Compaq SR5350F

[JEFF68005]

Somebody here has to have cracked open one of these puppies.
Compaq SR5350F

HP shows two different MBs for it. How do I tell the difference? The margin of error is unknown as some parts may be different? I cruzed the HP website where I came up with some of the following, but I have no confidence that I am correct.

Is it possible to up grade the Intel Dual-Core processor E2160 to better?
- 1.8GHz, 800MHz, 1MB Level-2 cache, 65Watt
I'm not sure how much these things can handle.

Come to think of it, I thought this one had AMD inside. How to find out to be correct?

Is it possible to replace the existing CPU processor to something better? What range of possibilities?

What should I upgrade the CPU fan with that will still be relatively quiet?
======================
Memory:
1GB (1DIMM) memory module, PC2-5300, DDR2-667 SDRAM DIMM

How many slots does this MB have and what are it's upgrade limits?

Currently, this is Mom's baby with Vista Home Premium in it. I'd like to do upgrades that will not blow up the existing setup. I do NOT want to reinstall, etc.

Thanks in advance for all guidance.

==================================
Personally, I am capable of cracking the case and replacing the desired parts. I only want to do it once.

 

[tcsenter]

There is only one motherboard:

Manufacturer name: ASUS IPILP-LC
HP/Compaq name: Lancaster8-GL6

IOW, ASUS calls it IPILP-LC and HP/Compaq calls it Lancaster8-GL6, its the same board. Should have no problem using up to E2200 or E4600, though you may want to have the latest BIOS version (if not already). Here is the latest BIOS I could find:

IPILP-LC BIOS v5.19

According to SR5350F specs, this model ships with E2160. If so, E2180 would not be much of an upgrade, I would go not less than E2200 or E4600. SuperBiiz (formerly eWiz) has decent pricing on the E2180, E2200, and E4600:

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 LGA775 OEM - $64.00 free ship

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 LGA775 Retail - $69.00 free ship (same deal as Newegg)

Intel C2D E4600 LGA775 OEM = $108.00 plus shipping


The mobo should be capable of supporting the faster E2200 or E4700, but those were launched much later in March 2008. BIOS 5.19 is dated March 2008, but that doesn't necessarily mean it included support for these models. OEM BIOS tend to lag behind in CPU support compared to retail motherboards. You could try it, but the older models were launched in 2007 and are much safer bets. It is also possible this board may support BSEL mod to overclock the E2160 to 2.4GHz or even higher, I don't know. As long you do the BSEL mod carefully using reversible methods, there isn't much risk involved. More info on BSEL mod here: Intel BSEL & VID mod Guide


RAM upgrades:

Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) - $22.00 free ship, no rebate

Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $25.00 free ship, no rebate


If using the onboard GMA 950 graphics, you may want to consider a graphics card upgrade. The Intel GMA 950 is really low-end, cuts into main system memory (shared with graphics), memory bandwidth, and will use more CPU cycles for graphics-related stuff. A dedicated graphics card will free-up system memory, memory bandwidth, and CPU cycles that could be better utilized by the rest of the system. Particularly with Vista Premium, where Aero Desktop is actually using the 3D pipeline for GUI effects.

You would not need to spend much in order to significantly exceed the GMA 950 capabilities. This would be a huge improvement and free-up host resources better spent elsewhere than graphics:

POWERCOLOR Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 - $30.00 plus shipping AR

That is the best deal going at the moment for $30.00 + shipping.

As for the CPU cooler, I would just reuse the stock OEM cooler after applying fresh thermal compound/paste (clean the old stuff off first). The OEM coolers are usually plenty beefy enough for low-to-mid range CPUs. Or if you buy a retail boxed CPU, use the cooler that comes with that.

 

[JEFF68005]

Thank you for a very detailed reply.

I should have posted the stock unit has 2 Gig of memory. It appears from your reply that more memory is out of the question. I read somewhere else there is a techinical limitation of 3.3 gig. <drat>
Is there any benefit to changing out 2 gig of what you recommended for the stock 2 gig?

The rest of your suggestions seem spot on with my thinking. I just have not kept up since the first release of Hyper Threading. When I last looked at these concepts, DDR2 was still in PNY's R&D rooms. Oh well, there I go tell the age of my other PCs. :clock:

Thanks again.
Jeff

 

[tcsenter]

I edited my post to add some information just prior to your reply. Depending on our timing, I was concerned that you may have missed the edit, so I highlighted the portions that I added.

There would be no substantial difference between DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 assuming the same amount of RAM, particularly since Intel 945G can't actually do DDR2-800, so it would fall-back to DDR2-667 speeds.

Intel 945G can support 4GB by way of 2GB x 2 modules, but it depends on BIOS support and organization of the modules. If the modules are double-sided, the chipset should support it (though it still leaves the BIOS in question). If the modules are single-sided, I don't think the chipset can handle those. You could give it a try, they either work or not.

But yes, supposing 2GB x 2 was supported, it would leave somewhere between 2.75GB and 3.25GB useable due to 32-bit addressing constraints of the chipset. This is a hard limit with Intel 945G and cannot be overcome by 64-bit OS.

 

[JEFF68005]

Well done and thank you.

I think we will do a video upgrade. That appears to be the biggest bang for the buck as well as the cheapest. We'll see how that helps. The problem is that card assumes newer technology than she got with her Compaq. She is still on a MX70 CRT. We would have to do an adapter which is easy to do. It's probably a good idea. She may not kill this best before she gets a flat screen. We tend to keep PCs until they die three times.

I made the mistake of yielding to her and installing McAfee. We ran that PC for over a year without antivirus as we knew the sites we were going to. We just killed the cookies a lot. McAfee found 2 suspects. One was a test software (not currently running) that I knew about. The other may have been a real minor virus. It quarantined it. The system has been slow ever since.
McAfee has really beefed up it's software since I last saw it... read that resource hog.
60+ Vista/McAfee etc processes running at startup.. No wonder that wagon is draggin.

The processor will have to wait. I like that 2.4 speed CPU link you provided.

I doubt she will go for OC. It looks like more than I would want to try for my skill level.

Read the Following Before Doing the Mod:
1333 BSEL mods will not work on chipsets that do not natively support 1333 FSB's, eg. intels 945 chipset.

My OC experience is limited to playing in the Bios. I was doing Grid.org at the time.

I will have to see how much more cooling this stock case will allow. Finding the cases that I like has been Mission Impossible. It's one of the reasons that I stopped building homebrews. I mean you don't see 10-13 fan openings in cases in my price range. Who cares the house sounds like a fleet of Cesna's? The PC is running about 32-35C for most things.

Thanks again.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: JEFF68005
I doubt she will go for OC. It looks like more than I would want to try for my skill level.

Read the Following Before Doing the Mod:
1333 BSEL mods will not work on chipsets that do not natively support 1333 FSB's, eg. intels 945 chipset.

You would want to stay with the 1066MHz BSEL mod, anyway. Higher chance of success, lower risk.

I will have to see how much more cooling this stock case will allow. Finding the cases that I like has been Mission Impossible. It's one of the reasons that I stopped building homebrews. I mean you don't see 10-13 fan openings in cases in my price range. Who cares the house sounds like a fleet of Cesna's? The PC is running about 32-35C for most things.

Probably your mom might care. Performance enthusiasts are generally the only types who are tolerant of excessive fan noise.

As for McAfee, just install the core components during installation. e.g. When installing McAfee Virus Scan Plus, I deselect Personal Firewall and Site Advisor, leaving just the AV and Security Center components. Much less bloat and background CPU utilization.

If the deal on the HD 3650 should expire or you prefer NVIDIA, here's an equally good deal on GeForce 9500GT, which is slightly faster than HD 3650:

Galaxy GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 - $30.00 plus shipping AR

 

[JEFF68005]

Thanks for the recommendation.

I like that one reviewer stated the GeForce worked well with Vista 32 which Mom has on that machine.

I'll check the ads in the morning as well as Prioewatch, etc.

 

[tcsenter]

OEM hard drives are often the lowest line with 5400RPM and/or 2MB buffer. Replacing them with a new drive using newer generation platters or higher densities, 8MB ~ 32MB cache, and 7200RPM can make a significant improvement by itself.

 

[JEFF68005]

HP Confirms:
Maximum approved processor:
Core 2 Duo E4x00 with Dual Core technology (Conroe core) up to E4400
Pentium E2000 series (Conroe core, 1 MB cache) up to E2160
Pentium D 9xx with Dual Core technology (Presler core) up to 960
Pentium 4 6x1 series (Cedar Mill core) up to 661
Celeron 4xx series (Conroe core) up to 440 (TBD)
Celeron D 3xx series (Cedar Mill core) up to 365
Celeron D 3xx series (Prescott core) up to 355

Supports up to 2 GB RAM ( I add that's what it came with)

BIOS is 5.18. If I understand tcsenter correctly, we should stay with that
OR should we upgrade the BIOS???

Thanks again for the support!!

 

[tcsenter]

HP (and other OEMs) don't have a great track record of updating their original specifications when support for new CPU models are added to the BIOS. I know this board and BIOS can do better, because HP sold them itself:

System shipped with E2200 using same mobo

System shipped with E4600 using same mobo

System shipped with E4500 using same mobo

These models would not require unique support if the BIOS already contained the proper support for E2160 and E4400. In addition, the mobo supports Pentium 4 and Pentium D models with much higher TDP than 65W (up to 89W), so we know that power circuitry isn't a limitation to using E2200 or E4600.

I would update the BIOS to the latest version, if you intend to upgrade the CPU. I don't really know how 'old' 5.18 is, but that sounds a few BIOS versions behind. In addition to newer CPU support, it coiuld have fixed some bugs with previously supported models.

 

[JEFF68005]

BIOS UPDATED

HP claimed the BIOS was up to date at 1.8.

I updated it anyway.

 

[nonameOO7]

Hi, did you ever upgrade the CPU in this system? I am in a similar situation, I have a Compaq Presario SR5250NX Desktop PC http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr...ang=en&product=3548669 with the same motherboard and I wonder if it would support an intel e4700 CPU.

thanks

 

[Dorren]

Sorry for the delay on this reply but just came across this thread today :/ anyway, here's the lowdown on that mobo:

YES your mobo has 2 memory slots and WILL support 2GB per slot.

YES you can put 2GB in 1 slot and 1GB in the other.

YES there is a limitation on the amount of physical memory that can be used, even with windows vista ultimate 64bit. The chipset has a 32bit DMA so you're stuck at 3,328MB, which is why i offered the info on doing a 2GB + 1GB memory combo. Of that 3,328MB, your OS will have access to 3,318MB due to Intel's gfx chip using the rest.

YES you can use PC2-6400 memory if you want. Still only runs at 667MHz though. It is still accepted by the mobo and works fine.

YES you can actually upgrade your CPU to the E4700. This is recommended over the E2xxx series because the E4xxx series has 2x the cache. I do no know if any of the chips higher than the E4700 would be supported, although i *think* they would be. Maybe not by BIOS, but still usable. Also, Asus acts as if they never made this mobo, so you cannot get any support through them. I've also tried AMI, who made the BIOS for this mobo, and have had no luck there either. I'm certain a more current BIOS version exists that would work for this mobo, just haven't had any luck finding it :/

YES using 64bit windows improves computation speed up to 70% on this mobo, regardless of amount of RAM or which processor you have.

I hope those of you that had questions about this mobo found this post helpful and are still paying attention to it. Oh and btw, if you get an E4xxx series processor, you'll notice the heatsink and fan are very different from what came with the E2xxx series (assuming you purchase a boxed version of the chip). It is still compatible with the mobo though. It's also smaller and more efficient, and nicer to look at than the wad of crap piled on top of the older processors.