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Inspiron 5100 upgrade question

post #1 of 3
1/24/08 at 3:17am
Thread Starter 
Hi,

I have this 4.5+ years old Dell Inspiron 5100. The desktop replacement series, has a 2.4GHz processor. Has the oh so visible heating problems and things like that. After a few hours of run, the processor speed comes down (due to heating) to a real low. Then it cant even play a normal dvd movie.

All of this made me think about 1. selling this out, or 2. upgrading the system in such a way that i can use it better.

The 2nd option I like more, and therefore writing here. I checked already the dell upgrade page for this notebook. It talks about upgrading memory, and external hard dis k kind of things, but not motherboard (it has 133 MHz RAM speed) or the processor (I would love to have a core duo or something like that).

Can anyone suggest something on this line ? Some hardware store, suggested places, ideas for this kind of upgrade, experience, all such thoughts are welcome.

I have also been thinking of buying a cooling kit kind of thing. However, I have absolutely no idea how it would turn out in reality. Has anybody used something like that ?

Please share experiences.

Looking forward to responses.

regards
raghav..
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post #2 of 3
1/25/08 at 3:54am
Absolutely not feasible to upgrade in the way you are thinking. There are no motherboards out there at the moment that would be compatible with that form factor... plus when you figure in the cost of upgrading motherboard, CPU, memory, etc... it is not worth it. Even if you just upgrade the CPU, memory and hard disk in that to the best you can, you are still gonna be waaaaay behind the 8-ball technology wise and will cost you a fair amount.

Sell it and buy a new one. You will get something much faster, with less effort and not much more cost.

Stu
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post #3 of 3
1/31/08 at 3:15am
Thread Starter 
Hi,

1. First problem that I am facing, I have this problem upgrading my bios version. I am running A06. I tried to download that newer version, but that one doesnt install saying that its not running on a Dell computer. weird... !!! When I run the BIOS updater program from Dell support, it says that my current system is from Phoenix Technologies Ltd. and not Dell. Weird...

2. I have come to understand that the 5100 model contains a pentium 4 chip that was desktop model, and 5150 contained a mobile version of pentium 4 chip. I "assume" that the mobile version would generate less heat and therefore might be a better fitment.

3. I understand that a newer/faster cpu will generate more heat, but here I am not looking primarily for higher speed or something similar. I am more focussing on making this thing usable here. Currently with its heat issues and the speed that it goes down to, this thing is almost unusable. So, if I can find a cpu that can fit in, and allow the system to be at better speed and usability, I would love that.

Pls suggest.

regards
raghav..
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