[help] Upgrading laptop CPU

[RyanRazer]

Hey, i decided to take a look at my old 2012 laptop. It wasn't working as i wanted it to work, so i decided to dive in. First i installed fresh version of windows. That already helped a lot. Then i noticed fan spins a lot and fast and cpu is quite hot under idle. So i decided to open it and clean the dust. And there was a lot of dust but then i said to myself: "why not do a complete refresh". I saw i have 1 stick of 4gb ddr3 RAM in there with 1 free slot and that the CPU can be replaced. So i'll do that. Add 1 more stick of RAM and new CPU.

My question is: What do i have to be careful about?
I saw i have socket G2 and wiki article has listed CPUs with that socket. I thought about going from i3 2330m to i5 2520m.

Is there anything else i should be worried about except the socket match?

 

[NTMBK]

Try to get one of the Ivy Bridge chips. The 22nm shrink really helped in laptops, as it makes the chip much more efficient.

 

[happy medium]

Since both cpu's are 35 watt , I don't see a problem there.
but the i5 has turbo boost technology 2.0.
I would make sure your motherboard supports it.

For example.
I checked the support website of my laptop, read through the manuals.
My laptop was made with many different cpu, memory, and drive configurations and supported 35 and 45 watt cpu's .

 

[Yuriman]

Ivy Bridge may or may not be supported by your chipset, but there's a good chance it is. I'd go for a similar-wattage i3 3xxx or i5 3xxx, and return/resell it if it doesn't work.

 

[RyanRazer]

http://www.amazon.it/HP-681954-002-...=UTF8&qid=1458514504&sr=8-1&keywords=i7-3520M

What's up with that?! Is that price so high because they are not sold anymore? I saw some wicked prices on amazon before like r9 290 being sold for 800$ after they were discontinued...

Thanks for advice. I didn't even look at ivy bridge because i was afraid it wont be compatible. i'll take a look into my mobo to see what is what.

 

[happy medium]

http://www.amazon.it/HP-681954-002-...=UTF8&qid=1458514504&sr=8-1&keywords=i7-3520M

What's up with that?! Is that price so high because they are not sold anymore? I saw some wicked prices on amazon before like r9 290 being sold for 800$ after they were discontinued...

Thanks for advice. I didn't even look at ivy bridge because i was afraid it wont be compatible. i'll take a look into my mobo to see what is what.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...620862?hash=item3abfd6aebe:g:7gIAAOSwwpdW7tEy

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...616854?hash=item3abfd69f16:g:S7cAAOSws4JW7s6~
that's more like it.:thumbsup:

 

[RyanRazer]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...620862?hash=item3abfd6aebe:g:7gIAAOSwwpdW7tEy

that's more like it.:thumbsup:

Haha much more so, yes! tnx

 

[PG]

Do your homework. Don't listen too much to people on internet forums.
You haven't given us a model or part number for your laptop yet. Nobody knows if your laptop supports an Ivy or not. Nobody knows what your max RAM is.

Right now I have a Sandy Bride laptop that can take only Sandy, no Ivy. Max RAM is 8GB.
I have another that had a soldered Sandy cpu. No upgrade possible there. Max RAM again is 8GB.
Finally, I have a third with an Ivy cpu. Ivy cpus are expensive, even on ebay. An i7 used could be $150 or more. Not worth an upgrade for me. Max RAM is listed as 8GB, but I see some people saying that it will take 16GB. Not sure, and not going above 8GB. It just seems like overkill and money wasted to me for my purposes.

Other advice? Cpu-world is your friend. They have tons of good info if you look around.
If you are considering an i7, note that Intel made some i7 cpus that were just dual core, not quad. The mobile world is much different than desktop. i5 cpus are dual core also. An i5 is just an i3 with AES and Turbo boost.

Overall, again, do your homework and don't go nuts. Make sure what you buy will work so you don't waste time and money. It's more than that too. Taking the laptop apart seems within your capabilities, but there is always risk. Break some connectors, etc, and the thing is destroyed. Think about if the upgrade to the cpu is really worth it.
If you say had a Sandy Pentium, then a Sandy i5 would be a big upgrade without a huge expense. It would be worth it. An i3 to i5? I would say no.

 

[PG]

Ivy is a lot more expensive because the Sandy gpu is pretty much obsolete. The sandy gpu is not DX11, and there are no official drivers from Intel for Win10. The drivers are legacy and built into Win10 now.
Ivy has DX11 drivers from Intel so it's much better. Just make sure your board could support it before you buy one.

Here is my Sandy laptop: Asus X54C
It has the Intel HM65 Express Chipset. No Ivy support.

Here is my Ivy laptop: Lenovo G580
It has the Intel HM76 and supports Ivy.

I think the 6 series is Sandy only, and the 7 series is Ivy.
See which you have and go from there.

 

[RyanRazer]

Do your homework. Don't listen too much to people on internet forums.
You haven't given us a model or part number for your laptop yet. Nobody knows if your laptop supports an Ivy or not. Nobody knows what your max RAM is.

Right now I have a Sandy Bride laptop that can take only Sandy, no Ivy. Max RAM is 8GB.
I have another that had a soldered Sandy cpu. No upgrade possible there. Max RAM again is 8GB.
Finally, I have a third with an Ivy cpu. Ivy cpus are expensive, even on ebay. An i7 used could be $150 or more. Not worth an upgrade for me. Max RAM is listed as 8GB, but I see some people saying that it will take 16GB. Not sure, and not going above 8GB. It just seems like overkill and money wasted to me for my purposes.

Other advice? Cpu-world is your friend. They have tons of good info if you look around.
If you are considering an i7, note that Intel made some i7 cpus that were just dual core, not quad. The mobile world is much different than desktop. i5 cpus are dual core also. An i5 is just an i3 with AES and Turbo boost.

Overall, again, do your homework and don't go nuts. Make sure what you buy will work so you don't waste time and money. It's more than that too. Taking the laptop apart seems within your capabilities, but there is always risk. Break some connectors, etc, and the thing is destroyed. Think about if the upgrade to the cpu is really worth it.
If you say had a Sandy Pentium, then a Sandy i5 would be a big upgrade without a huge expense. It would be worth it. An i3 to i5? I would say no.

I'll take a look at cpu-world, tnx. Atm my laptop is taken apart. Tomorrow im getting thermal compound and I'll reassemble it. Then I'll run aida64 to get all the info about my mobo.

If i get some i5 with some higher clocks from ebay for, under 80$ or so (like that one in the link above) and my mobo supports it, I'll go for it. Not just for performance, since i basically don't use it, just a spare comp that comes in handy from time to time, but for my curiosity. It is replacable though.

Thanks for advice

 

[bhtooefr]

What brand and model is the laptop? You don't need AIDA64 to tell us that.

 

[RyanRazer]

What brand and model is the laptop? You don't need AIDA64 to tell us that.

It chillygreen. http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Chiligreen-Platin-TS-Notebook.65046.0.html

Edit: got it HM65

And here is a list of supposedly compatiblem CPUs... Hmm. A bit confusing. My CPU 2330m lists FCBGA1023 and PPGA988 as sockets ?!
http://www.youcpu.com/en/chipset/Mobile-Intel-HM65-Express-Chipset-Intel-BD82HM65-PCH

But there are CPUs listed with the same socket compatible with this chipset. THe only thing left is to see if my BIOS supports it, i read on the net...

 

[NTMBK]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know of a way to test in software whether your CPU is soldered or socketed? (Obviously I could tear the machine apart and take off the cooler, but I'd rather avoid that.) I have an old ZBox with an i3-2330M in it- if I could drop an Ivy Bridge dual core in it, that would really spice it up a little.

 

[RyanRazer]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know of a way to test in software whether your CPU is soldered or socketed? (Obviously I could tear the machine apart and take off the cooler, but I'd rather avoid that.) I have an old ZBox with an i3-2330M in it- if I could drop an Ivy Bridge dual core in it, that would really spice it up a little.

I don't think there is a way. But i am not pro so... You could check if someone did it before or open it up yourself. I guess it's not in the warranty anymore since it's probably and old laptop. Plus you might do a clean up like i did and do 2 good deeds in one..

 

[PG]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know of a way to test in software whether your CPU is soldered or socketed? (Obviously I could tear the machine apart and take off the cooler, but I'd rather avoid that.) I have an old ZBox with an i3-2330M in it- if I could drop an Ivy Bridge dual core in it, that would really spice it up a little.

Google and research are your friends.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2403771
http://www.cnet.com/products/zotac-zbox-id82-plus-core-i3-2330m-2-2-ghz-2-gb-320-gb/specs/

HM65 chipset mean no Ivy support