Toshiba Satellite CPU upgrade query

[cuzman1977]

A friend has a Toshiba Satellite C650D-12J. It has an AMD Athlon II P320 dual-core socket S1 (638) 45nm. His RAM is 3GB (2GB + 1GB) DDR3 1,066MHz Micron PC3-8500F (533MHz).

Click here for spec

I need to know what the maximum CPU and RAM this can be upgraded to. The current CPU is rated at 25W, and it isn't used with the battery, so I am not concerned with battery life. I am however concerned that if I use a 35W or 45W CPU (if possible) then the heatsink will not be able to handle the heat.

I am good with the Arctic Silver, but I haven't upgraded one of these before, which is why I am asking about the CPU.

Also, if someone could confirm the maximum RAM (and bus speed) for whichever CPU is recommended.

Thanks in advance.

 

[voltoid27]

You're right to be concerned about a higher power rating; you should NEVER install a CPU with a higher rating than the one it replaced. You'd get all kinds of instability, overheating, or poor performance due to thermal throttling.

That said, you can upgrade to a Phenom II P650. It runs at 2.6 GHz and has 2MB of cache as well as a faster HyperTransport link, which means it can communicate slightly faster with other system components. This is the top-of-the-line processor for the 25W power envelope, and it's a great deal at <$15 on eBay. With it installed, you can expect better all-around performance in all CPU-bound tasks.

For the RAM, the Satellite supports up to 2 4GB sticks of DDR3-1066, but you can install faster speeds if you want; they'll simply run slower to keep the CPU's integrated memory controller operating within specs. For the best performance, use two sticks of DDR3-1600 at CL9, because these have the fastest response time, and equivalent kits at DDR3-1066 CL 6 don't exist. You can get a kit like this for $61 at Newegg (http/pcpartpicker.com/mr/newegg/gskill-memory-f312800cl9d8gbsq) or buy them used if you prefer. If speed isn't an issue, just get whichever 2x4GB kit you want, like this $58 one: http/pcpartpicker.com/mr/newegg/pareema-memory-md316c81611s2.

 

[cuzman1977]

Thanks voltoid27. I certainly appreciate your input, but I am wondering if anyone else has had much experience of this socket going from a 25W CPU to a 35W or even 45W CPU. Might it be possible to change BIOS settings or run a program at startup to keep the fan at 100% ? Or maybe even change the fan to something better? Ultimately I would like to try out the fastest CPU which this laptop can take, get the thermal contacts perfect, and then tinker with other things to make it stable.

 

[cuzman1977]

Also, how do these rate in real-world applications, as in general 64-bit Windows 7 internet, email and watching videos etc? Please don't take the **** and say "they can all do it".

- Athlon II P360 dual-core mobile (25W, 2.3 GHz)
- Turion II P560 (25W, 2.5 GHz)
- Phenom II P650 dual-core mobile (25W, 2.6 GHz)
- Phenom II P860 tri-core mobile (25W, 2 GHz)
- Phenom II P960 quad-core mobile (25W, 1.8 GHz)

 

[voltoid27]

After some further research, it turns out jumping to a 35/45W CPU shouldn't cause any major problems, other than worse battery life, more heat, etc. The hotter CPU should still be able to function as expected. Source: http/www.cpu-world.com/Sockets/Socket_S1_%28S1g4%29.html. If you can manage to get a better cooling system in there, I think you'll be impressed.

They can all do it!
Ok, since 64-bit Windows 7 running Google Chrome is probably the most popular OS/browser combo, I'll be using them as the assumed software set here.
Chrome works by splitting every tab and background process into a new thread, and each can use its own CPU core if necessary. If you regularly have a lot of tabs open, you'll be able to take advantage of all of the cores in the P960 or P860; the 1.8 GHz quad-core should be about 28% faster than the 2.6 GHz dual-core when all cores are active (http/www.cpu-world.com/Compare/894/AMD_Phenom_II_Dual-Core_Mobile_P650_vs_AMD_Phenom_II_Quad-Core_Mobile_P960.html). Really, it depends on how much multitasking you'll be doing.

E-mail usually consists of one, maybe two tabs, so you'd be better off with a fast dual-core.

Watching videos is primarily done on YouTube these days, and YT is switching over more and more videos to VP9. Your graphics can't decode VP9, only H.264, VC-1, and partially MPEG-2. Thus, your CPU will have to do most of the video-decode work now and into the future as H.265 gains ground, which is also more intensive than the codecs your graphics can decode. I tried watching a 4K YouTube video encoded with VP9 on a Linux machine with a Core i7 960, and it wouldn't even max out 2 out of 8 threads. I did some more research and found that the number of decoding threads a VP9 video uses depends on its encoding, so I would hypothesize that YT's VP9 videos are encoded to specifically use 2 threads on decode. Thus, the 2.6 GHz P650 will win out over the other options. H.265 on the other hand is meant to be the most parallelized codec to date, so the quad-core wins. I doubt that YT will start using it anytime soon, though, since Google is the creator of VP9 and would rather use its own tech for its own site.

Moral of the story, the P650 is the best option out of those at this point in time, at least at the 25W ceiling. If you're willing to be intrepid and push through to the 45W zone, the Phenom II X640 BE looks pretty good.

 

[mr4r4n]

i am curious as well, i have satellite C655D-S5064 with AMD Athlon™ II Dual Core P320, and i have a totaled laptop with a Phenom II n660 and would like to install it, any idea if it would work?