Compaq Presario M2000 Upgrades
Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 4:14 pm
Adam was kind enough to donate his old laptop to me, as he wasn't using it and was planning on getting rid of it anyway. After a quick look at the specs, I figured I might be able to upgrade some components and use this as a replacement for the Pentium-M kitchen laptop, which is struggling to play YouTube videos.
Specs:
Compaq Presario M2000
Windows XP
Mobile AMD Sempron 2800+
- 1.6 GHz, 256KB L2 cache
384 MB DDR RAM (PC2700 - 166 MHz, single channel)
ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
- Uses shared system memory for ... performance. Currently set to the max of 128 MB.
- Has VGA and S-Video out. Fancy.
Toshiba 60GB HDD, 4200 RPM
Sony CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Realtek 8139 10/100 Ethernet
Some random fax modem (who cares)
Some random Conexant AC97 audio card with Altec Lansing speakers
A USB port.
As you can see, it is pretty standard for a mid-00's laptop. It was running a little sluggish when I got it, so I upped the memory to 1G (2x 512 MB) that I had laying around. If all goes well, this machine should be able to handle the 2x 1G sticks in the current kitchen laptop.
Naturally, I did some basic benchmarks. Running the latest Firefox, it scores 6 fps in the Microsoft HTML5 fishbowl test set to 10 fish http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/performance/fishbowl/. I also grabbed a copy of 3D Mark 2005 to run. Since the Radeon Xpress card only supports Shader Model 2.0, running anything newer would be a waste of time (since this card doesn't have the hardware to run the newer tests). The machine scored a 465 in the benchmark suite. I saw 1-3 fps in all the graphics tests.
CPU-z for the Sempron: GPU-z for the machine: Fishbowl run with the Sempron: So, I needed to see what sort of CPU upgrades were available for this machine. Compaq offered quite a few options for the AMD equipped models, including several other Semprons. Of more use were the Mobile Turion 64 options. The fastest of which is the ML-37 which runs at 2.0 GHz. Even though it is a 90nm CPU, being able to run a 64-bit OS would be a nice change. The current kitchen computer is a IBM ThinkPad T42 with a 2.0 GHz Pentium M. Those CPUs were never offered in 64-bit models. The Passmark ratings are pretty close for the two, so the Compaq should perform about the same, while offering a slightly larger screen (15" vs. 14") and an improved sound experience. I found one of the Turion 64 CPUs on eBay for $10 shipped, so now to test things out.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php ... cmp[]=1171
- Kevin, how can I include braces in a web address in this forum?
One thing I will say about this machine is that it runs very warm. Even when the thing is at idle, the palm rests and especially the base of the machine are warm to the touch. If the CPU is maxed out (which it is frequently), it is even hotter and the fan will spend its time audibly running. That may be a setback from the ThinkPad, whose fan rarely runs and which stays pretty cool (unless you are trying to run YouTube).
Stay tuned for more exciting details.
Specs:
Compaq Presario M2000
Windows XP
Mobile AMD Sempron 2800+
- 1.6 GHz, 256KB L2 cache
384 MB DDR RAM (PC2700 - 166 MHz, single channel)
ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
- Uses shared system memory for ... performance. Currently set to the max of 128 MB.
- Has VGA and S-Video out. Fancy.
Toshiba 60GB HDD, 4200 RPM
Sony CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Realtek 8139 10/100 Ethernet
Some random fax modem (who cares)
Some random Conexant AC97 audio card with Altec Lansing speakers
A USB port.
As you can see, it is pretty standard for a mid-00's laptop. It was running a little sluggish when I got it, so I upped the memory to 1G (2x 512 MB) that I had laying around. If all goes well, this machine should be able to handle the 2x 1G sticks in the current kitchen laptop.
Naturally, I did some basic benchmarks. Running the latest Firefox, it scores 6 fps in the Microsoft HTML5 fishbowl test set to 10 fish http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/performance/fishbowl/. I also grabbed a copy of 3D Mark 2005 to run. Since the Radeon Xpress card only supports Shader Model 2.0, running anything newer would be a waste of time (since this card doesn't have the hardware to run the newer tests). The machine scored a 465 in the benchmark suite. I saw 1-3 fps in all the graphics tests.
CPU-z for the Sempron: GPU-z for the machine: Fishbowl run with the Sempron: So, I needed to see what sort of CPU upgrades were available for this machine. Compaq offered quite a few options for the AMD equipped models, including several other Semprons. Of more use were the Mobile Turion 64 options. The fastest of which is the ML-37 which runs at 2.0 GHz. Even though it is a 90nm CPU, being able to run a 64-bit OS would be a nice change. The current kitchen computer is a IBM ThinkPad T42 with a 2.0 GHz Pentium M. Those CPUs were never offered in 64-bit models. The Passmark ratings are pretty close for the two, so the Compaq should perform about the same, while offering a slightly larger screen (15" vs. 14") and an improved sound experience. I found one of the Turion 64 CPUs on eBay for $10 shipped, so now to test things out.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php ... cmp[]=1171
- Kevin, how can I include braces in a web address in this forum?
One thing I will say about this machine is that it runs very warm. Even when the thing is at idle, the palm rests and especially the base of the machine are warm to the touch. If the CPU is maxed out (which it is frequently), it is even hotter and the fan will spend its time audibly running. That may be a setback from the ThinkPad, whose fan rarely runs and which stays pretty cool (unless you are trying to run YouTube).
Stay tuned for more exciting details.