Comment by 🎲 bw
Re: "Notebook conversion - CPU / GPU fan advice sought So I am…"
WiFi can be upgraded to 802.11ac, but you need to replace antennas to duble diapasoned once (2.4/5GHz). 802.11ac allows up to 3 MIMO so you may add third antenna into some place inside the notebook. You will need an additional antenna cable for this.
HDD also can be replaced to modern SSD.
2024-08-24 · 2 years ago
8 Later Comments ↓
💀 requiem [OP] · 2024-08-24 at 11:43:
Yes, it's a really nice, upgradable laptop as you say. I already stripped it down to parts entirely.
The T9500 seems like a really good call. Thank you.
I want to stay clear of nVidia because I want to install OpenBSD on it, the Radeon cards are better supported. The video RAM seems to be dead on its Graphics Card so I have to replace that anyway, to be honest I think I will just go with what is cheapest there. I might add more RAM.
I already have an SSD.
But I'm converting it to a Desktop basically; so I am wondering about the cooling. I took off the "factory" heatsink and fan and I would like to replace it with some LARGE heatsinks. What size do I need?
The factory cooling system can cooldown ~55W of heating power (35W CPU + 20WGPU). You may check your GPU power. I think you can replace videocard to any MXM-II. But i think you need to upgrade BIOS to install any other then 8600m GT (it's factory gpu). BIOS was aviable at acer web-site.
Also you can upgrade memory - maximum are two modules of DDR2 2GB 800Mhz (T9600 has 800MHz memory controller)
😎 decant · 2024-08-30 at 07:39:
real life thermal output of the CPU? 35W need a BIG passive HS, 65W needs few KG worth of passive HS!
😎 decant · 2024-08-30 at 07:41:
check out jcs.org for his passive desktop build
💀 requiem [OP] · 2024-09-03 at 21:58:
decant: It doesn't seem to be that bad to be honest. Just found some Noctua and Nofan heatsinks which are rated up to 80W and don't weigh so much. To be honest I don't really care about weight tho because the build will be stationary and the motherboard will be flat on its back, not mounted sideways, so no strain. I wouldn't care if the heatsink was a 30kg chunk of pure copper :D
I went through jcs' build. He's doing something slightly different from what I am hoping to do.
My BIG question is: can I mount a "bigger" heatsink on a Socket M processor? Like those Noctuas etc. are made for LGA 115x sockets... Similar size, but...?
🌲 Half_Elf_Monk · 2024-11-14 at 22:40:
How's this project going? Will there be pictures of the coolness when you've figured out how to cool it? :)
💀 requiem [OP] · 2024-11-17 at 12:07:
To be honest it's on pause. Thanks for checking in. I've not yet figured out what to do about the heatsinks. I have two very large heatsinks ready, but mounting them seems to be an issue. I am increasingly thinking that I'd need to have something custom CNC'd or printed... :/
🌲 Half_Elf_Monk · 2024-11-22 at 21:10:
Heh... yeah at that point you have to start weighing the costs/benefits. I have a lot of hobbies that I did so well that they became a kind of work to curate... and then it was no longer fun... and so it's still sitting in my workroom, uncurated. I hope this one works out for you someday though... sounds cool.
Original Post
Notebook conversion - CPU / GPU fan advice sought So I am in the process of converting my old ACER5920G laptop into a "cyberdeck", or rather, something that looks like the immensely cool old MSX2 computers [1]. I have disassembled the laptop, stripped it down entirely. I now have a bare motherboard. I would like make an entirely fanless system if I can help it, or at least I would like to make the CPU (Intel T5500) and GPU cooled with a massive and "decorative" heatsink, and perhaps add a few...