The_Fairy

Hello,

I have purchased a CLEVO D430S Laptop in 2004. I would like to upgrade the laptop, however I ma tossing between the cost for the upgrade and just purchasing another laptop. I will outline the issues below and I hope you can give me some advice on what to do, should I upgrade? Is it worth it? Which parts should I install? Or do I just leave it and plan on buying a new laptop? Ideally I would like to squeeze of another year or two on it before I purchase another laptop. I mainly use it to type and to do some photoshop and illustrator work, however lately it has become a little slow, i presume because of almost full harddrive and not enough memmory...

Before I continue, here are the laptop Specs
==================================================
Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz Processor 533 MHz FSB, 512K L2 Cache
256 MB DDR RAM (Up to 1GB)
40GB Hard Disk Drive
UDMA 16x DVD-ROM&CD-RW Combo
15' TFT LCD Pannel
64MB SiS Embedded Graphics
S-Video & TV-Output
Realtek RTL8139 Etherenet 10/100
Realtec AC'97 3D Audio Controller
56kbps Fax/Voice/Data v.92 Modem
IEEE1394 Firewire Port
1.44MB Internal Floppy Disk
4Mbps Infrared Port
Type-II PCMICIA Port
3X USB 2.0 Ports
Built-In Web Camera
MS WinXP
==================================================

Initially when I bought the notebook I had another 256 ram module installed so not the amount of ram is 512.

I have never had a glitch with the laptop, and I have been using it with a laptop stand that I have purchased over the internet.

1. I would like to upgrade the laptop memorry, however I am weary that only 1GB can be placed. In addition I have no idea what kind of memmory I need to buy. I opened the compartment where the memmory is held and here is the writing that is on the memmory module sticker...

Kingmax
256MB DDR-333
MSAB26D-38KT3
PAA
S/N:E3c013203001

What also scary is the fact that this website [ http://www.upgradecomputermemory.com...-Series/D430S/ ]says you haveto use the right clevo memmory otherwise it wont work...

I would like to upgrade it to 2GB, however I am unsure if it will work, on top of all that I am unsure if it is worth it. Its an old laptop and I am not sure if its going to die soon.

2. What has always bothered me about this laptop is that it generates quite a lot of heat, and once it heats up, the laptop fans kick in and its quite loud. The fans themselves are not broken but they are just quite loud. Its quite embarrasing. Can this be fixed? Can I Buy Quieter fans? And how can I install them? I have bought a laptop stand that tilts the laptop on an angle and gives the fans underneath more breathing space. I has reduce the frequency of fan switch on to some degree...

Forgive my ignorance please, I am new at computing, but I heard that the Pentium M processors are much lover at generating heat that my P4. Can I install a Pentium M on my laptop or does that require a different motherboard?

Is it possible to perhaps reduce the processor speed so its not so damn hot? Maybe underclock it or get an older pentium like 2GHZ so its not not? Would this affect the performance significantly?


3. Is it worth upgrading the hard drive, maybee to a higher speed??Will that generate more heat?


4. I have noticed that the plastic cover/frame my screen is in has bent a little at the bottom (close to the end where the laptop base and screen hinge). I am unsure why this is so, but I presume because of the heat. It has not affected the screen but if you look closely, there is about a 2mm gap.

Terrister

This place has a good price on the memory you need.
http://www.memoryx.net/cld4seme14.html

twajetmech

Hello, welcome to the forum. You need a So-Dimm of pc2700 memory, you should go with 2X512 to take advantage of runing in dual channel....as for HD's there are quite a few very good choices out there....newegg hase some 100Gb+ HD's from $90+....I just got this TOSHIBA HDD2D08 (MK1032GAX) 100GB 5400 RPM 16MB Cache ATA-6 Notebook Hard Drive for $90 ! Corsair and Mushkin will both offer memory reccomendations they guarrentee will be compatible, just give them a call or email.

crazijoe

If it was me,I would go ahead and upgrade the memory and the HDD. That laptop still has a lot of life left in it. However if you were to sell it, you could still get a far market value for it on the internet. I have been seeing Dell Inspiron 5100s going for around $350 to $600 and the 5100 is a 3 year old model that is lower spec than yours.

TheMatt

For the heat, get a cooling pad. It adds 2 60 mm fans to the bottom, which can blow in or out depending on the airflow configuration. I have a Bytecc Aluminum notebook Cooling Pad, its great and has lowered by temps by 10 - 15 degrees (c).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834999336

As for RAM, I upgraded to 2 x 512 MB of Corsair ValueSelect RAM. It works great. As long as your laptop takes the standard 200 pin laptop RAM (which it more than likley does), then it will work.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145484

There are a lot of great hard drives out there. Hitachi and Seagate seem to be the most popular hard drive brands. While The Hitachi's are generally less expensive and just as good as the Seagates, the Seagate hard drives boast a 5 year waranty and are generally more expensive. The higher speed will give faster transfers, but the cache is just as important if not more, and that Toshiba that twajetmech mentioned looks like a very nice hard drive.

As for the CPU, I would not touch it. It will void your waranty, it wil decrease your performance, an upgrade would be expensive, and the cooling pad should take care of the heat fine.

The_Fairy

Hello guys, I am confused, you have suggested to get this memmory...

Does this mean that if I got 1GB so-dimm like this one

http://www.hboutlet.com.au/catalog/p...ducts_id=27046

then I wont be able to utilise dual channel?? What is this dual Channel?? Simultaneously split into the two memmory modules?? Do I get twice the speed??

Can I get more than 1GB of memmory?? The laptop says max 1GB?? But why is that? Why cant I slot 2X 1GB PC2700?? Would it work? I read somewhere that its got to do with some kind of limitation on the mainboard???

When I went on to the cossair website and did a compatibility search I found that it gave me these two options

http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair...h_results.html

So it appears that I cannot get more than 1 GB of memmory???

Also both of those options are PC-2100 the memmory and I have is PC-2700.

What is this PC-XXXX, I know it means speed, but how does that translate into performance?? How come the compatibility issue only says PC-2100, does that mean that i can get faster memmory, but it will not be utilised because of some limitation on mainboard??

What does the 333SOD stand for?? is it 333 SoDIMM?? what is the 333???


Please help...

twajetmech

Ah, sorry for the confusion, the reccomendation is to upgrade both the memory and the HD....the rest of your laptop is really very nice and there is no need to upgrade those parts....and, as The Matt stated upgrading the cpu is both difficult (requiring you to completely disasemble the laptop) to upgrade and would void your warrenty. Since your cpu runs on a 533 fsb....the memory match would be pc2100 however since its ddr (double data rate) the memory effectively runs twice its freq of 266Mhz to = 533Mhz....allowing your cpu and memory to both run at the same speed (aka 1:1 ratio). The 1Gb limitation is from the chipset on the mobo....it can only utilize up to 1Gb of memory....installing more than that would be a waste since the chipset would not utilize it. Its is also dual channel...meaning that having 2 modules will give you a 5%-20% increase in performance over having a single 1Gb module. The reason Corsair gave you those pc2100 modules was because they are a match for your system....my initial pc2700 reccomendation was wrong. A SO-Dimm is the type of memory you need for a laptop....it has a different pin count than regular PC memory and different size and shape as well to fit in the tight confines of a laptop....they are also optimized to run at lower voltages than standard PC memory. The HD selection is really up to you, consider price vs performance/size TheMatt offered good advice there...though I will say I'm very pleased with the drive I just got....very quiet (can't hear it !) and does not get any hotter than the old one ! and at $90 for 100Gb w/ 16Mb cache I'm happy. Let us know what you decide and how it works out.
PS I noticed Corsair sends you to zipzoomfly to purchase the memory....they are a reputable online seller....I have used them many times in the past without any problems.

TheMatt

PC2100 refers to the bandwidth of the RAM in MB/s, so it gets 2100 MB/s or 2.1 GB/s.

DDR333 MHz refers to the effective clock of the RAM, that is, the clock of the RAM after the DDR is taken into considderation.

If you get faster RAM than your Motherboard supports, it will just slow down to the clock of your motherboard. Here are the modules that are the correct speed. Both are the same price and both would work just the same, so it really doesn't make much of a difference...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145482

The_Fairy

Hi guys.. ok after spending some time looking on the net, I have decided to purchase two modules of

KVR266X64SC25/512 512MB 266MHz DDR Non-ECC CL2.5 SO DIMM

I so hope they will be compatible with my computer, but they should, because the kingston website http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/conf...submit1=Search
recomended this ram for my computer. I have ordered the ram from www.atcomputer.com.au, and the price was AUD$95, which I thought was fairly cheap, although i still haveto go and pick it up.

Now I am having trouble with the harddrive, I still have not decided which harddrive I want, and in addition which will be compatible with my laptop. The thing that is confusing me is this UDMA.. I am not sure is that the harddrive capability or the motherboard interface in which case does it mean that only UDMA drives will work on my notebook?? Would it help if I opened up my notebook where the harddrive is and took a photograph so that you could see what it is? Also I'm unsure which speed harddrive I should get, a 5400 vs 7200.. what are the advantages/disadvantages.. does the faster drive use more power and generate more noise and heat? Also the buffer of the drive .. i mean a 5400 that has 16mb vs a 7200 that has 8mb?? Its confusing. I would also like to get a drive that is fairly reliable.. has higher warranty. By the way I'm in Australia, so most of the overseas shops are not attractive for me to buy a drive, but if it means i get the best then I might. Also how hard would it be to install the drive? Is there an online walkthrough?

Another question, when I install the new ram, will that reduce the workload on my harddrive? Will the new ram also reduce the cpu workload? The ram I have now in the notebook is pc2700(loook at speck in first post) does that mean that my laptop is actually running slower?



Thank you for your help!

laboye

You should be able to use any laptop IDE hard drive. Again, size is up to you. The RPMs, of course, refer to the rotational speed of the platters in the drive. The faster, the better. Faster speed means faster access times and slower waits. This WILL use more battery power and possibly make more heat. For noise, you shouldn't notice a drastic difference. If you aren't doing any number crunching of HD intensive stuff, go for the 5400 with 16MB cache. Cache is a temporary 'buffer' between the hard drive and the IDE controller. It can store certain pieces of data that are accessed a lot. Cache is WAY faster than the hard drive, so a bigger one is also better. For disassembly, mose machines allow their hard drives to be removed with one or two screws on the bottom. Just unscrew what looks like a compartment. Open it up and see if it is the hard drive. Since you only had 256MB of RAM before, your machine didn't have enough RAM to work around. When the system runs out of usable RAM, it does what's called swapping. This involves making a page file on your hard drive that acts as memory. More frequently used instructions are stored on RAM and other items are stored on the page file. When things are needed, it will 'swap' data, loading it into RAM. If you click around a bit, you'll hear the hard drive working because of all of this swapping. By increasing your memory, you will lighten the load on the hard drive because it won't be as essential to swap data in and out of that page file. CPU: No, the RAM will not lift any load from the CPU. Since your laptop supports PC2700, I highly recommend getting PC2700 as you will utilize the maximum speed supported by the system (that's good!). If you go with the PC2100, the entire Front Side bus will need to slow down for it. You will notice a difference. I hope this helped.

-Eddie

The_Fairy

Thank you for all your help guys. The laptop now has a 100GB 7200rpm drive and 1GB memory. It seems to run so much faster!

TheMatt

Nice upgrade. Glad it all worked out. Don't hesitate to come back with more questions!