yes u r right, that's one way to do it ( a better way actually)

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Added on July 11, 2008, 5:31 pmthere are centrino processors for sale, but harder to find. you can get one in lowyat plaza if im not mistaken, or u can always buy online. as for price, that i cant be sure. that's why im asking elwwmatrix where he find his "kantao" from

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 11 2008, 05:31 PM

thanks for the explaination. im not hokkien but i use it from time to time anyway.. haha

seems kinda quite lately, let me stir things up a little. new A09 BIOS for 1520 has been released. grab yours today! head on to the first page of this thread, scroll down and look for A09 BIOS at the bottom. works for both XP and Vista. fixes and enchancements are as follow

Fixes/Enhancements
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1. Update GM965 Graphics VBIOS from 1466 to 1588.
2. Update Intel CPU family name

i hope thermal control enchancements are included too, because of the G8xM series issues. vostro 1510 has already implemented better thermal control in their latest BIOS release few days ago.

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Added on July 15, 2008, 4:33 amok, now im pissed. took the liberty to look at 1420 BIOS release. as expected, it has been updated to A09 as well, with the following enchancements:

Fixes/Enhancements
------------------
1. Update GM965 Graphics VBIOS from 1466 to 1588.
2. Update Intel CPU family name.
3. Added enhancement for thermal control.

Now why would 1520 be excluded from having enchanced thermal control?

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 15 2008, 04:33 AM

remember u posted the article on nvidia's screw up G8xM chips? the new thermal control is enchancement is the "fix" for that issue, which basically just ramp up the fan to cool down the chip at a lower temperature than before.

i've been using it since the minute it was online. ran 3dmark06 to simulate gpu heating, but doesnt seem like there's any new enchanced thermal control. fan still ramp up at predictable gpu temperatures. i think it's never part of the new A09 BIOS. this could only mean 2 things.
1. the 1520's cooling system for gpu is far better than 1420 and it can cope with any gpu output heat without any issues (even with the nvidia G8xM gpu screw up). to support this theory, 1720's A09 BIOS does not contain thermal enchancements too. FYI, 1720's copper surface is even larger than 1520.

2. dell neglects to include thermal enchancements for 1520 and 1720 (which is less likely).

my own testing might not be thorough enough, so if anyone can find anything new, please share it here.

A09 and every other bios seems to work just fine for me. no wierd things going on. try reset ur bios to factory default, and ur power management to default, then reconfigure again see if the problem goes away

yup, like hihihehe said, press F2 during startup screen (the one with dell logo), then look for reset factory default setting in it.

no it wont. all your data are safe

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Added on July 17, 2008, 12:16 amno, 1520 can only be fitted with up to santa rosa refresh platform, or in plain english, intel penryn processor (800MHz FSB). centrino 2 is using montiviena platform (or in plain english, 1066MHz FSB penryn processors with 5100/5300 wifi card. and lastly, the lack of PM/GM45 chipset in 1520 means it's impossible to bear the centrino 2 logo.

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 17 2008, 12:16 AM

yes u r right. our santa rosa platform can only support up to 800MHz FSB, so the highest processor we can install is penryn 45nm 800MHz and fastest memory speed achievable is 667. first model from dell with centrino2 will come from latitude E series. studio series will eventually be upgraded to centrino2 too.

yes, absolutely. since BIOS A07 we can do that. 800MHz FSB penryn 45nm are T8100, T8300, T9300, T9500. not sure if X9000 will work on 1520 though.

let us know if u can find one. i would first try lowyat plaza if i were u.

just as i thought. the first sign dell wanted to get rid of 1520 is when xps m1530 first launched. 1520 is an internal threat to m1530 because of the relatively same specs at a much cheaper price. without 8600m gt, 1520 will loose its value..

i would pick 1520 over studio at any given day. 8600M GT is just way more powerful than radeon 3450. that's the deciding factor for me. the rest are basically the same thing. u can configure the same processor, same memory, same drive, etc.. the rest of the features are just a matter of give and take. u sacrifice light and thin for strong and durable chasis, touch media control and fingerprint sensor for less $$, etc..

looks like this club's aint gonna get more new members.. we are the only ones left..

just out of curiosity, if someone is to offer you the same $ you paid for your 1520 (or maybe RM100-200 more), regardless of laptop condition, will you sell yours?

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 20 2008, 08:41 PM

mm.. what can you get now since 1520 and vostro 1500 are all discontinued? thinking of jump ship to acer? hehehe

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 21 2008, 01:00 AM

before i settled for 1520, i fell in love with asus G1S laptop. it was perfect, everything i need in one laptop, including eSATA port. however, after much considerations, i finally settled for dell instead. 2 reasons, 1st, price. G1S was in the range of 6-7K that time, way too expensive. 2nd, aftersales service. as an engineer, i know electronics nowadays are not built to last, so better save myself the hassle from going to service centres and let them come to me for replacement parts.

well, u (or anyone) are welcome to join the club. just state (or PM) the lid colour for your laptop and i will add u into the member list.

welcome to the club!

wahahaha..lol.. im at GMT 0 now. no worries, and u better get some sleep.

hi, our 8600M GT can definately support 24" LCD. in fact, the max resolution supported by our GC is 2048x1536. as long as you are operating within this range, you'll be alright. the only thing that i'll be concerned about is the choice of inputs accepted by your LCD. this is where the lack of HDMI hurts on 1520. as we all know, 1520 only has a VGA output, meaning to say picture is transmitted using analog signal. now modern LCDs are well equiped with digital inputs like HDMI/DVI because VGA degrades picture quality, especially on high resolutions. try to make sure that your LCD accepts VGA input because there will be circuitry inside it that enhances analog signal to reduce image quality problems. hope this answers your question.

ALL inspiron 1520, 1720 and corresponding vostro series use DDR2 for 8600M GT. GDDR3 for 8600M GT ONLY exist in XPS series.

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Added on July 22, 2008, 3:03 amif everything is high, then u've reached the limit, there's nothing else u can do. the eye candy you see in games depend on programmers, not GC (as long as GC is perfectly able to support the DX features)

This post has been edited by alexnvidia: Jul 22 2008, 03:03 AM