Toshiba P300 upgrade to quad core?

GTE · 18-05-2011 1:48am #1

Hello!

My old Toshiba P300 - 150 fell and broke and I got a spare off a family member which was a P300 - 19P.

My old one had a Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T8300 rated at 2.4Ghz and a FSB of 800.
The replacement has a P8400 rated at 2.2 Ghz and a FSB of 1066.

My first question is which is actually faster for raw power? I am an audio engineer so this goes beyond the realms of normal multitasking as when I search on google people say they are basically the same for every day use.

I, rather naively, assumed my old CPU was better since the clock speed was faster so I went about and swapped out the CPU's. Now I am not so sure, I know the difference could only be minor between the two but I am ignorant of what the difference would be of 2.4GHZ 800FSB over 2.2 GZ 1066FSB in raw grunt.

Leading on to the matter of my thread title I found out that the replacement laptop can take a surprising 8gb of RAM (DDR2 800mhz).

It got me thinking, could the cooling and motherboard take the Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme Mobile QX9300?

While I type I just have firefox open and its idling at 38 degrees C.
The max it hit today while defragging all the partitions at the same time (two disks, two partitions each) and also doing a whole computer scan at high priority is 68 degrees C. I did this on purpose to see how hot it would get as it felt noticeably cooler then my last laptop. Probably dust. This current one was not used too much. I dont know if that helps you guys.

At the very least could it take the Intel X9100 CPU?

I ask as I since I broke my laptop I was going bring my plans for a new desktop forward by a year or two and get a new audio desktop with a quad core i7 2600 Sandybridge and 8GB of RAM (DDR3 1600) and I understand that the technology of the newer computer would mean it would eat up my laptop even if I could upgrade it to the QX9300 and 8gb of RAM but I don't think I could quite push the new audio desktop so far as to make it break a sweat so I could get another few years out of the laptop and save some money. ish. =p

Toshiba P300 19P
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/jsp/SUPPORTSECTION/discontinuedProductPage.do?service=UK&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&PRODUCT_ID=1055914#0

x9100
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=35431

t8300
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=33099

p8400
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=35569

qx9300
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=36727

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ShowSystem.asp?SystemID=1218
Configure it to the 2600 Sandybridge (or 2600k, I dunno what is better) and 8Gb of ram. I can get 16 if I wish also with that model.

That is an example of the system I was looking at. I know I could never reach that it with my laptop but I am trying to maximise the life as much as I can.

Even if I could upgrade the laptop to Win7 64bit and do as much as I could with the CPU and RAM (I hope the x9100 at least) then I could have a great portable workhorse as well as a great desktop. I am assuming that I can go to 64bit on the fact the processors say they are 64 bit. Would the motherboard give out if I went Win7 64?

I have email Toshiba about this and although I told them I understood their policy on swapping CPU's I fear I may just get a legal reply with regards to the CPU.

Thanks all!
This is very confusing for me. Too many options that seem viable!

Solitaire · 18-05-2011 3:30pm

I doubt the QX9300 would work on the P300 - I suspect it uses a different mobo and/or BIOS to the X300, preventing the quad from booting right. Even if it did there would be major battery and heat issues. Wouldn't it be crazy-expensive anyway?

GTE · 18-05-2011 3:40pm

Solitaire wrote: »

I doubt the QX9300 would work on the P300 - I suspect it uses a different mobo and/or BIOS to the X300, preventing the quad from booting right. Even if it did there would be major battery and heat issues. Wouldn't it be crazy-expensive anyway?

One is going for about 300 euro on eBay but the X9100 is going for 150 which I think isnt too bad for the upgrade. RAM is about that again so Ill have to have another think about it.

Ahh, I'd love if the QX could work.

Solitaire · 18-05-2011 10:18pm

X9100 is more likely to work and not melt anything, but its only a small upgrade over the current C2D. If anything you should check to see if your software gets a lot of benefit out of the latest current-gen HyperThreading - if it does a cheap i5 laptop, while a little more expensive than a QX9300, might double your performance without melting holes in anything

GTE · 19-05-2011 11:57am

So Toshiba got back to me and said the motherboard/chipset (difference?) will take the processors i mentioned but they don't know about the power supply. Didn't mention cooling though. 25 watts vs 45 watts for the P8400 and the QX9300 respectively.

Interesting anyway. They said that the 2.2 Ghz 1066FSB is faster then the 2.4 Ghz 800 fsb so I may swap them again if I get bored.
I cant grasp the relationship between Ghz and FSB but a .2Ghz difference does not outweigh a 266mhz difference in FSB it seems.

The chipset is an Intel PM45 which Intel says supports quite a few processors. I have two quad core options and the top of the line dual core but as you said the performance gain my not be too much even with the quad core so is it worth putting off my new desktop and upgrading the laptop slightly. Doubt it. Maybe a side project if I start making money! Oh the pipe dreams continue =P

Solitaire · 19-05-2011 7:00pm

The PM45 isn't the issue; with bespoke systems like laptops you often get motherboards that don't support all the CPUs the chipset does, or a BIOS that deliberately blocks you from using faster models.

AFAIK the original P300 could take 35W CPUs, as older 65nm mobile C2Ds like the T8300 ran hotter than the 45nm models. The X300 can take pretty much anything, but are a lot more upmarket.

Toshiba P300 upgrade to quad core?

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