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I have a dell inspiron 1545 laptop, duo core 2.3 ghz processor, 3 gigs of PC2-6400(400 MHz) ddr2 ram, 200mhz bus speed, 800 mhz FSB. 45nm, 35w, socket p (478), 1mb L2 cache, and a Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family "graphics card". My question is same as the title subject. Would a T9600 or t9900 processor work with this machine? It matchs all the speaks but im not sure if it will work. I can have a max of 8 gigs of ram and i was wondering if adding the 8 gigs and one of these processors if it would make it worth wild? It would cost about 250 -300 to do it. But im not sure if the mother board has a max GHZ limit or...if MB's even have limits on processors..i just dont know. So can i add one of these bad boys or no?

I wouldn't guarantee it exactly, but if you have a laptop that came with a T4200, then the T9600 shares the same socket and will fit physically. The issue is more of a chipset issue - officialy, the GL40 chipset only supports up to an 800MHz bus where the T9600 uses a 1066MHz bus, but just for fun I upgraded a Compaq CQ56 with that same chipset to a T9400, which is a 2.53GHz CPU on the same bus, and it worked out fine.

I'd be concerned most about heat. They might both be 35W CPUs but practically speaking, the T9400 gets hotter than the T4200 that it replaced. Not enough to be uncomfortable or to overheat, but another couple hundred MHz might make a difference, I don't know.

If you can get a P-series Core 2 Duo cheaply, like a P9600, those are 25W CPUs and it'll physically fit as well. They're all over ebay for not much money.

Is there any reason to believe the CPU isn't soldered on to the motherboard? I haven't seen a laptop with a socket in as long as I can remember....

Beelzebubba9 wrote:

Is there any reason to believe the CPU isn't soldered on to the motherboard? I haven't seen a laptop with a socket in as long as I can remember....

Tons of them. For example: most Thinkpads except for X-series had socketed CPUs.

The reason to think the socket isn't soldered would be i took the panel off and looked at it and it wasn't soldered.

Outside of Apple's portables, I don't think I've worked on a recent (<5 years old) laptop with a soldered CPU.

Beelzebubba9 wrote:

Is there any reason to believe the CPU isn't soldered on to the motherboard? I haven't seen a laptop with a socket in as long as I can remember....

With no disrespect intended, I do not think you have had one open in a long time then.

Aside from netbooks and ULV-processor notebooks, the vast majority of notebooks use a socketed processor. If they did not, you would need a mainboard production line for every different configuration. It would greatly complicate production and increase costs, as well as increase repair costs. I have upgraded probably a hundred laptop processors over the past 3-4 years.

Socket M - First generation Core Duo, first generation Core 2 Duo
Socket P - Second and third generation Core 2 Duo

The Inspiron 1545 uses Socket P. What processors are supported depends mostly on the chipset.

Intel 945 - Core 2 Duo Merom (most, if not all 945 chipset laptops are Socket M)
Intel 965 - Core 2 Duo Merom, first generation Core 2 Duo Penryn (800MHz FSB only)
Intel 4-series chipset - Core 2 Duo Merom, first and second generation Core 2 Duo Penryn (up to 1066MHz FSB)

Intel also made budget chipsets, the 940GML and 943GML. These are severely limited; the 940GML is limited mostly to Celeron-M and Core Solo chipsets, while the 943GML will support some Core 2 processors, though laptops with these chipsets often use single-core processors for the stock configuration.

The Inspiron 1545 uses a GM45 (a 4-series) chipset, and the T4200 processor is a Penryn-3M core, 800MHz FSB. I would recommend going to a Core 2 P8600 processor, which is still a good deal faster than the T4200, less, expensive than the T9600, and less power-hungry. Anything higher-end will cost so much more that you might as well put the money towards a new laptop and sell this one.

P.S. A 2GB memory module isn't too expensive. Now might be the time to go to 4GB.

this laptop has a t4500 in it. What about the fsb limit tho? Is there a limit on this one? I have found the t9000 series processors on ebay sold by seller that have been selling thru ebay for a while and have good reps for under a hundred dollars.

Nevermind i figured it out. The GM45 chipset i have has a max of 1066 mhz fsb...says it right here http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/datasheet/320122.pdf But would the motherboard have any other restrictions to it?

It's going to depend on your BIOS.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

It's going to depend on your BIOS.

Fortunately, Dell has what is probably the most permissive BIOS code of any vendor.

Bought an Inspiron 1520 (i965 laptop) for a parent, and took it from a very base-level Core 2 to a Penryn-core T8100 without issue. The 1545 shouldn't have issues upgrading, but as its not quite as thick as the 1520 (which shared its design with the Vostro line) it doesn't have quite as good of a cooling design (not as much ventilation space).

The T9xxx series run warmer, having more cache. The P9xxx Penryns are improved and run a bit cooler, but are the most expensive options. I'd still recommend the P8600 or P8700 as the best processors in the bang-for-the-buck department, as they run relatively cool and perform well. Clockspeed is a bigger deal than cache.

I know this is an old thread, but I have almost an identical question and didn't want to waste a new thread.

I have a Dell Inspiron N5030 Pentium Dual-Core CPU T4500 2.30GHz and would like to upgrade the processor to a 2.80GHz. I found the "Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 2.80 GHz" processor online to buy, but I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to hardware and would like to know if the this new processor is compatible for my laptop?

(Here is some additional information on my laptop: Windows 7 Home Premium/Service Pack 1; 64-bit Operating System; 2.3 GHz Intel Pentium T4500 dual-core processor with 1 MB L2 cache and 800 MHz front side bus; 320 GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM); 4 GB of installed DDR3 RAM (1333 MHz); Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD with support for DirectX 10 games; 8x multi-format DVD drive supports reading/writing of CD-R/RW, DVD±R, DVD±RW, DVD±R DL, and DVD-RAM;)

ABSOLUTELY!!!! I'm running it now on my 1545.Didn't believe it would work because the upgrade from t4200 w/1mb cache to T9600 w/6mb cache.YOU MUST UPGRADE the bios to A14 bios version and then after installing t9600 hit F2 and check the box for Virtualization and it will work NO OVERHEATING Issues whatsoever! Yahoooooooo! Mine runs great Aldo 369