Notebook (Laptop) Upgrade FAQ

SimonPalevsky · ‎05-11-2010

Thank you so much! Kudos clicked, of course.:-)

SimonPalevsky · ‎05-18-2010

I have one more question, please. I have successfully updated the RAM and am waiting for the processor (AMD Athlon X2 QL-62). The question is - which graphic cards can I use with the laptop? Still CQ60-405SA... Currently, there is GeForce 8200M, which is not enough for my purposes... are there any limitations (BIOS for example)? Thank you for any answer.

PaulBartomioli · ‎05-18-2010

My son owns a Pavilion dv5-1000 laptop.

2 Questions:

1. What is the maximum amount of RAM that can be installed? Currently has 3.00 GB installed.

2. Can the Hard Drive be replaced with a larger unit? Current HD is 232 GB(?) I added C & D Drive numbers.

Processor is AMD Turion X2

Vista OpSys

erico · ‎05-19-2010

@PaulBartomioli wrote:
My son owns a Pavilion dv5-1000 laptop.

2 Questions:

1. What is the maximum amount of RAM that can be installed? Currently has 3.00 GB installed. What is the full model name for the Laptop? when I search for dv5-1000 I see only units with Intel processors. That means that the dv5-1000us and dv5-1000ea is not the model that you have. Do be aware that if your OS is 32-bit, it is only capable of fully utilizing 3-3.25 GB of RAM (that is a Windows design limitation). 64-bit Windows can use more than that.

2. Can the Hard Drive be replaced with a larger unit? Current HD is 232 GB(?) Yes I added C & D Drive numbers.

Processor is AMD Turion X2
Vista OpSys

Best regards,
erico

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erico · ‎05-19-2010

@SimonPalevsky wrote:
I have one more question, please. I have successfully updated the RAM and am waiting for the processor (AMD Athlon X2 QL-62). The question is - which graphic cards can I use with the laptop? Still CQ60-405SA... Currently, there is GeForce 8200M, which is not enough for my purposes... are there any limitations (BIOS for example)? Thank you for any answer.

If your laptop uses a video chip graphics solution instead of a daughtercard you are limited by what you bought. The video chip is soldered onto the motherboard and not replaceable.

Try using CPU-z and posting the chipset (Northbridge and Southbridge) that your system board has. Once you have done that I will be in a better position to give you more accurate information regarding your built in video upgrade information request. From what me research tells me so far, it looks like your laptop has a chip , not a daughtercard.

Best regards,
erico

I am a volunteer forum member. If my suggestion helped you solve your issue, help others by marking that post as the accepted solution. Say thanks by clicking on the Yes button next to the "was this reply helpful?"

PaulBartomioli · ‎05-19-2010

Unit is 32 bit, so Ram is max. Does it matter what type of HD unit i upgrade to?

wand · ‎05-19-2010

Been busy so sorry this info is delayed.

I upgraded the Presario 715us with an IDE to CF card to replace the 20 GB Drive. I can add two CF cards, but chose to just use one 32 GB MLC Card from WinTec because it was the best performance at a very reasonable price. I got both the adapter and CF card from Newegg. WinTec was very responsive answering my questions about using their CF Card as a drive. I could have also installed a faster, larger disk drive for less money but I was worried about the heat. It didn't install at first until I deleted the partition and created a new one (Win7). Everything was fine after that.

I was able to install Windows 7 Ultimate even though there is only 512MB of memory. With the CF Card my Win7 rating was 4.9 for the disk, 3.?? for memory, and only 1.0 for graphics, etc. It still installed just fine. It warned me about the low memory, but worked just fine. The boot time was just fantastic, but it got slower as other things got installed.

The biggest problem turned out to be that there are no Win7 drivers for the S3 Twister graphics or the sound card in this computer. So I had limited graphics and NO sound.

So I finally accepted the fact that I better stay with Windows XP. I loaded Windows XP w/SP3 from scratch and only had about 80 updates from Microsoft after that. I added Microsoft Security Essentials (it's free for home use) as my antivirus because of its low resource requirements. I also used the Piriform CCleaner and a new tool of theirs called SPECCY. It's free and it gives you a short form report of what you see in CPU-Z. I really like this tool.

SPECCY reported that my second memory module was only registered at 100 MHz, not the 133 MHz it was supposed to be. My wife had been having random lockups for some time on this computer and we could never figure out what it was. It turned out that when I removed the slow 256 MB module that the hang-ups have gone away. Not one in two weeks. She is even able to watch NetFlix movies with only 256 MB of memory. Amazing. We also benefit from all of the drivers available for WinXP for the hardware. I am returning the slow memory that I purchased 8 or so years ago and getting a new module. Lifetime warranties from vendors are great because the price of SODimms has really gone up.

My next upgrade for this system will be a Cardbus USB 2.0 adapter to supplement the two onboard USB 1.1 ports. That will be the extent of my upgrades.

This proves that Win7 Ultimate runs in 512 MB of memory just fine. You also need current drivers to work in Win7. A CF Card can work just fine as an HD replacement (see below for more info about defrag, etc). SLC is a more robust choice than MLC for solid state (SS) storage (but the price is higher). The SS Storage should have a wear-leveling controller onboard to give it longer life. Check closely the specs as there are profound differences in read and write speeds on different models. 400x MLC storage is still reasonable in cost, above that it gets expensive.

You shouldn't use a conventional defrag program on a SS storage device as memory is flat with no differences in latency from the beginning to the end. Defragging only creates more read and write cycles to wear out the unit faster.

I came across the fact that writing to SS Storage is not only slower than reading but it gets worse as the space fills up. The answer to this on modern SSDs and Windows 7 and Server 2008R2 is the Trim command. On a hard drive, you can recover deleted data because only the pointers are changed when deleting files. SS storage does the same but creates a new problem. On standard hard drives you just overwrite the old data in one step with the new data. On SS Storage you have to reset the memory to all zeroes (0000) before can write new data. So the SS Storage slows down unless this is taken care of by the SS Storage device controller or the Trim command is implemented and you have an operating system that knows about SS Storage (Win7 and Server 2008 R2). Even Unix and Linux had to come up to speed on this one. Most Current SSDs include this, but not all. Check before you buy.

If you have older SS Storage or older OSes, how can you take care of this? Diskeeper has a new feature called HyperFast to fix this problem. DiskTrix Defrag Express also seems to have a fix for this and it is only $9.95 per copy. When these are implemented, remember that all unused memory is set to zeroes so there is no such thing as "UNDELETE." What you gain is improved performance of your SS storage to new unit levels. This is something I didn't even know existed until now. Be forewarned. This same strategy also applies to all of your thumb drives. Their speed decreases with use unless you use something for of "SS Storage Defrag" to restore new life to old units or use a long (not quick) reformat on them.

I just received some info from a vendor that unless you have the new operating systems and the Trim command available in your SSD controller, you will only succeed in consolidating your free space and that it will not be overwritten with the necessary zeroes. I'm waiting for a reply from DiskTrix about their product, but it may very well be the same. Buyer Beware..

HP Pavilion tx2120us running Win7 Ultimate
System Admin and Analyst

SimonPalevsky · ‎05-20-2010

Hello again,

I have performed the requested operations and here is the outcome of that. I have also used HWinfo32 together with CPU-z.

Results:

CPU-z: Southbridge = nVidia ID075E

Northbridge = none displayed on the "mainboard" chart

- I am unable to attach a document to this post so that I can't present the complete results

- both of those programs have detected one PCI-Express x1 slot on my MB.

Thanks your for an answer.

erico · ‎05-20-2010

@PaulBartomioli wrote:
Unit is 32 bit, so Ram is max. Does it matter what type of HD unit i upgrade to?

It is important that you match the interface. Try to avoid using the Seagate brand.

If you have a SATA HDD only SATA HDD can be used and likewise with the IDE interace.

If your laptop has a SATA interface you can upgrade (as I did) to an SSD hard drive. Mine has a 64GB OCZ Vertex.

500GB drives have been reported to work on most laptops. I haven't heard that much about members upgrading to 1TB hard disks yet.

Best regards,
erico

I am a volunteer forum member. If my suggestion helped you solve your issue, help others by marking that post as the accepted solution. Say thanks by clicking on the Yes button next to the "was this reply helpful?"

erico · ‎05-21-2010

Hi,

@SimonPalevsky wrote:
Hello again,

I have performed the requested operations and here is the outcome of that. I have also used HWinfo32 together with CPU-z.

Results:
CPU-z: Southbridge = nVidia ID075E
Northbridge = none displayed on the "mainboard" chart
- I am unable to attach a document to this post so that I can't present the complete results
- both of those programs have detected one PCI-Express x1 slot on my MB.

Thanks your for an answer.

What does CPU-z say the chipset is? That would be the northbridge. I should have asked you the question in that manner.

Best regards,
erico

I am a volunteer forum member. If my suggestion helped you solve your issue, help others by marking that post as the accepted solution. Say thanks by clicking on the Yes button next to the "was this reply helpful?"

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