hopefully yours isn't to bad.

I'm afraid it will be harder than ASUS. My goal is to replace display cable AND clean up the heatsink. That involves a nearly complete teardown even of the screen. I'm also considering upgrading from T6600 to T9600 processor which is according to HP a plug-and-play for this motherboard. Wattage is identical but I'm a little concerned given how hot it's running right now.

 

[androbourne]

I feel ya. Make sure to watch some youtube videos of getting to that cable replacement. Some videos show alittle hints here and there to help with the tear down.

 

[npt2404]

I feel ya. Make sure to watch some youtube videos of getting to that cable replacement. Some videos show alittle hints here and there to help with the tear down.

Agree 100% -- have already watched several. If it wasn't for youtube, I probably would have had a bit more trouble with the earlier teardown.

 

[androbourne]

Awesome, good work.