Why the Inspiron is a King

You are on crack man LOL!!

got a question, i have the same exact laptop, can it actually play games well and fast such as rome total war and city of heroes without crapping up and becomming choppy, or have graphical errors

also lol but if u decide to contact me would u send a message to [edited] lol (dont mind the name)

Email sent Amy's Boi (and I edited the email out from the comment, to keep spammers from obtaining it).

Hi,

I just got the E1705 for Christmas. It only had 1GB of RAM, so I ordered another 1GB to max it out. I was searching Google for a hint as to what tools I'd need when I stumbled onto your site. Cool!

I haven't been so much into the H/W side of things for the past 10 years or so as I got more into software and the business side of things.

As an application developer/DBA, I could use a notebook with 4GB. That was the real downer for me. I did get it NIB for $875 from a guy in San Jose.

Are there two banks with two slots? I don't understand what you are saying regarding 2GB & 4GB. Does the 9400/E1705 mobo support it, but it isn't implemented, or can you just mod the BIOS to recognize 4 x 1GB SDRAM DIMMs?

A bit confused,

Thanx

---

Brad Maust,

former Atlantan,

Infrastructure Architect,

Silicon Valley / San Francisco Bay Area

Hey Brad:

I'm a former Atlantan myself.  :)

There are two SDRAM memory slots in the E1705.  So to achieve 4GB of ram, you will need two 2GB SDRAM sticks (for laptops).

The issue with a lot of bios' out there (desktops, laptops, and even the XPS-line of previous laptops) is that they do not allow full access to all 4096 MB of ram - if you were to stick in 4GB of ram.  The E1705 is one of them, and limits you to utilizing only 3.2 GB of ram available to the OS.

No, there is no bios hack either as even the XPS that supported 4GB of ram, did the same thing.

I myself am a DBA/Coder by trade, and need every bit of ram I can muster.  So $80 was a good investment for two 2GB memory sticks for me, so I can get 3.2 GB for now.  Hopefully my next laptop will support 4 GB of ram, and I can just transfer the memory over.  

Hope that helps!

-Eric

Nice work Eric, I just did the same exact thing today.  I bought the 150w power supply, the thermal paste, and the quadro 2500m.  I installed everything just fine but when I booted up some problems arose.  After a few minutes, lines or artifacts appeared on the screen.  Nothing was overheating and everything seemed fine except for the artifacts, or lines on the screen. Later on I was just browsing and my computer froze on me. I restarted and tried playing Quake III, a not hardware demanding game. Less than 10 mins into the game lots of artifacts appeared and within the minute the entire image was scrambled up and nothing was recognizable and it froze again.   After all this it froze on me again when i was looking at my desktop and so i restarted and all there was was a black screen. I finally took the quadro out and put in my old video card and everything worked fine.  I was using windows vista ultimate with all this.  What do you think could be the cause of this? Is it possible that I was sent a bad video card??  Do you know if the quadro 2500m has any issues with Windows Vista?  Which OS did you have the 2500m on?  Thank You very much, Ervin

@Ervin : I do not believe it is the video card, as I had the EXACT same thing happen to me!

It's directly the video card drivers for the 7900.  And believe me when I say the drivers are much harder to find then you think.  

Do not go to www.nvidia.com and download the latest for the 2500m.  They do not work (I never thought I'd see the day where nvidia.com's drivers did NOT work!).

Do not install the latest driver from Windows Vista Updates.

What you want to do is download a special "hacked" set.  It's basically the highend drivers from nvidia "desktop only" series of cards (laptops have lower-end versions).  But with a slight tweak to the INI files to allow you to install it for your 2500m Quatra mobile edition.  That's it.

www.laptopvideo2go.com <- You want to bookmark this site for future nVidia-powered laptops.

These are the ones I specifically have installed for Vista 32bit (64bit as well).  But they have released newer versions as well.

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16545

NOTE: I went directly to the forums and researched precisely which driver I needed.  You can try the homepage drivers, but I didn't pick the right one.  Going to the forums I immediately found the ones I needed.

It took me a while to find them.  Uninstalling, installing, uninstalling, cleaning, etc.  Artifacts I had constantly.  Until I found those drivers above.

Now, everything is perfect!

Note that downloading the Drivers alone will not work.  There's a 2nd file to download in that post I linked to, the INI file!

Download the drivers, unpack them.  THen copy the INI file over the drivers.  Then do a Setup install of them all over again (may want to try removing your existing drivers first and rebooting).

i tried version 169.04 from laptop2go with the modded inf. currently i am about to ship the card back. do you know if that driver version works??

That is the driver version I am using.

Make sure to run the reg cleaning utility they have, as uninstalling may not remove all files - and the modded INF.

But, it just may be the card as well though.  

hi eric, what bios version are you using?  did you have to update to any specific bios? I am having a lot of trouble as the computer is booting up with a lot of pixelation. any help would be appreciated, thank you, Ervin

@ervman1: I am running the A08 bios.  Sorry I could not be of more help.

Hopefully you didn't mess up the LCD cable?

thanks for your help eric, unfortunately im still having problems. i formatted my hard drive completely last night and installed xp. i was able to boot into xp fine with my old video card, then i swapped video cards and turned it on, but nothing happened. even the initial bootup screen showing bios information did not pop up. all i get is a blank screen. aah! im getting nowhere, its driving me insane...

just thought id let you know i sent the video card back...now the waiting game begins for a new video card :)

Doh!  Good luck!

This is a near year for me, so a new year = new hardware (for tax breaks).  Was thinking of a 1730 with SLI.  But I will wait for the nvidia 8900 series to be released this year.

PingBack from http://machinehead.musicnewsandviews.com/2007/12/11/why-the-inspiron-is-a-king/

I've just picked up a quadro 2500M for my 9400 on ebay, specced nearly identically to yours and now just waiting for it to arrive. But now that i've read the artifact problem i'm a little bit worried, is it an easy fix to do? also, i've also looked at the dell website and it seems like they have a version of driver for the quadro avaliable, would that work with on the 9400?

@ alfred. hey there, i do believe my problem was the hardwares fault.  usually the whole process is a lot more pain free. Eric here has provided us with information as to what drivers have been tested and work.  Do not use the drivers from dell or any like that.  Like Eric said, you have to use the drivers from laptopvideo2go.com.  the driver version that ive come across from other forums has been 169.04 and Eric is using 169.25 which he has found to be working. you just have to make sure to use the modded inf file otherwise the driver wont install.  

I just picked up a 2500m off e-bay and went through the installation.  However, no matter what I do the A09 bios I have will only see it as a 7900 with 256mb instead of 512mb.  

Same in windows.  If I allow windows to automatically install drivers, it picks the 7900 drivers, however, if I force install 2500m drivers (reguardless of which ones I use) there are no errors or problems.

I'm wondering if the system is actually taking advantage of the card even though it's not reporting it correctly and if there's a way to get it to do so.

Any thoughts?

@Bryan Fusco: Did you happen to snap a picture of the card's part number, or write it down?

There is a 256MB version of the 7900 called a "GTS" or "GT".  The "GTX" is the only version that is 512 MB.

It's not windows reporting 256mb, it's the driver that talks to the card - and what the card is actually reporting back to the driver, to the OS.

I suspect you got a 7900 GS version.  What's the eBay link?  Perhaps he was selling it thinking it was a GTX (and falsely advertised if so).

I have great news!! it was the video cards fault. i just received the replacement card today and so far it has been working flawlessly!!! i have tried cod 4, unreal tournament 3, quake 3, and need for speed pro street and everything seems to be working great. i am running 169.04. thanks for all your help eric. and to anyone else whos going what i went through....it might just be the video card! lol

Excellent to hear!

So the moral to the story for everyone: if it's artifacts you have, make sure you have the laptopvideo2go drivers - cause that fixed what I was experiencing.  

If the correct drivers don't fix it, then it just may be the card.

@ervman1: Thanks for the feedback!

You said "This story starts with the Dell Inspiron E1705 or also known as the 9300/9400". I got so excited with the prospect of putting a 7900GTX in my 9300/XPS --till i did some more reading. It doesn't look like its at all possible to put that gpu into the 9300/Xps gen2, because the 9400/E1705 uses a different mobo, and the discontinued XPS gen2 never had a 7900 option. The 6800ultra/7800GTX swap works on the 9300, because its the same board as the XPS gen2, which had the 7800 as an option. I would like to be wrong about this, so if anyone has found a way to make this work, please let me know...

@Firestarter: The E1705/9300/9400 never came with the 7800 or 7900 or 7950 either!  That's the purpose of this post, to show that you can swap them in - with a little case modification.

As a matter of fact, the 7800/7900/7950s we (the E1705 guys) are sourcing for our swaps actually come from the 9400 XPS systems!  :)

Another fact that I think would help you is that the 7800GTX is the identicle physicaly card (identicle as in where it mounts, the heatsink pipe locations, etc) as the 7900 and 7950 cards!  

With that said, since you said the 7800 swap is an option - I would bet $20 (your shipping fee to send it back if it doesn't) that the 7900 and 7950s would fit as well.  :)  

They are the same physical card as to where it mounts, and the heat sinks.  I see no reason why it would not.  The mobo's BIOS doesn't care, nor does Windows.

Good luck and let us know!

Ps - I am working on an overhaul of my blog, to make reading/replying to these much either.

hi.

sorry for my bad inglish, i am chilean.

i have the same problem, i cant upgrade the ATI x1400 256 Mb to nVidia FX2500m Quatro.

where buy the nVidia FX2500m Quatro?

please add to msn

yamato_flag_ship@hotmail.com

tank you

Hi Eric,

Thanks loads, I just bought today 4gb of memory and a 250GB HDD to put in my inspiron 9400, I was really baffled over this memory issue and your information has been great.

Now that I can see you can upgrade the graphics card, I am really excited - I don't need to buy a new laptop!!!!

Quick question to clarify:

1. You have put in a fx2500 nvidia card. Am I right in saying I could buy the 7800/7900/7950 and do the same procedure as you have done?

If Yes, which card would you recommend if I was purely gaming or using programs heavy on rendering like after effects etc?

2. You mentioned something about HDD too - is there anyway to like replace the CD/DVD drive for a swappable HDD?

Thanks in advance - you are the man!

@blatta: Could you clarify what problem you are having when upgrading the card?  We need more information.  :)

@McMood:

1) Yes, any of them will work.  And fyi, 7800=fx1500, 7900=fx2500, and the 7950=fx3500.  Make sure to get the "FX2500/FX3500" models.  The 1500 is not worth it.  And make sure it says FX2500 or 3500.  There's a 7900 series card out there that is only 256 MB (see comments from others above, and I have private emails stating as such).  That "7900" series is not an FX2500.  Make sure you search and get the FX2500!

The FX3500 is the premium card, with just a tad higher FPS over the 2500.  I saw the several hundred-dollar difference and said, "The FX2500 is good enough for me!"

Search eBay.  I got mine for $170.  And I've seen them as high as $400 on eBay for the 2500.  :)  

2) Not that I am aware of.  With 16 GB memory sticks available (especially that fit in your built-in SD Card slot), I don't see why you would.

The 1720/1730s is what has the dual-HDD features built-in.  Our 1705s sadly do not have this.

Thanks for the quick response and the information.

Just to clarify there is no difference between a fx2500 quadro and a 7900gtx card? I always thought the M90 dell precision series had the quadro cards as they were geared to industry/research related programs and the 7900gtx series were made for gaming enthusiasts.

Sorry if this question seems dumb!

Actually that is incorrect.  What I was trying to say is the FX2500m Quattro "uses" the 7900GTX chipset, but with 512MB of ram though.  The standard 7900GTX card available only has 256MB of ram, and is not a quatro nor a FX2500.  I was only mentioning "7900=FX2500" to let u know it used the same chipset, and to search/Google/ebay for the "FX2500" or "FX3500", not the term "7900".  

Sorry for the confusion.  And no apology needed, as it seems I wasn't clear enough (I apology).  Shouldn't have said that.

Bottomline, only search for FX2500/FX3500.  Don't search for 7900s for sale.

I just received my fx2500 and followed the steps above to include the AS and my E1705/9400 only shows a black screen. I took every precaution to prevent ESD.  I still have a 90W adapter but that shouldn't matter.  Does anyone think it's the Video Card?

@Frank:

Does the external port work on an external monitor?  If so, it could be the ribbon cable for the LCD not secured.  

Beyond that, there isn't much you can do to test a used fx2500 without installing it into yet another machine.  

If you revert back to your old card and everything works, it just may be the video card.  

And nope, a 90W shouldn't matter for normal use.  Only intense 3D gaming is when u need a larger PSU (and even the 90W can work to a small degree in that, but it does get extremely hot under load).  But for normal booting and browsing/development, the 90w is fine (it's what I am using all of this time.  the 150w is in the bag, for gaming times).

Eric,

Thanks for the reply, by the ribbon cable for the LCD do you mean the one that connects to the card?  If so, I pressed down on it pretty good to insure it was fully seated.  The FX2500's second heat pipe was bent when I received it so I went ahead and returned it and will be getting a new one this Friday.  Hopefully it works. I'm at the point where I could take the laptop apart and put back together in 15 minutes...I found a used 150W on Ebay for $15 so I went ahead and purchasedit for future gaming. If the second card has the same black screen, I would venture to say that maybe it's the mother board???

@Frank:

The ribbon cable I was talking about is the cable from the LCD assembly that looks like a very flimsy piece of thin plastic, that has wires in it, and attaches to the motherboard.  It's listed in the process of the LCD removal in the manual.

Does the old card work?  If so, most likely it was just the one card you got.  Go ahead and get the latest bios, just in case.

I have an e1705 thats about a year old, and I recently upgraded it with the Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GS card. Do the drivers you linked to above work with this card (on Vista) and also, do you know if it is possible to replace the fans from the e1705 with the fans from the XPS M1710 (with the cool little lights)? I figured this might help. Thanks in advance!

@Adam:

Now that is a cool idea.  The fans with the lights.  I'm pretty swamped at work for the next several weeks, or I'd look into that myself.  :)  I would start by looking at the Dell Service Manual I linked to above, and then compare the detailed pictures with the Service Manual for the XPS system.

As for the drivers, yes the drivers I linked to above are the ones I am using on my Vista install - and should fully support all 7XXX series (amongst all other nvidia cards pretty much up to about 6mo ago).  

Thanks, I take a look and let you know what I find out.

Alright, I looked it up and I dont think its going to work, the sizes look about the same, but to use the sweet LEDs there is a second plug that is not available on the Inspiron board. This is unfortunate, because from what I could see the XPS fan is pretty beefy and could move some serious air. Oh well, I'll try what you did with the Arctic Silver, hopefully that will help keep my running temps down. Thanks for the help!

Dude...TAKE THE 9300 reference out of your write up. IT IS PHYSICALLY DIFFERENT. The card does not fit. Also, bios will not recognize more than 2 gig of ram, and the machine will not boot with 4g ram in place. These are things I now know after spending $350.

Eric,  I received the replacement fx2500 and it works perfectly.  The CPU recognized the card & VGA. Do I need to do anythign else to enhance the performance.  I'm in the process of purchasing 4GB SDRAM.

Thanks again for the advice

@TheBobman: I removed the 1 reference to 9300 until it can be proven.  I appologize if someone took the leap of faith with their 9300 from this documentation, as the reports I found stated the 9300 worked as well as the 9400.  But you are incorrect about 4GB not booting in the 9300 - my previous 9300 booted with 4 GB just fine, but only showed 3.2GB, just like the 9400.

@Frank: That's great to hear!  "Enhance performance".  Well, you can overclock the GPU (search the links I supplied above).  Me?  This is my work/primary machine, so I chose stability over overclocking.  

In addition to that, just make sure you have the correct drivers.  And 4GB will help, for how cheap they are these days.  Even if you only get 3.2GB of them every GB helps - and you can use the ram in a newer laptop down the road (most likely).

Eric,

Once I installed the NVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M and turned on my CPU it automatically downloaded the following: driver version 6.14.11.119 dated 28.04.2007 on the latop2go site I downloaded version 169.09.  Which the best driver for 32 bit XP?

Hi Eric,

My wife's mom just bought an E1720 and it bugged me that she now has a better system than my E1705, so I went poking around for ways to hotrod my laptop. I am totally impressed by what you have done with your machine and plan to do something similar.

What I am wondering is this: if I replace my T2400 processor with a T7200 and install 64 bit XP Pro, will it be able to see all 4gig? Do you foresee any problems with this? Also, if this is a good play, is there any reason you didn't do it?

Thanks Much!

@Frank:  I don't know which is best for XP.  Seems most do not have a problem with XP, it's Vista some have issues with flickering (note the driver version I used above in the comments, it solved my Vista Flickering).

@Trickster: Yep, once I found out how the 1705s were being "hotrodded", not having a 1720 made me feel much better.  Even though the 1730s now have dual GPUs as an option!  Jez.

To answer your question, no.  Changing the cpu, upgrading the bios, 64bit os, nada will enable any operating system to see more then 3.2 GB of ram.  It's the limit of the bios (think PCI being a 32bit bus, and 32bit is limited to 2 GB space).

No system will really have full access to 4GB (or my next machine I am planning - 16 GB), unless there is no PCI 32bit bus.  All PCIe or PCI64bit (i.e. servers).

As to your final question of why I didn't do it... Didn't do what?  I actually did install 4 GB of ram, and utilize the limited 3.2 GB of it in Vista x86 (32bit).  I did use 64bit for a short time, and all drivers were available from Dell.  But some of the software I use for programming and such just had issues on x64.  So I am back to x86 for now.  If, that was your question.  :) 

If you question was asking why I didn't go with a faster CPU, it's because there is no real point for me cause I already have the T7200.  :)  Once you have the Core2 Duo @ 2.0Ghz (no point in paying for anything faster), you have the cream-of-the-crop with 4MB of cache (2MB per core).  Anything less in speed only has 2MB (1MB per core).  Yes, the T7200 is worth the upgrade!  And I made damn sure I had it when I originally ordered my laptop.

Thanks Eric. My final question was why you didn't upgrade to a T7200/64bit OS assuming that was a way to see more than 3.2gig. But since it doesn't work that question is moot. And thanks for the warning about certain programming apps having issues with x64. I'm a developer and need all my tools to keep working.

Hi Eric,

Wow, this site gets alot of questions. I am sure I am not the only one who appreciates the time and effort you give in tech support to everyone who visits your blog.

I have two questions please:

1. I have the Core Duo T2600 in my 9400. At the time when I got it, it was the best I could get. Then when core duo 2 came out with double the L2 cache I was miffed! Can I purchase the T7200 and replace that in my lappy?

2. I have 4Gb in my lappy and I did the optimise thing with the /3gb option and I got XP 32 bit seeing the 3.25Gigs as well as some of my adobe products which needed that option to recognise more than 2Gb. But, recently when I boot up I get a message something like, "I am low or have run out of registry space and the registry will no longer be updated etc etc.." - I have over 150Gigs free in my 250Gig internal HDD! Any clues?

@McMood:

1) Yep, absolutely.  Don't purchase anything slower or faster than the T7200 as it would be a waste of money.  Slower has less cache; faster is just paying the huge premium for just a few hundred mhz.

2) Has nothing to do with hardware.  Something is corrupted in the registery, could have a virus (never seen Windows say, "I am low..." on ANYTHING).  

I had a policy of formatting every 6mo.  I had a drive C and a drive D.  C hovered around 36 to 50 GB of space for my OS and all software install.  Drive D had all of my project, media, desktop (editing the location of the profile folders), etc.  So I would just wipe drive C from time to time and install the OS/software.

Here's one good news about Vista: Since I moved to Vista in my laptop last year, I haven't formatted again - and don't see a need to.  Vista really is stable.  As long as you don't load down your OS with a bunch of crap.

Thanks alot.

So I just buy a T7200 and take the old one out and the new one just falls into place? :) cOOL!

The message I get in windows only happens when I boot into the /3gb option. When I do not boot into it, I never get that message....do you still think its a virus?

@McMood: Yes, the bios will recognize the difference.  There's nothing u have to do to the OS either.

About the error message, again, I don't think it's anything to do with hardware and is outside of the scope of this discussion (u didn't leave an email address).  But yes, you'd most likely get it with the /3GB switch than without.

Do you actually know what /3GB does?  It's more than "access to 4GB of memory", and actually it's not that at all.  32bit variables in code are limited to 2,147,483,647.  Windows 32bit (x86) uses a 32bit integer to address memory space, therefore the limit being 2 GB (long story short).

Windows has two memory address spaces: One for the applications, and one for the operating system, kernel, and yep - the registry.  By default, this gives you a 4 GB memory cap the entire Windows OS can use, with a max of 2 GB assigned to your Applications space to use and a max of 2 GB for the kernel to use.  This is why you only see 2 GB in Windows with 4GB of ram.  The OS does a 50/50 split on whatever memory you have.  So if you have 2GB installed, you'll only have 1 GB available for applications (actually, this changes with pagefiles under 4 GB, another discussion).

Having 2 GB for the kernel is well more than enough for heavy powerusers.  The kernel includes all I/O addressing, registry, drivers, system tasks, some background tasks, and more.

The /3GB switch does something special.  It changes the 50/50 split of memory to a 25/75 split: the Kernel gets 25%, the Application space gets 75%.  So in a 4GB system, that's 1 GB for the kernel and 3 GB address block for the applications (how it does this, beyond the 32bit limit, is a longer story).

With that said, no I don't think it's a virus at all: You just got too many damn things loaded on your PC.  :)  Or loaded/unloaded.  When you install and uninstall, it doesn't always clean up registry space.

Let me guess, was this an "Upgrade" of XP from a previous version?  Upgrades leave a huge amount of registry crap.

Long story short: Just format and clean out everything.  You can spend days/weeks cleaning your registry with registry cleaners (and hope it doesn't break stuff).  But only 4 hours or so formatting and installing on the applications u use.

Fyi, Vista no longer has this limitation (they got rid of the 50/50 split, double memory allocation spaces).  It's why you can install 4 GB and you are good to go, without a registry limit.

Thanks a whole lot, next time I will send you an email.

Best tech support I have ever had. Cheers.

McMood

Hey Eric, I'm looking at getting the 4GB for my own 9400 lappy, but I'm wondering what kind of performance gains I'll get getting from upgrading from the 2GB stock 533 stuff Dell shipped me? What are your thoughts?  

Another concern I have is I've come accross a post about a guy having serious issues with Linux on this bad boy with 4GB installed, just Hangs Ubuntu (and any live distro he tried) I think he was on Fiesty Fawn(7.04). Have you tried any linux variants on here with the 4GB?(http://ph.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=667640)

Bryan.Lahartinger@gmail.com

@Bryan Lahartinger:

If you are a serious poweruser, you might (might like in a hair) notice a difference between 533mhz and 667mhz memory by the snappy response windows seem to appear.  But that is just speed.  

Performance gains from 2 GB to 4 GB (actually only 3.25GB in the 9400) is little to null; because, it would depend upon what you are using the laptop for.  If you exceed 1 GB in application memory (editting a dozen large Photoshop files, perhaps migrating a very large database locally on the laptop, etc), then Windows XP/Vista will start to dig into your "Page File".  The pagefile is when Windows uses your HDD as virtual memory; because, it is out of physical memory (or may be reserving physical memory for something else, long story).

Actually, what I have seen a lot more of lately is games taking up far beyond 1 GB of ram!  I first noticed this with Battlefield 2 at settings of 1600x1200x32 with everything set to high.  On my 2nd monitor, I decided to look at some settings on my PC and noticed that it was using 1.2 GB of ram!  I was shocked.  Battlefield 2142 is even more!

With that said, if you have some highend 3D games then upgrading to 4 GB could "increase performance", because your system won't be using the very slow HDD as virtual memory.

A very quick comparison of memory vs. HDD:

Typical SATAII 500gb HDD = ~45 to 55 MB/s

PC2-6400 DDR-2 memory = ~6.4 GB/s throughput.  <- That's GigaBytes a second, not bits.  Serious increase of 1000x the speed of HDD when moving data.  And we are only talking about the average memory and HDD hardware.  

So yes, it is worth spending the extra money on far-more-memory-than-you-need vs. a larger HDD - from a PowerUser standpoint.  

@Bryan Lahartinger: Something else to note is Vista's built-in ReadyBoost.  I know, there are lots of articles that say this is a joke especially for low-end users.

But for powerusers that need every byte of memory for development (i.e. my migration of 5GB communityserver databases!), once I popped in a fast 8GB flash card, holy cow that sped up my system.  

Google "vista readyboost" to read more.  In very short terms: ReadyBoost allows Vista to use a flashcard for your Page File, instead of your HDD.  While not as fast as pure memory, USB2's throughput is far more than your HDD.  Therefore, increasing the speed of that pagefile use.  

I can testify it really increased the performance of my system.  That is, if you are actually using some big applications.  If not, it's just a waste.

Tip: You a flash card 2.5x the size of your physical ram for "optimum performance" per MS'  algorythms.  So with 4GB in the 9400 (3.25GB visible to the system), get an 8GB memory card.  Oh, and make sure it is rated at least "150x" speed.

would it be possible to cram one of the new quadro fx 3600m gpu's into the e1705?

i.e.: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEBTOX:IT&item=150235297325&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI

oh, and what is the fastest processor you can stuff under the hood as well (laptop modding is not new to me since i've been doing some stuff to the office acers).  i've been looking, but no luck on a definitive answer. :-/

oops...i lied about the 3600...still looking for an answer on the cpu though.

enjoy the link everyone.  and, since i forgot to say it before (i'm in baghdad and working nights, so i'm a bit loopy right now since i should be sleeping atm, lol), this article is absolutely fantastic! keep up the excellent work :D

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread214624-7.html

@Sera: Very nice.  Yet another upgrade that works in the 1705 / 9400, the FX3600m.  But on a variation of someone's quote, my setup plays every game I currently own - I won't be upgrading anytime soon.  Especially at $800!

But, if I had the cash...  :)  

As far as maxing out CPU, the fastest is the 667mhz Core 2 Duo t7xxx series is about it.  The t7200 being the best price-vs-performance buy.  Anything faster is just just a waste of money for such a tiny increase.

What I don't see is anyone trying the 800mhz chips, which will be the biggest increase.  You linked to the best forum to research/ask in that regard for 800mhz support - www.notebookforums.com

Keep your head down in Baghdad!  Wouldn't want that e1705 to get hurt.  :)

Hi,i`m in the same position as some of you guys. Yesterday from nothing my ispiron 1705`s screen went black and after the restart there was the artifacts. So im considering to buy an Fx2500 and in the same time i want to upgrade my CPU from the T2250 to a T2600 or a T7200. So if anybody has one of these for sale (FX2500,T2600,T2700) please write me to seep91@gmail.com . Thanx.

hi Eric,

It is me again! I am about to take the plunge and get a better processor from my original core duo processor. Then I am going to attempt to do the above and the processor together! :S I already have the graphics card but was just about to buy the processor when Intel announced a cut in prices for many of its processors!

Now, I have someone who has offered me a T7200 and T7500 at the same price $160. He also has a T7400 at $230 and a T7600 at $300.

Would you suggest the T7500 is the best buy? It has a higher front bus speed but a lower multiplier than the T7600 as I found on wikipedia! I have no "real" idea on what that signifies but it is half the speed and the same price as the T7200 which you suggested?

Thanks in advance!

@McMood:

I am not sure the E1705 can support the 800mhz FSB of the T7500.  I'd really like to know though (and if it can support 800mhz ddr2).  

You can do the research on www.notebookforums.com.  Normally, I would be more than happy to research it - but I am swamped at work over the next couple of days.  I.e, no sleep.  Let us know!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T7200#.22Merom.22_.28standard-voltage.2C_65_nm.29

Would the fact that it uses the same socket mean it would work?

Well on notebookforums found someone say that only the even numbered T7*00 series will work in the E1705 and the guy seemed to know his stuff. He also says you cannot use 800 Mhz ddr2 ram...

A good link for general info:

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=205763&highlight=e1705+t7500

Hey Eric,

Great post, thanks for all the info. My E1705 has been dying lately and I can't just figure out the deal. I did an upgrade from XP to Vista and wonder if it was just from the upgrade copy. I have 2GB RAM now with 4GB on order. I had a bunch of driver issues with the NVIDIA card, I got it with the GeForce Go 7900 GS and now I'm thinking the card might be going bad. I think my laptop got to hot and either RAM is damaged or maybe more. I get a ton of Blue Screens, mostly memory parity issues. It will work fine for a bit, heat up and then I get a weird graphics bug, nothing will open and all the windows that attempt to open will be black, or a dark orange with no wording visible. I will have to ctrl alt del to shutdown or restart and have the time that will bsod or freeze up.

Any suggestions as to what that might be? I am thinking about the graphics card upgrade and the AS5. I'm just stuck in Iraq and the E1705 isn't but a year and a half old. I'm glad I found your post about the modding though, that made me a lot happier about my purchase.

Any advise on the BSOD's would be great.....If you get a free moment

my email is

(snipped per request)

please remove it if/when this posts to your site.

Thanks a bunch

Cory

I will be emailing you shortly Cory.

Hi,boys. So i ordered an FX 2500 from ebay, it came. I put it in my 1705 and everything was fine. but after a short game tasting period i`ve got a BSOD with some NMI memory parity error.After the restart on post screen ( the screen with the dell logo)and in bios my screen resolution is halfed. I can boot to windows safe mod but there is the same situation with the resolution. The dell check utility cant find any errors, regarding to it my video card is OK. For explanation i uploaded some photos.

                                      http://picasaweb.google.com/Seep91/DEllInspiron1705

@SPeter: Oh man, yeah something went hairy.  Might be a small chance that the LCD ribbon cable wasn't secured completely (that flimsy cable from the LCD at the point of where it attaches to the motherboard).

Try reverting back to your previous setup/video card and see if it resolves.  If so, it may be the new card u got.  

@Eric:

Your site is just what I was looking for. I am planning to do almost the same upgrade... T7200, 4GB, and hesitating between 3500M and 2500M. But I was hoping to get x64 XP running on the new one with the ability to fully utilize all 4GB. Now that you say there is no difference, I am not sure it is really worth switching my T2400 with T7200.

Would you say Vista x32 is the same with RAM utilization as XP64 on your setup? What would be wiser choice for OS? I am running mainly 3D/2D apps as Photoshop, Pixologic ZBrush, Autodesk Maya and rendering engines.

@SPeter:

I have seen those weird stripes on my faulty 7900GS (after a year, it just "died"). You have faulty VGA. Fortunately it was still in warranty so DELL replaced it with new one. Could you say who did you buy it from on ebay, since I am planning to buy the same there.

@Eric:

OK, I `ll try the LCD cable one more time. I cant revert back to the old card because it completly died - it showing me only black screen.

@MaxtorAG:

I hope it is not the card again. The sellers name was round2tech.

Any other suggestions about my card?

@MaxtorAG: Vista x86 the same as XP x64, in reguards to RAM utilization.  Not exactly, but if you are referring to if the "3 GB" limit issue in XP x86 is in Vista x86, the answer is no (kind like 4.5 GB now or more in Vista x86).  But with 4 GB of ram, yes Vista x86 won't be limited similarily to how XP x64 won't be limited.

As far as the wiser choice, it boils down to 1 thing pertaining to the applications you listed (aside from features, prettiness, etc): Ram available.  You'll give up about 512 MB by switching to Vista.  But the good news is Vista has much better memory management than XP in general, especially if you utilize Vista's ReadyBoost feature.

@SPeter: If you had one card fail, and this is another card (given it was used though), perhaps there's something larger going on?

@Eric:

Well, I guess I will buy the T7200 upgrade (found it for $120) and try both XP x64 and Vista x64 and just benchmark.

@SPeter:

That corruption is definitely faulty VGA (but miracles happen). Sorry about that. And it is disturbing that you bought it from round2tech, since that is supposed to be a good seller and I was going to buy FX3500 from them. Now I am not sure whether I should. Are you sure you are not doing something wrong while installing it or some MB problem? Why did your original one die?

One more question, Eric...

What about SATA Drivers? I know that while/before installing an XP in my desktop, I needed to load special SATA drivers into XP setup. Will I need special SATA drivers for XP x64 for my Inspiron, or the BIOS takes care of it. So far, I have installed only original DELL XP, so I guess there is everything in it, but when I will be switching...

@MaxtorAG:

Bios can't take care of anything.  If you needed a special Disk Driver for XP x86 (pressing F6 during install), you will need the same drivers for XP x64.  But look for 64bit versions of the driver as most drivers are written in c++, meaning they are unmanaged assemblies (bound to one type of processor or another).  

But with that said, I don't recall installing any Disk Driver (F6) on bootup on my E1705, and it's fairly new.  I got Vista x86 and x64 loaded without any driver needs.  But I did install them once the system was up.  

Now, my gf's E1520 is another story though... Dell is putting flash ram in the new computers that holds a complete backup of the default os install, called something like Cache Drive.  It's a PITA when installing your own os (disable the bitch in bios).

Hey wow what a page, ya I upgraded my e1705 from a 7900gs to a fx2500 and it's AWESOM, the performace gain is huge... COD4 on the 7900gs was not even playable at decent settings, with the fx2500 it's playable with the graphics all the way up!

My 7900gs fried from getting too hot for a year and finallt crapped out, like many many other peoples 7900gs (they made a VERY bad decision and only put one heat pipe on the 7900gs and we all have paid the price)

anyways, I'm sooo curious as to whether or not the new fx1600m and fx3600m cards will work in the e1705. The 1600m is basically a 8700m and the 3600m is a 8800m! I emailed the guy on ebay who currently has one of each available (I know 300 bucks for less performace that the fx2500 sucks but it's got directx 10) and the 3600m is $750 bucks but it blazes!

I'll let you guys know if the guy who is selling them replies and if he knows it it works or not, it's not a question as to whether it will fit it's a question as to if the BIOS will work or not. They might if we could flash them to a 8700m or 8800m prior to instal but I heard that the 1600m doesn't work with the latest 1600m bios in a e1705.

I know they are hard to find those cards now but I'm sure in time more will be available and perhaps the price will come down.

but ya, e1705/9400/M90 = best laptops ever!

also, to those who are getting artifacts after installing a used video card from ebay or whatever, you have to consider that the card you got is bad. many laptops die and they pull parts untested and sell them.

a side note, I installed my fx2500 and it was right on from day one.

@Matthew: Glad you jumped on the bangwagon with the rest of us.  Yep, it really is nice with that card.

As far as the new cards working with our bios, I see no reason why not.  It's a PCI Express x16 slot.  If it fits the slot, the bios will allocate resources, and all you need is drivers for your flavor of OS.

The only issue is voltage and/or wattage available for very highend cards.  I have no idea if the E1705 can supply the power for an 3600m.  But it's worth a shot.  :)

@SPeter:

Just a thought, but I still have my ATI x1400 sitting in the closet, works perfectly.  Just not for gaming.  If you (or anyone else reading this) need a card to get your laptop back up and going again, I can part with it.  I've been going strong for almost 6 months, so I think my system is stable enough to aprt with the ATI x1400.

Make me an offer...  

ya i'm dying to know whether the 1600m and 3600m will work in the e1705/9400/m90. I would buy a 3600m and a t7600 and save myself a lot of money upgrading. It would still be roughly 1000 for those but it's better than 2500 for a new one.

PingBack from http://www.insidemylaptop.com/upgrading-dell-inspiron-e1705-9400-graphics-card-memory/

@MaxtorAG:

Round2tech sold me the card as an FX3500, but it is a  non functional FX2500. There are other feedbacks on them that they are shipping wrong cards.So beware.

@Eric:

If you make a good price then i`ll buy your card.

@Matthew:

No, the fx1600 and the FX3600 will not work in our rig.

@SPeter (and everyone else): I've fixed my domain mailing alias/issues.  You should be able to contact me at the email when clicking "Who am I" at the top (i.e. Peter, for getting that ATI card of mine).

I didn't read all of the comments, so this may be redundant

but I got the fx2500M, and i flashed it to a 7900GTX.  I think it really made a difference.  The biggest difference I see is with Guitar Hero 3.  I can now run that 1440x900 full screen all effects on with almost no stutter.  in that game you need it to run SMOOTH.

I also have the clock settings at 600 core 1500 (750) RAM and it's been at that level for some time.

OH i highly recommend going to best buy and getting the Toshiba 200 GB 7200 RPM hard drive upgrade kit.  comes with an external enclosure and software to facilitate the swap and use your old hd as an external.  I think i paid around $175 for it.

I'm toying with the 4 gb upgrade now.

Hi guys!

Have a question...serious one ;)

Could I flash a 7900GTX card (some are marked on ebay as YF227 some CG129, don't know the difference) with BIOS of fx2500? And if so, where to get the BIOS? If so, could someone of you guys having fx2500 send me your BIOS file?

Important: I need the fx2500 version to work properly, as the quadro performance is crucial for me, I don't play games, so post a statement only if really true =)

Oh, and one more question...

could I flash my 7900GS with the BIOS from fx1500m?

That would probably solve my problem of upgrading.

Thanks.

Anyone have BIOS of fx1500m, I would try it myself...blindflash rulz =)

@MaxtorAG: Really those questions are for www.notebookforums.com (goto Dell, 17").  :)

Don't quote me, but if I remember difference between the 7900GTX and fx2500m allows you to flash down from fx2500m to 7900gtx to unlock the bios.  But not flashing from the 7900gtx up to the fx2500m, since the instruction set is different.

Check that website.

@Maxtor, it is possible to flash the 7900gs with a fx1500m bios. I tried it and it worked flawless.

@Eric, no answer from you regarding the x1400.

@SPeter:  Oh come on.  :)  I did reply.  I said, "I've fixed my domain mailing alias/issues.  You should be able to contact me at the email when clicking "Who am I" at the top (i.e. Peter, for getting that ATI card of mine)."  Ok, so I meant for you to click "Who am I" instead of "Contact me".  :P

Anyhoot, the email addy is eric @ this domain.

SPeter, well, I am glad that it works...what about some hints, reference for a website, etc.?

maxtorag at gmail

Hey guys...

Was just wondering what the fx2500 would be like running Age of Conan versus the 7900gs I've got in my e1705 right now. Is it worth the upgrade or should I start looking into new machines for running AoC?

I would say the difference would be noticable.  Because the fx2500 has 512mb of ram, where the 7900gs only has 256.  Memory usually is better quality too, to allow for a fraction better overclocking.

I've heard that upgrading from the 1440x900 screen to the 1920x1200 one can burn up my inverter.

Do you know if this is true? I want in on the 1080p goodness ;)

@Alex:  Sorry, have no idea.  www.notebookforums.com would be your best bet to ask.

-E

Hi, I am thinking of buying a... "nVidia Geforce 7900 GTX PCI-e 512MB Dual DVI HDTV Out", and I really have no experience with cards. Is that the correct card for an E1705? If so, is there anything extra I need to buy aside from that?

Hi Eric,

Finally, I have installed my quadro fx2500 and i went a little further and got the T7600 (Just had to do it :D). I got the nvidia hacked driver from where you said and it all seems to be running fine.

Although, I have still got my old power supply at the moment....

Now, I downloaded CPUID to monitor the temperatures and my idle temperatures for both my cores are around 62C and the GPU core 54C. That seems really high....I used Arctic Silver paste.....

The problem I do get at the moment, is that I leave my laptop on for alot of the day as I use it for work. Now sometimes overnight or when I go out for lunch, I come back to find that my laptop has turned off and restarted and I have lost anything I did not save! This has only started after installing the new devices and has happened at least 5 to 6 times now in the space of a week and a half.

Any ideas on what the problem is?

Its going up! 67C now!

On a totally sidepoint, do you know whats best if you want to get surround sound from the laptop? External sound card? Do you recommend one?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Eric,

I had a question. I have had my laptop for about a year and a half and i havent overclocked or anything. But recently, i start to get crazy artifacts and my screen turns off and frezzess. Most of the time it goes into a blue screen of death =/. Does anyone know what drivers to use and which work the best, it would be a great help. Thanks

Oh sorry, i forgot to say i have the stock 7900 GS with 174.82 drivers

Sorry guys.  I relocated from Dallas to NYC last week.  So I've been outta pocket for a while.

@Mike : Nope, that is not the correct card.  That card you mentioned is for a desktop with a PCI-E slot.  The dual DVI and tv-out kind of gives it away.

@McMood : Those temps aren't too bad actually.  The screenshot above is actually from when it was cold (winter), and I usually keep my place cold around 69F.  Now in the summer, here in ny, it's hot.  And around 78F in the home, my cpu idles around 58C.  My GPU is about 60C at 78F ambient temps.  What you want to do is a stress test, which means to peg both CPUs (cores) to 100% each.  Then monitor the temps.  I used Prime95 to do it on my system (tip: it runs only on 1 core.  You have to run two copies and configure them to use each core).

Surround sound?  Anything with opitcal out I suppose, then your speakers will take that as the best input.  Never got into which is better myself, such as decoding at the card level (more control, but uses cpu), or decoding at the speaker-level.  Any card that gives you optical out will work.

@BigArm : I can't answer that one.  Try notebookforums.com and click on the Dell 17" area.

Found some info about the fx3600m, and that it DOES fit and work in the 1705.  But, there's some additional hacking.

http://www.notebookforums.com/post2890326-96.html

Make sure to click the Thread link in that post, so u can read the whole thread.  I only got to page 7, out of like 20 pages.

What's the exact part numbers for FX2500 and FX3500 from Dell?

Doing search on the net brings confusing results: YF2009 or CG129...seems both apply to FX2500 and FX3500.

Sorry ment YF209

Man, I need to finish my new redesign for this site (to help with the comments/paging).

@Anton: Well in the screenshots above you can see the part number for my fx2500m.  I've said it before, but www.notebookforums.com is really the best place to ask such questions.  I just modded my laptop.  :)

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

Ok this seems bad....

All of a sudden during playback of a radio over the internet the audio started playing back and forth like at the end of an old LP on a gramaphone when it gets stuck on the same track. Then the screen went blank and it hasnt turned on since. Restarting the computer and even the dell bios thing does not appear. Although it seems like it is starting fully into Windows but not 100% sure. I opened the lappy up and now when I restart it doesnt boot, the num lock light is on, the caps lock and the next lock green symbol next to it flashes together for about 20 seconds before the laptop switches off!

What to do???? I appreciate your urgent help. Thanks.

@McMood: Well, for urgent help you could leave your email address when u post - so I can respond to you directly.

Still under warranty?  I recommend calling them and pretending u haven't done anythign to the machine.  If they say to send it in, revert the changes back to the way you bought it (original card and all).

Nope warranty has ended. I spoke to Dell they said they would arrange to pick up the laptop sometime on Friday and any charges for pick up and for parts will be charged. So before going to that.....

Anything I can do?

Thanks...

ok! It seems my graphics card went kaput and then the laptop went mad....

I put the old rubbbbbbbbish ATIx1400 128Mb graphics card back in and it works...now I doubt the ebayer is going to take back my graphics card fx2500m from me so many months down the line and plus I dont think shipping back to the states is going to be worth my while.

Anyway of getting a "new" card from Dell directly?

Plus these new cards you can get on the inspiron 1720 which are 512MB nvidia will they work on the 9400/e1705?

Thanks in advance...

@McMood: My fx2500m has 512 MB of ram.  So does the fx3500m.  I think you are referring to the fx2600 and fx3600.  Long story short (and scroll up 5 or 6 comments, I already linked to it and told ya'll about it) is yes they do fit, but there are voltage differences (screen is dimmer).  So there are a few bugs to work out.

Hi Eric, like most of the people posting here I too have upgraded to a new GPU, a 7900GTX, and 4gb ram. I have installed the ram successfully, and I thought the GPU as well... I was playing NWN2 and some red almost diagonal lines appeared on the screen. Since it was the first time I was playing with the new card installed I thought it was jusy some tweeking that needed to be done to the game settings or something... and suddenly the screen went black! I know the screen is on, but there is no image. I rushed to install the ol' 1400 and everything booted up and it seems no harm was done(at least to the hard drive which I feared). I am now pondering if it was something I forgot to do while setting up the new card, or if it is just a faulty card. What do you think? please help!

@Dennis (and others that have broken): Here's a question, are you using the larger 130W or 150W power supplies?  If you are using the power supply that came with your Dell laptop (the 90W one), you do not have enough power and this may contribute to the damage going on here.  Just a theory.

But to answer your question, since you replaced the card with the stock one, it seems to point to the card, yes.  Fautly install?  Really depends on how everything aligned.  It's straight forward, but does need a fragile hand.

Sorry i can't be of more help.  If you have the upgraded power supply, then it could point to any number of things.  

Yes, I did get the 130W brick. It's weird, I played with it for a day or so after installing the new card and it was working fine (or it seemed), then the next day I got the 130W brick and put it to work. No problems there. I am wondering if it has anything to do with the drivers at this point. I am gonna try to re install and un install drivers and see what happens. Help me god!!!

Doing some research in notebookforums I found people having the same problem. One guy claims it is related to the "extra" heat sink from the 7900 touching a small metal piece connecting to the power outlet (I noticed it while installing the card, but didn't think nothing of it). Claims he solved the problem bending the pipe slightly so that it would not touch the metal piece... I haven't tried it yet, but if that's the case I wanted to ask if this solution made sense.

Thanks.

@Dennis: Actually, that makes perfect sense if that is the case.  I had to do a double-take and open my images I posted above, to make sure mine was not touching.  

I think i remember seeing how it was touching mine, and went ahead and bent it anyways.  I also bent my pipe to better align the heatsink to the fans, as the normal way it was shipped to me seem to be sitting "to low" and blocked the natual airflow from the cpu's heatsink to the gpu's heatsink.

For everyone else, we are talking about the "left" heatsink (looking from the front of the laptop/normal view or use).  It is the heatsink that I used the aluminum (sp ck) foil to cover both heatsinks in the pics above.  Dennis mentions how the copper arm may be touching the power outlet.  Mine appearently isn't touching (zoom in on the picture of me holding the screw driver, and look at the bottom left for the powercode socket).  

Mine is not touching, and does sound like a valid reason.  But if you look at the pic I mentioned, the only thing that would touch it would be cast metal.  While a conductor of electricity, yes, I can't see a lot of draw through it as it seems to be a more of a type of alloy than a conducting metal.  But, it does warrant caution and I would recommend bending that pipe to get it away.

Note though before bending: do not bend while the card is installed!  I can see the socket easily breaking (or the mobo it is connected to).  I recommend removing the card and doing several test-fittings while bending.  Remove, bend, install and test alignment.  Repeat until cleared.

Good find Dennis!

well i got the 2500m and after install my computer does dont start up the lights come on for a second and then nothing. can you help me out

well i got the 2500m and after install my computer does not start up the lights come on for a second then nothing. can you help me out

Hi everybody, after a long sickness i`m back :-).

@McMood, Trevor - there is a whole load of Fx2500m on ebay which are damaged. Send it back to the seller.

@trevor: Check out SPeter's comment after your comment.  Go back to your old card and if it works, send it back.

okay, returned the card and shoulg get a new one next week. Will make the proper adjustments and hopefully it works, try #2!!!

OMG, this is such a good tutorial !

I always wondered how was the inside of my computer, Now I know :).

Im going to add some LED where you added the gpu pipe, im just wondering where im going to get the electricity...

Hi Eric. I just wanted to say what a HUGE help this article was. I've read this article probably at least once every two weeks since I found it back in Febuary, just waiting for the time when I would be able to do these upgrades, and hopefully put the kabosh on my NMI Parity Errors while playing WoW.

Unfortunately, It did not all go well, as I've got nasty red lines on my desktop, and spikes in the 3D renders of WoW. I got my drivers from NotebookForums, so I'm pretty sure I got a bad card. I've contacted my seller on Ebay to hopefully get an exchange.

Just really wanted to say thanks for this well written article. =D

Hello there.

I have a Dell Inspiron e1705 with a GeForce GO 7900 GS card and I would like to upgrade it.

Would this be the card I'm looking for?

"Dell Inspiron 9400 M90 512M Quadro FX2500M Video CG129"

Thank you.

Yes, sounds like the right card.

Hey eric, i just ordered a 7900 GTX 512mb, but i didnt read a part where it said one heat pipe is "broken" i just got the card in the mail today and the heat pipe just looks a bit beat up. i installed it and it works fine and passes all stress tests. i just want to know if its safe to keep it in there or should i get it fixed. also i know i need at least a 130w power suplly but can i use the laptop with the 90watt just for normal use. THANKS!

Hey there!

I opened my m1710 to test a second t7400 which i have. However i couldnt remove the CPU/NB heat sink and i didnt want to rough it. Maybe i would break something or something. So can anyone tell me what i missed?

thanks

@Mike : if you don`t game a lot, you can use your 90w supply.

@Walid : the original dell thermal compound between the cpu and the heat sink is like a glue after a time.

SPeter is correct.

Hey guys, just a quick question. when i play any game and monitor my temperatures, the card starts cooking within seconds and says it peaks at 93 C and is currently an 77 C when game gets minimized for one second. how come these temps jump around so much and why so high...plz help =/ its the 7900 GTX 512

@ Mike: maybe because as you said before one of the heat pipes is broken, or it can be from unproper usage of thermal compound. My nv 7950 GTX is idling at 58 C and tops at 86 C. Try to use I8KFanGUI on automatic, or use some cooling pad.

@Mike, I agree with SPeter - and my temps are a few under what he reported.

Hey guys, thanx for all your help, it seems like i overused the AS5 a little and i dont think the heatsink was tightened on well. anyways i ordered a broken card with dual pipes and swaped it, put that black tape from the broken GPU and put it on mine cuz mine didnt have it for some reason, now i idle at 47C with fans on low and after 1 hour of crysis i peaked at 75c! i apperiate the help guys thanx!

wondering whether im s.o.l. or what.  I've got an e1705 with an intel mobile core 2 duo

says socket 479mPGA its a t5300.  from what i understand they are soldered on and not replaceable?  any thoughts as to upgrading cpu or not possible?

thanks in advance

@William: Not really the place to ask that, but the E1705s have replacement CPUs.  So you shouldnt have an issue upgrading the CPU.

See my pictures above, as I removed the heatsink - but not the actual CPU.  But you can see the CPU is removable.

Check the link I posted above about the Dell Service Manual for CPU replacement.  http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/my_systems_info/manuals?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1

hi eric nice post, i'm planning to get one from ebay soon and i can't find the exact spec that you got, must be a rare piece. with all the identical shapes of video card i'm just afraid i might buy an incompatible card.

so i got some questions in mind: how did you know that the card you bought is compatible with your laptop? was it built for e1705/9400 or does dell's video card share the same structure? does it mean that video cards intended for XPS lineup can fit to Inspirons?

i've read some about the M90 designer card and MXM blah blah and I can't relate with all the technical stuff, can you shed me some light on this one. thanks!

@frederic: As mentioned in the original post, the card comes in the Dell XPS series - not the 9400/e1705.  You can see the pictures of where I had to modify (i.e. cut the plastic pieces off) to get the left heatsink to fit.  Otherwise, the entire card is a drop-in fit.

Any card for the XPS 1710 series sould fit our laptops, yes.  But remember, there's a whole new breed out there.  The 1720 and 1730s, which most likely won't fit.  

To find the card I have, search eBay for "nVidia FX2500m".  Or if you want the better card, search for "FX3500m".  That's it.

As far as more technical questions, what "may" and may not fit from newer laptops, you want to visit these forums as they have the most info out of anything: http://notebookforums.com.  I even provide direct links for the FAQs of the 1705 above in the original post.

Good luck!

Hello,

really outstanding performance you did, Eric! Congratulations! I just ordered my 2x2GB Kingston DDR 2 667 MHz RAM zu upgrade my system as well.

The graphics device I will leave as it is. I presently don't have the imminent need for an upgrade there. It's more the hard drive I think over... Which one does your system work with? I have the Toshiba MK2035GSS (12ms/8MB/4200) and am not that satisfied with it's performance. Do you possibly use the "Hitachi 7K200 TravelStar" which everyone is talking about? Or another device?

@Melkor: Oh man, that existing drive you have is horrible in performance.  Around 15 MB/s.  Going from that 4200rpm, to the Hitachi 7200rpm (or any drive) will be a major improvement in performance!  We're talking 60 to 70 MB/s (4x)!  

But remember, this will greatly cut your battery life as the HDD is one of most power-hungry devices in a laptop (unless u are gaming, then a highend GPU like we installed above can almost match the draw of the HDD).

If you are liking your battery life, cut it almost in 1/2 - that's about what you'll get.  Check to see if you have the 9 cell battery - if you only have the 6 cell, upgrade (but it will be costly, go aftermarket).

I took the 9cell right from the start. Never felt bad about that. So thanks for that info. Looking realy forward for a better drive. It's indeed horrible atm...

Just installed the 4GB RAM. As well as the BIOS even Vista is telling me I've got 4GB installed. Nevertheless available is less than that as a certain amount is used for system issues (meaning the graphics-device I guess). But still Vista shows 4GB installed (and not 3.25 as reported above)... But the score remains 4.5 - I hoped for a raise in that. Well, didn't work (of course - why should it get pushed up? 667 MHz remains 667 MHz...). But thanks for encouraging me to buy the RAM even against the manual telling me only 2GB are supported. I recognised the increase in speed instantly without any benchmarks just by navigating through the menus and using applications. Outstanding (compared to before).

Next for the hard drive. Has anyone of you a good idea for a HDD but the Hitachi 7K200 TravelStar? Maybe something nearly equal as fast but less consumpting my power? Or is it the best way to upgrade the system in speed? Which drives do you all use?

@Melkor: Which bios did you install?  I'm curious now of how you are seeing the full 4 GB in an e1705 machine (and yes, it would be the bios).

As far as HDD, it's the trade-off you always have to battle: Speed using more power, or less speed to save the power. THere is no magic wand...

Except, if you fork out for an SSD drive.  Much less power usage, with the best speed.  If you can wait until next summer, the prices will be about 1.5 times that of standard HDDs.  By 2010, they should be about 1.2.  But, they are costly now.

If you want to meet 1/2 way, look for some 5400rpm drives that are larger than 200 MB from just about any manufacturer.  You'll get the newer platters that use less power, with 16MB buffer or larger (32MB perhaps?).  Will be a vast improvement of what you got now, but not as fast as the 7200rpm drives.

@Melkor: Whoa, I see the SSDs have dropped a LOT!

http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/ssd_64gb.htm

$260 for a 64 GB drive.  I just read a comparison, and the current highend 10,000rpm desktop drives barely beat out the OCZ Core Series there in that list - meaning it's fast!  The problem is the drive uses a standard SATA connector, unlike our laptop hdds.  Why must we pay double the cost for just a different interface?  

Let me give my contact at OCZ a call...

How about lifetime with those SSDs? Somewhere I read they should only endure 10.000 writings and than be gone forever. Maybe rubish, but who knows exactly? I'm not willing to pay that much money for a drive which might brake down after a year or two. Although it's a really interesting imagination to have a SSD. But the prices aren't yet in a range I'm going to spend for such a thing (regarding the price per GB) - surely in some few years. Untill than I'm gonna use a conventional HDD. But nevertheless keep us informed about that connector thingy. Why not keeping an eye on the affaire?

I meanwhile choose a SAMSUNG SpinPoint M5S. Lesser rpm but lesser power consumption and noise. And nearly as fast as the Hitachi. Won several HDD tests.

This blog inspired me. I've since opened up my laptop for the first time, upgraded the ram and added a new keyboard, with big plans for a new graphics card. Thank you :)

hi eric,

Love your website. you inspired me to open up my laptop. Question for ya. Officially, dell says my motherboard can only support a  100 gb hard drive. is that true? i would love to upgrade my hard drive and get more space.

thanks

mark

dell inspiron 9400. 2gb memory i am going to try to put more inside thanks to you

A09 bios version  

@Mark Rose: I do not believe that is true.  Just like the max ram is 2GB, that is not true.  

But to be sure, I'd ask/search within this forum: http://www.notebookforums.com/forum153.html

thanks eric,

this is all so confusing. i posted a question on that forum we will see what replies i get

peace

@ This Beautiful Thread

I've read everything on your mod and i'm very excited! I've had issues springing up with my Dell e1705 regarding Hardware Failure, memory parity error.

After researching this error i've come to the conclusion that there's 2 possibilities.

1) My Geforce 7900 GS is inheirently bad/causing massive overheating problems.

2) My power is leaking and affecting parts of the system.

Apparently someone used a multi volt checker on the screws under the laptop and found voltage leaking out. I havent tested mine yet but I have taken mine apart to change out my keyboard.

The question I suppose I have now is about your foil usage regarding heat conduction with Artic Silver and how exactly you did it. I see the picture but it's a bit far away and you say it's thin. What brand/ type of foil are you using? How did you tape it up? I'm always nervous when I begin to modify any system, but I can't live with this error and perhaps this upgrade with the added Artic Silver and new GFX card will resolve my issues.

/Best

Curtis

@Curtis: Thanks for the compliment.  :)  Sorry to hear of your hardware issues.  Things like that are always hard to find.  "Power leaking"?  Even the human body has a slight negative charge.  Just haven't heard of that one before.

To your question: I just used any house-hold standard foil.  It really is too think to really transfer any real amount of heat, but it's there in case.  The main reason I used it was to better vent the air exiting the fan directly into the heatsink fins.  There is a very large gap between the two heatsinks (cpu and gpu), and i did not want that air wasted.  I elected to do it with foil for that little bit of extra chance of dissipating the heat from the hottest to the coolest.

As far as what I used to attach it, you can see the scotch tape in the picture.  Just ran it over the edges.  The AS5 keeps it a little sticky and in place as well.

Hope that helps!

Herm, I get the concept (which I think was genius), but it's the practical applications i'm confused about. You made "shrouds" of foil. I'm wondering if you wrapped the end of the heat dispersing copper conducter, or, you just put one piect across the top of both of them (with one side coated with some AS5).

Looking at the picture I really can only see all the scotch tape, it's hard to imagine what it looks like under there. =)

Oh, and here's that story I was talking about, from notebook forums.

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread188600.html

@Curtis: Interesting issue about the grounded prong...  Both my 90w and 150w adapters have the grounded prong, so I do not think I am at risk?  I remember the 65w travel adapter I had at Telligent and it was only two-prong (another 9400 I had there, and a few died).  That would explained why they died.

As for the application of the foil, I have a piece on top with as5 applied where it touches the copper pipes.  I also put a thin strip on the side, because of the big gap there as well.  None is required under the heatsinks as both omy heatsinks were almost touching the bottom of the case.  I actually bent my GPU copper pipe to get the heatsink to sit all the way down on the plastic case - therefore sealing the "under" area.  I guess I coul dhave install a small piece of felt under the heatsinks to better control any millimeter air-gap at the bottm - but it's pretty flush so I didn't see a need.

Just a word back to the hard drive I wrote about above:

I meanwhile bought a Samsung Spinpoint M5S 250GB 12ms/8MP/5400 rpm.

Althought the mentioned Hitachhi Travelstar 7K200 200GB 10ms/16MB/7200rpm has way better data the power consumption of the Samsung is way fewer. The difference to my former HDD you can "feel" and see every moment and the 9cell akku still endures 1 hour 45 mins (with standard balanced energy mode). Additionally the Spinpoint is really very silent, I don't hear anything even when using the drive intensively (e.g. defrag, virus scan and so on). Finally I read quite a handful of feedbacks within which people first wrote how outstanding the Travelstar is and what a huge performance upgrade it provides - but after few weeks or months there is an additional comment that the Hitachi drive simply and without any annoucment refused to work. It simply crashed an needed to be replaced. First I thought, ok, such things happen occasionally. But than those reports got more and more.

Well, now with the Spinpoint (at least at the moment) everything is fine, Windows Vista gives me 5.3 points for it an I no longer have the feeling that the hard drive slows down the entire system. And the Spinpoint costed 2/3 of the Travelstar, no heat problems at all, no vibrations or whatever. I really can recommend it! Those who need high end performance should maybe choose the Hitachi (or buy a SSD) but those who just seek for an upgrade and don't want to loose mobility and therefore gain loudness and vibrations are best served with it.

One additional quastion I got (sry for extra post...!):

You alle surely use CL4 RAM? I wasn't that intelligent when upgrading my system from 2GB to 4GB using CL5 RAM... :/ So I think about changing that again.

Is there a "feelable" effect? What's the Vista Index for CL4 RAM?

WOW! I've just read this entire thread and am superbly impressed with it all. I'm a VERY big laptop noobie in my opinion, only changing the keyboard once. I've had an M1710 for about 2 years now, and recently flashed my 7950 go gtx to unlock it. So I've been experimenting with ocing it, getting about 15% boosts in preformance, but find that I really should get the heatsinks cleaned and probably use AS5 to get my idle temps down.

I was curious if you guys could offer me any advice (plus being that the E1705 is very similar to it) on what needs to be removed etc. I'm not freaked out about the LCD removal or keyboard, but mostly the general top of the laptop, how to reconnect those antennae leads to the wifi card once I get them off, and when I get to the gpu and cpu how I should be putting AS5 on once I get down there.

Also my HDD has been getting frequent bad sectors and I think it's because it idles (the Hard disk) at 42C. Any advice?

Thanks a shamillion!!

Matchbox from canada,

m1710 T7600 (idle 50C)

2gb ram

7200rpm hitachi

7950 go gtx (idle 62C)

@Melkor: To be honest, I have no idea which CL4 or CL5 I have.  I just made sure to get 667mhz.  Either would work, but it's the bios that will set the timings.  CL4 isn't that much more than CL5 to begin with, so spend the extra $10.

@Matchbox from Canada: Those HDD temps aren't bad.  If you are getting bad sectors, it's time for a new HDD.  You can format, which will skip those bad sectors (sometimes); but, the drive is degrading.  Take a look at Melkor's HDD he just bought a few comments above yours.

As for what needs to be removed (upper part), it's no biggie.  It's why I took the photos above.  Also, the Dell repair manual I linked to in the original post has very detailed instructions.  I just made a post about the extra bits that the manual doesn't go too much into detail for.

Good luck!  It really is a piece of cake.

Hello Eric,

The screen on my 9400 went black on me yesterday and after poking around online I found this page.  I have little to know experience poking around in laptops so I was a little wary, and I've always been more software oriented.  

I still get no video with my comp so I am assuming it's my video card thats gone bad the screen lights up but I get nothing displayed.  

Do I need to know anything particular about picking up a new video card for a laptop or will basically anything do?

@Jason: Can you connect an LCD/monitor to the external port?  If so, it may not be the card but the back lighting of the LCD itself.

As far as opening up the laptop, it does not require previous electrics experience.  But instead, a steady-as-she-goes approach to one little thing at a time, very carefully, knowing that things can easily snap and break - except the Keyboard cover above in the forth pic.  That was scary - prying and pulling on that piece of plastic that felt like it was going to break.  But, I wanted to blog about it because it did not.  You just have to be a little forceful.  

The only other area of concern is the ribbon cables (tightly packed thin film-like cables) that connect the keyboard/trackpad and the LCD to your motherboard.  

Besides those concerns, anyone that has held a screw driver can handle all repairs to the laptop.

I unfortunately don't have an LCD at my disposal and recently moved to Japan so my resources are limited as I don't know anyone around here.

Would hooking it up to my TV work as well?  I have tried that using an S-Video cable as that was my only option but it does have the ports to connect the tv with a monitor cable as well.  So prehaps I'll buy the appropriate cable tonight to see.

Using your guide I already opened it up and took a look at things but all I could really do was clean it out and the problem still persisted after reassembly.

The screen does light up to a nice dark grey would that mean the backlight is still working?

@Jason: Ah, you can see the screen, very faintly?  Like it is extremely dim?  Yeha, most likely the backlight went out - a new LCD replacement is what you'd need.

You can actually buy broken 1705s on eBay, but the shipping to Jpn would be a bit high...  May be time for a new lappy, unless you can get one cheap and shipped cheaply.

So you think its the back light?  I can tell there is a faint light but I can't actually make out anything on screen.  As far as I can tell everything is working fine.  Harddrive internal fans etc all run but I get no sound, though on occasion (not every time) the computer makes two quick beeps.  I'm not up to snuff on notebook parts but are they made specific for models or would I be able to supplant an LCD from another model onto mine or at the least cannabalize another LCD for parts?

Hi Erick.

First of all want to thank you for all your info on this video upgrade adventure.

I just upgraded to 4 gigs of ram...waiting on my Quadro fx2500 to arrive.

The question i have is on the DELL PA15 Power Adapter ADP-15...i have search for one compatable to the I9400 but they all say it applies to the 9100 series ...is this the right adaptor???

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-DELL-PA15-Power-Adapter-ADP-150EB-PA-1151-06D_W0QQitemZ380065747838QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item380065747838&_trkparms=72%3A1208|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

thank you for your time.

cheers

kruz

@Kruz: Yep, that is the correct adapter.

Thank you Eric.

Ill let you how i make out with my upgrade.

Take care

Upgraded to a 7900GTX and a faster processor.  The 7900 crapped out after a month and the guy who sold it to me on eBay offered to replace it with an Quadro 1600m (he had no more 7900s).  I checked out the specs and it looks good.  I know it's not a gaming card, but since I was 15 days past his return period, I figure I'm lucky to get anything.  I'll let you know once it's installed how it performs compared to the 7900GTX.  

Also, I'm curious about the RAM issue.  I added another GB about a year ago (total 2GB) and I see that someone on here upgraded to 4GB.  Can someone who is successfully using 4GB post the E1705 BIOS revision you are using please?  Thanks.

@Tony: The 1600m is far different than the 2600m, mostly the memory (256 vs 512) if i recall.  There are also core and memory speeds.

As for 4 GB of ram, I have it installed - but like the 1710 that "supports" 4 GB officially by Dell, the same response comes out of it.

@Tony: The 1600m is far different than the 2600m, mostly the memory (256 vs 512) if i recall.  There are also core and memory speeds.

As for 4 GB of ram, I have it installed - but like the 1710 that "supports" 4 GB officially by Dell, the same response comes out of it.

Thanks.  I really have no need for more RAM at the moment.  Even with my IDE, an app server, a browser, and usually many other things running I rarely go over the 2GB I have. But it's nice to know that I can upgrade - even if it's not officially supported.  

I've never had a 2600m.  I had a 7900GTX, which died, so I'm just hoping that the 1600m that is replacing it is at least as good as the 7900GTX.  We'll see when I install it tomorrow.  

The 1600m scores pretty well on 3DMark06 compared to the 7900GTX, but the fact that it is not optimized for games becomes pretty apparent whe nI tried to play Bioschock.  My 7900GTX was great at high detail, but the 1600m is a little choppy and not really playable at high detail.  Even at medium detail it's still not as smooth as the 7900GTX.

Hey Eric, thanks for the excellent guide.  My E1705's video card recently died, and I am thinking of using it as an opportunity to upgrade.  Of course, all you can find out there now is refurbs, which makes me a bit nervous.  At any rate, I have read elsewhere that you must have the 9 cell battery for the upgrade to the fx2500 to work.  Is that true?  I rarely use my 1705 on battery power, so the 6 cell works fine for me.  Can I do this upgrade without changing batteries?

@Tony: Actually, I have the 7900GTX core in my FX 2600m Quatro card (see my original post waaaay above).  Yeah, 512 MB on the card doesn't do well for Bioshock.  But it's far better than the ATI card, and one-ups the 1600m cards.

@Rich: Refurbs are fine, as it is what I got.  But be warned that several of them have died very quickly, or were INOP when tey arrived.  So, make sure you can return the card to the vendor, and test it immediately when your card arrives.  So you are not stuck with a time limit to return it.

As for needing a 9 cell battery; nope, it is not needed.  As a matter of fact, I usually use my 6-cell around the house as it is much lighter (and I rather have the 6-cell die out from over-use, as most lappy batteries do).  The 9-cell is needed if you want to do any type of animation or graphics, as the extra wattage will be needed.  I.e., do not play any games on the 6-cell.  Besides, it would only last 5 to 10m too.

Hi eric i recently upgraded my ati x1400 to the nvdia 7900 which after reading your post seems pretty pointless. Im fairly happy with the performance of the card as i can run crysis on medium with no lag. i wondered if upgrading the ram really makes much difference in high quality games like crysis. I currently have 2gb of ram and can find the 4gb sets for as little as $70 i have the money but is it really worth it??? Also would overclocking be advised???

@Daabaa: Actually, going from the ATI x1400 to a 7900 is a big improvement in 3D performance.  Yes, it was worth it (depending on what you paid for the card).

As for 4gb vs 2gb, I know my Battlefield 2 and 2142 games used over 1.5 GB of ram, with all graphics turned up at high resolution.  My Vista idles around 700 to 800 GB in use, so that would put me over the 2GB limit.  For me, it was worth it.  

If you are running XP, sitting around 128 to 200 MB in use - it may not be.

If you plan on upgrading to Vista or running Windows 7, I'd recommend it.  My next laptop will have 8 GB, just to let you know what I am planning on (virtual machines).

Ok cool thanks for your help im very impressed with my machine as i payed a bargain price for it and it came with vista!!! So would it still be worth it if i can only use 3.2 gb of the ram. Does it make a sizable differance for gaming???

@Daabaa: To each his own.  Depends on the game and the level of details.  Really, it all depends.  Games will adapt - but since I am a developer, I use the extra ram in other areas.

If for example i was playing crysis would i be able to put the game up one detail level?

@Daabaa: Crysis is a serious memory hog.  It is not really how much more detail, but how smooth the gameplay is.  Yes, upgrade to 4gb if you are playing Crysis (I still need to download that again, never had the room - until now).  :)

Ok so im definately going to do the memory upgrade. Will i be able to fit this memory in the notebook:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KINGSTON-HYPERX-PC6400-DDR2-800-4GB-2-x-2GB-RAM-MEMORY_W0QQitemZ260292767827QQihZ016QQcategoryZ172QQcmdZViewItem?refid=store

Cheers; if not what other high performance ram will fit in???

@Daabaa: That link is to memory for a Desktop, not laptop.  What you want to search on is "DDR2 SO-DIMM".  A link for here in the states is:

http://www.pricewatch.com/system_memory/so-dimm_ddr2_pc2-5300_4gb_kit.htm

The e1705 only supports up to 667mhz for memory.  There is 400, 533, and 667mhz versions of the soo-dimm chips.  So, you would want the 667 versions.  

so what would be the best ram i could get that is compatable?

@Daabaa: I cannot get into a "whie brand is better" debate, as I have had highend memory go bad, and generic memory last 10+ years.

Just stick to the highest PC2-XX00 number you can find, at 667mhz.  

I have PC2-5400 667mhz modules in mine.

ok thanks for your help?!?!!?

I've the inspiron9400, and I upgraded to 4GB 667mhz and quadro fx2500, the first one crashed when i tried to boot into windows, then I exchange another one, it worked fine in the first week, then it crashed all of a sudden then end up with a blue screen saying "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA"

Is it cause by the faulty video card?

Works fine when I switch back to my old 7900gs.

Should I ask for refund?

@Alan: I replied to your email, since you gave a lot more detail there.  :)

In short, I am thinking it is the video drivers you were using.  But the memory issue report does point to the memory.  Maybe even the mobo going out.

Certainly, my Email is "alanccfu@gmail.com"

So you think it might also be my mobo? OMG....

I hope not.... :(

Any kind of help will be good for me now.

Thanks a lot~

@Alan: I'm sorry.  I got an email yesterday morning from a "Rich" with almost the exact problem you specified.  I thought that was you?  Contact me through the Who am I link at the top.  Sorry about that.

I notice there's spaces before and after "@"

should I ignor the space on your email?

Hello

I would like to know or I can find the graphics card for LED M90 PRECISION (Nvidia FX2500m) thank you

Do you know if the GeForce 9800M GT SLI fits or is it limited to the 7000 series.

@Tete: Most of us found ours on eBay.

@JR: I believe it would not fit, but check out notebookforums.com.  They stay on top of the latest tech.

@Alan: Ignore spaces.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Samsung-4GB-DDR2-800Mhz-PC2-6400-2x-2GB-SODIMM-4-GB-KIT_W0QQitemZ130268453892QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item130268453892&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 will this fit in?

@daabaa: Yes, they will "fit".  But, it is reported that the highest the BIOS will run memory is 667 (based on the embedded SPD of the memory chips themselves).  

While it is optimum to run an 800mhz FSB on the CPU, with 800mhz memory (1:1 ratio), I do not think the 1705 series will do 800mhz.

I could be completely wrong, and it may actually do that!  If so, I will be upgrading myself.  :)

The good news is if you buy it, you'll have 800mhz memory for your next laptop if it doesn't work at 800mhz in the 1705.

I finally got my replacement for the FX2500 from ebay seller and installed it and its working great...

Thanks Erick for the great tutorial and quick responses.

respects

kruz

@Kruz: Great to hear man!

@Everyone: Over the last 6 months, I relocated to NYC and have been so overwhelmed that I have not even started a game what-so-ever.  Recently, my almost-2yrs old install of Vista x86 was going good - but not as good as my Vista x64 I had on my work laptop.  I've really enjoyed Vista x64's performance and even the program restrictions, preventing me from "bloating" my machine.

So this week, I formatted and went to Vista x64 on this particular laptop.  I have time to settle back into the ways-of-things, so for the first time I installed CoD4's Demo (yeah, I'm late to the game).  Whoa...  It plays VERY nice!  I upped the graphics to 1920x1200, but didn't really touch on any other details.  It is still very smooth.  Not sure on the framerate, but it is at least 30fps-smooth at 1920x1200.

This card/laptop looks like it will live on for a good while longer, as I was debating on building another desktop.  Guess I'll hold off on that until next year for a 2009 tax deduction.  :)

hey there,

i purchased a dell xps1710 a year ago and guess wat one fine day while playing a movie it gave a driver error and then after that graphics went completely bad. Tried to check online some other people faced the same problem and concluded that might have to buy a new graphics card. Now the thing is if i buy the current graphics card which is there in the laptop ie nvidia GEforce Go 7950 gtc with 512mb i might have shell out almost $500 so i thought if i could actually put a lower end graphics card like ATI readeon mobility x1400. It would be cheaper. What do you reckon is it a good idea. Besides that do you know where can i buy it from. Coz i tried to find the same on the ati's website but am unable to find the price and also a link that might lead me to the puchase. Or i will have to buy it from dell itself.

Btw i only use it for watching the movies.

A quick search on eBay for "ATI x1400" brings up a good listing of them for about $65 to $90.

I'll raise my hand if u want to help out the guy who wrote the blog post.  :)  Mine is the 256mb version, so u can run Vista with Areo enabled.  $75.  Email: eric -at- eduncan911.com

I purchased the E1705 with the 7900GS for a modest upgrade in price. I really like the AS5 idea. I plan on pulling apart my machine to add that. Has anyone messed with 4-4-4-12 timings with 4GB of DDR2 667MHz.

I just finished re-doing the thermal grease (believe me its easy!) and this is the result:

Original Idle Temp: 140+ degrees F

New Idle Temp: 93 degrees F

What a difference! Also, I am looking at upgrading to the same 4Gb DDR2 (PC2-5300) 667MHz RAM at 4-4-4-12 timings, is this any better than 5-5-5-? The price is about the same for both ($50, thank-you newegg) but I want to make sure I get the best bang for the buck, any ideas?

Wow.  That is impressive, and makes me want to think about pulling mine apart again just to do the GPU.

As for the mem, there are hacks out there to adjust the timings in the bios.  But you can't hurt sticking in lower-timings in a mobo that will do 5-5-5-xx.  I say go with the 4-4-4-12.

I know, i was pretty amazed with the results, I mean all I did was clean out the dust, re-do the thermal grease, and attach your "airflow tunnel" and wow, what a difference! On a side note, I've had my E1705 for just over a year and a half, and since I bought I've been looking at upgrading the processor and RAM. I have the 2Ghz processor and 2Gbs of RAM, and I finally started looking around for RAM and a processor, and I'm happy to say that the 2.16Ghz processor is down to about $170 on ebay (as supposed to about $600 a few months ago) and 4Gbs of RAM are down to $50! I've got to say, this laptop is amazing!!! I have to say though, I am really happy I found this site, I've learned a lot about how this thing works! Thanks!

Great to hear Adam!

I've been looking for an article on replacing the CPU fan on my Dell Inspiron 9400/1705, as it has stopped working after 15 months use, and came across this article from Eric.

Since I only plan on replacing the CPU fan, as the graphics card fan still works fine, do I need to remove the Wi-Fi card and the LCD screen, or can I get away with just removing the keyboard, palm rest and the outer case?

@Rsaeire: I believe you will need to remove everything (wifi cables and LCD and all, just like we did above) in order to get to the fan.  Since the upper case cannot be removed until the LCD is removed.

To be sure, reference the actual Dell manual for your laptop: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/my_systems_info/en/manuals?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

@Eric - Thank you for the reply.

I had looked through the service manual for the 9400 and was hoping that their recommendations to remove the display assembly  were not necessary; unfortunately it seems that I was mistaken.

Thank you again for the reply.

Hi everyone, I also have an Inspiron E1705 with a bad Nvidia Geforce Go 7900GS. I've tried to find a replacement for this card and they are no where to be found. There are actually some on ebay for about 300+ which seems to be very high to me. Can anyone refer me to a place where I can get this card for a reasonable price?

Eric: Do you still have that X1400? If I can't find the 7900GS or the FX2500, I'll get the X1400 from you.

Thanks. BTW, this is a great site. I really appreciate the effort to keep it up running.

LTRAN

@LTRAN: Yes, I still have it.  Hit the contact me at the top.

Hi Eric,

How much of a downgrade is it to go from the 7900GS to the X1400? I don't do any gaming, but just general purpose programs, somem photo editing with photoshop and some CAD work (Autocad...) I'm just trying to justify spending $300 for a refurbish 7900 card that could die again.

Thanks

@LTRAN: For the standard programs, you don't see a difference.  The 256mb version I have supports up to like 2200x1900 resolutions.

But, there will be a discrease in performance for AutoCAD - you bet.  

@Eric: Sent you an email.

Is the Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 the fastest processor the E1705 will handle?

@Adam: I believe T7600 is the fastest processor the E1705 can handle.

@Eric: Just wanna tell you that I finally got my f2500 to work after 3 cards! It renders so much faster than my old 7900GS, thank you for much for this wonderful site!!

@Adam, yeah man, unfortunately it won't take anything other than a socket M 667 FSB cpu. The last one made by intel was the T7600

HOWEVER, if you find a modded bios, you can force flash so you're bios will allow overclocking, then buy a T7600G with an unlocked multiplier. I just did that recently.

@Eric and everyone.

Thanks so much for your original encouragement, I've opened up a total of 8 laptops in my life :P and this was by far the EASIEST one ever (I was expecting lots of difficulties, none at all.) So easy, I'm totally at ease with it. I was able to change out the fans with faster ones, changed the paste, and installed a new super small 5Volt fan via USB inside the laptop for better cooling. I even made my own laptop cooler (the ones to buy all don't blow enough air) to blow air through the vent for ram (which I took off and installed another heatsink)

I'm stuck with what to do about this thermal pad for my northbridge (it actually seems to be a bottleneck) though, and I couldn't get into my gcard cause it needs a torx bit. I'll see about dealing with both those things when my website is up and when I have more time (being a student :P, the website is going to be about mostly turning m1710's into overclocking machines, unheard of for laptops :P. )

...The mobo can support only the dx9 cards btw guys, I tried a dx10, but even though it boots it works like crap (cause unlike a 'regular' pc bios, this one will only detect any other vcard other than ones with a dell somewhere in their bios as some random vga card.) I tried, it didn't work...frown. Plus it messes with the LCD brightness big time (probably a bios issue)

ANYWAYS!

My temperatures were pretty high, and now with overclocking even the temps are freaking lower.

See here if you'd like my super high clocks & low temps with the M1710.

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/5696/highestocsuw3.png

The motherboard and everything is IDENTICAL to the Inspiron, except for the BIOS, I wouldn't see why a forced flash wouldn't work for people to get T7600G cpus and overclock for better preformance. Hell you might even be able to get the lights in it :P Not the touchpad one though more than likely.

If anyone's interested in 'those' cpus, I can help you find them, even though they are rare, it's easier to find overseas (and a lot cheaper then getting them from Dell, 300 bucks as opposed to 1600 :O )What might help you is the sSpec of the cpus. Which is.....SL9U5. Intel won't have it on their website, but it exists, hell I think there might be one on ebay even (which is frankly very rare since I looked for this thing for almost a year straight and used a lot of coffee up doin it.)

So thank you Eric for the earlier encouragements! :)

My question to you guys...what should I use to replace the purple northbridge (co-processor) thermal pad? A better one? AS5? (Which I have there now...but seems to still be too hot), put in another little fan? or adding metal to the heatsink to make up for space (like folded aluminum foil with AS5 on everyfold). Could a different BIOS possibly allow better fan control for it?

BTW!! For anyone wishing to force flash, or with m1710's already. If you overclock, your fans will AUTOMATICALLY go to maximum, 4600RPM, which is great, because using RM Clock you can make it go slower and get even better stock speed cooling. Plus it boots in about 20 seconds.

Thanks again guys! Hope to hear input! ;)

And yes, I need to update my video drivers...I've been using 84.69 for....tooo long.

Cyas guys! I need sleep :)

@Matchbox:  Excellent post (and man, I need to revamp my site - these blog comments look ugly).

Yes, please do setup that website!  While I most likely won't be upgrading the cpu or overclocking, I am sure there are plenty out there that want to.

To answer your question about the Northbridge, yeah I want something to fill that gap.  If you did not fill the gap between the chip and the heatsink, and simply put a glob of AS5 on it, that is not efficent.  AS5 works best with a film of 0.05" spread (yes, extremely thin).  Any more allows for micro air pockets that do not transfer heat.  As for taking up the space between the NB and the heatsink, I would advise against that and look into bending the heat pipe to force the heatsink directly onto the chip, allowing for a thin film of AS5.  Can't get any better than that (except a custom heatsink and fan, if you are willing).

In terms of rather its worth the effort (hacking the bios, overclocking the cpu, etc), it is well known in the overclocking world that Intel, and especially the Core series, all respond to higher FSB speeds than clock speeds.  Your screenshots show you operating at a 667Mhz FSB (stock speed), but a 19x multiplier (nice!) to get the 3.1Ghz speed.  But with the FSB at 667, that's still a bottleneck for performance.

I saw this personally with my own rig:  I was running a Pentium D @ 4.6Ghz at 1066Mhz FSB with ram 1:1.  When I switched to 4.1Ghz but the FSB at 1250Mhz, with ram at 1250Mhz, I got much higher FPS in games, about 15% improvement in cpu tests, and so on.  

I'd say you have taken a great laptop to the extreme!  But until I build another desktop machine, I aint touching my one-and-only personal machine I have - the 1705.  :)

Make that website!

8700m   NVidia???

@Ryan: Nope.

@Eric and Ryan: Actually the FX1600 which is a 8700m is working in the 1710 so i think it'll work also in the 1705/9400.

@SPeter.

The FX1600m works!! Are you totally sure? The motherboard would detect it but I would think that the custom dell bios wouldn't allow very good control over it (or much preformance at that).

MAYBE. The Bioses of the two are NOT the same. However, the motherboards themselves are completely identical in every way that I've seen (Hell the plugs for extra LED lights are even in the 1705 mobo, proving it's the exact match for the m1710.)

I'm not 100% sure about the 1705/9400. I tried it on a 1710. The BIOS didn't detect the cards name, but it was possible to install the driver and even the brightness control from the keyboard worked. But search about this on notebookforums.com

So is it possible to flash the e1705 with the m1710 bios? I just bought an unlocked multiplier t7600 and would like to overclock it but am not sure where to start, can someone help me out? I have the e1705, but I'm trying to get the performance of the m1710. Thanks in advance.

ack... I really hope this is posting and not repeating a billion times...

AHHA that's why.

It wasn't posting before cause it's SOOO huge :P.

@ Erik

I can do that max overclock, but only in short bursts of a minute. Otherwise the thing just straight up dies while on both cores. The highest stable clock I can get is 3ghz really. However, the FSB is a limiting factor, and since dell has kindly locked me out of that option, and I have tried software based ocing to no avail...it seems I'm out of options. I can take a look inside again to see if there's a readable pll module in there to read and hopefully fsbsoft or cpucool have been updated enough to allow me to adjust them :D. The motherboard says FOXCONN everywhere though, so at least we have a grim idea about it's true maker. Along with on the heat sink for the cpu as well.

I have already got the small fan in there blowing below the video card and pulling air from the space in the battery bay. Along with taking that thermal pad and using thermal paste to put the northbridge heat sink in contact with the heatpipe for the video card. It seems to have helped a fair bit, but can't wait to get some copper shims in there instead, huge improvement over what I have I'm sure :P.

@SPeter,

Yes they did get it working I was on those forums, it's unfortunate though cause apparently it still really hasn't 'worked' persay. It can display stuff, but brightness control isn't working well and it's still shown as an unknown video card in windows. Plus according to the benchmarks, unless you REALLY want DX10, it's kind of pointless cause it preforms slightly worse than a stock 7950 go gtx. It's kind of like getting an FX3500M, it's the same preformance as a go 7950, it just has the CAD certification crap.

Now, if I could get an FX 3600M working in my lappy, with a bigger power brick too...probably in the 180 200 range, i'd be effing good to go. However, don't know if there's a type that'll fit, and even if it did, the fans might not be good enough, plus hell the bios might still be too limited to allow full control just like the quadro fx1600m senario. If you go on notebookforums and talk to zzpulp, he's very very, very experienced with mobile video cards, so he'd be the man to talk to about it.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-Quadro-FX-3600M.8834.0.html

@Adam

Well, the motherboard is identical (the plugs for some models aren't actually there apparently, but the places to solder them on are). If you could get the right diagonostics on there :P and if you could force flash a m1710 bios onto your lappy, it would MAYBE work. I'm saying that because they look identical, but it would be difficult to say without seeing how they make it for absolute sure, but if I were a betting man, and I am, I'd say to save money they are the exact same board.

The problem is of course, an E1705 bios won't open up any multipliers for you, and without bios support, even using software to overclock the multiplier won't work. The M1710 bios at A03 revision or higher can do it. I would love to know how to force flash a motherboard, I've looked for some third party stuff but haven't found very much :( . Plus, dell (and most companies) have their bioses on the web bundled with the flasher itself. If there was a switch you could use in the flasher to tell it in dos to force a flash even if there's a mismatch, it might be doable. Otherwise, I don't know how you're gonna peel the bios out of the exe, and then get some other flasher program to do the dirty deed. Of course, this is presuming it works at all. If it didn't, you'd be left with a piece of worthless motherboard, unless you unsoldered the cmos chip and soldered a new one on :P (VERY unlikely). However, I'm fairly confident it would work if it were forced. They look exactly the same to me, the m1710 and e1705 mobos. I may be flashing my motherboard soon (I'm not scared, I still have my warranty :P ), so I can see if there's an option to force a flash or not.

The only other way, and this is true of an unlocked multiplier t7600, to overclock is to adjust the front side bus frequency. I myself, have tried, relentlessly until I finally just bought an unlocked cpu. I'll eventually be going back into my lappy, so I'll see if maybe it's possible nowadays (6 months later, if they updated some plls, it's mostly for desktops though :(  

The programs you can try are CPUcool and softFSB or which I know. You need to know the pll module and the motherboard maker......unfortunately all I know right now is that possibly FOXCONN makes the motherboard. It won't hurt your computer if you try looking for settings and seeing if the laptop can be read at different frequencies. If you find one that reads, 166mhz, you're probably in luck, otherwise your not. If you try adjusting the fsb blindly, it most likely will cause a lock up and a forced reboot. Worst case scenario, you're computer will die, or die after a couple days because something exceeded it's limit and just hangs in there for that long :P . (Woe to my video memory. :P )

Otherwise, there's a billion and two people looking for those T7600Gs or life. They are ususally found overseas (for me at least, got mine from the uk from a site called ultratecdirect I believe...can't remember). Since most people don't know that, nor the proper way of finding them (Type the sSpec Intel Cpu ID in google "SL9U5" is the T7600G unlocked ;)   ),

http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SL9U5.html

that is 'most' people, I suggest you sell it on ebay in the worst scenario. I honestly think you would make upwards of 400-600 us dollars from it, if not more, so if you bought it for 405 Canadian like me :P You'd actually make money. That is, if you give up on force flashing, research it a little, and know the risks, a worthless motherboard. I'd start by downloading the A03 bios .exe from dell and looking for stuff to take it apart.

Also so you know, getting a gpu upgrade is much better for gaming. My 'overclock' only gets me an additional 6-8 fps before it begins throttling on me (not as much as it did at first however) however at stock 2.33, with my core at 680mhz, I get some rediculous increases, upwards of 25-30 (especially battlefield 2, demo :P I play that shit all the time.) Either that or you can overclock you gpu, but again this involves flashing which I 'can' help you with.....but it IS a little bit tricky, and can have the same effect of rendering your laptop as a useless piece of &%$#%$^&er. (try to imagine <-- :P) But preformance will benefit a shatload more than a gpu upgrade. Unless your cpu is throttling below 2 ghz, it's the gpu that's the bottleneck.

@ Anyone who wants an FYI.

And to everyone on that note, I believe that in speedfan when you are running temps, that the DIMM sensor it finds is NOT your memory, but in fact is the memory on the video card. It increases at the same rate as the gpu core pretty much exactly when I watched the graphs, and seems to be responsible for a lot of the throttling of the cpu, Temp4 sensor seems to be my actual DDR2 ram. Northbridge I am still unsure...if it's even there at all. Hopefully it's not DIMM after all :P. I'll find out eventually when I bring this thing to school.

With the mods I've done, it does not throttle in games below 2.5 - 2.66 range, before it was throttling even at stock 2.33ghz to my horror. It's still a preformance nightmare though. It will sometimes throttle on me down to 266mhz, however I found that by setting a throttle preset in RM Clock, I can actually get it to stay at about 1.6Ghz without throttling no matter what (till the point it'll freeze and explode if I wanted, it won't stop till the TM1 sensor is tripped, so I have to be careful at that setting). Also, a benefit of the M1710 bios is that when you overclock to 3.16ghz, the fans will go to full, and then you can use RM Clock to reduce the clock speed, so you have a very cool system with all clock speeds available to you. 'Tis How I got my rediculous 27C idle for my cpu (Running at 700Mhz, lowest voltages 0.9475Volts, and a 20C room :P)

Hopefully that helps with you guys.

@Erik...again

Oh and here's the website I'm starting soon, It's mediocrely thrown together, might do more this weekend if I'm not in piles of homework and calculus :S.

http://web.unbc.ca/~prior/m1715/index.html

PS!!!!!!T! haha, @ Erik, I don't know THAT much about HTML, sooooo how did you get this forum thinger working? It seems pretty basic, and I'd love to know how you made it so I can give my website one at some point in life :) .

@Adam

Haha, need to fix this, where I said...

"But preformance will benefit a shatload more than a gpu upgrade."

I 'meant' that preformance will benefit more from overclocking the gpu, RATHER than overclocking the CPU, unless it's throttling to less than 2 Ghz.

@ SPeter

@SPeter,

Yes they did get it working I was on those forums, it's unfortunate though cause apparently it still really hasn't 'worked' persay. It can display stuff, but brightness control isn't working well and it's still shown as an unknown video card in windows. Plus according to the benchmarks, unless you REALLY want DX10, it's kind of pointless cause it preforms slightly worse than a stock 7950 go gtx. It's kind of like getting an FX3500M, it's the same preformance as a go 7950, it just has the CAD certification crap.

/quote

I stand corrected. I was looking in the 3500M thread out of obsession for getting that card working in my laptop. Apparently the FX1600M is buggy, but it DOES work and the bios does semi support it enough to play games and have it be very useable. My bad bud :). It was the 3500M that is having brightness issues and isn't working correctly...to my dismay...meaning the 7950 gtx or FX 3500M /1600M are the best we can do for our little Xpses and their inspiron cousins...until someone hacks the m1710 bios successfully like one man did with the Nvidia 7 go series bioses

Haha Frick I'm tired!! I meant I was looking in the 3600M forums :P and it was the 3600M having issues. Jezz, I'm on crack tonight.

3500M = 7950 go gtx

3600M = 8800M GTS (not GTX cause of a lack of pipelines, only 64 as opposed to 96, huge difference.)

@Matchbox: Awesome posts!  Hehe, the site is cool - but, you can ping me about setting up a blog or forum: eric -at- eduncan911.com.

I really need to overhaul my site, as comments tend to dominate the posts.  I'm working on an asp.net mvc cms as we speak, just for that task.  :)

Eric,

 Amazing website, the best I've seen so far! I love all the detailed information and am seriously considering upgrading to the 3600fx as opposed to the 7950gtx as I orignally wanted. I am going to follow all the steps and have already taken my laptop apart after my 7800 go crapped out. Dell replaced it with a another faulty one for $200, so I had it replaced a third time free of charge. I just wanted to know what the BEST of the BEST video cards are out there for the Inspiron E1705. I know its prob the 3600fx, but I want to make sure I'm future proofing my lappy as long as I'm going to operate on it. Also, do you think its worth upgrading my T2300 processors to T7600? I'm interested in doing so if the performance is worth it.  I truly thank God for people like you who share their knowledge...

Armando

@Matchbox

Thanks for the help on the processor overclocking. I have yet to get the processor, as I just bought it on ebay. The post on ebay said it was an engineering sample of the original T7600 with the multiplier unlocked, I'll take a closer look as soon as i get it. I'm running on the T7200 2.00Ghz processor right now, so if i can sell the new one and just get a normal 2.33ghz T7600 AND save some money, that may be the way to go. I just put in a 7950 GTX card and was thinking about overclocking it, but don't know where to start, I used to overclock my old ATI x1400 with ATI Tool, but that is all I know. Unfortunately this is my main computer, so I'd like to be careful about how I go about these major overhauls... Thanks for the help.

Ok well if you can, send me a bios version of your processor (simply download gpu-z and save the picture, or use print screen) and post the pic somewhere or tell me what it says in bios version since I might have the right bios you'll need to overclock the 7950 go gtx. I'll be putting it up this weekend along with starting my website up. you'll be able to get it at (once it's up)

http://web.unbc.ca/~prior/m1715/

@Armando.

Yes. :)

That is all, just be sure you have the latest bios for your motherboard.

Ok, here is a pic of both GPU-Z and CPU-Z so you can see if you can help me. I appreciate the help!

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/MyStats.jpg

Hi Eric,

Just to let you know that I have just successfully modded my Ins 9400/E1705 with a FX2500m as per your guide.  Thanks a million for all the useful hints etc.  Boy! what a difference a simple graphics card can make....I bought my E1705 with a GO 7900 GS (215MB) and I thought it was OK!  The FX2500M mod is worth it.  Have installed 4GB and am running XP pro SP3.  Drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com - great value those guys.  Driver worked perfectly first time - NO artefacts etc etc - NO glitches.  Used Artic Silver 5 and polished my CPU as per your instructions and also filled gaps and did the al foil trick etc.....just perrrrrrfect!  CPU runs at 32 C to 34 C and GPU at 54 C.  Before it was well above these temps - 70-80 C etc etc.  Have ordered the PA-15.  A NEW laptop!  What can i say, but MANY MANY THANKS.

@PerriAR: I love hearing about those with great success.  I know, a new laptop.  

Work bought me the new Apple Macbook Pro 2, the 1066mhz FSB kick-ass machine with a GForce 9600M.  First thing I did was make a 230 GB Bootcamp partition, install Vista x64, and configured it to boot natively in Vista x64 at all times (I never book into OSX).  Games are pretty good, but my 1705 seems to eek it out just a few FPS (and load times!).  So, I still prefer my old 1705 to this new Macbook's hardware.  lol

Thanks for writing back!

Eric,

I have tried to post to Notebookforums.com but it won't allow me to. I am looking for a broken video card with dual heatsinks, or anyone who is just trying to sell the dual heatsinks. I've looked on Ebay to no avial. Can you please tell me where I can go to find dual heatsinks for my 7800 Go video card, as I want to use that along with AS5 to cool my card down and make it last as long as possible.

@Armando

This looks like something.

It's a 7800 with dual heatsinks. Take a peak, and ask the guy for sure if the heatsink is what is seems. Kind of expensive though...

Hi Eric,

Did you remove the heatpad on the north bridge and apply AS5?  or did you just clean the north bridge surface, but keep the heatpad on the heatsink?

Thanks.

Leo

Hi Eric,

Thank you for the guide to replace the graphic card.

The Go 7900 gs card in my Dell was overheated after 2 years.  I just ordered a fx3500 on Ebay.  After installing the new card and turning it on, only black / blank screen came up (not even the blue DELL logo).  I could tell that the lcd was on, and the hdd was reading.

I swapped back with the old card, and it displayed the post screen, with DELL logo, ok.

I checked previous posts, I'm sure the lcd cabe connecting the motherboard is securely attached.

I am using the 90W power adaptor that came with the laptop.  Would that be the reason?  Or do I need to install new firmware for fx3500 before using it?

Any help is appreciated, Thanks a lot!

Leo

@Leo: I tried using AS5 on the northbridge, but there wasn't enough pressure to make me feel confortable.  So, I cleaned it and went back to the sticky pad.

As for the blank screen you are getting - a lot of users get the same thing with bad cards.  Contact who sent it to you on eBay and get another card.  

Yeah, bad cards happen, shame on people who try to pawn them off. Either that or the bios refuses to use it. I don't think a 90W power adaptor would've caused it, but with the extra current that card uses I'd say get a 130 anyways.

@Adam

Do you know how to burn a .iso file image to a cd? If you do, then I've made something that should streamline the video flash process for you.

And if it 'does' work when I post the image, show us your best overclocks eh? :P

Here's mine if you're interested at all.

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/09/02/02/d7.png

@Adam

And two quick other things...

According to your cpuz, your cpu is running at max voltage. I run at 2.83Ghz on a T7600G at that voltage. If you download rightmark cpu clock utility, and set the voltage down to 0.975V in that program (it will show 1.08V in cpu-z) your temperature will go down by about 10 degrees or so, je te kid not, and it will still run great, if it doesn't, turn the voltage up by a single notch. (.013V). Plus you save power!:)

Also, I know my drivers are a LOT older, but for yours at 175.32...., I'm uncertain if they will allow overclocking. If they don't right now, then it's possible that they won't even with the unlocked bios (driver locked overclocking, I believe anything above drivers 169.04 are useless for overclocking now for mobiles).

If the unlock doesn't work, try downgrading to that driver or a version before and see if it works. That is once I get the iso up on my site. The uni's having issues. And I have to get my drivers up :P.

Thanks, Eric and Matchbox.

I'll return it.

Thanks for the info. Fortunately I dont have to worry about power consumption, as I dont use a battery (it died) and I run at about 100 F most of the time. I'll look at playing with the voltages to see if i can get a little cooler. Thanks again.

Adam

Just wanted to say, that besides you having the coolest last name *>* but your postings here have helped me tremedously.  I had never opened a lappy yet alone try and mod it.  I now sit here with my laptop completely opened up and moddable (word?).  

I was having issues where I would get random BSOD's stating IRQ related errors, and occasionally getting memory dumps and restarts due to this.  I reinstalled XP, which during that process I encountered issues with random files not being able to be copied over per the XP Setup process.  I have tried multiple XP install discs, including one shipped with lappy, same issue.  

I have since desided to unseat and reseat the RAM in hopes that would be the delinquent in the system.  I would have never been able to do any of this before reading this post, so thanks again for everyone who has contributed here!

I will probably upgrade GPU/CPU/RAM together, currently running:

GeForce 7800Go

Processor,80539,YONAH,T2300 1.66

512MB 533MhZ RAM

Thanks again!

kylohre26@hotmail.com

@Matt:  Thanks for the props.

I'd just spend $40 on 4 GB of ram, and the WD HDD mentioned above in the comments for super-quiet and speed (anything is better than the HDDs that come with the systems).

A faster CPU will net you speed under intense apps; but, is it just me or did the T7x00 processors greatly increase in price lately?  I see my T7200 at almost $400.  That doesn't sound right (pricewatch).  Must be a shortage.  

None-the-less, don't spend more than $200 on a CPU.

I have not noticed that, there are plenty of brand new T7600s on ebay for around $250, and the slower processors are significantly cheaper. I bought the Engineering Sample for $250, which as it turns out IS what it was advertised as, so back on ebay THAT goes... Too bad I could not have used it myself! Oh well, but I have yet to see any non-special edition T7xxx processor go for over $300.

@Adam

I've made it very simple for you. Hopefully it works.

I just finished making the boot disk image for my site for others in time, the cd includes a bunch of vbioses that are backups and unlocked ones.

Just go to my website and click in the News pop-up box, it'll be there literally spelt out for you.

http://web.unbc.ca/~prior/m1715/index.html

I don't have time to keep doing the site until reading week, but I should let you know what to do.

Firstly, Burn the .iso image to a cd using any program you want that can do it.

In the hopes that it works, go reboot and boot from it. There's a backup of your bios on the cd, but just incase you want to be that much extra safer, you can save your bios using a program called nvibitor.exe which you can google up. Then just take what you see on the cd directory and copy it to another folder with that bios and burn a new cd, make sure it's bootable. I might be including the tools I used on my next boot disk sometime.

Make sure you're on AC Power.

Now boot the disk, when you're greeted with a menu, select option 2 (emm386 max memory, you'll need the memory at max otherwise the flash will most definately hang).

Now type dir/w at the command prompt and see what you have. Look for a file named 795GTXUN.rom, that's the unlocked bios.

Two other bioses to be aware of is bu.rom which is the .12 bios locked and the 795GTXNN.rom which is the .06 bios locked. Those are backups in case the flash goes horribly wrong.

type nvflash 795gtxun.rom

Make sure it detects your video card, and that the versions of things are the same.

Make sure nvflash says flashing is ok,

press y for confirmation,

pray.

Make sure you see computer lights flashing around.

When it's done it should reboot on it's own.

IF anything here goes wrong, as in the flash doesn't work or it hangs (stops going for more than 20 minutes) then you'll have to either 1) Have a spare card you can use to boot to and then force flash your old card, 2) blind force flash your old card bios back on, 3) buy a new card.

This process can yield lots of gains, but the risk that your card will be killed is also great, so take every procaution.

I've included the Dell A03 bios on here as well, in case you wanted to try flashing your inspiron to be able to use the t7600g. It probably won't even let you flash, and it's a much bigger risk since both boards look identical but you can never be 100% sure unless you watch it being made.

Hope this helps, if something goes wrong, post on here and I'll try to walk you through what you can do to save your card, but this is at your own risk.

Also you should be able to get about 500 bucks for the t7600g on ebay, it's a hot product on there usually, you should set a reserve around thatish.

BTW this was about flashing your video card for overclocking:P. Be careful.

There's bioses on there for the 7800 and 7900 go series too and their backups. Justfyi the bioses weren't made by me, only 795gtxun.rom was tweaked a little by me, I'm running on it now it should work perfectly. There are those two revisions though so make sure everything matches before flashing.

Thanks for the stuff. I'm gonna think long and hard about this, because I dont want to run the risk of turning my computer into a boat anchor. This is my only computer, so if anybody else trys this please let me know how it goes. We shall see...

Well if nvflash shows that everything looks the same it shouldn't be a problem. It's much riskier for force flashing a different card (ie. trying to make a quadro into a geforce) but not AS much if nvflash says go ahead.

Just be sure you're on ac power, have selected max memory (so it doesn't run out of memory midflash) which is an option during bootup, and that you have a warranty in effect :P if you have little morals.

The reason I'm so unkeen about it is because it can ruin your card doing it, I've flashed about 6 times thus far in life, and my first ever attempt caused me to turn my laptop into a piece of shat that couldn't power on. I learned my lesson there (that was NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER flash while in your native os, only from something else that's  like bootable, too much can go wrong in something like winxp doing that:P, this is it's own bootable media though)

But I did flash my video card this way, and it has been working great and I can overclock. Pretty well too.

@Eric

Once I get copper from somewhere or possibly fairly good preformance heatpads I'm going to attempt to lap the gpu, cpu and northbridge heatsinks.

Just wanted to ask, there's these little raised bits of metal in the way where I'm sure heat pads are designed to go. Should I "try" to sand them away? How'd you end up sanding it properly? Also I did get the graphics card apart (it wasn't too painful actually) And was curious about that one too (same outlining raised metal crap in the way of lapping:P)

So far I have gotten my temps fairly low but I'm aiming for 2 degrees C above ambient at idle still :P. quite far from my 10 degrees right now. C not F.

@Matchbox: I "Lap" my heatsinks.  Found this decent link:  http://www.driverheaven.net/guides/lappingheatsink/

If "bits" are in y our way, get rid of 'em.  :)

No go on the nvidia flash. All I got was an invalid command response when I went to flash it. Any ideas?

Invalid, good thing you didn't force flash it.

As I recall, force flashing you type

nvflash.exe (unlockedbioshere).rom -4 -5 -6

A regular flash is

nvflash.exe (unlockedbioshere).rom

Also try typing nvflash.exe --version

That will tell you if it even sees your card.

But the boot disk itself boots? (I'll be quite content if it does) also make SURE you selected option 2 at the boot prompt

@Eric

I've got a couple questions. I have posted a pic of th gpu copper heatsink I have and you can see the rectangle bits I'm talking about which seem to be an indication of where to put a phase pad for techs.

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/1525/img1002kj6.jpg

you can also see it's scratched to hell.

My question for lapping is, did you just remove them? Exactly how did you do it with these heatsinks so that it was flat (since they aren't exactly a regular cpu heatsink.)

@Everyone

I'm going to be getting either copper or some good quality thermal pads. If anyone can tell me where to buy either I'd love it.

Also I'd like everyone's opinion about cooling for my m1710. I'm also thinking of buying a blower that will fit inside and pull air from the battery socket and slot above the hd (adding to hd cooling) to blow under the video card and across the northbridge.

I don't have an exit yet, but was thinking either the top of the case, the back, or possibly use foam to direct the air out the top vent (found on the e1705's palmrest) on the left above the cpu fan, since heat rises and all that.

I also have a 120mm 12V fan blowing directly on the ram at the bottom and pushing air across the bottom of the mobo already (it decreases ram temp by apx 7 degrees.)

Just wanted some advice and opinions mostly about what I can do and other heat improvements

Here's the blower I think may work is 60 x 60 x 15 mm for some reason I can't link to it.

and my motherboard right now...

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6493/img0969on7.jpg

Just an idea on the cooling matter: I just disassembled my old battery ( it would only hold a charge for about 5 mins) and am looking at installing some USB fans inside it so that they blow air horizontally across the motherboard. Theres enough space for say 3 fans in there, so I'll see what I can do!

@Matchbox: I didn't have tabs like the photo you showed.  I just sanded it down with multiple grits and cleaned it with rubbing alcohol.  Kind of think my effort was wasted though on the NB part after it was all said and done.  A bit high, around 50 C yes.

@Adam: Interesting idea to install fans into the battery.  I am guessing it is the 6 cell battery, not the 9 cell correct?  What is the wattage?  If it says 53WH, then it is the 6 cell - which would leave a lot of room for fans, yes.

@Adam

you're a freaking genious.

I'm going to install a blower into the battery compartment and use the little fan under the mobo.

I'll now lap the heatsinks, put some copper in there, and this baby will be amazing.

The battery....it's not like I need it while at a desk, and theres a hole RIGHT there going directly to the video card. This'll work amazingly.

Thanks again, I'll update you guys when the thing is done (I'll probably buy a shittttty battery from ebay that fits and take it apart so I can snap the fan compartment into place :D:D:D:D

speaking of which, anyone know where to buy a crap battery?

If any of you want to sell your battery that's goin to crap let me know and I'll pay probably 25 bucks for it cause I don't care for the battery itself, only the case.

Otherwise I'll see what dell has since ebay only has new expensive batteries.

Well, as I said I am attempting to convert my battery to a cooling center of sorts, and I've got a few pictures of my progress thus far.

A few notes on how I plan on doing this:

1. I will be running 2 ANCIENT cpu fans sealed inside the battery case which will outlet air through a hole in the side of the case directly through an identical hole in the comp case and across the motherboard.

2. I will power these old 3-pin fans using the built-n fan controller of my Thermaltake cooling pad. I plan on running the wiring through the inside of the comp case, exiting with quick-release connectors at either end, for easy disconnect.

The plan is to get as much airflow through the case as is possible, and these fans are most likely just temporary, as i may be able to scale them up a little if I want to spend some money on the project (which I have yet to do, this is all junk I have lying around my dorm room). I'll post more pictures as soon as I get some more work done.

Here are those pics:

photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/S7300464.jpg

photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/S7300466.jpg

photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/S7300468.jpg

@Adam:

Holy shit man!  You have gone down a new road no one has travelled!  :)  Very very cool.

My 6 cell and 9 cell still work very well; so, i won't be doing that anytime soon.  But very nice work man!

@Adam,

Very, very nice. I'm liking it, yes that hole in the battery slot is located perfectly.

That could actually become a very marketable product if it worked.

What are you gonna do with the extra cells? is there room in there?

I might just buy a spare battery for this,

the other way around I was thinking is actually making a battery pack to put a huge fan in, or a slim blower.

Does it actually work? Or do you think a slim centrifical fan would be better?

And one last thing, if I gave you credits for you having the idea, would you let me use your idea in the website I'm making?

Wow, thanks for the support on this project, I'm glad to see that everybody likes my idea! Feel free to use it on your site, Matchbox, the more people that find out about it the better, right?

I've made some updates to the project, and I took a few more pictures:

Just one thing, this is only a project to undertake if your are at least a little handy with your basic hand tools (power drills, squares, files, etc) although it could really be made a great project with access to a mill or even just an end mill on a drill press. I did this all by hand, and it shows, if you want a pro job, make sure you have the right tools.

photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/S7300469.jpg

photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/S7300471.jpg

photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/S7300472.jpg

photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/S7300473.jpg

photobucket.com/albums/jj36/Da_Raabi/S7300474.jpg

To answer your questions Matchbox, I just tore out the old cells from the battery, and I've got them hanging on my wall in my dorm (they make a great ornament...) From what i have seen with my basic tests, this should work quite well, as long as i make sure everything in the battery case is sealed (so that there is only one air outlet). As you can see the fans I am using right now are... lacking... I will most likely upgrade as soon as I am sure this will work the way I want it to. I'll keep posting pics as I go, so you can see my progress, and hopefully this works out ok!

@Matchbox:

Is it anyhow possible to flash an i9400 bios with the overclockable m1710 bios? i just got my lovely t7600g but i can't oc it because its not possible with the original i9400 bios.

@all:

Great site!!

Thanx for that!

Maybe :P

There doesn't seem to be a difference in mobos, but it might need an xps bios originally on there to allow a flash...I dunno if it's even forceable.

I'd imagine it's considerably riskier though. If there is the slightest difference in mobos if it was to flash it would ruin the lappy.

However, I'm still somewhat confident it could be done. I'd be more comfy trying it with a warranty or spare mobo laying around. Alas I just have the m1710 and not a e1705 to try a force flash on.

You could always sell that cpu and get 400-800 bucks for it via ebay. (I got 400 CAD for my t7600.)

The M1710 A03 Bios is what you need for overclockiing, it can be found pretty easily on the dell site. Good luck if it will actually allow flashing on a different laptop make (only by name really).

Hello everybody!!I need your help.I have inspiron 9400 with fx 2500m which is overheated.Strange squares and symbols appeared on the screen so i am sure it's damaged.I make music on my laptop so i dont need any hi-tech card.Do you now is there any cards for my laptop (cheap) with 64-128 graphic memory.I dont want to buy new fx 2500 m because it's too expensive for my pocket.Or is there any method for recovery my card.I decreased speeds (opposite overclocking)in my card bios but it didnt help :( Or anybody have some old card to sell.Thanks for help!

@Michael:

I am sorry to hear that.  Yes, the ATI X1400 is the base card you can get that can replace the FX2500 or any card in the 9300.  They make 128 and 256 versions.  Unfortunantly, I already sold mine or I would offer it up.  A quick eBay search should reveal a few; but, I would not pay more than $90 for one.

Good luck!

Thanks for quick reply.Does ati x1400 support full screen resolution (1920)??

I found one here :

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Dell-6400-and-E1505-ATI-X1400-Video-Card-WF148_W0QQitemZ300290404878QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_LaptopAccess_RL?hash=item300290404878&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

but gus says thats for inspiron 6400.Will it be good for 9400?Thank you

That card will not fit the e1705/9400. That card is for the smaller 15" version, the 1505. I recently took my friend's laptop apart and that is what he had (it was the e1505). The card you are looking for will look more like the one in the pictures on this site, but with only one heat pipe going off the the right. Keep looking, there are several available out there!

You could always look for the fx 1500m for something cheaper, that should fit as well.

Hi guys, great site, i have learned a hell of a lot by just reading all the comments and such.

I just have a quick question though, i am definately planning on upgrading my 9400 to 4GB of ram, probably doing the graphics card too. But i was wondering if i should upgrade the processor too? According to CPUZ i am running an 'Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T5500 @ 1.66GHz'. Is that enough do you think? I'm not planning to use it for super straining tasks, some gaming though...ok if i can upgrade it enough a lot of gaming.

Also i am thinking of maybe installing a new HDD, is that a reasonably simple task?

Thanks For any help

@Phil: You most likely want to upgrade the CPU to at least a T7200 - as it is the lower-end "4 MB L2 Cache" chips.  The one you have has 2 MB of total cache - and cache=speed when it comes to cpus.

HDD is very easy.  Just two screws on the side, remove, replace.  It's a "SATA" drive, FYI.  The super-quiet 5400rpm 250 GB Hitachi mentioned in the comments above would be more #1 choice for the best speed-vs-power (and quiet!).

@Eric

Thanks for the reply. What sort of speed should i be looking for in the processor? I assume i want another core 2 duo one too? Also does my mother board matter when it comes to the processor...i mean i know it does, but are all 9400 similar motherboards, what im trying to say is will that processor that you recommended fit all 9400 motherboards? Is it difficult to install a new processor?

One more quick thing, i assume if i am replacing the hard drive (mine is a 100GB at the moment) that i will have to reinstall windows, if i can find the disk :S.

Sorry for all the questions. But thanks for any more help you can offer.

Phil

Sorry for the double post but i was browsing amazon and came across a western digital 320GB HDD for laptops and wondered if it would be any good. I'm not really very good with the specs of things when it comes to computers so i thought i would quickly ask here.

Technical Details

Main Specifications

   * Product Description: WD Scorpio WD3200BEVT - hard drive - 320 GB - SATA-300

   * Type: Hard drive - internal

   * Form Factor: 2.5" x 1/8H

   * Dimensions (WxDxH): 7 cm x 10 cm x 9.5 mm

   * Weight: 117 g

   * Capacity: 320 GB

   * Interface Type: Serial ATA-300

   * Data Transfer Rate: 300 MBps

   * Average Seek Time: 12 ms

   * Spindle Speed: 5400 rpm

   * Buffer Size: 8 MB

   * Manufacturer Warranty: 3 years warranty

Extended Specifications

General

   * Width: 7 cm

   * Depth: 10 cm

   * Height: 9.5 mm

   * Weight: 117 g

   * Device Type: Hard drive - internal

Expansion / Connectivity

   * Interfaces: 1 x Serial ATA-300 - 7 pin Serial ATA

   * Compatible Bays: 1 x internal - 2.5" x 1/8H

Manufacturer Warranty

   * Service & Support: 3 years warranty

   * Service & Support Details: Limited warranty - 3 years

Miscellaneous

   * Compliant Standards: RoHS

Environmental Parameters

   * Sound Emission: 24 dBA

   * Min Operating Temperature: 5 °C

   * Max Operating Temperature: 60 °C

   * Humidity Range Operating: 8 - 90%

   * Vibration Tolerance: 0.00459 g @ 10-500 Hz (operating) / 0.05102 g @ 10-500 Hz (non-operating)

Hard Drive

   * Form Factor: 2.5" x 1/8H

   * Features: Shock Guard, WhisperDrive, SecurePark

   * Compliant Standards: S.M.A.R.T.

   * Interface Type: Serial ATA-300

   * Buffer Size: 8 MB

   * Capacity: 320 GB

Performance

   * Drive Transfer Rate: 300 MBps (external)

   * Seek Time: 12 ms (average)

   * Spindle Speed: 5400 rpm

   * Track-to-Track Seek Time: 2 ms

   * Average Latency: 5.5 ms

Reliability

   * Non-Recoverable Errors: 1 per 10^14

   * Start / Stop Cycles: 50,000

Just wondering if that looks ok. Its only 50 pounds which i think is a bargain for the size. But i was just wondering if its suitable for the ol' 9400.

Many thanks

Phil

@Phil: Any Core2 Duo 2.0Ghz or higher will work.  It's a bit finite, but not difficult.  If you've installed any Core2 cpu in a normal computer, you can upgrade the laptop.

I can't say much about that HDD.  The spindle is 5400, which will give you better battery life.  That's about all I know about that specific.

Thanks Eric for such a great reference. (and everyone for the comments)

Wondering if the new Nvidia 9800m or FX 3700m cards will work with this mod?  

I'm interested in CUDA programming and I don't want to have to completely upgrade my laptop, particularly in light of this option...

Thanks

Hi there everyone!. Geez...I tried to follow the whole proccedure to see if it could help me with a problem I have...but i found no help, so I'll expose my case to see if I can get some of your valuable help:

You'll see...I got this Inspiron E1705 a long time ago from another guy, and I wanted to upgrade its RAM memory...so I bought a couple of Kingston 1 GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667 MHZ Rams's so I could get 2 GB of RAM. The problem is that, once I installed them it still displays the 0.99 GB of RAM i has been displaying me this whole time.

To make matters worst, I reallize that the previous Owner of the notebook tried to upgrade it by doing the same (I mean...it already had the 1 GB x 2 Rams installed, I thought it had 2 x 512 MB ).

By this point, I'm clueless...I've tried upgrading the Bios (to A09) but it still doesn't display my 2 GB...and im kinda getting upset!

What can I do? I'd appreciate your help VERY much!

Update the bios maybe? That works for both posts above, But as for an E1705 to have a 9 series card, it MIGHT work but it'd be limited, since unlike most bioses, dells are video card specific and don't support anything above a FX3600M as far as I know (and even that is limited support and a 7950 go gtx ends up being better). The Fx1600M apparently works though, but you get less memory than the 7950.

Well...I updated the BIOS to de "A09" version via support.dell.com ....

...and i still got 1 GB of RAM when im supposed to have 2 GB!!

Any other clue gentlemen?!!

@Richard: Try swamping the memory chips.  If you get 1 GB both times AND you are sure they are 1 GB DIMMs, then the physical slot may actually be damaged!  Try using 1 slot at a time to see which one is damaged.  Then, place the other DIMM into it and see if the same results happen.

@All-that-want-the-newer-cards: I agree with matchbox.  Dell's bios' are specific and anything pretty much not listed in these comments here will not work, or will work in a limited fashion.  There's only so much this 1705 baby can do.  :)

Hands down, the best results are with the older 7950 512 MB card.  Anything else is degregated in performance vs. value for-the-money.

I'm kind of wishing I had a 7950 now...  But, my 512 MB FX2500m is holding strong.  It's the 2nd best choice.

Well, I think I have found the solution to all of our gaming problems. Over the past few weeks I have been trying to find the best way to overclock my 7950 GTX which I installed about 3 months ago. You may see my posts earlier where matchbox tried to help me flash the video card bios (thanks for the help by the way). But it would appear all of that was unnecessary. First some background:

Dell is notorious for releasing video cards with limiting bios's installed. They revert the clocks back to whatever the stock ones were set at, no matter what you do. This has been an issue that would appear to have only been remedied by risking a flash of the bios, which had as many possible negative effects as positive. This is an issue which I have finally found the solution for. Thank you online forums!!! THIS IS SO SIMPLE YOU WILL SERIOUSLY START LAUGHING!!!!!! I found this and just had to post about it!!!

Its this easy:

1a. Download the latest drivers (I am using the newest driver 179.48 beta)

1b. Download Ntune (I am using version 5.05.54.00)

1. Make sure invisible folders are visible

2. Open My Computer and browse to C:\Users\Your Name\App Data\Local\Nvidia Corporation\ntune\Profiles\sysdflt.nsu, and open the file with notepad, wordpad, or similar. (This folder structure will be different in XP or other, I did this in Vista)

3. You will see the following:

[BoardConfiguration]

Version=200

CPU=6f6

MCP=65535

SPP=65534

GPU=NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX

[ClockSettings]

FSBMHZ=0

AGPMHZ=0

PCIe2MHZ=0

TRAS=0

TRCD=0

TRP=0

GPUCOREMHZ=575

GPUMEMMHZ=600

[VoltageSettings]

CPUVOLTAGE=-1

NFORCEVOLTAGE=-1

MEMVOLTAGE=-1

AGPVOLTAGE=-1

AUXVOLTAGE=-1

CPUFAN=-1

AUXFAN1=-1

HTCPUSPPVOL=-1

HTSPPMCPVOL=-1

NFORCEFAN=-1

AUX1FAN=-1

AUX2FAN=-1

GPUFANPERIOD=0

GPUFAN3D=0

GPUFAN2D=0

You can see the two lines "GPUCOREMHZ=575" and "GPUMEMMHZ=600". These are the stock clock settings, although interestingly enough, some monitors read those clocks at half the speed (300/300). It gets confusing when Ntune is showing you two different core speeds!

4. Simply change those two values to the values that you want, save them, close the text editor, and double click the file. Ntune should pop up saying that the settings have been accepted and vioala!!!! Overclocked!!!!

I currently have overclocked to 667/667 on my 7950 GTX. I do not want to go higher though, as gpu-z registered a change in temperature from 49-50 C to upwards of 70 C on the GPU during gameplay, so be VERY CAREFUL, you do NOT want to burn out your card!

To give you an idea of the performance boost though, I tried to run Stalker: Clear Sky, a VERY graphics-intensive game, on low settings (1440x900, low settings on everything else) and it would lag to the point that it was unplayable. With the new settings, I was able to play with some lag at 1920x1200 on med-high settings!!!! 1440x900 with med-high was perfect!!! WOWWWWWW What an increase!!!

The only downfall was the temperature increase, but there are ways to fix that.

I did not change the other settings, but if anyone finds a better setup, please let me know, it could really breath life into this old laptop!!! Good luck, and dont burn up your laptop!!!

One more note: I am using I8KFanGui to keep my fans at max speed at all times and have performed all of the stuff that Eric Duncan suggested above, so that is why my temps are what they are, so be CAREFUL!!!

Haha, yeah I just realized something a little while ago from zzpulp on notebookforums, turns out that the latest drivers ALLOW overclocking to a limited range apparently. BUT only with the latest bios (which means that if you HAD flashed with the bios I had which is a version earlier, it would've worked but only for all drivers up to 169.04<---I think, can't remember which one it was).

I'm still running 84.69 drivers......very old, but I hate the new nvidia panel with such disgust. argh, I'm hoping to one day find time to just update to 94.24 or whatever it is and leave it at that.

Glad it worked out for you without the risk of flashing anyhow, :) kinda takes the risky fun out of it:P.

I think having the battery compartment fan, having it angled up and with the hinge cover off (along with lapping the heat sink and AS5ing it obviously) would definately allow some serious overclocking. I've gotten mine up to 688Mhz core clock, but past that the voltage is insufficient, and I don't know of any mobile volt mods. :S. If I could do that and the battery fan thinger, I could probably pump up another 50mhz or so.

@Eric, your card pretty is a 7950 if I'm right and not too tired. I think the only difference was the clock speeds when tehy were built, so you could probably overclock too.

And some notes about this heat business, the cards are tough but anything past 90C isn't good times, it took a while, but my card finally commited suicide. Thankfully my new one can oc just a little cooler, but still, think of cooling first before thinking of oding on ocing :P.

Last thing I've noticed is that the T7600G cpu (for those depressed at not having it) proves to not be an advantage at all. I might get maybe 2-3fps extra, for a shat load of heat and constant throttling at 2.5-2.66ghz. It throttles based on it "thinking" it's overheating according to the dell tech, when overclocked it uses an algorithm to find out with the mofset and northbridge temps "should" be. So even if I put all the cooling in the world into it, it would throttle above 2.5ghz when under strenuous bus loads. (Meaning it WILL throttle in games, but NOT when doing something cpu intensive rather than gpu). So it's all in the graphics card and getting that thing cold and fast.

And yeah gpu ocing always shows dramatic results whenever you have mid range framerates to begin with :)

A good thing to try is using the overclocking tool that nvidia has and detecting optimal frequencies. Any memory higher than 800mhz is a waste, and for me any gpu clock higher than 685 is suicide. 656core/784mem has been my best combo without modding, and 681 / 875 with modding. <--a 100 mhz boost in core :O tada! or roughly 20% faster gaming.

argh tired, any mem higher than 800 is a waste without higher gpu clock is what i meant.

@Richard, this might seem idiotic, but where are you checking the ram? Under windows or under the bios? or some mystery meat third option ? :P

Well, I made the jump and switched to Vista Ultimate x64, which to be honest has been a bit of a dissapointment. For one I'm still only reading 3.3Gb of RAM, and some of the other "features" of the x64 OS are making things... Difficult. Does anyone have any idea how to get around the built-in non-signed driver block built into x64? I can do it if I hit F8 ever time I boot and manually turn of the driver checker, but that is a pain! The reason for the problem is mainly I8KfanGUI, which is unsigned, so Vista blocks it! Issues... Issues...

I was wondering whether anybody has successfully calibrated their 9400 display (1920x1200) yet? I was considering buying a calibration device, e.g. Spyder 2 Pro, but was reluctant in case the calibration wouldn’t amount to much and wanted to get the opinion of others before spending money needlessly.

Not much experience with vista....I kinda hate the thing and am sticking with xp for as long as possible (probably another 2 years), it simply doesn't work with anything I like to 'control' my computers (speedfan rmclock memset all that jazz). Maybe there's some kind of registry thing that'll stop vista from being a douche for the unsigned drivers. Google it up?

@Rsaeire

Calibrate it how? like making it look as good as possible? Cause the nvidia control panel does a damn good job on with its colour correction. (Turn digital vibrance to medium, brightness and gamma to 80%, contrast to 100%, and you'll be very very pleased.)

Btw, I officially declare this the longest single page thread slash forum in lappy history.

@Matchbox : LOL @ longest thread/post/forum.  

I am writing my own DDD bloging engine using ASP.NET MVC that I'll be dog-fooding on this very site soon.  One of things I address is this "huge comment list" issue into a nice ajax-paged list (and searchable).

In English: I'm writing my own new blog soon.  Sorry for the readability (lack thereof).

I have a newer model Inspiron 1720 and I'm considering replacing the T5250 with a T7200 (like yours') and the 8400m with an 8600m (part #YY636) and this article helps temendously, although I won't have to do much modding, since the parts all fit and the airflow has been improved in these models.

The midrange 8 series GPUs, while having slower clock speeds, have more vector processors, so they are pretty on par with the high-end 6 and 7 series with a lower thermal output and less need for crazy heat pipes.

Thanks for the article!!

@Matchbox: I currently have the ATI x1400 in my Inspiron. I have used test patterns, colour charts etc, but I never really know how accurate I am making my display; this is why I was considering a calibration device.

Hmmm I read a whole thing about that somewhere. There is some software you can get that can help you I believe. I like the nvidia panel just cause it's already there. I have no idea about ati.

The only thing that can beat a 7950 go gtx in the direct x 10 realm is an 3600M fx. Even my overclock 7950 gets beat by about 20%. 3600M is equivilent to an 8800M Gtx.

The 7950 go gtx still beats an 8600M or a 1600M, for two main reasons, the 8600M has limited bandwidth, and has slower general speed.

Also for a note for everybody gaming, I've noticed that for some reason downclocking the cpu to 2Ghz yields a fair fps increase when overclocking the gpu. I think it's due to throttling at higher clocks when the bus is being stressed by the overclocked graphics. The sweet spot seems to be 1.6Ghz, anything below that cpu clock and you begin to get deteriorating preformace, but anything above 2.33Ghz also gives you bad preformance (cause it throttles to 50% workload about 1Ghz effectively, without letting you know, and you'll think it's merrily going at 2.33)

Do you guys think possibly putting aluminum foil on the vcard heat sink (with AS5) would allow me to channel heat physically out the expresscard slot aka another fan (a fifth in the laptop :P as opposed to the 4 I will have in there and the 3 in there now.

@Matchbox: I doubt the aluminum would dissipate enough heat to make a different.  I only did for the 0.02% that might actually get transferred.  But, I knew it was a long shot.  

The foil is mostly used to direct the airflow.

Now, if you can manufacture a steel plate about 1/8" thick, then yes that would work to dissipate the heat.  Aluminum is better; gold is best but if you have that much gold laying around - I'd think you'd do something else with it.  :)

PingBack from http://www.overclock.net/laptops-notebook-computers/493652-dell-e1705-can-i-install-radeon.html#post6033643

Eric,

I followed your steps to upgrade my e1705, along with the modded drivers. But now, I can only start it up on safe mode. When I try to do a normal start, I get the IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL blue screen and the computer shuts down. Have you seen this happen before? And how do I fix it? Here's the info on my rig:

e1705

Windows Vista 32bit

NVIDIA ge force 7900 GTX

3gb RAM

320 GB HDD, (165GB Free)

my email is winfrid.melendez@gmail.com if you need to contact me for more info. Thanks!

@Winfrid Melendez: I replied in email to you.

But this is usually an indication that the wrong driver is installed, or the driver was corrupted somehow.

Uninstall the drivers, download another version and install it.

Thanks Eric,

I'm going to re-download from the link you gave. Also, when I uninstall and delete the drivers and do a restart, the computer automatically installs the drivers for the 7900 GTX.

How would I disable this automatic feature? I'm hoping this is the problem that I'm encountering. I'll keep you posted on my results and further research.

BTW: Congratulations for this awesome page. I was about to test my e1705's flying capabilities when I stumbled onto your page and also got motivated to try and fix it myself!!

Try some newer drivers from laptopvideo2go.  I use a set of drivers from about 2 months ago (when I formatted).

It is ok if the machine auto-installs a set of drivers.  When you run the NVidia setup, it will force itself to install I believe.

If anyone's interested in getting a T7600G, found one on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Intel-T7600G-Core-2-Duo-2-33ghz-4MB-Rare-CPU-OEM_W0QQitemZ270377629387QQihZ017QQcategoryZ51162QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Thanks Matchbox!

Ouch.  For that cost, I can buy a miniPC.  :)

-E

I gotta say.... I love you guys! The 7900 in my E1705 was a little packed with dust and the GPU died. I wasn't sure what to do 'cause I have quite a bit of cash in that little plastic box. POOOWW!! I find this page, buy a 7950 GTX and a new charger and holy crap. Just need to get up to 4GB and I'm good. So, thanks a million!! Took me a little while to find the right driver (I think, maybe it didn't matter which one I used but I wanted one (from the link above) that actually listed the 7950 GTX) but first try and I'm set.

@ashhoe: Cool.  :)

Actually, you're supposed to say "you're welcome". I am the one who bows down and proclaims your pionering efforts as "cool". Now let's talk about that 7600 CPU. I have a 7400 and wonder why I shouldn't have 200 more? I'm not a huge gamer by any stretch, just a little world of warcraft but I can almost max out everything and still run smooth. I'm still amazed. You should have a paypal contribution thingy up there some where. And this thread (or whatever it is) really needs that (from most boards) "arise from the dead thy million year old thread" thing. Am i multi-posting?

nope, just one. Had a hang up as i drifted a lil too far away from the router.

@ashhoe

I bigggtime doubt that getting a new cpu (a t7600 on ebay will be anywhere from 300-450 dollars) will do much for preformance. Getting a 3600M fx to work in there would boost preformance a lot, getting 2.33ghz, I really odubt you'll see anything more than a couple fps boost at the cost of possible throttling. Overclocking the gpu (if you as5ed it only!!) is the best way to pull frames from this lappy in my experience. (I have the t7600g now and have experimented alot with the clocks, and 2ghz cpu clock actually seems to be the best spot to be)

Question. I popped the heat sync off my old GPU and it uses the pads. How do you use AS5 when the pads are there?

@ashhoe: The Paypal donation thing is coming with the blog overhaul I am working on, when I merge all of my code snippets and other msdn stuff into this blog.  No donation needed for this Dell stuff.  I love sharing technology.

As for the heat sync and how to fill the gap, I am not sure as I have not taken mine apart.  Good question for anyone here.

Oh, and this isn't a "Forum" to bump the thread up high.  lol.  But, it will be at the top of the Most Popular filter of the next generation of blogging software i am working on when I dogfood it here.

Winfrid via Eric Duncan (sorry, I accidently click the DELETE link instead of VIEW, and it deleted your comment!  I am re-posting here.  Sorry man!  :) ).

--

Just a little update,

I'm still at a loss here, my e1705 still gives me a BSOD with all the drivers that I tried. While doing some research, I found another person with a similar problem (here's the post: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=18252 ) and he called Dell. They said that because he didn't have an updated motherboard, the one he had, could not supply enough power to operate the 7900 GTX. The person didn't say when he purchased his laptop, but mine is from sep 2006. I'm wondering if that could be the problem?

I also found another post on the notebookforums http://www.notebookforums.com/thread205763.html that explained BSOD on a 7950 GTX on an e1705 and they explained that in order for the drivers to work, you had to delete one line that mentions Coolbits out of the .ini file. I did that and tried the drivers, but with the same result.

Anyway, let me give you the exact symptoms on my e1705:

- With the original card (ATI) it would go black screen right after the Windows screen.

- When I replaced the card to the 7900 GTX, I got a BSOD right after I logged on. That lead me to start it up in safe mode. If I uninstall the drivers and restart normally, the laptop will reinstall the drivers and soon after, go BSOD.

- Then I restart in safe mode and uninstall the drivers and this is where I reinstall the modded drivers. Restart and BSOD right after log on. It's like an endless cycle.

My concerns are:

a bad card?

a bad motherboard?

not smart enough to find the right drivers?? JEJE

I think that the solution to this problem has to be something so simple that has been overlooked, anyway, I figured by reading this post that we can put or heads together to figure this one out. Thanks a lot for everyone's help and for posting so much great info. I've learned a lot about my e1705 these past few days!

@Winfrid: You are smart enough man!  You know that.

First, my system is dated Oct 2006, so don't believe the mobo jumbo that Dell told ya.

But, I do suspect something may be up with your system since the ATI dies as well after login/windows screen as you mentioned.

At this point in automotive diagnostics, we start to use the KGP method: Known Good Parts.  I would find another known-good-part of another video card.  Rather being another ATI or something less, something to see if it dies as well.  

Fyi, I played several games for a week or so on my original 90w power supply, but as the post mentions I almost immediately upgraded to the larger 150w.  So, no matter the size of the video card the 90w should at least satisfy everything but gaming.

If it was me, I would try to buy the original ATI off of someone that has upgraded.  And try that.  If it does the same thing, then I'd point to your mobo.  :(

Thanks for the comments Eric!! I feel like part of the family now! HA!!!

Ok, I'll try that out, see if I can get a hold of another ATI card and try it out. I already got the 150W power supply in there. I'm getting a new battery since mine is out cause it went dead. Could that affect this whole process?

Also, I did swap a 1gb RAM stick for a 2gb RAM stick at the same time I replaced the card for a grand total of 3gb RAM. Thinking that was the problem, I swapped them back, but the rig behaved the same way.

As soon as I make any progress... or the opposite for that matter... I will post, and I'll also keep an eye out for your posts and your other posts too!!

Thanks a lot man! Keep up the good work!!

BTW,

I also thought that Dell's answer to that guy sounded like mumbo jumbo. They'll say anything to get you to spend some bucks, but at least it made me think that my mobo could be defective...

I'd imagine in safe mode and using regcleaner that you could completely eliminate the drivers then install the dell ones. If this has already been suggested sorry.

I hate all the new drivers, they don't seem to give me a preformance boost thus far and the new control panel f*%^ing sucks. 84.69 forever :P, as long as I stick to old games i guess.

Question. I popped the heat sync off my old GPU and it uses the pads. How do you use AS5 when the pads are there?

Well, to answer my own question just 'cause I was a little "jumpy" to get my PC back together. After another round of dissasembly, the pads are actually underneath the PCB and possibly acting more of shock absorbers. After (what I thought was going to be.. destructively) popping off the heat sync it looks prety standard. Almost more of a epoxy look to it though, between the heat sync and the "whatever you call it". I assume at one point it was a thermal transfer compound, if anyone knows I'd love a shout. So, after seeing the prolific parts available like new keyboards and upper cases I think I'm gonna pop her back open and bust apart (insert scared face!) the GPU for some AS5. If ANYONE has done this I'd love a heads up. After lookiing at the max heat on the CPU and GPU both at 167°F I need to do something.

hey i wouldnt know if u knew or not but i cant get my battery to work on my inspiron 9400 it doesnt reconize it but the ac adapter works it just wont charge my battery and its a brand new battery about 2 months old and it has done that ever since ive gotten the battery and my old battery does the same also...if u know how to fix this problem please email me lucasholforty@hotmail.com thanks

@ luke try updating the firmware / bios maybe?

@ ashhoe..

I have opened up the vcard assembly. It's pretty simple as intimidating as it does look. Be sure you have a T-9 I think (it's a small sized torx bit (star of david kinda shaped) ). You can get them at most hardware stores, I got mine as part of an electronics kit I bought for 20 canadian bucks. :P

So, once the card is out of the laptop (obviously) (to do this there are four screws on the mobo and you just pull by the spot that says push here, just incase you don't know), be sure to NOT try to pry it apart because the heat paste literally turns into epoxy shit. It is phase changing stuff, so all you need to do is first untighten all the torx screws in order (they won't come out just loosen all the way) get a hairdryer and beef its temperature up till about 70C (or where you touch it and it burns), then with oven mitts, take it apart (it'll be really, really easy, it'll almost fall apart). Simply scrape off the old gunk with your thumbnail, throughly clean with alcohol, lap if you want, then reapply the purple pads and put as5 on the gpu. Screw it together, pop the card back in and done like din din. Should be noticeably cooler and got 2 degrees cooler after a few days for me.

matchbox,

The pads are on the bottom, right? My old GPU looked like all that needed to be removed was the heat sync itself, not the bottom part that the screws go into after passing through the PCB. I'll have to get another look at it but it seems like I could leave the GPU installed and just remove the heat sync and save a step. Also, how much AS5 would one expect to put on there?  

It would be a lot easier if you could just take the video card straight out, as long as you pull it from the push here spot (about one quarter of the way across the heat assembly from the left to the right when viewing when the videocard is at top right), it should be fine, and so long as the screws are undone holding it to the mobo. The bottom part doesn't have to be removed but it will naturally fall off (the pads aren't too sticky, they're meant more for heating purposes).

You "could" just leave it in, but it's easier with the hair dryer and everything else if you take it out.

When applying AS5 to the gpu itself (it will be a little purple core saying nvidia on it) be sure to scrape off all that old crap compound, REALLY make it clean with 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol (can get it at a drug store)and wipe with a microfibre cloth. Then put a tad less than a sized grain of rice (the less the better really) right on the center of the gpu. Then put the heatsink back on evenly, put the backplate on behind the screw holes, and tighten by half turns the heatsink in the order of A,b,c and d until it's as tight as you can get it. Then line her up with the motherboard, press it down on the push here spot, and redo the screws to the motherboard and the vcard and you should be done. Be sure to clean your fans while your at it :P.

Just an update on my situation:

I think I got a bad card....

Now, when I run the rig in safe mode, I get those choppy lines all over the screen wherever there is a color other than white. I still can't run it normally cause I'll get the BSOD upon logging on.

So, I'm contacting the seller to send it back since the card came with a 30 day warranty upon receipt.

Wish me luck!!!!

Luck wished, but don't depend on it, my luck has an hour warranty max.

Hi Eric, excellent post. Thanks for that. I got my Inspiron 9400 and GPU is 7900 GS 256 MB (if I am correct. Lately it got small white and vertical lines when it is displaying dell logo and intel stuff when initializing the BIOS. Only work in safemode, vgamode, and when there is no Nvidia driver installed.

Without driver installed I can go as high to 1600 x 1200. I am currently using 1280 x 1024 and 32 bits. But browsing and using the computer not so convenience because scrolling through this webpage (you know what I mean).

I don't know if this still will be GPU or if bad luck some other problem.

I found some 7900 gpu for my laptop for about 199 from some Hongkong ebay stores with 7 days replace warranties. any idea for me .

Thanks

sorry ... if my writing are abit hard to understand. when I installed the nvidia driver and restart the computer ... the screen went ... blank after the windows xp logo. and have to go with safemoad or vgamode .. thanks

Are there any cards that will work in the 15 inch chassis. The dell 6400 to be exact. My wife has the e1505 with the ATI Card. I want to upgrade her  graphics card so she can play The Sims 3.

@ye2bawi: First of all, anything from HongKong takes over a week to get to you.  So "7 days replacement waranties" don't mean jack.  But, adding onto that, the things I have returned from eBay to HongKong dealers was some of the nicest people and customer service i have ever received.  Believe it or not.  :)

As for your problem, does the system work with an external monitor?  If it does, then it could be the display.  If it doesn't, then it may be a bad card.  I would not pay $200 for a 256MB card.  There are several 512 MB versions out there for $250.

Odd how installing nvidia drivers kills the entire thing.  Makes me thing you got a knockoff or something.

@Kappa: I looked into the same thing with my wife's e1505!  Nope, without the upgraded cards direct from Dell.  notebookforums.com is really the best place to look to see waht they have hacked in the 15" lines.

PingBack from http://notwarez.wikidot.com/upgrade-graphics-card

Hello Eric

This website is great. It describes in detail the upgrade process and the benefits especially when gaming. I have a 9400 and the card is goosed. I don't do any gaming and would be very happy to replace the existing geforce 7800 as i think the laptop is king aswell. What are all the people doing with the old cards and will someone sell me a working one

regards

Shamusdb (UK)

@Shamusdb: I sold mine to someone commenting in this list.  Sorry.  The ATI x1400 that is the base model is running about $120 on eBay.  http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=ati+x1400&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Be careful though and make sure to get one that is for the E1705 (our laptops), not the 1505 which won't fit.

Thanks Eric

I can take it that the ATI x1400 is just as good as my existing 7800?

regards

Shamusdb (UK)

Hi Eric,

Great write up! Thank You. Just wanted to post that I upgraded the memory in my 9400 and Vista Ultimate (32-bit) is showing a full 4GB of installed memory. I am running A09 BIOS. I was content thinking I was going to see 3.2GB, but to my suprise its all showing! I'm going to install a T7200 tomorrow...thanks again! :)

@Shamusdb: No, it is much less powerful. I thought you were asking for the low-end card to replace what  you had, since you didn't do gaming.  There are 128 and 256 mb versions, both of which are very poor in any type of gaming.  You will want to replace what you got, or go higher if you want the same level of performance.

@Jaxtripp: That is surprising.  What video card to you have?  I will take a wild stab and say the ATI x1400 128 MB?  I am thinking the 512 MB card I have asks for a lot of system resources to be reserved.

@eric

I have the GeForce GO 7900, however after doing more reading I see that just because vista is showing 4gb it doesn’t necessarily mean its using it...hmmm..I'm confused.

@Eric: I end up buying a second hand 9400 and basically transferred my hard drive over to the that one. Everythging works fine with the Geforce 7900. The only issue I have is that the shutdown of the laptop now takes about 6-7 mins where it used to take about 1-2 mins. Any ideas on this. the second hand laptop came with vista on its hard drive and i'm using XP on mine but i'm not sure if this would be a factor.

@Shamusdb: Yep, sometimes it is just the hardware/mobo that goes bad.

As for the long shutdown, that is all Windows.  Most likely a driver hanging/not responding or alike. I cannot really help with that besides saying format - Windows XP is 8 years old man.  :)

What is the best available CPU I can put in my Dell E1705?

@Scott M:

If you scroll up a bit, you'll see some people install the T7600 cpu.  The cost is a bit high; so, I'd look more at the T7400.  

The basic rule is anything T7200 or higher, as these were the Core2 Dual Core with 4 MB of cache, which is 2 MB per core.  Anything slower than the T7200 has only 1 MB per core (2 MB total for the chip).

Cache = speed

Hey,thanks for the rad walk-through.  I ripped out my busted 7900 and replaced it with a FX 2500M. Everything worked out fine software/driver wise.  I have a question concerning appropriate GPU heat levels.  While playin WoW on quite good settings my GPU creeps up to 72-73C really fast (using CPUID Hardware Monitor).  I have my fans on full speed at anything over 60C. As soon as i window out of the game the temp drops down below 60C in less than 30 seconds.  Is this an acceptable temperature to run at?  Will it damage my GPU?  I have my laptop propped up to allow for airflow and even removed the bottom WiFi card cover to allow for more airflow.  Any insights would be much appreciated.  Thanks

@Toban: Those are typical GPU temps I believe.  GPUs run a good bit higher than CPUs.

@Toban: When I overclock my 7950 GTX I normally hit upwards of 80C, but I use an external monitor and keyboard so I usually just remove the memory/wifi covers and the built-in keyboard and put 120mm fans blowing directly on the GPU and CPU. This seems to help. If you can, try that and it will bring your temps down a bit, but 72-73C wont hurt anything.

Adam and Eric, thanks for the info.  One more question: What are dangerous/possibly damaging temperatures for my GPU? ie. at what temp should I start to worry and shut things down?  Thanks again.

@Toban: I cannot say for certain; but in desktops, I believe the value was in the lower 90s before throttling starts.

Hello guys!

I just recently ordered a go7950GTX on Ebay for my E1705 and it's on its way to me as we speak!

I previously flashed the BIOS so that I could overclock my go7900gs.  I'm just curious if I will have to reflash my bios before I put the go7950GTX in, since Juan Lu's Bios disk has a specific file for the 7950gtx (795GTXUN.ROM).  If anyone who flashed their bios upgraded to a 7950GTX, can you tell me if you had any problems, or if you even had to flash your bios again?

Thanks!

I upgraded to the 7950 GTX a few months back, and to be honest I have not needed a BIOS flash. I just use Nvidia's Ntune to overclock the card from within windows. I probably can't get the same clocks or temps, but it is much, much easier and a whole lot safer and I knwo you don't want to lose that big $$$ card! Although if you still want to do it, I believe you will have to re-flash the BIOS, because if I am not mistken you are not flashign the BIOS of the computer, but that of the card. Ergo, it sounds as though you would have to re-flash with the new card. I hope that helps and i hope you have fun with that 7950, I know I do!

Also, Toban, if you keep your system in a cool room on a cooling pad etc, you should not see anything over 80C on your graphics card, that is generally where I get scared and slow it down. Once again, better to be safe than be stuck with a paper weight!

Well... its story time. I was watching TV while my laptop was idling and just about to start surfing the web.  The screen went black as to jump into screen saver mode I tried to get it to flash back on.  Nothing.  laptop beeps when i hit any key.  I restart it and there is vertical lines while the laptop goes through its bios check.  Lines would be best described as morse code looking. Laptop goes through rest of startup with these lines and when it enters windows there is a quick flash of artifacts in a half inch horizontal line across the middle of the screen then blackness.  I restarted it again in safe mode but still have the vertical morse code lines present in safe mode.  The card has been installed for 2 weeks and has been working perfectly fine to this point.  I will give it the night to "cool down" and see what happens in the morning.  any opinions would be appreciated.  Thanks

@Toban: Oh man.  Here's to hoping everything is fine.

Tried laptop again this morning and problems still exist.  In the next few days I will put the old card back in and see what happens.  I don't foresee this ending well for my fx 2500m. My machine might now solely be a surf n' word machine as I won't be spending another 400$ on another card. Old card works fine for that, it just shuts down whenever I start a game.

I've got the e1705 but it has problems with playing DVDs (gets bogged down), Outlook (slow when switching from viewing one email to another), iTunes videos (also gets bogged down), and is overall just plain slow (running XP). The upgrade to 4gb of ram is a no-brainer since that's only $43 at newegg, but the cheapest graphics card I can find is $400 (http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-NIVIDIA-7950-GTX-512mb-VIDEO-CARD-GU067_W0QQitemZ350221349897QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Video_TV_Cards?hash=item518ad1b409&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A15|66%3A2|39%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50).

Is that really worth it when I can go buy a brand new laptop for only twice that?

@Utah: "System Slowdown" is the leading compliant of more PCs in the world.  It has been best practice for me to format Windows XP every 6 months to keep things "fast".  Yep, you become an expert at reloading software.  There's dozens of other things to do to speed up your system.

A highend video card won't help you.  4 GB of memory can really help, to a point because of so many other performance issues with an OS installed for a long period of time.

Vista actually has surprised me.  I've got systems running almost 2 years straight with no format, and still running fast.  That's mainly due to the auto-defragging that Vista has, and the SuperFetch technology they built into Vista.

I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to what graphics cards do and don't do so forgive my wanting to make sure I understand, but you're saying my DVD and other video issues won't be helped by a new video card?

Yeah, it probably is time to reformat though...and seriously, some days I'm tempted to go back to using a desktop. They always seem to be faster than laptops.

@Toban - Try hooking it up to an external monitor. If the problems go away, it's a fairly cheap fix to replace the screen. I had a problem a while back where the bottom third of the screen was trashed up. Looked fine on a monitor and new LCD fixed everything. Plus the new screen was the whole lid assembly and I got rid of a bunch of scratches.

@ Eric

Great site!  Spent all morning reading everything posted.  I have had my E1705 for 2 years next month (w/XP).  No major issues except, of course, how slow Dell made them.  I am still in the middle of a major overhaul on my 4 yr old desktop, but I do plan on using some of your suggestions on my laptop once done.  I truly agree with your idea of 2 HDD's in ANY PC.  It's the best way to keep all your important information secure from viruses, etc., and have been doing it in all mine for more than 12 years.  Keep up the GREAT work! - T

re-installed my old 7900gs and compute works fine now except no games.  Oh well thems the breaks sometimes.  I contacted the ebay seller of the item and have yet to get a response.  If no response in a few more days I will post a warning here.  Thanks again for the tips and too bad it didn't work out this time.

i also have a e1705 and i upgraded to 2gb of memory in december.  was wondering if it would hold 4gb. it is a 32 bit os, core duo the processor is genuine intell(r) t2300 @1.66mhz, 1.67mhz. and i have a nivida 7800 go for my vidieo card. dell support center says that max supported is 4gb. was wondering so if i do decide to up the memory i do not kill my laptop.  please e-mail dopappa@yahoo.com and let me know. thank you.

Wow, it's been a long time since I been here. Well, I am actually back to my poxy ATI x1400 fake 256Mb graphics card after the 7950gtx card blew on me...and well after that I reckon I would only buy new and thats not worth it!

Okay, Eric got a question if you can help me out please. I am looking to install a second HDD into my inspiron 9400/e1705. I seen it being done through a caddy which replaces my CD-rom drive with one which takes a 2.5"HDD. Now, I have seen a few article on the RunCore Pro IV series of 2.5" SSD drives which are amazingly fast. I was looking to make them my main HDD and place my old 300Gb HDD in the CD=ROM caddy thingie. Now these SSD's are quite expensive and I was looking to get the 32GB version as opposed to the 64/128 GB options. Now I was wondering, is 32GB enough for Win XP/7 along with word/excel, photoshop and perhaps even aftereffects and premiere! (Well the last two I guess I don't need them on the main HDD). But is 32GB enough you reckon? Or should I fork out and get the 64GB, the 128GB and above are out of my spending bracket for sure. The wife would kill me.

Thanks in advance!

Hey guys,

I got a go7950 GTX on ebay, and the thing was dead.  I popped it in and it had artifacts all over the screen, and would not boot when drivers were installed.  I got it from a guy called corintosales.  I opened a claim with Paypal and they awarded it in my favor... just beware.

Anyways, now I'm looking to get another card.  I've read that the 7900 GTX (fx2500) and the 7950GTX (fx3500) are essentially the same card, it's just that the fx3500 is clocked higher.  Can I simply just get the fx2500 and overclock it and have virtually the same card as the fx3500?  Fx2500 are more common, and run cheaper, so that would be nice.

Thanks!

I admire you that you could really do something with laptops. Thanks for sharing.

Ok I am now running into this problem and I guess I would be lucky as I've had my e1705 since 2006 and now I am running into graphic problem that I believe are caused by over heating. I like the above tutorial, But my question that maybe I dont understand was talking about upgrading the power from 90w to 130-150.. Spam me for this, but how is that done?

@Avalach21 - People have overclocked the fx2500 a bit, but not to the level of the 7950.  I personally don't think the premium for the 7950 is worth is, considering  you can get a netbook for the same price and there are much better graphics cards in newer laptops these days.  Hate to say it, but the days of 7000 series GPUs are numbered for gaming.  I say this, cause I just got a 285 GTX for my desktop - and holy smokes.

@Loakii - I don't think a larger powersupply will help you there.  But, what we are talking about upgrading is that external "ac adapter/charger" for your laptop that you plug into the AC and into the back of your laptop.  The one the E1705 comes with is a 90 Watt unit.  But, the larger XPS laptops that came with the bigger graphics cards usually have 130 W or 150 W power supply units.  They are interchangable, so all you need to do is to search ebay for a "Dell PA-15 ac adapter".  Like this one pictured: http://tr.im/v3wB

eBay has them for about $30 to $40 new.

Thanks for the explanation on the power supply, at first thought maybe it had to do with were it connects to mother board(I can't solder for crap) that why I was wondering... I keep looking at the posts and the how to and thinking hard about changing out video card, But it may have to wait now, My wife just double confirmed and apparently I still have a warranty till MAR, I knew there was a reason why it cost me so much. But if I get the run around I may be back to this page to follow the simple to understand instructions

Hi Eric,  This article is awesome!  I have an issue where I also need to replace my video card as it's fried.  My problem is that I can't find a card anywhere.  Any suggestions on where to pick one up at a reasonable price?

Just as a note on power supplies: About a year ago I made several upgrades to my e1705 including an engineering sample t7600, a 1920x1200 monitor, a 7950 gtx, and a 130w power supply. I almost always use the 130w, but when I bring it with me to work I use a 90w. A word of caution: if you have a similar setup as I do, DO NOT USE THE 90W POWER SUPPLY FOR GAMING. I have booted up STALKER Shadow Of Chernobyl while using the 90w, and 15 mins into playing: BEEP!!! my computer shuts down. This only happens when hooked up to the 90w (I have tried several, all with the same results) just beware that you will need to use the 130w+ at all times if you wish to game. I just wanted to make that note so that no-one else loses a save-game or something like I did...

Need help. Does the following symptom shows that my graphic card has failed?

-Pixelated Screen even on the BIOS screen.

-Disabled the graphic card and still having pixelated screen even on BIOS screen.

-When enable graphic card, BSOD occurs saying pagefault_in_nonpaged_area.

-After 18 hours of shutdown, the screen is back to normal. Enabled graphic card and running fine as well.

-The next day...suddenly half way browsing website, it turn back to pixelated screen and forced to disable graphic card.

B4 that, it only happen sometimes when running EVE Online. Not very often but it happens. The whole game crash and have to turn off the laptop. When turn on, it back to normal. Only this time, it doesnt.

Spec: DELL Inspiron 9400, Nvidia Go 7900GS 256MB.

Cheers

@Lawliet: Oh man, yeah that does sound like a failing gpu.

What power adapter do you have?  Others have reported that using the stock 90W that comes with your laptop ends up frying the card.

Read my comment three comments up from this one, for which power supply you should have.

@Eric Duncan: Damn...is there no way to fix it other then replacing it? And yea, I am using the stock 90W adapter.

Izzit true this stock adapter may have fried my gpu? Do you recommend I sent it to DELL for repair or just buy a GPU and replace it by myself?

Cheers

@Eric

Thanks a lot for the writeup.  I used it a little over a year ago to upgrade to 4Gb of ram.  Now I fear I may need to use the GPU portion.

@Lawliet

I'm having the same problem as you. Finding new cards for a decent price (college student here!) seems really hard.  Ebay has seemed pretty popular but is very iffy.

I have a fried 7900 gs go, and I'd like to replace it with something equally powerful or more powerful.

If any of you guys know of any good places other than ebay to find the cards, advice is greatly appreciated.

Hi Eric, everyone,  

Specs: e1705 Bios Rev A02

      2GB RAM (2 x 1GB) DDR II @ 667mHz

      60GB Hitachi Travelstar 7200 Rpm

      OS Windows 7 RC 7100

      Power (the standar 90W)

Battery 9 cell (already fried) has blinking amber light

Ext Drive 1 : WD 80GB  5200Rpm

Ext Drive 2 : Hitachi Travelstar 320GB 5200Rpm

I like this site!! Everything regarding my video car problem is posted here. I found this site about a year ago and thanks to that my 7900 GS lasted about one more year before finally failed last night :(.

On that time I cleaned the dust clogged on the GPU's heat sink and fan. The CPU was a mess, I don't know how it didn't fail before.

After that, I installed I8kfanGUI from http://adf.ly/QJ3 and helped me a lot. I had no worries about the noise since the temp were lower. I'm intensive gamer, WOW, CODWaW, Grid, NFS PS, and so on. After sometime, like 1 hr of intensive gamming, the GPU fan started to sound like it was jumping but the revs were a little down. I tried to change it but the guy of the shop told me it was nothing wrong with it.

Last nigth the BSOD apeared, like many times, just turn off, let it cool a few hours and everything Kk. NO!! I was wrong. This was the last time. From there I get the blue plixels on boot (DELL screen). BSOD with normal startup, but works on safemode. Dell diagnosis fails on video memory test. In short Fried card I guess :'(.

I'm plannig to move to 7950 GTX of the FX2500m if I can get one.  Hopefully I can get one :S

Now, I have a couple of questions:

1) Is it good idea to upgrade the bios from A02 to A09 for example?

2) Is it good idea to flash the card from fx2500m to be a 7900 GTX?

3) Any idea about GPU the fan? Should I change it too?

4) Any suggestion are welcomed :)

Thank you for all your help. Now I can see light at the end of the road.

@Jose:

Thanks for the props.  Sorry to hear about your system (seems so many have gone to dust).  To answer your questions:

1) Yes.  There are many bug fixes (fan controlling, cpu power management, etc).  A08 was the last big release A09 is just a minor update, no bugs.  But yes, update as soon as u can.

2) No.  Keep it the fx2500m.  The only reason to flash is to unlock/overclick the bios of the card itself.  Many here have done that, but it's only a 5%, give or take, increase.  IMO, it's not worth the possiblity of frying yet another card.  As you can tell by the article, I tend to lean towards stability over performance.  

3) A clean fan is a quiet fan.  :)  Should be pretty cheap to salvage an e1705 from eBay for another fan, and other parts.  If not, yeah I'd go $25 for another fan - not knowing how much they are.

4) The 7900GTX is nice.  The 7950 is a premium though, but sounds more like what you want for gaming.

I've also removed your email address.  If anyone here wants to contact him, please email me above.

Windows 7 and 4 GB update

--

Hello everyone!  I will update my blog post above, but I wanted to give everyone a quick update.  

Finally, Windows 7 gives a true representation of memory, and how much is usable.  Unlike Vista and XP, it can see what is installed, and what the BIOS is allowing to be used.  My E1705, now with Windows 7 RTM, says:

4.00 GB Installed (3.25 GB usable)

I had Windows 7 64bit loaded when I saw this.  It got me thinking, the 32bit kernel in Vista could use up to 3.4 GB of ram.  So, why have the extra memory overhead of processing 64bit instructions, when I have no advantage of 64bit on the laptop!

So, I installed Windows 7 32bit, and yep, the same numbers were shown: 4.00 GB Installed (3.25 GB usable).

In other words, there is no need to run a 64bit OS on the E1705 with 4 GB of ram.  I did it before thinking I could squeeze out a little more.  Sadly, over the years since I made this blog post, I have come to learn that 32bit works just fine to address all of the memory here.

Now, if I can just justify spending $250 on 2x4GB sticks to "experiment" to see if the laptop can support 8 GB.  :)

Besides that, Windows 7 runs VERY well on the E1705.  There were ZERO drivers needed.  Windows 7 had all drivers for the E1705 (including the chipset).  Gamign is very well, with the WIndows Update version of the NVidia driver - so, not even the laptopvideo2go drivers were needed.

Even though I am sure gamers could eek out more performance if they were to use the laptopvideo2go drivers over the Windows 7 / Windows Update ones.  

Enjoy!

Hats off to you!!! Awesome :)

hy, some month ago i upgrade my bad 7900GS to a Quadro 1600M.

i have a great problem with internal monitor with a black screen. i try with a M90 monitor and work perfectly. i try my monitor with m90 and work.

what can i do? i read about flash with other bios but i don't understand. i have to donwload bios of dell m6300? or i have to change my video driver?

probably new quadro card have different voltage.

thk

@Skiaps :  Are you saying that you tried the card in an M90 laptop (which is kind of like the business-class version of the Inspiron)?

The 1500M/2500M/3500M Quatro video cards are supported and they work on the Inspiron.  

But, the 1600M/2600M/3600M have problems in the Inspiron E1705 laptops, and they do not work.  You may be correct about the voltage issues being the problem.  1600M is no for the E1705.

I suggest trying to find a Quatro 1500M card to use.

Good luck!

i read about flash bios for work with 1600m.

My card work very well with dvi output. i use an external monitor and work.

is possible fix voltage with flash on bios?

or flash bios 6300 on my 9400 (hacked bios?!?)

i change only monitor of m90 in my inspiron and work perfectly. probably don't support voltage or inverter i think. my original monitor work on m90...

@Skiaps: We cannot answer anything about the 1600M, as those cards weren't meant to work in the E1705.  I suggest you go to www.notebookforums.com and research there.

As for changing the E1705 bios to the M90, that is not possible either - that I know of.  Again, visit the website above for most specifics like that.

Does anyone know if a videocard from a Dell 9300 will work in a Dell 9400.

Regards rafalow

@rafalow: I seem to remember a different motherboard is used between the 9300 and 9400.   I could be wrong.

Here's the service manual for the "9400" (it's a link I linked to in my post above).

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/my_systems_info/en/manuals?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

The manual says it is for a 9400.  But, i can't seem to find a manual on a 9300.  

That's the best i can do.  Search to see if you can find a breakdown of the two laptops within the manuals, and do a visual comparison.

Or, just ask the guys over at notebookforums.com.

Hi Eric I'd like to know if a go 6800 ultra will work inside a 9400.

And also thanks to share theses very useful informations

@pradel: I would say no, since those cards were made for a completely different generation of Dells.

Hey there guys! Haven't been here in a while.

I'm having a very silly problem, I'm trying to install the mobileforce 92.44 drivers and I'm not able to properly overclock anymore with rivatuner (re-installed it of course). Any ideas?

Oh, and the best source for 7950gtxs are warranties. :P. I'm looking into building a battery compartment fan for my inspiron to cool it too, but want it to be able to have some battery power in it as well, so that'll happen one day maybe when I'm not doing so much school.

So eric, since I STILL have xp, do you think it's worth upgrading? Does it suck your cpu time a lot or anything? (even though I guess I could push 2.5ghz idle if I had to) OH and I recently found out a strange trick for making sure the laptop doesn't throttle during overclocking, I think it's a sensor somewhere that reads only on boot up, so long as that sensor is really cold, it won't throttle. Wierd? yes.

@Matchbox: Welcome back.  :)  I really need to overhaul my blog to allow for better viewing/searching of these comments.  Anyhoot.

As for not being able to overclock with the drivers, I cannot answer.  Perhaps go back to the older ones?

Is it worth upgrading?  You are asking someone who formatted his Win95/98/ME/2000/XP machines every 4 to 6 months cause I could not stand the "slow-down" after things get installed.  Vista attempted to fix a lot of that with its prefetch algorythm, and worked quite well.  But Vista had issues with its UI that ate up some small CPU.  I really didn't have a problem with it.

Windows 7 changes the game entirely.  Besides fixing those UI issues, it has better power management such as the Apple-like dimming of the screen's backlight after like 1 minute (I love that), the ability to smartly-monitor the HDD and spin down - delaying certain normal reads, and the "Optimize Wizard" is an excellent tool that analyzes every setting your laptop supports and makes a very detailed list of things to change.  "Yeah, I may want my PCI Express at full speed for games, but not on battery".

All of these add up to now a 2.7 hour battery life for me during my commutes, on my ORIGINAL 9 cell battery that is still going strong, a solid 3 years now!  Compared to my community for years with Vista, I can tell a difference hands down that Win7 is far better at battery management.  

Makes me yern for my MBP again, but with Win7 for the power management to fix all of the problems Apple and Vista had under their POS drivers.

So, is it worth the ugprade?  Yes, because of the smart battery monitoring within Win7.  And, I like to stay cutting edge.  :)

I thought I'd post some details of my recent Dell Inspiron 9400 upgrade.

A few weeks ago I was looking into buying the Broadcom Crystal HD decoder, as it supports full hardware acceleration of HD codecs, i.e. MPEG-2, VC-1 and AVC/H.264, enabling me to watch HD content on my Inspiron while keeping the CPU usage relatively low.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Broadcom-BCM970012-HD-Decoder-Mini-Card-DELL-HP-ACER-UK_W0QQitemZ350261502421QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW?hash=item518d3661d5

As the Broadcom card is generally only available in mini PCI-E format, I would need to swap out the existing mini PCI-E Wi-Fi card and look for another Wi-Fi solution. Since I wasn’t using the expresscard slot for anything, I decided on buying the Belkin N1 Wireless ExpressCard.

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=299617

Upon receiving both the Broadcom and Belkin cards, I carried out the necessary upgrades and ran a few tests on the Broadom card’s capabilities. Please see below for the results:

Blu-ray

Cars (H.264) - CPU usage (without Broadcom decoder) = 51-55%

Cars (H.264) - CPU usage (with Broadcom decoder) = 11-22%

Dark Knight, The (VC-1) - CPU usage (without Broadcom decoder) = 58-77%

Dark Knight, The (VC-1) - CPU usage (with Broadcom decoder) = 18-29%

X-Men: The Last Stand (H.264) - CPU usage (without Broadcom decoder) = 52-61%

X-Men: The Last Stand (H.264) - CPU usage (with Broadcom decoder) = 14-25%

HD DVD

300 (VC-1) - CPU usage (without Broadcom decoder) = 49-77%

300 (VC-1) - CPU usage (with Broadcom decoder) = 18-40%

Batman Begins (VC-1) - CPU usage (without Broadcom decoder) = 61-83%

Batman Begins (VC-1) - CPU usage (with Broadcom decoder) = 22-46%

Transformers (H.264) - CPU usage (without Broadcom decoder) = 91-100%

Transformers (H.264) - CPU usage (with Broadcom decoder) = 15-54%

Given the reduced CPU utilisation, I couldn’t be happier with the results. I am also pleased that I can get even more life out of my 2 year old laptop than I originally thought.

I hope that any other Inspiron 9400 owners can benefit from the information above.

@Rsaeire: Holy crap man!  I've been wanting to watch h264 movies for a while - those encoded at a high 1080p within mkv.  But the Dell just barely can't do it.

That is an awesome idea/find!  And, I must may do it myself.

Hey Eric, any chance you can help me with an E1705 problem? I finally got a microphone and tried to connect it but I can't get it to work. I tried updating the sigmatel drivers, broke my playback in the process, fixed the playback, but still can't get the mic to work. Tried using it as line in and microphone, tried windows sound recorder and wavepad, no luck. I googled around and found lots of mention of this problem but no clear fix. Do you know the secret? Thanks.

Hello @Trickster:

Sorry, but can't think mauch.  There are several several options that can get screwed in your audio.  Sounds like you'd done a lot already.

If you are wanting a mic for like video conferences, then get a headset with one built in.  Like gaming headphones, as they usually have a mic built-in for multiple-player online games.

The important part is to order one with USB connection, not standard 1/8" stereo jacks.  This is because the ones with USB connections have an integrated Sound Card, and does not use your laptop's sound card (Logitec make a lot).

Just to let you know about the RAM limitation. Nothing can be done, because the northbridge is a 32bit one. That's why you get only 3,5g RAM when you plug 4g RAM in it.

Anyway i am also the proud owner of a 9400 !

I have a question about this motherboard same Dell E1705 model. Bios locked, I paid dell the $50 to unlock it but they couldn't do it. #DL57P91-595B and I was told I needed to replace the motherboard which I don't think it's the problem. Maybe if I can just replace the bios chip on it. now where's the bios chip located in this motherboard, so I can find it and order the right part. I will appreciate your help. thank you. Please send me reply to:

princerecords@yahoo.com

Thank you so much!

P.s. If anyone else can help me please send me a message.

I've been reading this forum, but have never posted.  I recently had to give up on my E1705 since Dell was unable to fix the video problems.  First the graphics card went, then the LCD.  For some reason after replacing almost every component, there were still problems and Dell decided to finally just send me a refurbed Vostro 1720.  Though I now have a new computer in lieu of the 3 year old E1705, I still miss features in the E1705.  For instance, the speakers are not as good (missing bass boost); does not have dvi port, colors on LCD are inferior, and just not as classy looking (it's a black box, very business like).  Anyway, I did manage to get a blu-ray player, 4 GB ram, and the Vostro came with a webcam.  The E1705 had far less computing power, but it was a good computer.  One basic question to the community--should I be happy that I got this replacement or should I seek Dell out in making me "whole"?  I paid $2600 for the e1705 in May 2006 and now I get a $1200 laptop.  Am I crazy?  I've even started looking on ebay for a used E1705.  I have a hard time letting things go, obviously.

@btasssini: hehe.  I would be happy with the newer machine.  The E1705 was a great machine, but as you mentioned the processing power is outdated.

Another thought - offer it as a trade with someone on eBay or Craigslist.  "I just loved my E1705.  Here, take a new machine in exchange."  Problem with that is if you want the upgraded 7900gtx or 7950, you're going to have to pay for it in addition.  

As a matter of fact, "I" would be interested in a trade (yes, the very machine you see in the pics, with the 7900gtx)!  (depending on the specs).  ;) Email me: me -at- eduncan911.com

Eric:

Thanks for the insight.  Unfotunately, since I received a replacement I already had to return the E1705 to Dell.  I guess I'll just keep what I have.  The new Vostro has a Nvidia GeForce Go 9600 MS card with 512 MB.  Also, ram is expandable to 8 GB.  I should be real happy really since technically I didn't have a warranty anyway (their records indicated that I had a warranty still when I had in fact already cancelled it and had a refund).  Crazy thing is I will have a warranty on the new Vostro for another 2 years since my "warranty" transferred to the replacement, too.  I'm happy now.  Really enjoy your blog anyway.  Long live the E1705!

Lucky wanker!

Hey Eric. Nice job. In the area by the fan where you used the tape and foil, you also used additional AS5 there? Where exactly?

Thanks.

@KennySVG: More or less I wanted something sticky that would keep the foil on the copper heat pipes.  So, I used a tad of AS5 to keep it stuck on.  Thought it could help with the heat dissipation between the hottest-to-coldest heatpipe too, but the foil is so thin it wouldn't really matter.

I just want to give an update which may help people who have taken on this project (like myself) but had blank screen issues. In my case I did not see a dell logo either, but I could tell my screen was on and that my pc was booting fine. After lots of research online and getting to the point where I believe I shelled out so much $$ for a bad card, I was able to find a solution.

Since I did not have an external monitor available, I used remote desktop from another machine and was able to access my E1705 with the 7900gtx in it. I knew this was a longshot but had to give it a try anyyway, so I installed the forceware 167.51. Lo and behold when the driver was finished installing and I rebooted the laptop, yep Dell Logo and everything works perfectly.

I do not know if connecting an external monitor would've worked also. I am surely happy I did not give up on this just yet.

Kenny

@KennySVG: Now that is interesting, how installing Windows drivers made the POST screen (the Dell logo) show.

Congrats on working it out.  :)  The RDP is a nice trick.

Hi all!

I have been reading this thread with great interest and because of it I have upgraded from 1 GB to 4 GB SDRAM, T2350 to T7200 and OC'ed 7900 GS to v1.24/600/800.

Everything works great... except for the temperatures. The CPU holds ~45 C at idle which I think is OK, but GPU idles at ~70 C with no fans running (testing purposes only).

I tried to remove the heatsink from the 7900 card to apply fresh AS5, but it was stuck and I didn't want to pry it away. I think the high GPU temperatures is a result of my attempt to remove the GPU heatsink. Any tips for removing the GPU heatsink without breaking the card?

Best regrards

Jon

@Jon:  Yeah, 70 C does seem a bit hot for idle.  

Hopefully someone who has done it here will reply, as I have not done it myself.

I would think prying is ok, if you work yourself around the edges of the heatsink, slowly applying the same pressure.  

I have seen some heatsinks on OEM machines stick as well.  It's unnerving to pry, but you have to at times - that gunk is stuck.

Good luck!

@Jon: Once you have unscrewed the card itself and removed it from the system, then your next step should be the 4 torx screws labelled A-D. After those are completely loose, the heatsink really should just pop off.

There are only a few thermal pads under there with contact on the memory chips along with some old thermal paste on the GPU. There is really nothing that should cause need to pry.

Well, in theory it works that way.

I took my gpu apart, you do take the card out first, then use a T-8 torx 8 bit, which you can find at hardware stores (They make it tough, and believe me, I tried using phillips :P no workie.) to undo all the screws.

It won't magically pop off yet.

There's phase changing material on the gpu, and if you pry at it, it will most likely crack the fucking card. Best thing to do is use a hairdryer on it for about 5 minutes on high (the heatsink, just so it reaches operating temps :P ) and then use oven mits to take the card apart. It'll just fall apart then.

Then you can just do the good old clean, smooth it down with 1000 grit sandpaper, clean again, and apply as5. Then you just put it all back together. If you have arctic ceramic you can replace the crap purple pads, but alas I didn't, thus I didn't.

Eventually I hope to get windows 7 on here, and I'll use that as an excuse to take the entire thing apart again and make some interesting upgrades to accompany overclocking the cpu and gpu again to remain somewhat current. :P Along with FINALLY upgrading my drivers.

For the record, the gpu radiator setup seems to be pretty bad too, it builds a lot of heat in there. One of the things I'm going to do which someone on here did a long time ago is to make a hold in the hinge cover, elevate the laptop permantently, and make a new battery pack which contains a (very limited) battery, and a fan to blow into the tiny hole that goes right over the video card. With some foam taped down, I'm kinda hoping to make baffles that do that properly.

Frick maybe I'll just leave the hinge cover off.

Or just get long wires, take the thing apart and leave it outside in the cold canadian winter while I have a monitor keyboard and mouse inside...

:P

@Eric: I'm sissy and can't stand the cracking sounds from bending circuitbords. :P

Anyway, with a pair of earmuffs I tried again and I finally managed to separate the heatsink from the card itself. After cleaning, applying AS5 and reassemblying I checked the temperatures. The GPU peaked at 45 C after 30 minutes of idle. This with I8kfanGUI running. I'm happy. :)

@Matchbox: I have been running W7 Home Premium 64-bit for a couple of days now and I really like it. Windows found every driver except GeForce Go 7900 drivers and something called PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0592&SUBSYS_01CD1028.

What I don't like is the Driver Signature Enforcement, but Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider (http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=dseo) did the trick. :)

@Jon: Congrats on the ear-muffs man!  :)  Hehe, and for getting the temps down.

Note: As I corrected in a comment above, 64-bit does nothing for these laptops except use more memory.  Especially under Windows 7, it tells you the truth (finally) that "4.00 GB (3.25 GB usable)".  

When I installed the 64bit version, I saw this and was like.. "Humf.  I wonder if 32bit does the same".  Sure enough, I installed the x86 (32bit) version of Win7, and it said the exact same thing: "4.00 GB (3.25 GB usable)"

64bit is needed if you are going to address more than 4 GB of ram for your programs.  Since 64bit reserves twice as much memory address space for each 32bit application (i.e. under WOW64), this actually wastes memory on a system with less than 4 GB of ram.

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit idle after boot: 684 MB

Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit idle after boot: 411 MB*

*Note that the kernel is 64bit, and only a handful of startup apps are 32bit - hence why there is no 1:2 ratio.  The 1:2 ratio shows when you start running lots of 32bit programs - i.e. Games.

Big difference, especially when you start running larger programs.

Bottomline, for this Dell E1705, just install 32bit OSes.  There's no point to install 64bit, unless you just want to run it for the hell of it (knowing it is using more ram for each 32bit program).

Hey Eric!!! I have 2 e 1705's I was elated when I found your blog. I am planning on doing this mod to both my systems lol... However I have a question for you... I am trying to max out my systems and I was wondering if you have done any research on what the max processor you can put in to the system... Also if you have any other cooling options cause my systems run hot as hell, to the poin that if I dont have cooling trays under them they start to freeze up. I am just worried that doing these mods will increase this unless I find another way to cool my systems... Let me know

Tony

@Anyone...

Anyone have any clue if I can find 2 2gb sticks of 667mhz ram? for the inspiron obviously, for roughly ohhhh 60 bucks? Anywhere? or am I going to have to wait.

I'd rather blast from 2 to 4gigs of ram on this before upgrading to win7. I'm looking to spend 150 bucks upgrading the laptop. Including price of ram and the battery thingy. Also, if anyone has any shitty batteries for the inspiron they want to sell to me, I'll buy it for a few bucks. Even if it holds zero charge.

@Tony

Well the best you can do for cooling is replace the thermal paste and sand it a bit. Other than putting new fans inside or making it watercooled. (Which could be done if you decided to cut your heatpipes inside)

The best processor you can get is the T7600 (SL9SD!!!! ONLY!!!) which is 2.33ghz.

Technically you should be able to put the T7600G inside, but I don't have an extra inspiron lying around to test a bios flash on.

T7600 = 2.33ghz

T7600G = 2.33-3.16ghz

It's also possible to get the fx3600m in there too, but it's sooo expensive, and would require more cooling, plus there's a lot of hype about the backlight not working when it's in there, which is possible to fix by making it stay on via a switch. not really worth it though.

@Eric: I wasn't aware of that. I think I'm going to install the 32-bit version of W7. No need wasting system resources. :)

Eric

HiI am just updatiung my 9400 to this graphics ca rd (th e7900GS blew up - as always).

Now I have the A10 Boios, but the machine will still be running  XP.

What can you give me the link to the drivers and the new ini file to update the machine.

I assume th eDELL drivers are no good

@Matchbox

I'm glad your making good use of my battery idea! Good luck and let me know how it works out! I ran into issues with tooling and inadeqate fans, but I would love to see if it works better for you!

As far as DDR2 667 ram, I just did a search on Newegg and I got 63 results including all sizes (including some 8Gb options...) just take a look on newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170381%201052910525%201309221136&name=DDR2%20667%20%28PC2%205300%29

All the options you could ever want!

***Also I highly recommend Corsair products, I just built a desktop around mostly their components and absolutly love it. G-Skill is not bad either, but I much prefer Corsair whenever possible.

@Adam! HEY welcome back! You should really get on notebookforums man. There's lots of guys who do mod stuff on there.

I looked at some of that ram already :) I decided to get 800mhz ram, and it should just downclock to 667, but it '"should"' also automatically tighten it's timings. Haven't got it yet, off of ebay.

Also bought a shitty battery and a bunch of AWESOME ram cooling pads, which I plan to use in this mod, for next to nothing. It's fucking sick, they're bits of copper that act as heat sinks, and guess what! If it fits on the video card, it'll make your mod even MORE effective.

Thats what I'm going to spend 2 days doing these holidays. Upgrading to Win7, overclocking the cpu to 2.66 finally, redoing AS5, installing 2 new fans into the inspiron, putting new drivers on for the gpu, adjusting the memory timings (which I found a good way of doing and get some actual interesting results).

So alot :P But yeah, the battery mod idea in my opinion is one of the best out there so far. The only thing that might be better is if it could be a portable water cooling unit. (the battery) I have a fucking insane small fan to put in the batt when it gets here. Just one thing, did you ever find out how to power the fan via the battery charger / circuitry of the battery itself? That would be killer.

OH and for everyone, there's an interesting tidbit that I uncovered. I heard a lot of rumours about getting dx10 cards in our inspirons. I had the chance to find out if it's true. However since the dell bios is soooooo locking, it only allows a few video cards, and rarely any post-preduction. I got the fx1600M WORKING in my m1710. Yes, with dx10 through the alpha xp hack.

However, it would be a kickass card IF;

1) the heatsink were smaller

2) didn't draw 50W

3) had a 256 bus

Right now it's limited by it's bus, and the 7950 actually beats it in a lot of the games I play, especially if I overclock it.

I'd love to get the fx3600M in there, it would fit, but apparently due to lack of bios support, it's severly downclocked and brightness control is lost. (I was talking on the forum about a hardware workaround)

anyways thats the update.

So the 7950 go gtx is still the best :( for it.

Umm also, does anyone know the exact art of getting powermizer working right for nvidia cards?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170383377338&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Heatsinks for the vcard battery mod. Replacing pads with AS5 and only on copper portions.

Hey, I did not get a chance to work on pulling power off the laptop yet, as the fans I was using bit the dust, I'll start looking around for some schematics and see if I can pull power right off the laptop's recharge plug. I'm at home right now, so it will be a few weeks (all my stuff is at my apartment 1000 miles away...) so as soon as I get back I'll start doing some testing and see what can be done. I was thinking about using the old gpu fans that fit in this laptop anyway, they may give a good amount of airflow without too much modding, and they should fit real nice in the battery compartment.

Let me know how that 800 RAM works, Corsair makes some real nice 800 Gamer Ram, and I'm curious how well it works in a 667 system.

Be sure to post some pics of that heat sink mod, I really want to see how that works out!

Hi so I've had success as well - thanks heaps Eric.

I got my 2500FX working a treat, loaded in the 10 bios, and updated the drivers, my 3d MARK 2006 score has gone up from 3800 to 4900 with the change from the 7900GS!!!

But how mauch improvement does the processor upgrade make?

Also soemone in Oz is selling a T7200 BUT a SL9SF, I assumefrom above that this won't go in. Is this orrect???

OOps I answered my own question the T7200 is fine it is an SL9SF. Thanks to whoever put he wikipedia link up

But what is th eex[pcted Performance increase?

Stephen B,

What processor are you upgrading from? Also remember that the T7600 is the best processor this laptop can take, and usually its a similar price to the noticeably slower T7200(or older). I'd look on ebay for the T7600, last time I looked there were a bunch!

Adam

HI great, I have a T2400 only at this stage.

I just missed the T7200, but I see I can get a T7300 for same price. I have a bid in on another T7200 so I best wait to see what happens there

Earlier in this forum there were questions as to whether the Dell coudl handle the 8--MHz FSB. So you say any of the CPUs up to T7600 is ok right?

I have the A10 bios.

What is the A10 BIOS I keep hearing about? I only have A09 and can't find the A10 on Dell homepage.

Anyway... Merry Christmas to you all! :)

Jon-

The Dell A10 BIOS should be on the downloads page, make sure you browse to it using model selection, not service tag. If you have an ATI card in your comp, the new BIOS may not show up as it is a change for Nvidia Card Laptops. From what I can see it is just changing the thermal recognition settings on Nvidia cards so that they dont overheat. If you use I8KFanGUI, then you should not need this update as you are doing what it is changing manually (if that makes sense). I'm gonna stear away from the update for now as I'm pretty sure I dont need it. If you still want it though, here is a link:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=BIOSA&catid=-1&dateid=-1&impid=-1&osl=EN&typeid=-1&formatid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_9400&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en&TabIndex=

Merry Christmas all!

Love the Blog, just found it and am going to try out the RAM and CPU upgrades.  Have had my E1705 since 2006 and I love it. Every time I go to get a new Laptop I can't bring my self to part with my baby.  But about six months ago I made a horrible discovery, when dc adapter broke and I had to get a new mobo, I found out I have an integrated video card.  I know with a pc I can get around this, but are there any options for my E1705.  Is there any hope. I can't leave her now.

PingBack from http://www.notebookforum.at/dell-forum/23682-preis-fuer-gebrauchten-inspiron-9400-a-44.html#post332061

Hey, for those of you who plan on using Windows 7 on this here baby make sure you use the drivers provided directly from Nvidia. I tried both and saw a GIANT performance increase from the Windows-provided to the Nvidia-provided drivers on my 7950 GTX. Also, Nvidia's drivers now make use of the auto-downclock feature that should save you a little power as well. Just keep an eye on your temps, that baby runs a lot hotter with these drivers for some reason (even with both fans maxed manually), so just keep an eye on it. Mine runs up to 83C while running Mass Effect maxed out, which is kinda scary, so just stay on top of your temps.

Great to hear so many people still have success with the E1705.  :)

@Vermicious: The mobos with integrated videos cannot be upgraded.  Your best bet is to get a different mobo with a pcie slot - so you can buy your own video card.  

Best place to hit is eBay for 'broken' E1705s, or just the mobos.

Eric

Will I need to modify case to switch mobo?

@Vermicious: I don't believe so.  But honestly, I don't know.  I think the 9300 and 9400 cases are the same.

-E

Those of you looking for a new 7950 GTX, check this out. I was just looking at ebay and found it. Pick it up if you can, its worth it!!! (I know, I have one!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-XPS-M1710-512MB-Video-Card-7950-GTX-PN-GU067-58C8T_W0QQitemZ260535062317QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Video_TV_Cards?hash=item3ca9198f2d

I just picked up a 7950 gtx for my 1705, can i use the 90w power supply until i get a larger one or am i risking damaging the card? Also what drivers are you using adam?

@Adam: Great find!  And an AWESOME price!

@Derek: You can use the 90w PSU, I do as well when I am travelling cause the 130/150W PA13/PA15 units are litterly the size of a brick!

Just, do NOT play any games that use the video card or anything that uses 3D modelling. Watching videos is just fine, as that is not modelling.

But hackers/piraters be careful.  The good news about the geForce 79xx series (and 98xx, 285 series) is that they support h264 hardware decoding.  This codec is used for HDTV, and Blu-ray/HD-DVD decoding.  By default, most Video Players will use the CPU, which chokes down on 1080p HDTV pirated files (like mkv and mp4s that are encoded with x264).  This won't hurt anything with the 90w PSU.

But, the Haali splitter (my favorite) does use any hardware decoding of h264 if present (i.e. the video card), so you can watch anything!

The downside to the video card decoding?  Uses more power, and gets hotter.  I have risked it with my 90w PSU, and it seems to be ok.  But I know I need to be careful.

I update my drivers every month or so, I am currently running version 179.48 which I downloaded directly from Nvidia's website. That is currently the newest driver from Nvidia. be careful though, temps WILL GET HOT. I would also say be VERY careful with that 90w adapter, I have overheated 2 adapters trying to play games etc with all of my upgraded hardware so BE CAREFUL. Also, for those of you interested in blu-ray, there are a few blu-ray players out there on ebay for the xps m1710, and while I have not used one of those specific ones, I was able to hook up a desktop blu-ray to this sucker using some modded esata cables/adapters and she played like a champ, no problems at all. Its expensive but its worth it.

For everyone who's interested.

If you're willing to shell out 300 bucks, it's possible to yet again, upgrade your inspiron. Not sure how worth it it is, but you can now apparently get the 3600m in there. It's bigger, but fits. AND now has a bios upgrade allowing cooler cards and support for this card apparently.

3600M = g92 = 8800 gtx

....I know.

about twice as good as the 7950gtx,....while overclocked.

maybe when they give an upgraded bios for the m1710 I'll do that too.

Still haven't gotten the parts for my mod and have no time anyways so again it's been pushed back

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-Quadro-FX-3600M.8834.0.html

And you'll probably need the 150W adapter for this upgrade, nothing lower would do.

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread214624-18.html

I have a Intel Pro 3945AGB Mini-PCI card in my beloved 9400. Is it possible to get a 802.11n Mini-PCI card and use the same antenna-cables? I know I can get a PCMCIA, but I would prefer a Mini-PCI instead.

@Jon: Ah, I remember the Intel 3945 (WiMax before its day).  Short answer, no you cannot have both cards and reuse the ANT.  There is only 1 Mini-PCI slot, as you can see in my pictures above in the blog post.

May I recommend upgrading to an Intel 5150 or 5350?  You can find them for about $75 to $100 on eBay.  It supports 802.11a/b/g/n (including a/n over 5.4Ghz), as well as WiMAX.

http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/wimax/wifi/index.htm

Save your PC Card slot for those Verizon/Intel mobile broadcard cards - or better yet, turn your Wifi mobile phone into a WiFi router (like I did):

http://www.wmwifirouter.com

And finally, you may want to check out my blog post on The Truth about 802.11n:

http://eduncan911.com/blog/the-truth-about-802-11n.aspx

Good luck!

@Eric: I was thinking about replacing the old Mini-PCI with a 802.11b/g/n Mini-PCI. The thing is that my 9400 only has two antenna-cables and it looks like the Intel WiMAX/WiFi Link 5350 needs three.

Your blog about The Truth was a great read! :)

@Jon: Holy crap, you're right about the "3" ANT connections.  Sorry about that!  I would find an old Dell 1500 - 1505 wireless card then (it's what I have in my dell 9400, the Dell 1500 Wireless).  The 1505 version had some minor updates, and works as well.

Looks like they are going for about $30 on eBay.  :)

Thanks about the 802.11n post.  Note, 802.11n goes up to 230Mbps, where 802.11a (what your card currently supports) goes up to 115 Mbps over the 5.8 Ghz radio.

Also note: Most 802.11n routers allows n OR a connections over 5.8 Ghz.

So, the only major benefit you'd get upgrading from your current card to an "N" card is double speed on 5.8 Ghz routers (if you have no rooms blocking your signal, note from my blog where 5.8Ghz is great for getting away from interferances - but at the risk of getting blocked by things suck as WALLS or furniture).

Or, 4x the speed over 2.4 Ghz radio (802.11g @ 54 Mbps vs 802.11n @ 230 Mbps).

Hello Eric, thank you so much for posting this tutorial!  You have given me new hope for my beloved 1705 :-)

Now, let me see if I should actually hold on to these beliefs!

My E1705 is 3 years old, and the warranty has JUST expired. It's been a real workhorse, and I love it. About 18 months ago, I started playing an online game you may be familiar with, called Second Life. The system requirements for playing SL can be found here: http://secondlife.com/support/system-requirements/?lang=en-US

So, at first I had no problems running things on there, but as time has gone on, it is getting more and more difficult for my laptop to cope with the graphics on there. I would really like to try a graphics card upgrade and see if it helps.

I'm a novice at this, although my husband and I are both adept enough at following instructions and doing research that we can try this ourselves (I think).  If you or anyone reading this thinks that would be foolish and we should find a pro to do the work for us, please say so!  However, I'm willing to take the risk, and would like to know what particulars to watch out for. In other words: if we will need to replace or modify anything else other than upgrading memory and changing the graphics card, please let me know!

If system specifics will help, I will give them to you.  I figure I have gone on long enough at the moment with out listing components ;-)  Please feel free to reply here or email me at (removed to keep from spamming). I appreciate any thoughts or advice you and your readers might have to offer.  Thanks!

Take care,

Emmie

Please email me (removed)

I am desperate I have a Dell M90 with a 2500m i need to flash the bios to a 7900gtx bios i need the right bios to flash to and the right procedure theres two procedures in question.

If you need some cash for the info lemme know.

TT

i have a dell e1705 with bios a08 and it seems that it has locked me out with eeprom bios required> any good ideas how to get around this? i have tried many things but no sucess, i am not the original owner and sell wont tell me anything. any help would be great.

@Emmie

I'm having the same problem with my laptop.

Try getting rid of all the dust inside first, then follow up by doing a good old defragmentation.

Eventually it's better to just wipe the drive and start anew.

@Tommy T

Go to notebookforums and post your question there, there's  alot more knowledge, you can go to my website for the essentials you will need. I believe the procedure for flashing from quadro to geforce is fine, just not the other direction.

@William

At risk of it being stolen, contact dell and give them the service tag. If the seller can't help you out you should get a refund. There MAY be some backdoor passwords, but dell updates that with a08 and I know the old one doesn't work anymore (it's essentially starting the notebook in factory mode)

Dell is your best bet for help. There ARE hardware ways around this, but it takes a lot of effort, the chip holding the password is NOT the same as the bios chip.

@Anyone, does anyone know how to get the damn battery packs apart correctly? Can anyone tell me a good procedure?

myke

What a great page. So glad I found it.

I've just completed following all the instructions apart from installing the new graphics card (as I have a nvidia go 7900gs and can't find a cheap enough upgrade). However my laptop was heating up hugely so being about to take out the GPU and find that there was a load of gunk between the heat sink and the fan that I could take out solved the problem (applying the AS5 probably also helped).

Now have 4GB (3.25 avail) of RAM, 500 GB 7200 rpm HD and a much cooler laptop; thanks.

Only one question (just in case I come across a cheap GPU) is the Quatro FX2500m 512MB the very best GPU that will fit or is there an even better one around that I could try?

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I also installed Windows 7 64 bit. With all the changes its like having a new laptop.

@Matchbox

Thanks, I will try that first.  We replaced the keyboard about 9 months ago, and the laptop hinges about 2-3 months ago.  Keyboard was on our own, hinges by a tech.  Both while we were still under warranty.  Now...we are not. ::)  But a good clean up of any gunk in the hardware and a decent disk defrag cannot hurt.  I hate to wipe the disk, but it might be the best thing.  I am going to do a lot of backing up this week to be sure I don't lose anything.  

After that, though, I still want to try upgrading.  I love the machine, and I want to keep it for a while longer.  If any other SL players have thoughts, please feel free to speak up!

Hey, just thought i would share this info, i was looking to change my 2gigs for some 4 gig ram and if spending anyways i wanted to get a low latency memory since we can't overclock out lappys.

So, i got some Corsair low latency MAC memory (they did not make PC low latency memory ???).

So, the VSA4GSDSKIT667C4 wich is a 2x2gig kit worked out great for me.

They do get warmer when gaming then the hynix that came with the 9400.

Slight increase of performance, nothing worth it if you already have 4gigs in there.

Hope this can help someone!

Hey Paul,

I have the FX 2500M in my laptop, my 7900 GS fried and i got the quadro on ebay.

You can get the FX 3500M, but it's gonna cost you much more and you get just a little more performance than the 2500M overclocked, don't bet on much higher overclocks on the 3500M. As far as i know, the 3500M only has higher stock clock.

But then you may take your chances on a 3600M wich would me MUCH better (DX10, PhysX, CUDA, etc)

But as you can read higher, there are some issues and it's gonna cost you!

Hi Stephan,

Thanks for your comments. Yes, the main reason I haven't upgraded the graphics card is the cost/benefit ratio as the 7900GS seams pretty good; particularly now that it is running cooler.

I'll have a look around for the 3600M though, maybe I'll get a good deal. Its so tempting to do the upgrade now that I've seen the insides of my machine!

I'd love to upgrade to a 3600M, with the new A10 bios for the e1705, you now definately CAN UPGRADE to it, for sure, it has fixed all the previous issues.

Problem is, they are rare and expensive, and realistcally for a 30% preformance boost, it's worth it overclocking your card instead.

ebay is ur best friend for it.

Hello,

What a great place for e1705'ers!!!

I'd like to get you guy's ideas about my lappy's status.

E1705

t2300@1.6ghz

1Gig RAM

Radeon-X1400

WUXGA1080p

80G-HDD-5,400rpm

I used to be able to watch 720p but now i cant watch many of them (depends on the encoding), for sure not 1080p mkvs.

1.What should i upgrade in order to be able to watch 1080p mkvs smooth? cpu\gpu\ram

2.What upgrade will benefit better preformance in general?

THANKS!

Hi Eric, great blog by the way. I found this post useful. I fortunately was able to get my GeForce Go 7900 repaired by an ebay vendor for 90 bucks. Works great once again.

I had a question about upgrading my memory on my Dell E1705. I just got my 4gb (2x2gb). I have trouble posting when I have the 4gb install. It just hands on the Dell logo screen with the bios loading screen 1/4th of the way full.

Do I have to upgrade my bios and upgrade to Vista/Win7? I'm running 32bit XP along with Bios Revision A08.

Will upgrading to Bios Rev A09 allow me to run my current XP settup with 4gb installed? Im aware that I can only use about 3gb on XP. Any help is appreciated. Thanks for looking

^ It's me again. Well, I ended up reflashing my E1705 bios to A10. The memory I bought (PNY) still wouldn't post correctly. It just gets stuck at the Dell logo screen with the bios loading bar getting stuck 1/4ths of the way.

Can anyone recommend a good pair of memory for my Dell E1705 with 7900GS. I have the Centrino Duo running at 2.0ghz.

Since the PNY I bought is trash, should I stick to so Corsair? Can anyone recommend a brand that can run on my machine? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!

Well...it feels like its been awhile yay for being sick

@Rene

I haven't tried it yet, I'll let you know. It's probably a good idea to stick to memory that 667mhz, and only ddr2 will work up to 4gb. Just so u know. Also no matter ur os, you'll only see 3.25 since the northbridge is 32 bit based and will only access that much.

@Lior

Ummmm. Not too sure, nvidia gpus tend to have hardware support for that kind of thing. I've yet to find a dell form factor 3600M that'll fit my laptop, but I think and %500M version will work and they're much easier to find. Either that or go for a cpu upgrade. All your codecs and good right? Be sure to download optimized 1080p codecs too.

I can confirm even with the A10 Bios the FX3600M has the dreaded screen brightness issue. I can actually see and use it, but it's just too dull for long term use.

I'm considering flashing the bios on the card with that of the 8800M GTS or GTX, just not sure if I wan't to do that yet.

Hey this looks like a really good thread for a guy who doesn't want to buy a whole new laptop. I'm very surprised this thread has been going for as long as it has but i am very happy that it is. I have the dell e1505 Running the ati x1400 2 gb of ram. Will these mods work for this machine or only the e1705. Thanks

@Cameron, these mods are only for the E1705 or Inspiron 9400. I also own an E1505 and the video card form factor is different. You already have the best video card that will work in your machine. The only tip I can give you is with the new bios you can get up to 4GB of Ram in there, with 3.25GB visible to Windows (regardless of 32 or 64 bit due to hardware limitations).

Hey guys,

What will be the best value for CPU and GPU upgrade?

Which will give the combination for best price and performance?

Oh wow, all of these comments over the last few months!  I apologize but I had a problem with email not being sent from this site for, well, a few months.  I will try to burst reply.

@Emmie, @Tommy, @william:

I removed y'alls email addresses to keep the spammers at bay, and have sent an email to each of you for a follow up.

@Paul:

There is one better, an FX3500 which is an 7950GTX core.  And quite $$$.

@Stephan:

Thanks for the info!

@Lior:

Ah, you're hitting hte limits of the CPU for decoding.  For MKV / h264 decoding, you want a graphics card that supports hardware decoding.

I believe the 7900 cards did support hardware decoding (called PureVideo).  Source wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo

Once you have the card (or 7950) installed, you will need a decoder that supports hardware decoding.  For Vista/Windows 7, I look nowhere else but at Shark007.net for their complete decoding package you can install.  I've been using it for years, as well as all of my friends have switched to it (no more CCCP for me).

Once you install that software, you'll want to tweak the ffdshow wrapper until you find a good source.  Basically, anything that drops your CPU usage.

I will try to break out my E1705 from storage and test MKVs on it with the correct software.  I never used it for watching movies before.  I have several 1080p x264 mkvs around here, so they will make good tests (I have over 500 movies on my WHS, hehehe).

Also, your CPU is quite slow.  I'd highly recommend the T7400, as the T7600 is a bit costly.

@Rene:

I would say there is an issue with the ram, as my 4 GB worked with much older bios' before I upgraded.

@Camero:

KennySVG is correct.  The E1505 is a different form factor.

@Matchbox

And finally, everyone give a big THANK YOU to Matchbox for being around to answer your questions while my website was sitting on the e-mail queue.

Also, I removed the spam comments... Sorry about not catching those earlier.

Hi Eric (and everyone else),

I just forked out an uncomfortable amount of money to replace my cooked 7900gs with a refurbished 7950 gtx.

I am running Win 7. I think I read in a comment that you did not need to use the modded drivers to run the card as Win7 found suitable drivers itself. Did I get that right? Is it still worth using the modded drivers?

Thanks for the help and the great blog post.

@Ed:

That is correct.  Win7 x86 (32bit) and x64 (64bit) both found the card and install decent drivers.

Now, would I trust them for high performance 3d gaming?  Nah, I'd use the modded drivers.  :)

@Everyone:

And I said it before, and I'll say it again.  Just install 32-bit version of OS.  Since there is only 3.25 GB usable, you will actually be wasting a little memory with the larger block sizes of 64bit.

I found that the drivers installed by Win 7 gave the lowest temperatures. 3-5 degrees lower even at idle.

Hi y'all again!!

@KennySVG

yup 3-5C makes sense if the card was downclocked by the default vga drivers :) Gaming might not be horrible but it's best to go with nvidia or laptopvideo2go's drivers.

@Eric

Thanks for the kind words mate, I shed a man tear of appreciation :P

@Camero, even if it's a different form factor, it DOESN"T mean the card won't work. All that matters is that it fits.

Go here to see what cards have been tested with what and what have worked.

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread230162.html

@Everyone / Anyone who knows

Just some follow up, the battery mod had a LOT of issues working correctly. I've decided to either buy or build an expresscard slot fan and a hot air extractor, then build baffles with foam and make, yes make, a radiator, because I'm going to attempt to force the fx 3600M to work, just to get one last kick out of the inspirons.

And yes, I was wrong, the nvidia tables were updated with A10 but strangely it didn't provide support for the 3600M.

So here's my idea and what I need help on.

I need,

A piece of rectangular copper about 1"x4" and the thickness of a regular copper shim.

More AS5 :P duh.

An easy way to make holes in the hinge cover without weakening it too much.

to know how to adjust the voltage coming from a dell 150W power adapter through soldering to go from 0-apx12V.

To know if the INVERTER on the LCD PANEL controls brightness through voltage, and if so, if it can be seperately powered directly from the ac adapter with the voltage mod as per above.

That last one is key to beating this things issue. It works and even gives good scores in an inspiron, it's just the damn lack of inverter control.

I may also try an inverter from an M6300 to see if it's more the inverter than the system bios lacking support for gpu brightness control.

Any answers and help would be appreciated. The battery pack fan mod didn't pump enough air into the chasis to be a good enough case fan, but the idea is solid, if the hinge cover is completely off.

Also please note that flashing for overclocking is no longer needed, the only way to overclock the CL ram timings is to buy 800mhz ram, which will automatically downclock to 667 4-4-4-12 once booted in an inspiron, that it's possible to flash an inspiron into an overclockable xps, and finally that notebookforums.com is a way better resource for your questions. Many have been asked over there and I live over there forum wise typically.

If you really wanna flash for fun, http://web.unbc.ca/~prior/m1715/news.html

thats the best place to grab the stuff needed from me.

Hoping for answers, and hope to see you guys over on notebookforums ! :)

Hi again everyone:

I'm starting to get things together to do this mod on my 1705....I wound up recently purchasing a new PC, so I feel safer knowing I have a reliable computer to use if I goof up anything while I make changes ;-)

In a reply to me above, Matchbox mentioned that a good physical cleanup of the machine's interior would be a good starting point. I think that is very wise, since it may help performance now and will also help eliminate any problems with the mod caused by dust and so on. If anyone knows of a good list of instructions on doing this for a 1705, I would be very grateful.

I'm very new to this, and would love a website or blog that walks you through it step by step.  I've checked the Dell site, and although I can get specs on removing the cover and so on, what I find about cleaning is a bit vague to me. And, there is the timeless question "Do I dust or vacuum first, and with what brand of furniture polish?"  :-D  I do know to not use anything like that, lol, but I'd love an overview of the basics, and some tips on what to do if I find anything that is particularly stubborn....as well as someone to point out "This may look like dirt, but it isn't so leave it alone!"

I will look up graphics cards and memory this weekend, as well as the cost of an upgrade or brand new install to Windows 7. (@Eric: thanks again for that tip, I agree it is a good starting point!)  I'll give a shout when I ahve more info.

Thanks very much,

Emmie

@Everyone:

For the record, Microsoft now lets you install Office and Windows 7 on up to 3 or so machines - legally.

So, buy one copy - install it on everyone's computer in the house.  

-E

@Matchbox

Actually, I didn't see any performance or clock speed differences with the different drivers. I had compared the Win 7 drivers to the LaptopVideo2Go modded inf driver. Performance was about the same, 3d Mark scores were about the same also. The only difference was the temperatures. When I was using Win XP, the same occured for Dell Drivers vs LaptopVideo2Go.

I like your ideas with getting the FX3600M into the E1705. I already chickened out after getting the same brightness issue with the A10 bios and instead bought a used M6300 with a bad FX3600M on ebay. When it arrives I'll drop in my FX3600M which I had also grabbed on ebay for $170 (Dell sealed refurb). Of course I'm gonna bake the FX3600M that's in the lappy now to breathe some new life into it; From what the seller described, usual artifacts that the 7900 series was also famous for.

i will need a vrise

Sorry, been gone a while.

@Emmie

No vaccumming, and no unnessicary overspeeding of the fans.

The inspiron is pretty easy to do, but for a step by step there is a service manual on the dell website

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins9400/en/sm/index.htm

there you go.

The hardest part is honestly the hinge cover, and that's just fear. Be sure to rub a good magnet on a screwdriver to magnetize it, and take out your harddrive and battery! :)

You'll see the dust bunnies in there, just remove with fingers, clean with compressed air and isopropyl alcohol 95%ish. That should be enough to bring temps back down.

@KennySVG

Where'd you get your m6300 3600m from which ebay guy? I'm attempting to contact a chinese company and a ukrainian guy for them. And for how much? And which drivers provided the lower temps? (Possibly just the activation of powermizer but still) I've just never seen a precision 3600m on ebay. Only the mxm version for asus.

Keep you all appraised, maybe someone will find this useful to upgrade their insipiron's a third time :P

And also, which

@Matchbox

I got the 3600m from a seller named yooperwannab for $172.

The Dell/Windows7 drivers provided better temps over the Nvidia/LaptopVideo2Go drivers with no performance differences.

mine has a windows error recovery screen and it let's me choose from Launch Startup Repair" and Start Windows Normally" and i chose both and still get nowere.   wut is wrong and can someone please help? and i dnt have

@Jabrie:

I apologize but this blog post is about upgrading (hacking) the hardware of the Dell 1705 laptop.  Not really a debug forum, as there are so many reasons why you may be getting that screen.

Others may have some websites to suggest.  But, I recommend inserting your Windows disk and boot off of it, choose Repair and let it repair the startup files.

Outside of that, or if you don't have the disk, there are dozens upon dozens of issues that can cause that.  From viruses to spyware to bad disk sectors to deleting the wrong files.  It's just too much to list and/or support here.

If you are not able to perform any of these diagnostics, I recommend taking it to your local Office Max where they do PC repair for a minimal fee.

Good luck!

@Matchbox:

Thanks, that does help!  I've replaced the keyboard on this machine once, and had to remove the hinge cover to do that.  You are right, there is a fear factor... "OMG, it's gonna snap in half!" Slow and steady pressure wins the day.  Removing the hard drive...::gulp::  I can manage it though.  

And I agree with Eric, a huge thank you to Matchbox for being so helpful, and to everyone contributing on here, it is great to watch people come together and help each other like this :-)

@Jabrie:  I have tried the Dell Support forums before, and found them to be very helpful.  They do have one forum for software issues, and another one for spyware/virus/malware/etc.  Perhaps you could ask there and get some feedback on your issue; based on Eric's observations, it sounds like it might be a good place to start.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/default.aspx

Good luck!

Hello all,

I posted on here earlier as I performed an upgrade on the basis of this page. My GPU fan failed a few weeks ago and on the basis of the confidence I gained from this page I diagnosed the problem, ordered a second hand fan on ebay (the fans, at least new ones in the UK appear to be very hard to find !) and it seems to have solved the problem. So thanks for a second time.

Paul.

This blog is damn awesome. . .

I learned a lot from it. . .

I just want to ask a question if FX2500 7900GTX 512MB video card would fit and would be compatible with my dell inspiron 1545 with Dell 0G848F and intel gm45/gm47 chipset?

Any response would help. . .Thanx in advance. . .

@IT_student

No, these dedicated video cards will not fit in your machine. The Inspiron 1545 has an integrated video solution and cannot be upgraded.

thanx,.,at first i thought it's video card is replaceble just by looking at it,.,

but by the way,.,thanx

I just thought I'd drop by again and let people know that I had to replace the LCD back cover and hinges on my Inspiron 9400. I bought both items brand new off eBay from a UK user and carried out the necessary replacement myself just fine.

I've also recently installed Windows 7 on my Inspiron and I'm loving it. Luckily the x1400 can still handle all the Aero graphics fine, so transparency is not a problem; not bad for an ancient GPU.

I plan on cleaning out my laptop eventually and replacing the TIM on both the CPU and GPU to drive down temperatures, but as I only have one laptop, and I use it as my main computer, I'll have to wait a while longer. Until then, I'll just keeping using compressed air to get rid of any dust by the air vents.

Anyway, good to see this site is still going strong and people are still enjoying their Inspirons.

Uhm so if a mobo has intel gma graphics,.,that means it is no longer upgraddable unless you change the whole set,.,am i right>?

@IT_student: That is correct.  Intel GMA graphics is onboard, and cannot be replaced with the procedures described on this blog.

Someone emailed lately about LCD issues with their E1705.  And then I remembered a company that sells aftermarket "LCD Upgrades" for laptops (you service it yourself, obviously).

http://www.laptopscreen.com/English/section/search/index.php?section=products&model=INSPIRON+E1705&brand=Dell

Not sure on the quality of the product or how compatible.  But, there they are.  :)

this is probably too simple for a response but need help. I have a Inspiron E1705 and am attempting to upgrade memory to 4GB. I purchased the Kingston 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300 ram. Installed it and the computer would not boot, nor did anything show on the screen. I have read the above posts and don't see anything (and yes I might have missed it) that would indicate that there is any jumpers or other changes to be made prior to installing. Help. Please. Thanks.

bucheman@gmail.com

@Steve: Most likely the ram is invalid, or not compatible.  Try removing one of the sticks, and swapping them to have only 1 chip in at a time.

Also, try to put in your older ram to see if it still boots.

Should narrow it down.

Hello,

I havent been here in a while, and I can say that it has grown =D. When I changed to windows 7 my computer recognizes my card as a Quadro NVS 510m.....it should be 7900 GTX 512mb. Everytime I try any drivers, it says it doesnt find a compatible card....EVEN when I download the quadro drivers. I can only install the microsoft provided ones off windows updaate. Am I losing performance? what can I do?

@Mike: Welcome back!

Interesting.  It would seem you have a slightly different brand of a 7900 GTX 512MB.  You can find your card here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVIDIA_Quadro#Mobile_applications

It would seem you have a nearly identical card!  The card which I have, and others here is spec'd as such:

Quatro FX 2500M 512MB

--

CPU Type: G71GLM

Core Speed: 500 Mhz (stock)

Memory Speed: 600 Mhz (stock)

The card you have is spec'd as such:

Quatro NVS 510M

--

CPU Type: G72GLM (newer generation)

Core Speed: UNknown

Memory Speed: Unknown

Sadly, the wikipedia article doesn't list the core and memory speeds.  Take a look at the entry for the NVS 300M.  It lists the speed of 450/500.  I'm willing to bet yours is clocked the same as ours, at 500/600.

Also note one big change: your NVS 510M is available with up to 1 GB of ram!  The older 2500M/3500M series is capped at 512 MB.  Nice.

Want to make your first Wikipedia entry?!?!  I do!  :)  Here's how, we need to get the stock timing speeds of your NVS 510M.  Download this app, called GPU-Z (just like CPU-Z, but tells you about your video card):

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

Write another comment here, or email them to me (using the Contact link in the header).  Would love to edit a Wikipedia entry.  :)

Enjoy! -E

@Eric: Thank you for the welcome!

Okay so I did exactly what you said. Looks like you were right on the money!

GPU Clock: 500MHz

Memory: 600MHz

Pixel Fillrate: 8.0 GPixel/s

Memory Bandwidth: 38.4

Memory Size: 512MB

Its a 9.0c card with SM3.0

Pretty much the same as your cards. =D

So im confused....there is a 1gb ram version!?!? Or is like I can somehow add it with my current system RAM? Thats awesome!

Thanks for your help, its much much appreciated!!

Also it says my GPU is G71M

Edited!  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro#Mobile_applications

No, you can't upgrade the card.  The memory is part of the card itself.  You'd have to find a 1 GB video card version of yours (and I am guessing that won't be cheap).  512 is more than enough fo rhte 7900.  You're fine.

notebookcheck.com provides a pretty good benchmark for ALL mobile gpus. I just got a Quadro 3600M, so I'll see about getting it to work inside this beast when I get my new HD and therefore Win7. The 7950go gtx is still not bad, it beats out current Class2 cards. But I mean. I get 3d Mark 05 scores of close to 11,000, and the newer cards rape that benchmark with more than double that score. The 3600M also rapes it there too. Anyone with electronics experience I'd love to get help from you.

I'm also looking for a sort of shim for the gpu card itself, a very thin piece of copper thats also fairly long (my idea is to have it long enough to be going right out of the gpu cards radiator and act as an almost direct radiator to the gpu before it hits the heatsinks. I'll be AS5ing some Ram copper heat sinks onto that strip of metal, supporting it with foam and hopefully getting a fan that can blow air through the expresscard slot to get airflow right past this new radiator for this new gpu. Plus making a new exit point which will essentially be a shit load of little holes in the hinge cover.

I need someone with electronics experience because the card isn't compatible with the inverter I have and I need a way to feed the exact current and voltage to the inverter itself with the ability to change the current I give it as I so choose with either a seperate circuit or something simple. OBviously the simpler the better. Even If I could have a switch to change between gpu controlled (lowest brightness) and my circuit or what not (highest brightness) that would even work. I don't care if it's pulling current off of the AC adapter, or USB ports, or wherever else. Just could use some ideas and help. The card will work, just with no inverter control at all. Apparently newer inverters don't help and it's more a bios issue.

I currently have the 7900 GS and wanted to upgrade to the best possible card I can, is there any DX10 cards we can use in the e1705?

I also have a T7200, running XP and would like to upgrade to windows 7.

also will this card support WDDM 1.1?

Great long running blog entry!

@Tony

Well, scroll up 2 or 3 comments and you'll see that Mike has a NVS 510S that works in the 1705 - and it's available with up to 1 GB of ram.  The 1 GB may be helpful if you have a 120hz monitor, but that's about it.

But no, there are no DX10 cards for our machines - much less a DX11 card.  Just time to upgrade machines if you want them.

Perhaps others on here, like Matchbox's hacking, could help.

Thanks Eric, maybe I'll look into the 512mb card for an upgrade. And the 4gb of RAM is good news and something I'm willing to upgrade.

As for DX10 or 11, looks like it's time to build a new gaming PC.

@ Tony

The fx 1600m is the equivilent of a 8700gt, dx10, and will work completely. It's preformance is on par with the fx2500m though.

Still working at getting the fx3600m (8800m gtx) to work in this.

By the way, anyone with an overclockable cpu (t7600g) can now use them in your e1705s and overclock using a program called throttlestop. Even without bios support. Oh how things change

Eric this laptop is old....i mean i think i have had mine for 4-5 years....but it seems you have the key to reviving these beasts! My question i hope is simple, as i am a noob to all this. According to what i see in here the FX2500M is the way to go....has the least problems. I see the 3500m and the 3600m have brightness issues...i can deal with the case modification...but software changes are a bit above my level. With that said...with just the case modifications will i be able to plug n play a FX2500M video card and where is the best place to get the drivers? Also....is it worth it to do the mods now...or should i just by a new laptop?

did some more reading....new question.....between the 2500M and the 7950 gtx...which is better or are they the same? Also, i have windows 7.

@BlacRayne00: The 3500M shouldn't have any issues, from what i can remember.  It's the 3600M that has brightness issues.

The 2500M is a 7950 GTX core. Some seem to have better luck with a card designated as "2500M" instead of just the plain "7950 GTX".  Can't say for sure why though.

As for is it work upgrading?  Well, memory will run ya about $50.  The card, maybe $150 if you watch eBay.  

If you don't have at least the Intel 7200 CPU ($90) (or 7400 or 7600 - $130), then you can do for a CPU upgrade as well as the 7200+ series has 2MB of cache.  But really, the newer series quad core laptop cpus start at 3MB of cache and go up from there, for comparison.  Prices are from http://pricewatch.com  Search for "Intel 7200".

So all in all, that's about $350 upgrading w/CPU plus time tracking things down.  With the risk of bad video cards on eBay (seems to be a common issue).

Single best upgrade though is a SSD drive.  The battery life, plus boot times is really nice! The good news is you can use the SSD in all newer laptops, when you upgrade in a few years.

It's a nice laptop, but I am thinking of selling mine from this blog post actually.  It's been a really good and dependable machine.  Rock solid!  My issue is it doesn't have enough umph for 1080p MKV videos - which is my primary source of entertainment now for the family.  It's beyond what most people use their laptops for.  

Plus, tax write-offs.  :)

@ Eric A. Duncan

Thanks for this amazing post.  I'm another satisfied customer after completing all the upgrades:

CPU - I upgraded to the Intel 7200 and followed your cooling scheme... idle temps dropped from 55 to 34C!  I had idle temps as low as 28C before upgrading the GPU.  My fans rarely kick on and usually only in low speed.

GPU - I'm running windows XP 32 bit and had problems finding the correct driver.  After much trial and error, version 257.21 fixed artifacts, flickers, and occasional BSOD.  For awhile, I thought I had a bad 2nd hand card, but it was just the driver.  Here is the link for those who are still using XP 32 bit:

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/26923-v25721-windows-xp-32bit-nvidia-desktop/

Memory - This was an easy upgrade... I wish I had known years ago that the e1705 could handle 4 GB (3.25 actual).

Hard Disk - I upgraded about 6 months ago to 320GB, enough to hold my data libraries.

@BlacRayne00 and potential upgraders:

New machine versus upgrade?  Good question.  I've tinkered with computers since the 1970's and at one time or another used almost every brand and OS from Commodore 64, Apple ][, PCs, Macs, and Unix.  I've found that there are three reasons to change hardware:

1.  Performance - hardware is not fast enough

2.  Reliability - crashes and failures = lost data

3.  Compatibility - can't run software or can't communicate with others

Eric's CPU, memory, GPU and HD upgrades focus on the first item: Performance.  After the dozens of machines that I've used over the decades, I've found that the best combo is a more current machine running older software.  I'm currently using 2006 hardware (perhaps 2007 with e1705 upgrades) with 2001-2005 vintage software.  If I upgraded to 2010 software, such as Adobe CS5 suites, I'm certain that I would be unhappy with the e1705 performance.  So, ask yourself, do you REALLY need the latest version of software to do your work (or play a game)?  Personally, I'm very pleased with its new performance after the upgrade.

The second item: Reliability.  I've also found that the e1705 to be "Rock Solid" (quoting Eric) and one of the most reliable laptops that I've ever used.  I've also owned bad machines (such as the Powerbook 190CS) and data loss means wasted time... my time.  I've only had a handful of freezes with the e1705 over the years, but for the most part, it's been a very faithful PC.

Finally:  Compatibility is always the driving force for me to upgrade.  Running common software at work, home, and school, is an important consideration if you are sharing files with others.  Nothing worse than to try to open a PowerPoint file at an executive presentation and not have the fonts display properly due to OS/version differences (been there!)  Compatibility also implies that you can run the software that you want to run on your PC.  If I can't run a CAD or statistics program for my work, then it's time to consider options.

Upgrading the e1705 is about $350.  Switching to a new PC is not just the cost of a new PC, but also upgrading software, potentially replacing peripherals, and time spent tweaking the OS and preferences.  If I upgraded to a new OS 7, 64 bit laptop, the cost would be in the thousands to buy new hardware and upgrading to 64 bit software.  

It took me about 3-4 hours to complete the upgrade, including applying AS5 and finding the correct driver.  Overall, it was a straight forward process and I want to thank Eric (and other contributors on the this post)for the simple directions.

I'm glad that I added a few more years of life to my E1705.  Someday I'll need to buy a new PC (or Mac) but for now I have a great PC that just works.  It's fast, reliable, and runs the software to get the job done (or play Starcraft II)

Jim B

@Jim:

What an excellent comment!  On the behalf of all of us, thank you!

Yes, you've narrowed down the 3 main reasons why to upgrade.  And I could not have said it better.

Good job man.

OT: Next month will be 3 years since I upgraded (post was in December)!

And I am writing this post from the very laptop.  Thanks again everyone!

Long time fan the site but first time posting.

I don't know if you guys are known about the class action lawsuit that relates to the NVIDIA chips inside certain Dell, HP, and Apple notebook.

For more information check this link.

WWW.NVIDIASettlement.com

@Cong:

Very interesting class-action lawsuit!  That seems to be the very issue most of us experience after the upgrade!  

Problem is, none of our systems qualify if it had the ATI x1400 128/256 (like I did).  I went through pretty much all of it, and saw where the lawsuit only affects those that had an nVidia chip before the upgrade.  If any ofyou did, and you had "issues", it sounds like you can qualify.

Good find man.