processor help from the pc guys please...

[Dragonfly]

I have recently accquired very cheaply a laptop Dell d610 (don't laugh) with the aim that while im off my feet for the next few weeks I'm going to have a go a doing it up . Ive got RAM upgrade sorted and new driives battery etc.

now for the ambitious bit .......


I'm thinking of having a go at replacing/upgrading the processor which is at the moment Pentium III M 1.0 Ghz. I have done a bit of homework on this and found the most I can upgrade to is a

1.2Ghz Tualatin Pentium 3M processor

Question to the tech guys is , is this right or is there anything else I can do , I believe this is without replacing the motherboard , as i believe that could cause me loads of grief to do as it's my first time .

does anyone know where I can get one of these processors , as said im really just doing it as a little challenge to my self to see if i can .......

and no it's not my main djing laptop :D :D :D :D not even i'm that daft.

thanks very much .

[Thames Valley Discos]

To be honest it will probably cost as much to do this as buy a good spec one to start with
But these might do
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Matched-Pair-Intel-Pentium-3-Tualatin-1-26Ghz-Processor_W0QQitemZ250102865838QQihZ015QQcategoryZ 14292QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Vectis]

If you're expecting a 20% improvement in performance, forget it. Notebook mobo's are built around the whole chipset, not the CPU. Upping the CPU from a 1 to a 1.2GHz might get you 5-10% at best assuming the rest of the components are up for it.

Best ways of squeezing more performance out of it are #1 RAM, #2 faster HDD - from memory the D610 uses PATA/IDE drives not the newer & faster SATA so try with a 7200rpm jobbie with a decent cache chip, say 8MB. After #1 and #2 there's not a lot else you can do really so I'd say leave it there.

[spin mobile disco]

Not really worth it. If it was a celeron in laptop then changing to the mainstream might have helped but as its a 'M' class anyway its not really worth it. A faster drive as vectisvibe said would be a good way to go, but remember to check the board compatability with a newer drive as they are not always backwards compatable.
Also on such a slow processor anything in memory over 1gb will be wasted as they cannot address that amount of memory correctly.
Also remember the more you alter the laptop from its original configeration the less the battery will last.
Upgrading the processor on a laptop is generally not worth the effort due to thermal considerations as well as space requirments inside the case.

[Dragonfly]

ok thanks guys i will just stick with the ram upgrade that ive got and see what happens.