Aspire 5315 CPU Step-by-Step Upgrade Guide

[no_name]

It’s great that all reported upgrades work. Based on that, I believe that my eventual upgrade would be successful to. However, I would really like to know what is true:

1) GL 960, chipset which support only Celerons and with other restrictions, not exists. It’s all GM965 and Intel lies. Everest 4.5 reports wrong chipset.
2) GL 960 exist, but in all Aspire 5315 are GM965. Acer lies.
3) GL 960 exist but in large quantity of 5315’s are GM965. In others are crappy GL 960 without upgrade possibilities.
4) GL 960 exists but it is almost identical to 965 and upgrades are possible.

I think that we could find the definitive answer to this with more precise information in our posts. I’m especially interested what Everest 4.5 reports before and after upgrade. I’m not sure if Everest reports rubbish, or Everest is the only software capable to make distinction between 960 and 965?

To some of you, especially if you already upgraded, all this may look irrelevant and I will not force this question in this thread.

Sorry for my bad English.

[bigozone]

BE HAPPY WE ARE LUCK ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO DO THESE UPGRADES,

if you want to critisize ACER and/or INTEL for SUBSTITUTING a BETTER PART in place of a cheap limited chipset then please start a NEW THREAD about this topic.

I'd prefer to keep the FOCUS of this thread POSITIVE and stay on the topic of the actual ACT of upgrading the laptop, instead of drawing attention away from the positives and focusing on the reasons one can find to complain about

i understand your concerns, and more CORRECT info is always a good thing...

i'll put my celeron back in later and do a few tests w/ different software then post results... in a seperate thread...

[hoggie]

i must agree with Quilty997... it your laptop and your money

i don't blame you for doing research and trying to learn.. i wish i had done more research before i started... i just saw that i had a CELERON 530 and knowing my laptop was the CHEAPEST ACER EVER SOLD $348 black friday special from wal-mart,,,

i assumed it was the lesser quality SOCKET M CPU and jumped in head first and bought 3 socketM CPUs.... which ended up being un-useable in my family's laptops... so i had to turn around and sell those CPUs at a small loss..

but from my mistake we (the acer forum and the 3680 upgrade thread) learned that with the correct motherboard revision people could upgrade the 3680 all the way up to the T7600 **thanks to WAC who bought my T5600** at a fair price and had success when installing it into his 3680

due to INTEL and ACER being every tight-lipped about CHIPSET and MOTHERBOARD info, we often have to TRY things to see if they work. that's how the original 3680 UPGRADE thread got started by KRAZYFIRE when he wanted more performance than his celeron would provide.

then WAC added to the knowledgebase when he bought my T5600 and upgraded his 3680 with success... then ANDY added the most VITAL and MOST important info to date when he tried to upgrade to a T5600 or was it a T7200 cpu and it would not work in his system due to it containing an ACTUAL i940 or GM940... his upgrade failure and the resulting research he did added more practical knowledge than any other upgrade attempt..
***sorry about that ANDY,,, but you have benifitted many people***

for details of that whole escapade read the entire 3680 upgrade thread.


now to get back to the ASPIRE 5315's we have yet to see any CPU UPGRADE FAILURE (unless you count my dumb assed mistake of using SocketM CPUs in a SocketP motherboard)

so far every SOCKETP CPU that has been put in an ASPIRE 5315 laptop has been successfull,,, (but if you are upgrading to T9300 or T9500) you will have to re-install VISTA to get the correct files installed on the HDD to support those newest SOCKET P cpus... but T8300 and below just drop in the socket and work after doing a REBOOT when WINDOWS detects the new CPU... you just shut down and restart and you are done!

and then all software programs report that the 5315 has a GM965 instead of th GL960..

my beliefe is that intel has the CHIPSET programmed to report the chipset model based upon which CPU style is installed... when IMO they are the same chip... ((**this applies to the 960 & 965 chipsets only**)

I found out very early on in to the 3680 thread that the intel chipset utility would only report the chipset that corresponds too the CPU in use. and some other programmes do the same.
but after cpu upgrade the intel utility showed a sudden upgrade in chipset.
intel,acer and many other laptop manufactures don't want you too upgrade they want you to buy a new laptop.
so without all this trial and error on a lot of peoples laptops. we are winning a small war.
upgrading is a chance you take all we try and do is limit your chances of making a mistake.
so give upgrading a chance win or loose, you must let us know so we can correct our knowledge base and help you/others to make the right choice on there upgrade.

all the best,
Phil

[no_name]

BE HAPPY WE ARE LUCK ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO DO THESE UPGRADES,

if you want to critisize ACER and/or INTEL for SUBSTITUTING a BETTER PART in place of a cheap limited chipset then please start a NEW THREAD about this topic.

I'd prefer to keep the FOCUS of this thread POSITIVE and stay on the topic of the actual ACT of upgrading the laptop, instead of drawing attention away from the positives and focusing on the reasons one can find to complain about

i understand your concerns, and more CORRECT info is always a good thing...

i'll put my celeron back in later and do a few tests w/ different software then post results... in a seperate thread...

English is not my native language. I struggle with each sentence so my choice of words is sometimes odd. It is not my intention to criticize Acer or Intel. I have no reason for that. It is great that we got more then we paid with Acer 5315. If they “lied” about GL960, I am thankful for that.

[no_name]

I found out very early on in to the 3680 thread that the intel chipset utility would only report the chipset that corresponds too the CPU in use. and some other programmes do the same.
...

I have 5315 with Celeron 550, BIOS 1.43, XP SP3. Intel Chipset Identification Utility 3.22 report this:

*********************************
Intel® Chipset Identification Utility
System Information
Chipset
Detected Chipset:
Intel(R) GM965 Express Chipset
Chipset Components
Memory Controller:
82GM965
I/O Controller:
Intel(R) 82801HBM/HEM I/O controller hub (ICH8M) SATA Controller found in IDE mode
Integrated Graphics:
Intel(R) 965GM Graphics And Memory Controller Hub(GMCH)
*********************************************

Only software that reports GL 960 on my 5315 is Everest 4.5.

[bigozone]

I have 5315 with Celeron 550, BIOS 1.43, XP SP3. Intel Chipset Identification Utility 3.22 report this:

*********************************
Intel® Chipset Identification Utility
System Information
Chipset
Detected Chipset:
Intel(R) GM965 Express Chipset
Chipset Components
Memory Controller:
82GM965
I/O Controller:
Intel(R) 82801HBM/HEM I/O controller hub (ICH8M) SATA Controller found in IDE mode
Integrated Graphics:
Intel(R) 965GM Graphics And Memory Controller Hub(GMCH)
*********************************************

Only software that reports GL 960 on my 5315 is Everest 4.5.

read the CHIPSET type under the SPECIFICATIONS in the USERS GUIDE (page 19 in english version) it clearly states
CHIPSET GL960

MAX RAM 2gigs (2) 1gig per slot

both of which are wrong... but they are WRONG to our benifit... not to harm us

and they lie to simplify thier level of support they must provide.

[no_name]

read the CHIPSET type under the SPECIFICATIONS in the USERS GUIDE (page 19 in english version) it clearly states
CHIPSET GL960

MAX RAM 2gigs (2) 1gig per slot

both of which are wrong... but they are WRONG to our benifit... not to harm us

and they lie to simplify thier level of support they must provide.

I have no complains about Acer or Intel. It is obvious that they put more functionality in 5315 chipset then they advertise. Who will complain about that?

What I would like is to resolve this GL960/GM965 controversy from the pure technical aspect. I have very little doubt that all 5315’s are upgradable, but I am equally interested in answers to questions from my previous posts as to my personal upgrade success.

Is in all 5315 the same chipset? Integrated GPU works on 400MHz or 500Mhz after upgrade? X3100 benefits from dual channel memory access? Is dual channel memory access active with 2 + 1 GB?

Some can say: “Upgrade works, who cares about such details.” I respect that, but why not learn more? I would be happy to answer to some of these questions myself, but I am stuck with Celeron for now.

All I suggest is that we all put more data in reports about upgrade. Use several different tools to detect chipset before making claims about 960/965. Run some benchmarks and compare results before and after upgrade ...

[bigozone]

i understand your questions and have LINKS that answer to most of them

if the CHIPSET is ACTUALLY A GM965 then the X3100 will run at 500mhz

DUAL CHANNEL RAM info, as i understand it by using mis-matched sizes we loose a small % of the MAX performance of DUAL CHANNEL DDR2 (seach for symmetric verses asymmetric dual channel data transfers) post #1 and #5 cover the issue!

All I suggest is that we all put more data in reports about upgrade. Use several different tools to detect chipset before making claims about 960/965. Run some benchmarks and compare results before and after upgrade ...

and as far as this goes... we did all this 6 months ago, and learned the only way to actually know the PHSICAL CHIP INSTALLED is by 2 different methods

1.) take the MB id sticker # off the RAM SLOT and search GOOGLE & EBAY for listings of REPLACEMENT MotherBoards,, then read the SPECS listed for that motherboard.... (if you can trust the specs reported)

2.) take the laptop apart and actually read the #'s off the CHIPSET. (this is the only way to be 100% sure)

[no_name]

if the CHIPSET is ACTUALLY A GM965 then the X3100 will run at 500mhz

I know difference between GPU in 960 and 965 by the specs. What I mean with my suggestions about GPU is this:

GPU Clock * Number Of Pixel Pipelines = Pixel Fillrate
Theoretically, that would be
for GL960: 400 * 8 = 3200 MPixel/s
for GM965: 500 * 8 = 4000 MPixel/s

If we could measure Pixel Fillrate in some synthetic benchmark, before and after upgrade, we could prove or disprove that GL960 with C2D becomes GM965. (I am not sure if 3dmark have Pixel Fillrate test)

DUAL CHANNEL RAM info, as i understand it by using mis-matched sizes we loose a small % of the MAX performance of DUAL CHANNEL DDR2 (seach for symmetric verses asymmetric dual channel data transfers) post #1 and #5 cover the issue!

Thanks, I learn something from this.

and as far as this goes... we did all this 6 months ago, and learned the only way to actually know the PHSICAL CHIP INSTALLED is by 2 different methods

1.) take the MB id sticker # off the RAM SLOT and search GOOGLE & EBAY for listings of REPLACEMENT MotherBoards,, then read the SPECS listed for that motherboard.... (if you can trust the specs reported)

2.) take the laptop apart and actually read the #'s off the CHIPSET. (this is the only way to be 100% sure)

That sounds very interesting. Anyone tried second method? Could you provide link to the thread?

[bigozone]

I know difference between GPU in 960 and 965 by the specs. What I mean with my suggestions about GPU is this:

GPU Clock * Number Of Pixel Pipelines = Pixel Fillrate
Theoretically, that would be
for GL960: 400 * 8 = 3200 MPixel/s
for GM965: 500 * 8 = 4000 MPixel/s

If we could measure Pixel Fillrate in some synthetic benchmark, before and after upgrade, we could prove or disprove that GL960 with C2D becomes GM965. (I am not sure if 3dmark have Pixel Fillrate test)

Thanks, I learn something from this.

That sounds very interesting. Anyone tried second method? Could you provide link to the thread?

I'm glad you have learned something, because i'd be disappointed in myself if after 5 or 6 lengthy posts i had not posted anything of value or only recietd COMMON KNOWLEDGE... (at least i know how to search and find the good stuff and PowerPack the author of that RAM thread is a valuable member of this community.

As for taking the ASPIRE 5315 apart to look at the chipset, i doubt anyone here has disassembled their laptop that far as it is not required to do the popular upgrades. i'll look at the SERVICE GUIDE later and see where the north and southbrigde chips are located on the motherboard, and since i'll be taking the access cover off mine later to take some pics to help someone with an upgrade, if the chipset is visible i'll actually pay attention to it and may even take a picture for you

but it seems like you are much more knowledgable than i am reguarding the intracies of GPUs with reguards to both the technical aspects and the theories behind it.... so i'm sure you are much better suited to find an appropriate benchmarking program that should allow you to test the fill rates and either prove or disprove what actually happening with reguards to the relationship between the CPU and CHIPSET. (i'm pretty sure you are smart enough to know that no matter which speed the GPU runs at, the X3100 is still the bottle-neck in this wonderful low-end system)

and by performing such a test and starting a new thread about it you may find more people willing to reply to you when they see what your topic is all about... but the only visits my little thread gets involve people needing help in deciding what parts to buy when they want to upgrade thier systems...

anyway, it's been nice debating who to thank and who to blame for the various features and/or lack thereof with reguards to the ASPIRE 5315. Drop by tomorrow morning and maybe i'll have had time to investigate the CHIPSET location and might even have a picture or 2 posted...

but for now i have to finish my new BIOS RECOVERY THREAD,, and now that i have gotten my USB Floppy back from a "friend", i have a PC here that has been waiting for over a week to be upgraded from VISTA to XP PRO... so i'm gonna be too busy to continue this discussion right now.

later,
bigO