Upgrade Inspiron 1520

Needs an 800 MHz bus Core 2 Duo - T9500 is the fastest one.  Only 800 MHz bus CPUs max - not the 1066 from the later generation.

No:  Core i3, i5, i7, or any of the associated Pentium dual core or Celeron CPUs.

The present mobo has a socket for the -NVIDIA-Video-Card, but won't acomodate the heatsink for it?

I am pretty sure I saw the socket  for the video card last time I had it apart.  How to positively ID the mobo w/out disassembly?

Perhaps just upgrading the CPU and RAM will keep me up with web content for the near future?

Looks like you are right.

$ sudo dmidecode -t 2

[sudo] password for abc:

# dmidecode 3.0

Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.

SMBIOS 2.4 present.

Handle 0x0200, DMI type 2, 9 bytes

Base Board Information

Manufacturer: Dell Inc.

Product Name: 0KY767

Version:    

Serial Number: .GNQ51G1.CN486438470912.

Asset Tag:          

I looked up pictures of my 0KY767 mobo and of the other board. There is definitely no socket for the Invidia card on mine.

Thanks for the heads up about the video upgrade.

Won't replace the mobo unless I find one at bargain basement prices. Hopefully a CPU and RAM upgrade will keep me in the game for a while.

I upgraded to 4 GB RAM. That helped a lot. Anytime I run YouTube on Firefox  the T2370 CPU maxes out to 100%. I procured a 90 Watt power Adapter for free, so will upgrade to Intel 800 MHz bus Core 2 Duo - T9500.

Upgrade to the Nvidia does not seem feasible unless I find one really cheap. They are in the $100 range. I was told that I would have to remove the graphic chip from my present mobo and install it on the mobo that has the Nvidia as a "daughter". Is that correct? How is that done? Does that involve soldering?

It is not possible to move the GPU - you either buy a board with the Intel GPU or nVidia GPU aboard. One version cannot be upgraded to the other.

I already understand you either use a board with Intel or Nvidia GPU.

I was told from one seller:

" Dell P/N: WP044, 0WP044

The Discrete Graphics motherboards require a daughter video graphics card.

This Inspiron 1520 Motherboard does not include the video card - Video card must be transferred from your original motherboard."

Since I have the mobo w/Intel video, I need to get the NVIDIA Video Card & Heatsink (R1L11 from elsewhere to install on the WP044, 0WP044  mobo.

Given the well-known nVidia design flaws in the chips used in these, finding a working one may not be easy - most have expired from the fault by now.

That explains why I see them as refurbished. What is the flaw? is it in the mobo it'self, or the GPU/heat sink.?

Would have been helpful to mention the flaw much earlier.

On to CPU upgrade.

I am presently good with 4 GB of RAM, But Firefox easily maxes out the T2370 CPU at 100% when I run YouTube.

Will the T9500 CPU work with the  0KY767 mobo. I  understand that some of the mobo's in the 1520 will not work with it - it will fit in the socket, but will not work.

How much better performance can I expect with the T9500

The flaw is in the engineering of the materials from which the GPU chip itself is made:

www.theinquirer.net/.../why-nvidia-chips-defective

On a system of this age, it's difficult to tell what will work and what won't without trying.  Yes, that CPU should work - but on a board that's as old as these, given the aging of components, the only sure answer is to try it and see.  You'll see some speed increase - just don't expect miracles based on the rest of the platform being the same.

Nothing you do with a system that's on the order of a decade old will bring it anywhere near current performance standards, but if you're looking for the single best upgrade you can get for your money, replace the hard drive with a solid state drive and leave the rest as is.

Begging your pardon, but installing a SSD will only improve performance a tiny bit, as the old system can not benefit from the speed of the SSD, plus it costs about 3 times as much as a HDD for the same amount of storage. I recently bought a Western Digital Black 7200 rpm.

HDD's are better for long term storage and SSD's are better for speed providing that your system is fast enough to take advantage of them. The 1520 is not fast enough to take advantage of SSD. A 750 GB lists at  about $600. The Same size WD Black cost well under $100. A 120 GB SSD costs about $260.

The  T9500 can be had for from $20 to $60.

Do you mean the  T9500 will definitely work w/my 0KY767 board, or probably?

The bus speed of the 0KY767 is fast enough to take advantage of 800 MHz RAM and the T9500 CPU?

An SSD will run the full SATA 150 bandwidth.  Your hard drive - whatever the specs say - will burst at half that or less, and routinely deliver well under half what the SSD will.   The design life of a hard drive is 5 years - SSDs now routinely exceed that.  Yes, they cost more, but they're the single best upgrade you can make to your system.

You will NOT see any CPU at 800 MHz on the memory bus.  The Core 2 CPUs at 800 MHz run the memory at either 533 or 667 MHz - not 800 MHz.  800 MHz memory requires the Montevina (1066 MHz bus CPU) platform.

No one can say whether your CPU upgrade will work.  Bear in mind you're putting additional stress on a system with decade-old components (in particular, capacitors).  The design life of an electrolytic cap is in the thousands of hours.

You would probably be better off replacing this system with a 5 year old one -- at half the age the components will have a much longer life ahead of them.