Took me almost all night but today I finished my conversion! I9300(A05), 2.0Ghz, 2gb ram, Geforce Go 6800, Wxga (1440x900) converted to I9300(XPS2A01), Pin modded1.8->2.4Ghz(1.596v((VID#4))), 2bg ram, Geforce Go7800GTX, WUXGA (1920x1200). Currently on my second hour of Prime95 temps topping at 64C.
I had started another thread a couple weeks back about my 9300 getting the vertical line syndrome and I missed the recall by about...3+ years. So I decided to try to upgrade my LCD (WUXGA matte $114) and after the first attempt failed due to a bad CCFL bulb got my second one in and had the same issue! Switched inverters and now it works fantastic, except my brightness setting keys (Fn+up arrow or down arrow) are now reversed(???) but thats a tiny issue I can live with. I went ahead and ordered the 9-cell battery ($25) and 130W AC adapter ($28) as per the 7800GTX thread and tried to call dell to order a HF594 and they wanted $416 USD!!! For a 5 year old part! They said it was in limited supply....I called back and asked for the CG part # and that was $599+!!! Found one on ebay from a reputable seller with 100% for $250 which is still pretty damn steep but I couldn't resist. I want to keep using my 9300 for as long as possible, plus its fun to tinker :) HF594 is pretty badass compared to the vanilla 6800 and Im gonna start clocking it as soon as I get windows reinstalled when my p95 is good and stable.
As for the pinmod (Pentium M 745 1.8Ghz $20). When i first PMed it, it wouldn't show as 2.4 and just stayed at 1.8! I was getting pretty pissed as I reseated my pin about 4 times until I tried a different wire. The first wire I used was copper from a cheap pair of Philips earbuds and I think that it was too thin to get proper contact so I cut open an old cell phone charger and pulled out the copper wires from that which I could tell was a little thicker as it wasn't as pliable. Dropped in the new wire and voila! 2.4Ghz! Unfortunately I could only get to the Windows XP splash screen with the loading bar on the bottom and it would freeze. :( I dled TrueVolt ( AWESOME Utility!! Thank you so much!!) and started ramping the volts. My stock voltage was 1.340 so I grounded VID#0 and VID#1 for 1.388 volts and it failed p95 within 5 seconds. Then did VID#0 and VID#2 for 1.420 and again failed p95 within about 10 seconds. Then VID #1 and VID#2 for 1.436 and again failed p95 pretty quick. On to VID#0, 1 , and 2 for 1.452 and still failed p95 in about 10 seconds!! I gave up for the night and woke up today and had to try once more. Grounded VID#4 (insert evil laughter) for 1.596!!!! But p95 is going strong at the moment with fans on high max temp 64c which is pretty high in my book. I lapped my heatsink a bit with some 2000grit and was going to do it to the CPU as well but it was already flat as hell with a perfect mirror surface so I just applied some Thermalright Chill Factor and went for it. I've got some washers to put under the screws of the heatsink to get some more pressure on the the CPU and we'll see if that reduces temps some more.My 7800 GTX came with some new compound already on it ( I could see a little coming out the side) so I left it alone for the time being, we'll see how temps are when I start clocking it, plus I need a Torx set.
I read all the posts on this thread, Extreme Pin Modding guide and Upgrading I9300 with 7800GTX and just wanted to say thank you everyone!! All of your posts were incredibly helpful and I had quite some fun doing this mod, Makes my i9300 feel brand spankin' new! Thanks again. Let me know if I can help any of you.
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