A31 cpu upgrade

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a31pguy · #35 Post by **a31pguy** » Mon May 30, 2005 3:07 pm

Yes - any of these will work. Later Steppings are preferred over earlier steppings. Improvements in wafer materials, forge processes, and microcode bug fixes are indicated by later steps in CPU series.

Lower thermals are preferable to higher thermals in a mobile configuration - but should not be of utmost concern since the Pentium 4-M is designed to withstand a much higher core temperature.

I have the P4-m 2.4 Ghz "SL6VC" model in my a31p. Microcode updates to the CPU are handled by the BIOS but you can also check manually for any updates by using a utility from intel.

I also installed the Intel Application Accelerator 2.2.2 which takes advantage of the i845MP chipset and Pentium 4-M CPU bandwidth. I highly recommend this in combination with a 5400 rpm or higher speed drive.

jack NYC · #36 Post by **jack NYC** » Mon May 30, 2005 3:29 pm

I would like to nominate A31pguy as having the most blazin A31p on the planet and also the best answers to the most obscure questions we can come up with!!!

a

Jack

Trying to keep up!

a31pguy · #37 Post by **a31pguy** » Mon May 30, 2005 4:32 pm

as having the most blazin A31p on the planet

Is that like having the fastest AMC gremlin on the planet?

Mike O'Hanlon · #38 Post by **Mike O'Hanlon** » Tue May 31, 2005 9:19 am

Thanks A31pGuy...

It just remains for me to find one of those processors at (or get one to) the bottom of Africa!

Incidentally, do your comments about the Intel Application Accelerator and the i845MP chipset apply equally to the A31 as well as the A31p?

(I've had a 5400 rpm HD for a year or two... now considering 7200 rpm)

Thanks again...

a31pguy · #39 Post by **a31pguy** » Tue May 31, 2005 10:01 am

Yes - the a31 has the same chipset so it will work the same. On the processor, you could buy from ebay and have it shipped anywhere in the world.

Mike O'Hanlon · #40 Post by **Mike O'Hanlon** » Tue May 31, 2005 10:07 am

eBay is a bit funny about South African credit cards, but I'll make a plan!

wolfman · #41 Post by **wolfman** » Tue May 31, 2005 10:54 am

Thanks for the tip on the intel application accelerator a31pguy - did you happen to benchmark to get an idea of the improvement the replacement ATA drivers provided? I have a 7200 rpm disk and I'd like to try this tonight. Thanks!

a31pguy · #42 Post by **a31pguy** » Tue May 31, 2005 12:48 pm

It was pretty hard to quantify in terms of raw performance numbers. It seems the Intel Application Accelerator is a hybrid of a cache pre-fetch driver and a Ultra ATA 100 driver. I could only find a 1-3 Mb increase in the raw numbers - but the real benefit seems to be in the caching pre-fetch portion. Outlook loads in less than a second on my system whereas before it would take up to 5 seconds. The acceleration part works for XP/2000 native apps - so any old DOS app may be no improvement. But HL2 is faster!!

Here are some PC Wizard 2005 hdd benchmarks after the upgrade (on a 5400 rpm drive with an 8 Mb cache buffer):

Sequential Write : 21.37 MB/s
Sequential Read : 27.62 MB/s
Buffered Write : 61.90 MB/s
Buffered Read : 73.91 MB/s

But this drive is 35% fragmented so it may not be the best benchmark.

But it also doesn't show the whole picture. The IAA seems to work well with the drive's cache and keep some apps ready to go. Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing Computers recommends large cache sizes to improve overall performance. This seems in-line with that notion.

a31pguy · #43 Post by **a31pguy** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:38 pm

Update - graphics card on the motherboard is on the fritz today. I'm thinking heat was to cause. LCD is showing Pixel bleeding - but the LCD is brand new. IBM is replacing entire system board. I can see why everyone is switching to the Penitum M chipset - runs much cooler.

Mike O'Hanlon · #44 Post by **Mike O'Hanlon** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:02 am

Hi A31p Guy,

Thanks for the update. Sorry to hear about your graphics card woes.
Does the 2.4 chip run noticably hotter than your original 1.8?
If so I might re-think my plan to upgrade my 1.6 to a 2.4.

a31pguy · #45 Post by **a31pguy** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 11:44 am

The 2.4 GHz CPU does run hotter - but I don't think it was the CPU but overclocking ATI 7800 GPU. IBM replaced the motherboard. Everything is back in working order.

sarbin · #46 Post by **sarbin** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:00 am

Hey a31pguy...

From your sig I see you've got an Intel 2200BG. Did you need to change the antenna or was the card plug-and-play? I've got a 2.4ghz N5U also and I think the original wireless mini-pci card is munged. For the price I see for these cards, I'm willing to buy one just to try it, but don't want to mess with the antenna.

Thanks for any info you may provide!

a31pguy · #47 Post by **a31pguy** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:56 am

Nope - straight up plug and play. No changes except Intel network drivers and updating IBM Access Connections to the latest.

sarbin · #48 Post by **sarbin** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 1:57 am

a31pguy wrote:Nope - straight up plug and play. No changes except Intel network drivers and updating IBM Access Connections to the latest.

great! thanks for the info! oops... one more question... i did some searching and it appears that the 2200bg is not a combo wlan/modem card like the stock card. have you given up dial-up modem capability?

thanks again!

a31pguy · #49 Post by **a31pguy** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 10:30 am

Nope - I have a pcmcia modem for if and when I need it.

a31pguy · #50 Post by **a31pguy** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:08 am

FYI - On the topic of the modem. Looks like the IBM Bluetooth BDC III card w/modem will give back modem function and have an improved bluetooth stack. Just ordered one - we'll see.

A31 cpu upgrade

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