Acer 5920G Upgraded to T9300

[nklive]

I just upgraded to a T9300 CPU, I bought it in ebay for £120 only, brand new (not an ES), and it is great. It is much cooler than the T7300 I had. Idle temp is around 32oC where before were around 40-42 oC. Of course I don't know if that was because I put fresh AS paste on the CPU where before the T7300, I think, had a thermal pad (melted on the core).
To be honest though, changing the CPU wasn’t as easy as I was imagined. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos as I didn’t know what I was doing but in the end all went well. I had to remove the graphic card and in order to remove the heat sink I had to remove a couple of other screws of the back chassis so I lifted it a bit to slide out carefully the heat sink. Then you remove the old CPU, clean the heat sink with ethanol and then place the new CPU, put some AS paste on the core and slide the heat sink in carefully and screw it tight on its place.
It is slightly faster in the games and much faster in using other software like movie maker. The games are running much smoother now but that is with games that are close to 21-24fps. World in Conflict uses a lot of that CPU. I ran the benchmark and with High physics and the CPU usage was 98-100%, both cores. During gaming is much less around 35%, explosions produce CPU usage spikes. Temp of CPU is around 65oC most of time during gaming, but it can go up to 68oC if you demand more from the CPU. My wPrime 32M score was 41s-42s with the T7300 and now is just below 30s (29.687s). My 3Dmark06 score increased as well from 4240 to 4567. I am very pleased with the end result.
Next thing is to upgrade to fast RAM like the 4GB (2x2GB) HyperX Kingston CL4 667MHz or 800MHz, then 320GB WD hard drive Black Scorpio and maybe try to upgrade to a new graphic card compatible with Acer 5920G with at least 512MB memory (9600M GS perhaps).

[TehSuigi]

Wow, congrats on the upgrade! I went to a T8300 myself (from a T5550), and really noticed the difference.
If I were you, I wouldn't spend too much for the low-latency RAM. The gains you get from CL4 vs. CL5 are minimal at best. Go for a 7200rpm 320GB or 500GB hard drive first (or heck, even an SSD).
As for the graphics card, you are correct that the 5920G does have an MXM-II card and CAN be upgraded. Unfortunately, there have been no cases of a successful upgrade to a 9600M GS or GT on that platform.
Your best bet would be to move to either a GeForce 9500M GS (512MB DDR2) or a Radeon HD 3650 (256MB GDDR3).

[triturbo]

Great upgrade indeed. I'm looking forward to change mine T5750 with T9500, but I'm still a bit short. After all it's a €200 processor, which is almost the cost of an Aspire One With this thread you give me more confidence to run forward as soon as I have the money

[wayneunique]

I'm looking at upgrading my 8920G from a T5750 to a T9500 and the only one I can find is a ES version, would this be a problem?

[TehSuigi]

Possibly - the problem with ES versions is that they may not run stable or properly, even given stock voltages. They may have bugs or production issues.
Oh, and they're technically illegal - engineering samples are not meant for resale.
Just do for a T9300 - you're only losing 100 MHz, and you'll probably save a bucketload.

[triturbo]

@wayneunique - I'm looking at this one. Not ES, trusty seller, reasonable priced.

@TehSuigi - You are right, but I can't find good T9300, which is notably cheaper (€40-€50) from this one above.

[TehSuigi]

@wayneunique - I'm looking at this one. Not ES, trusty seller, reasonable priced.

It's still an engineering sample CPU - any CPU spec that starts with Q and is four letters long, instead of five letters starting with S, is an ES CPU and should be considered risky.
ES CPUs are cheaper, but only b/c they were probably acquired through less-than-legal channels.

For example, this is a retail T9300. This isn't.

[pandadin]

hi
i'm planning on upgrading my 5920g to a t9300 or above but i'm very very new to this, to TehSuigi, or any other experienced poster/upgrader, could someone give me a list of things i would need to upgrade a cpu, like which screw drivers, paste? any warnings or no no's etc... because i have zero idea. If you wonderful guys could help, i would love you ^_^

[nklive]

You will need one screwdriver really and if it can fit in your laptop's back cover screws then it is fine (or maybe one step smaller). But to be safe you can buy a set of screwdrivers specific for laptops or consoles. Then you will need ESD antistatic gloves and an antistatic strip to handle CPU and anything inside the laptop as they are very sensitive to be damaged by electrostatic discharge. And finally, you will need Arctic Silver 5 paste or something similar, ethanol or a low residual solvent (high-purity isopropyl alcohol) and a LINT FREE cloth (a lens cleaning cloth or a coffee filter.) It is important keep the surfaces free of foreign materials and do NOT touch the surfaces. Always plan, plan, plan, before you do anything, because one small mistake can ruin your laptop. Get familiar with your laptop's inside, learn where is everything (RAM, graphic card, CPU, chipset, heatsink, fan etc) and if they are connected somehow. For example my heatsink is one piece and is covering graphic card, CPU and chipset. So I had to remove graphic card and then the heatsink in order to replace my CPU. There are other heatsinks that are 3 pieces or 2 pieces so you don't have to remove many parts and it is much easier. Another important factor is to remember where each screw goes or make a plan or a list. And finally, we are always here to help you.

[nklive]

Just a small advice when you buy CPUs. Ask for the sSpec code of the CPU and try to google it. Usually that will send you to Intel's site which means it is real one and not an ES. Then be careful to pick the ones that are PGA (Micro-FCPGA) and not BGA (Micro-FCBGA). BGA are desinged to be soldered on the motherboard so they are manufactured differently from the PGA which are meant and designed to fit in a socket. If it is BGA with pins wouldn't be the same. I don't have personal experience, but, I don't want to, if you know what I mean. Like TechSuigi said ES are illegal and belong to the manufacturer (Intel) you are not allowed to sell them and you don't know how long they are going to live. But generally, the ES samples have ES written on them. Now and then, you can buy a T9300 around £110-£150 which is not a bad price. T9500 are very expensive and I don't think they worth it but if you keep searching you might find one. There are also other CPUs available T8300 or T7800, T7700.