CPU upgrade, from T6400 to X9100. Because 3 GHz are way better than 2 GHz…
UPDATE: After a few months the CPU upgrade turned to be a remarkable failure. I advise anyone against this kind of practice and I invite you to read the post regarding my useless troubleshooting efforts.
I purchased my latest computer in absolute emergency conditions, and except for an annoying, sound-related issue when I extensively use the network (a fact for which I would be inclined to blame and damn Vista SP1) I’m satisfied with it until now. But being obliged to spend a limited budget obviously didn’t hinder me to upgrade the system main component, the CPU, overlapping to satisfaction the pleasure of having a fairly recent setup to let me use it in scenarios that are a little less retrograde than the ones I’m usually accustomed to.
The laptop Acer Aspire 6935G I purchased in November featured an Intel T6400 Core 2 Duo 64-bit processor with a 2.00 GHz clock, 2 MB level 2 cache and 800 MHz FSB. Nowadays a 2 GHz clock is below the minimum required for a decent computing experience, and in my case it quickly showed to be inadequate. Doing the proper research I learned that the platform on which the Aspire 6935G (G means discrete Graphic component) is based, the PM45 chipset also known by the “Cantiga” codename, has the QX9300@2.53 GHz Quad Core and the X9100@3.06 GHz Dual Core at its performance top.
Being at the moment unsure if I could adequately exploit the parallel computing capabilities offered by a Quad Core, I’ve convinced myself that an X9100 Core 2 Duo would have been the ideal upgrade to push my laptop’s performances. After having checked compatibility between the new component and the chipset, on January I purchased the CPU on eBay for 249 pounds/284.31 euros (free shipping from the United Kingdom) and soon after I installed it on the PC with the aid of this short visual guide found on-line.
In the end the guide was useless because the entire upgrade process is rather straightforward for someone accustomed to play with hardware since many years, and it didn’t help me anyway when at the first start-up after the upgrade the screen didn’t show any sign of life. The problem dragged itself for an entire weekend I spent to remove the X9100 and reinstall the T6400 (useless, the screen was still dead), update the firmware to the latest available version and connect the laptop to an external CRT screen (the new firmware didn’t have any effect, and the external monitor confirmed that the LCD was the problem), remove and reinstall everything a dozen times just to be sure I didn’t do anything wrong.
The issue was resolved in the most classical way, i.e. when I changed perspective by shifting my attentions from the laptop’s back to the front and finally finding the problem in the screen power cable hidden behind the panel covering the speakers, which I don’t know how I disconnected while I was installing the CPU on the back. The result of all this hard work is depicted by the following screenshots: the old T6400 Dual Core leaved place to the new X9100 “Extreme”-class Core 2 Duo at 3.06 GHz, equipped with 6 MB second lever cache, 1066 MHz Front Side Bus (the RAM is made up by two DDR3 banks manufactured by Micron, I’ll skip over the timings details), support to Intel VT-x virtualization technology (I’ve got the hypervisor! finally I’ve got the hypervisor :-D) and an unlocked clock multiplier for overclocking the CPU frequency.
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15 Responses to “CPU upgrade, from T6400 to X9100. Because 3 GHz are way better than 2 GHz…”
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Hey there!
I read your article because I am in the same situation with the T6400 that I want to upgrade. I noticed you choose the X9100 CPU and that you are complaining about the noise and battery the new CPU takes, since it is 44W (45?). I just have a simple question:
Why did you not try the T9900? I boasts about the same price, has the same speed but is only 35W?
Perhaps I missed something?
Cheers!
/Mehdi
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If I recall well, I chose the X9100 for the overclocking feats it has (unblocked multiplier).
The problem is: I’m still waiting for some decent update (or modification) for the crappy, crappy UEFI-BIOS my Acer Aspire has (ie I can’t change a fucking thing right now not even set the hardware virtualization on!!!) to exploit it.
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hello
i have acer aspire 6935 and i was tried to use c2q q9100 but doesnt work becouse of bios.
are you sure that on this laptop qx9300 will work?
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It should work, yes. The chipset/socket should support it.
Anyway I suggest you not to touch your laptop’s CPU anytime soon: eventually the upgrade went bad and I was forced to switch back to the T6400 C2D.
I’ll address the issue with my next post, it should be up in the upcoming days so you can subscribe my feed to know what went wrong and why….
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Hey there! Wanted to update you guys with the upgrade that I finally did
I upgraded from the T6400 to the T9900 3.0Ghz and I’ve been using it for almost 6 months now!
The biggest difference that I noticed immediatly was that Windows works shitload faster and the apps start faster, the computer definetly feelt faster and I even did a few speed tests with converting and so on. To be honest, the difference wasn’t like day and night, but it sure felt good having a much more speedy computer. And I do not regret for not choosing a quad-cpu instead. I honestly haven’t noticed any difference in the fans running at higher speeds or that the battery runs out quicker, it feels about the same.
My tip is, IF you have a 2.0Ghz or slower, make the change to the T9900 and you WILL feel the difference, but otherwise it’s not worth the difference if you have faster than 2.0 Ghz.
A friend of mine bought a new computer with the “slowest” version of i7 mobile, and he paid about 50% more than what I did with the total price including the new CPU, and I’ve been testing his computer a little and it “feels” just like my computer when it comes to watching movies, surfing and listening to music, which both of us do a lot.
What this simply means is that C2D T9900 is still the shit!
Cheers
/Mehdi
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Hey guys,
Awesome to read all these successful attempts.
I really want to do the T6400 to T9900 upgrade, but im not too sure how to do the upgrade. Dont really have experience with laptop upgrades. I have done desktops though. Anyway is there anything i need to watch out for? How do i proceed this operation exactly?
Thanks alot guys
Peace.
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My advice is: don’t do it. I hope to blog about this in the upcoming days….
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Hello ! I have an Acer Aspire 8735G with CPU T9600 and I want to upgrade it to T9900. What about X9100 or even QX9300 ? Still, does it worth ?
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No, it isn’t worth at all. If you will follow the blog’s feed, I’ll explain why within the next days….
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Heyho,
just want to leave you a reply about the X9100. I have one in my 14″ Notebook too. All you need to use it, is Throttlestop. This tiny little tool lets you control the multipliers and also gives you the opportunity to select the VID for the desired speed.
Very important for battery use, because the X9100 has some disadvantages compared to the T9900. One is that it doesnt power down as deep as the T9900 and that it doesnt support VIDs lower than 1V.
If you know this there is no more disadvantage. Have fun!
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Hi guys!
A new update from my old trusty T9900!
I’ve noticed that yeah, my old trusty T9900 was getting a bit “slow” and I had a friend with a i7 portable that was faster than mine and I was thinkin’ about selling the old workhorse and getting a faster portable also….until….enter SSD!
Bought the Intel 320 model, and holy crap, my trusty old T9900 is on steroids!
If you’ve got a trusty Core2Duo and you’re thinkin’ buying new, just plug in an SSD instead, it works very fine with my Acer, since mine is a big model it has 2 slots for SSD (120Gb for OS) and an trusty HD (1TB) for all my music and films.
Seriously, it runs so much smoother than I think I’m gonna still use my T9900 for at least another year since it runs all programs well!
Anyone else who has made this upgrade? What are your thoughts?
I’m not saying the programs “work” faster, but really, it is a big difference when the OS runs boots much faster and programs start much quicker.
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Nope, I don’t like SSD technology (too much unreliable for my tastes) and I don’t value data transfer speed over every other thing.
What I need is more computational power (CPU and GPU), and as you can see from the update to this post I’m convinced I’ll effectively need a new computer (be it laptop or rather a desktop machine) to get it.
End of line
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I have been reading the posts. My current situation is that I purchased a q9100 to go into my toshiba l5o5, which has a T6400. I get a black screen when I boot (and no its not the screen cable!!!), I have looked everywhere online and found that it should be fully compatible, especially since both are penryns. Toshiba us does not have a bios update, and my laptop won’t take the UK updates. furthermore, under comparison the two chips are slightly different as far as 45w to 35w, and the Q9100 has no parity bit. Does anyone know the fix to the problem? By the way the windowa to the drivers, and I can see the screen in safemode. what is the fix im missing here?
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Has anyone read the last reply?
I intend to put a cooling system so Im not worried about the heating problem. and I will try the throttlestop program, but right now Im in ditches with this processor. I know that windows took the drivers I can see it through the back door. So something else is preventing the GM45 from operation. I have pursued motherboard jumpers as a fix to the 800Mhz to 1067Mhz FSB change and found no resolve there so I know its BIOS related. I would run Clockgen as an ultimatum, but am not yet convinced of its capabilities.
The BIOS Toshiba provided is proprietary at best and doesn’t have great functionality as the desktop Pheonix-Award BIOSs’ have…
So, if anyone knows the answer to this challenge it would be greatly appreciated. Even if it is a new BIOS download I could use? Im pretty positive that the Parity bit selection’ has something to do with it?
Awaiting comment…
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By the way-
The signaling logic to the clocking IC is
FSA FSB FSC
667Mhz 1 1 0
800Mhz 0 1 0
1067Mhz 0 0 0
,but no jumper is installed on the main board, so this would be a firmware related issue!
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