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Fastest CPU for MX3215, DDR2 version?

post #1 of 24
1/3/07 at 12:41am
Thread Starter 
My question is what is the fastest usable CPU for the MX3215 notebook? I upgraded to a pentium m 740 (1.73 ghz) and it shows that it's a 1.73ghz cup but on the following line it says 1.3 ghz, 960 mb of ram. Did the computer somehow downgrade the cpu so that it's constantly running at 1.3 ghz? Any help would be appreciated!
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post #2 of 24
1/3/07 at 5:31am
Pentium M has speedstep, so it throttles down to a lower frequency depending on cpu usage. At the time you checked it the cpu was probably at 1.3ghz. The highest pentium m 533mhz cpu is the 780 2.26ghz.
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post #3 of 24
1/3/07 at 5:41pm
Thread Starter 
I have another question. When I use super pi to stress out the CPU, shouldn't the CPU go at full power, i.e. 1.73 Ghz? When it's doing the calculation it's still reporting as 1.3 ghz. I don't know if that's a product of the speed step or not. Is there a definite way to find our whether it's running at 1.73 or 1.3 ghz? Thanks.
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post #4 of 24
1/4/07 at 1:17am
Try downloading cpu-z, that will tell you the exact speed.
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post #5 of 24
1/4/07 at 2:33am
Thread Starter 
I downloaded cpu-z and also intel cpu id program. I think the problem is that the notebook is locked with a fsb of 399 mhz. Is there a way to force this notebook to 533 mhz fsb?
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post #6 of 24
1/5/07 at 5:26am
What chipset is your notebook? 915i? 855?
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post #7 of 24
1/5/07 at 6:13am
Thread Starter 
if I remember correctly I think it's a vn800 chipset from via. The chipset info in via's web site says it can do FSB of 800/533/400. That's what lead me to buy the 1.73 ghz pentium thinking it could do 533 mhz, but all it does is 399 mhz.
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post #8 of 24
1/5/07 at 6:42am
Have you tried downloading the lated VIA chipset drivers?
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post #9 of 24
1/5/07 at 1:11pm
Thread Starter 
good idea. I haven't tried that yet. I'm using what I found in gateway's web site. Thanks for the suggestion and I'll report back once I get the drivers.
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post #10 of 24
1/6/07 at 4:44am
I tried to do a little bit more research on the VN800 chipset but I only found the description of it with the 800/533/400 support like you did. I would guess the description is for the desktop version since there is no 800mhz fsb pentium m laptop, and it doesn't support the core duos with 667mhz fsb in the laptops so it's only for the single cores. Worst case scenario, your laptop's chipset has the fsb supports capped at 400mhz, or for some strange reason the CPU is not grounded properly to enable the 533mhz, but that would be stranger than strange. I don't know why it would have booted with a 533mhz CPU anyways if it only supports 400mhz, so there has to be an explanation somewhere.
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post #11 of 24
1/6/07 at 3:59pm
Thread Starter 
I'm starting to lean on the fsb being hardware locked. oh well I guess I might sell this cpu if I can't come up with a way to make it run at 533 mhz.
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post #12 of 24
7/1/07 at 3:08am
I´m in the same boat, or worse: bought a generic clone of the FIC LM7W laptops, which uses the VN800 chipset. It came with a Celerom M390 (1.7MHz) CPU, and I upgraded to a Pentium M750 (1.86GHz). Now this CPU runs only at 600MHz! I guess this is the slowest clock SpeedStep would switch the processor to.

My FSB is also locked at 400MHz, and the BIOS setup is very limited in options. I can´t find a BIOS upgrade anywhere also. Does anyone have any idea on where to download a VN800 datasheet? That might help understand how to unlock the higher FSB clocks.

For now I'm buying a M 735, which is 1.7GHz and has 400MHz FSB, identical to the original Celeron, I´ll see if it works that way.

I would love to hear any ideas on what to do to diagnose / solve the problem.

Thanks!

Eduardo
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post #13 of 24
7/1/07 at 3:40am
Use Rightmark Clock Utility to control your CPU. It should give you free control over all EIST features. Your problem doesn't have ANYTHING to do with higher FSB clocks. It is purely a question of higher multipliers of FSB.
If u need help setting up the utility, there should be tutorials on that on the web and in RM Clocks forum or just ask here.
cheers...
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post #14 of 24
7/1/07 at 12:13pm
Man, this is awesome!!! Worked like a charm! Thanks A LOT!

I still have to figure out exactly how to use this little program, but I can see it already solved my multiplier issue. However, FSB is still an issue: the chipset specs say it can do 400 / 533 / 667 MHz, but it´s locked at 400, and my M750 is designed for 533. The result is: instead of running at 1.86GHz, it runs at 1.4GHz, because it´s maximum multiplier is 14x.

Do you know of a way to change the FSB to 533, perhaps using a software like this one you told me? That would completely solve the case! And it will solve the original problem of this thread!

Many thanks once again!

Eduardo
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post #15 of 24
7/2/07 at 5:32am
Actually there is a program for changing FSB on the fly under windows. It is called Clockgen, and can be found here: http://www.cpuid.com/
However, I am not familiar with Intel chipsets, and I don't know how changing the FSB will affect the dependend clocks of ram, agp and pci on your system and if they can be locked in any way, so be careful not to run your laptop out of spec too far. Also I can't give you any advice of which PLL (which is responsible for clock signal generation) to use, but starting with the one listed on the CPUID site for your chipset should make a good start.

cheers
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post #16 of 24
7/2/07 at 5:41am
SetFSB practically does the same thing: http://www13.plala.or.jp/setfsb/
Again: sorry, but I can't give you any advice about which program to use, so it may be a case of trial and error for you.

cheers
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post #17 of 24
7/2/07 at 4:50pm
If your notebook truly supports 533Mhz, then you can pin mod that 735 to 2.13GHz
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post #18 of 24
7/3/07 at 9:17am
Thanks again for all the help!

Well, using ClockGen scared me at first, got some ugly locks on my machine..

But one of the PLL configs worked for me! I could raise my FSB from 100 to 105, but if I raised more than that, I got a lock. It seems there are components inside that have to be kept at 100MHz. This is strange, because the chipset supports 133/533, the memory supports 166/667, and the CPU is meant to be used at 533. Perhaps the PCI bus is getting overclocked? ClockGen has an option to keep PCIE/AGP/PCI buses speeds unchanged, and I used it, but I´m not sure if it really works.

SetFSB can´t recognize my chipset, and I tried the pinmod (well, I guess the pinmod you refer to it the one with the little wire jumper on the CPU socket) but it didn´t work. I read the pinmod is meant for 400 CPUs to run at 533, which is not my case: my CPU is already 533. Is the pinmod also meant to force a chipset to work at 533??

Anyway, if you guys have any other idea, I´ll try it, but you already helped me a lot!! If the FSB is limited to 400, this is not a big deal, the machine is already running very well the way it is now.

Thanks a lot once again!

Eduardo
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post #19 of 24
7/22/07 at 5:32pm
I tried the same thing with my MX3230, but only to try to max my battery life. So I replaced the Celeron M370 1.5GHz with a Pentium M 715 at exactly the same speed but allowing speedstep. I then undervolted using RMClock. Results was about 40% more battery life, as measured using MobileMeter freeware.
In hopes of even more battery life, I would now like to underclock the same VN800 chipset using SpeedFan or ClockGen.
Which Phase Locked Loop (PLL) worked for you?

Thanks!
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post #20 of 24
9/8/07 at 5:58am
hey leo, im looking to do the same thing with my mx3230 except i want make my laptop run cooler so the fan runs less. how much did you undervolt the cpu and did you ever figure out how to underclock the VN800 chipset?
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