# [SOLVED] Upgrading Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000



## Multitudinous (Jan 17, 2015)

Hi everyone, I got an old Toshiba Satellite A205-s5000 with an Intel Celeron 540 @ 1.86Ghz. I want to upgrade the laptop's processor to a Core 2 Duo because it is significantly faster than the Intel Celeron. The Processor I am looking to put into this machine is an Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 that was taken out of a dead dell latitude d630.

I go onto Intel's Website and under the T8300 it says that it is a socket "PGA478" processor while the Intel Celeron is a socket "PPGA478".

Can I put a PGA478 Socket Processor into a PPGA478 socket? Are they the exact same socket?

From my experiences, the Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 is a great processor and I'd like to get a decent business laptop up and running as I will be starting my computer repair business next year.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

*Re: Upgrading Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000*

Mechanically, the sockets are pretty well the same. The difference being the type of material used in their manufacture. Most of the PGA478 sockets are made of some sort of ceramic whereas PPGA478 is made from plastic. 

The T8300 should physically mount to the PPGA socket, but I doubt that the motherboard will actually support the chip.


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## Multitudinous (Jan 17, 2015)

*Re: Upgrading Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000*

Is there a way I can find out for sure?


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

There's limited information about laptop boards and which CPUs they support, unlike their desktop counterparts. Just install it. It either works or not.


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## Multitudinous (Jan 17, 2015)

*Re: Upgrading Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000*



Stancestans said:


> There's limited information about laptop boards and which CPUs they support, unlike their desktop counterparts. Just install it. It either works or not.


Okay. It isn't going to destroy my motherboard if I do this right?


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Nope. If it's not supported, it won't boot. If it does boot, then you are good to go. Sometimes all is needed is a bios update that adds support for more processors. I'd first go to the manufacturer's website and look if there's a bios update. If there is, I would install it and then try the cpu.


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

*Re: Upgrading Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000*

Not exactly correct. If the new new processor has a TDP much higher than what the motherboard is designed for, it could overload the VRMs and thus brick the board.

In this instance, the stock processor has peak TDP of 30 watts; the T3300 TDP is 35 watts. Could still present a problem down the road, but should be fine to test.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

gcavan said:


> Not exactly correct. If the new new processor has a TDP much higher than what the motherboard is designed for, it could overload the VRMs and thus brick the board.
> 
> In this instance, the stock processor has peak TDP of 30 watts; the T3300 TDP is 35 watts. Could still present a problem down the road, but should be fine to test.


What's the tolerance range for the TDP then? I doubt they would design boards with an absolute value. That would be very difficult to do considering the nature of electronics.

EDIT: Perhaps to rephrase my query above, what is the maximum TDP for this board? I am quite reluctant to try to find out this information coz there might be none :hide:


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## Multitudinous (Jan 17, 2015)

*Re: Upgrading Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000*

I do not know what the max tdp is and it does not say. I do not know exactly what board the manufacturer is using in this system.

A 5 watt increase shouldn't be a problem.

Here is where the problem lies...

The Chipset is a GL960 Express Chipset. According to what I have read this chipset does support the processor and the socket is actually a socket P socket the same as the core 2 duo's socket. So I am no longer worried about the socket being the issue. But it still depends on if the computer supports it.

My issue is, the processor WILL UNDERCLOCK itself if it works which could be a problem as the FSB of the chipset is a 533MHZ FSB while the C2D's FSB is a 800MHZ FSB.

My guess is that the C2D will underclock its front side bus from 800MHZ to 533MHZ. After doing some math I have concluded that the processor will underclock itself from 2.4GHZ to 2.13GHZ.

This will not cause problems down the road right?


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

If the chipset's datasheet indicates it supports that c2d processor, don't you think that includes/covers the FSB? I do not see how a cpu clocked to a lower fsb so that it can work with that of the chipset could cause problems. I would be worried if we were trying to overclock the chipset (theoretically speaking of course) to match that of the c2d, but not the other way around.


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## Multitudinous (Jan 17, 2015)

*Re: Upgrading Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000*

The processor works. I am so happy now I have a decent work laptop to use. Thank you very much the laptop is 4x faster now.

Solved.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Good to know and :welcome:
Cheers :beerchug:


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## RAMOSXAVIER (Aug 13, 2015)

*Re: Upgrading Toshiba Satellite A205-S5000*



Multitudinous said:


> The processor works. I am so happy now I have a decent work laptop to use. Thank you very much the laptop is 4x faster now.
> 
> Solved.


Did you have to update BIOS? Thanks!


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