I have This laptop at the moment. It has a core i3 330M. I am thinking of adding a i5 580m or i7 processor to it. Ideally I would like to add the i7. I know my motherboard supports a 988-pin Micro FCPGA. with a HM55 chipset, but can it handle a i7? Cheers, Simon.
My main concern would be cooling, but according to the intel website, the i5 580m and the i3 330M have the same TDP (heat output) so it looks like the i5 580m would work without any problems. The i7 mobile versions also appear to have the same TDP of 35W. Double check the specs on the intel website before you buy! Take care pulling the laptop apart though, there may be hidden screws etc, see if you can find a service manual online for it. In my opinion though you would get a much better improvement in overall system speed by upgrading the HDD to an SSD instead... and much less likely to have compatibility problems.
Thanks for the reply. I have been in and of the intel website checking the specs etc on the 2 Cpus I would like to run. The first is the i5 580m and the other is the i7 640m. My main concern is weather the bios will support the i7 as that is what I want, as the 2 cpus are the same price. Also I have had my laptop stripped down before when I had to replace the power jack. The CPU is very easy to get to (4 screws and remove the cover). EDIT; I forgot to mention that I already have a 128gb SSD installed. Cheers, Simon.
Yes BIOS may be an issue. If your laptop is available with the i7 from the factory, then I would be 99% sure that it will work. Make sure you have the latest bios before swapping the cpu I guess. Unless you find someone else who has done the exact same swap, I think you will just have to try it and see what happens! I once installed an incompatible CPU in a laptop, when I swapped it back to the original it booted fine.
It doesn't come from the factory with a i7. Only the choice of a i3 or i5. But surely if I went for the i7 640m which has 2cores 4 threads with a built in gpu, the same as my i3 330m that it would be compatible. The only difference is the higher clock speed with added turbo boost. (which if you choose the i5 version, the i5 has turbo boost) So I know that the chipset supports turbo boost. It would be so much easier to be able to test before you buy. Dammit!! Cheers, Simon.
That link would suggest that it will not be compatible, but they do seem very similar on the intel website, only clock speed and an additional 1MB of cache for the i7. Also if they could offer it I would imagine they would offer the i7 at an additional price... silly not to. Good luck if you try it though!
UPDATE. I brought a i7 640M for my laptop. After installing it and adding fresh tim, my laptop became a beast. I can now game on medium to high settings in most games with my underpowered HD5470. (Which is ideal as I'm now working away alot.) Note; with the original i3 330M temps were around 70c @100% frequency (2.1ghz) after 1hr. i7 640M after 1hr @ 100% frequency (3.45ghz) temps were 50c. I guess the original heat pipe wasn't seated properly. Cheers, Simon.
Great thread. I never thought you could upgrade a laptop processor. Could be a bargain if you bought a i3-330m laptop and then upgraded the processor to an i7-640M! I guess you have to keep the i3 chip safe just in case you get compatibility issues.
No issues with compatibility at all. Which is great news. As long as your laptop has a HM55 chipset with a 988pin socket. You can upgrade from a i3 etc to a i7. Cheers, Simon.
