Type Northwood P4 Required for Dell 9100

I have had a Dell 9100 laptop (3.2 GHhz Pentium 4, 1G RAM) 3 years, one noisy, noisy, heavy machine.

I was reading Eddie Bauer's article on the 9100 (2/28/05) and he suggested replacing the Prescott P4 3.2 GHz chip with a Northwood P4. 3.0C chip (whatever that is). I didn't even know that Prescott and Northwood variants of the P4 chips existed!

Anyway, I was hoping someone could give me the exact specification of chip I should buy. I had a look and there are too many variants for me to know which one I should choose. As you can guess I am not technically orientated.

My primary concern is to reduce the heat thatmachine produces, so that the 3 fans do not keep kicking in it, It drives me nuts. I don't mind dropping down to a 2.8GHz chip if you think that would make it even quieter.

Hope some can help me.

Jamie

well even down to a 2.8ghz the fans will still kick in since they are rated for the same heatout put. i would use Crystal cpuID and use the EIST function to drop the cpu speed down. the program is free and you wouldnt have to change anything out in the laptop.

You could also look at getting a different fan or heatsink that would be quieter.

Thanks for all advice. Trouble with these Dell 9100s is they run very hot (there are 3 fans inside my unit), so reducing fan activity is a bit risky. There are numerous accounts of the motherboards burning out when carrying out intensive tasks for prolonged periods. That's what really gets me. I bought my unit new (it wasn't cheap) when it was meant to be one of Dell flagship units.. a waste of money!!

Anyway, I've been searching around and found a couple of leads where people have had good results switching to a slightly lower rated Northwood chip. They haven't even noticed a difference in performance. The chips aren't that expensive and if it makes this unit quieter it will have been money well spent.

Applying Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to the heatsink (apparently Dell use cheap white paste) helps in the cooling process as well.

I will report back with my findings after fitting the chip for any parties interested.

Thanks again for all advice.

try crystal cpuid first before buying a new cpu.

http://crystalmark.info/?lang=en

you could get a northwood, they run a bit cooler than the pressies. but i would try what Evil suggested first.

he isn't suggesting that you use cpuid to lower the fan speeds, he is suggesting you use it to lower the multiplier of the cpu. right now, your cpu has a multi of 16, so 16*200=3200mhz. if you drop this to say, 14, you will have 14*200=2800mhz. this would lower temps considerably, and your fans should be a lot quieter without having to spend any more money on this laptop that you already said was a rip off.

I didn't appreciate the point "Evil" was making. It makes good sense.

I have looked around some forums about configuring a Prescott chip on crystal cpuid. Problem is I'm not sure what multiplier and voltages settings to select for the minimum/middle/maximum states. General consensus seems to be that you should only change these settings if you know what you are doing and I definitely do not!

Could anyone give me some guidance on this. It would be much appreciated. I have tried to look, but all examples I find focus on AMD chips.

My chip spec (from SISoftware Sandra) is as follows:

Model: P4P Prescott Pentium 4E 90nm 2.8-3.8GHz 1.25-1.4V
Rated Speed/FSB: 3200MHz/4 X 200MHz
Multiplier: 16/1x
Min/Max Multiplier: 2/1x / 16/1x
Generation: G8
Revision Stepping: 3 / 4 (0)
Steeping Mask: D0
Microcode: MU0F340E
Core Voltage Rating: 1.400V

Jamie I'm afraid your cpu and motherboard don't have EIST (Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology). That is what true mobile Intel's use to control heat and power consumption. Unfortunately, you have a desktop motherboard and cpu in a laptop case.

Switching to a 3.0C (the C means Northwood core @ 200MHz FSB) might run a little cooler, but not enough to warrant the cost IMO.

If the heatsink is dusty, the cpu temp will be higher & the fans will run more. Have you considered having it serviced to clean it? (or take it apart yourself if you can find the service manual)

Looks like I'll just have to live with the situation then. I've done so for the past 3 years and at least when I get a new laptop I'll be able to fully appreciate how quiet it is! There's no point in wasting more money on the machine if it's not going to make any noticable difference.

I'll open the machine up and clean the heat sink and see if that improves things. Thanks for saving me wasted money!

yea jamie the only thing left is to suggest a lowe end yohan lappy now since they run nice and cool for the work they do. last one i saw was dual core 1.66ghz at 400-500. it might just be worth it to get a new laptop.

trust me you DONT want a prescott they run EXTREMELY hot (i have one the p4 511 prescott @2.8 oc'ed to 3.121) but before you jump to a new laptop take that apart clean the heatsink and remount with some nice Arctic Silver 5 on that baby!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

it will never let you down but it takes a few powerup run and powerdown cycles to get its full effect

Thanks for all advice. I'll get some of that Arctic Silver 5 on that heatsink and try give those 3 fans a chance of keeping that damned CPU cool!

If you check eBay I am sure you can find a 2.8c chip for quite cheap. That is if the AS5 and heatsink cleaning don't help enough.

They don't come more stupid than me.

I decided to clean my laptop fans and heatsinks, there are two sets on either side of the laptop. The fans are removable (you unscrew them) to get access to the heatsinks. When I removed them, there was so much dust I couldn't see the heatsinks. Not only the that, the dust was so embedded in the heatsinks it was quite firm to touch (it had had a nice 3 years to accumulate). I hovered it all out and cleaned the fans and now the temperature of my CPU is 12 degrees cooler at idle. The fans revolve at 1200 rpm less at idle too. I can't remember my laptop being so quiet.

Before I came to this forum it never occurred to me that I needed to clean the heatsinks and fans. It's my guess that the average 9100 owner doesn't know this either (I could be wrong). This might account for all the 9100 motherboards burning out. It's just as well I don't play intensive games on my machine, because if I had my motherboard/cpu would be fried by now. Now all I've got to do is apply that Artic Silver 5 compound, which I've ordered, to finish the job.

BTW, is it likely that there will be another heatsink next to the CPU and is it this heatsink that I have to apply the thermal compound to?

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know that your advice has been wasted on me. Your suggestions have transformed my machine.

Thanks to all of you.

Jamie.