[SOLVED] Advice on upgrading Laptop CPU

[Therealfifi11]

Hey everyone.

Since there is a lot of data on the internet about the subject I am about to reveal, I would really appreciate the opinion of other people.
Recently I have bought an old Fujitsu Lifebook s792 just for studying as I am already using Desktop PC for gaming occasionally.

My laptop is currently running on i5-3320M @ 2.60 GHz, with FUJITSU FJNB239 motherboard.
After some research I have made a conclusion that I can generally upgrade my CPU to most of the Ivy Bridge processors out there, and I was thinking about i7 3740QM.
The problem might be, the laptop itself is quite small, containing a small heatsink along with a small cooling fan that supports it. According to the data i5 is running on 35W while i7 is 45W itself. Do you think that might present a problem in terms of keeping the CPU temperature optimal or not really?

Any advice and info is very welcome.
Kind regards
Filiop

 

[Vyrvelata]

Ofcourse it will be a problem.... if the manufacturer is smart, they will build the chassis around the CPU (GPU if it has).... and it will be strictly guaranteed to run properly (without overheating) only with that particular CPU, also the design of the motherboard (Power Phases, Vrm's) will be build around the CPU....The power brick also.
So if it's smaller chassis I'm not advising it.
Back in the day, Toshiba had some awful chassis with i7 inside, and there was a lot of victims writing in Toshiba's forums about Laptops shutting down due to excessive heat...and the laughable part was the solution from the employees on the forum was....oh just set your CPU to 60% on the Windows power plan :O
So even if you put better CPU, and the mobo and you power brick are fine....doesn't mean you can use it...

 

[jeremyj_83]

Hey everyone.

Since there is a lot of data on the internet about the subject I am about to reveal, I would really appreciate the opinion of other people.
Recently I have bought an old Fujitsu Lifebook s792 just for studying as I am already using Desktop PC for gaming occasionally.

My laptop is currently running on i5-3320M @ 2.60 GHz, with FUJITSU FJNB239 motherboard.
After some research I have made a conclusion that I can generally upgrade my CPU to most of the Ivy Bridge processors out there, and I was thinking about i7 3740QM.
The problem might be, the laptop itself is quite small, containing a small heatsink along with a small cooling fan that supports it. According to the data i5 is running on 35W while i7 is 45W itself. Do you think that might present a problem in terms of keeping the CPU temperature optimal or not really?

Any advice and info is very welcome.
Kind regards
Filiop

Unless your CPU is in the FCPGA socket (quite rare for laptops) you will not be able to upgrade the CPU. Most laptop CPUs for the better part of the last 15 years use the BGA packaging which doesn't allow you to change the CPU. Now lets assume you have a FCPGA CPU and you can change it, the fastest CPU that you could put into that would be the i7-3520M. That isn't much of an upgrade in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Therealfifi11]

Unless your CPU is in the FCPGA socket (quite rare for laptops) you will not be able to upgrade the CPU. Most laptop CPUs for the better part of the last 15 years use the BGA packaging which doesn't allow you to change the CPU. Now lets assume you have a FCPGA CPU and you can change it, the fastest CPU that you could put into that would be the i7-3520M. That isn't much of an upgrade in the grand scheme of things.

My socket is 988B rPGA according to CPU-Z.
The thing is I have visited some workshops and they claimed the change would be fine (Of course if you are trying to make a dollar) without stating any reasons for concers. As they claim, both processors are G2 socket and shall fit.
I am not really that much into hardware so that is the reason I am here.
Thanks for the info it is much appreciated!

 

[Therealfifi11]

Ofcourse it will be a problem.... if the manufacturer is smart, they will build the chassis around the CPU (GPU if it has).... and it will be strictly guaranteed to run properly (without overheating) only with that particular CPU, also the design of the motherboard (Power Phases, Vrm's) will be build around the CPU....The power brick also.
So if it's smaller chassis I'm not advising it.
Back in the day, Toshiba had some awful chassis with i7 inside, and there was a lot of victims writing in Toshiba's forums about Laptops shutting down due to excessive heat...and the laughable part was the solution from the employees on the forum was....oh just set your CPU to 60% on the Windows power plan :O
So even if you put better CPU, and the mobo and you power brick are fine....doesn't mean you can use it...

Yeah that sounds logical to me. I was wondering even if the upgrade is available how much impact will it have on the power consumption of the processor itself, resulting in higher work temperatures.
I do keep my lappy on a cooling pad at all times but still that is no solution.
Unless I rip this poor thing apart and construct the lower part by myself, creating some space for a desktop heatsink.
Looking at my laptop right now, and it's like: Please don't.

Just kidding thanks for info it is much appreciated!

 

[jeremyj_83]

My socket is 988B rPGA according to CPU-Z.
The thing is I have visited some workshops and they claimed the change would be fine (Of course if you are trying to make a dollar) without stating any reasons for concers. As they claim, both processors are G2 socket and shall fit.
I am not really that much into hardware so that is the reason I am here.
Thanks for the info it is much appreciated!

That is quite surprising that the CPU is a PGA in a laptop. Not that it doesn't happen, just most are BGA. That said the 3740QM is a 45W CPU and the biggest CPU you could get in your laptop, according to the official documentation, was the 3612QM (BGA only) which was a 35W CPU. All the other CPUs were 35W CPUs as well which would tend to mean that your chassis was designed for a max 35W CPU. Putting a 45W CPU into that chassis would create a lot of cooling, power delivery, etc.. issues. Getting back to the official documentation the 2nd fastest CPU is the 2c./4t 3520M. Biggest difference between it and your CPU is 300MHz higher base and boost clocks as well a 1MB more cache. Overall that that is an 11.5% increase in base and 9% increase in boost clocks. Overall difference in performance would be about equal to those numbers and IMO not worth it. You would be better off saving the money and getting a much newer laptop with higher resolution screen. For example this laptop from Best Buy will run circles around your current one once you can buy it. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-v...tate-drive-slate-gray/6451625.p?skuId=6451625 At that price there will be some obvious tradeoffs, like the screen probably isn't the greatest and battery life will be lower than higher end laptops. That said the screen and battery life will probably be better than what you currently have.

 

[Therealfifi11]

That is quite surprising that the CPU is a PGA in a laptop. Not that it doesn't happen, just most are BGA. That said the 3740QM is a 45W CPU and the biggest CPU you could get in your laptop, according to the official documentation, was the 3612QM (BGA only) which was a 35W CPU. All the other CPUs were 35W CPUs as well which would tend to mean that your chassis was designed for a max 35W CPU. Putting a 45W CPU into that chassis would create a lot of cooling, power delivery, etc.. issues. Getting back to the official documentation the 2nd fastest CPU is the 2c./4t 3520M. Biggest difference between it and your CPU is 300MHz higher base and boost clocks as well a 1MB more cache. Overall that that is an 11.5% increase in base and 9% increase in boost clocks. Overall difference in performance would be about equal to those numbers and IMO not worth it. You would be better off saving the money and getting a much newer laptop with higher resolution screen. For example this laptop from Best Buy will run circles around your current one once you can buy it. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-v...tate-drive-slate-gray/6451625.p?skuId=6451625 At that price there will be some obvious tradeoffs, like the screen probably isn't the greatest and battery life will be lower than higher end laptops. That said the screen and battery life will probably be better than what you currently have.

The main reason for me wanting to replace the CPU is that I have doubts that the integrated GPU might be damaged or something. I ran AIDA 64 stress test on CPU resulting in temperatures not going over 75C on 100%. However when I stress GPU it climbs over 85C which is getting too hot for the comfort zone.
I am no expert in anything and my knowledge is basic throughout hardware and software enterprise, which doesn't certify me to make a conclusion that GPU may be faulty.
I cleaned laptop thoroughly and reapplied Arctic MX2 thermal paste to the CPU, which resulted in CPU temps on stress test rarely passing 70C, but GPU is still in the hot zone.
This might be normal or not. I do not posses such experience to be the judge, but 25 euros upgrade, for like i7-3740QM is not going to harm me so much but could solve my problems, or let's say i7-3612QM that should be 35W if I am not mistaken.

 

[artk2219]

That is quite surprising that the CPU is a PGA in a laptop. Not that it doesn't happen, just most are BGA. That said the 3740QM is a 45W CPU and the biggest CPU you could get in your laptop, according to the official documentation, was the 3612QM (BGA only) which was a 35W CPU. All the other CPUs were 35W CPUs as well which would tend to mean that your chassis was designed for a max 35W CPU. Putting a 45W CPU into that chassis would create a lot of cooling, power delivery, etc.. issues. Getting back to the official documentation the 2nd fastest CPU is the 2c./4t 3520M. Biggest difference between it and your CPU is 300MHz higher base and boost clocks as well a 1MB more cache. Overall that that is an 11.5% increase in base and 9% increase in boost clocks. Overall difference in performance would be about equal to those numbers and IMO not worth it. You would be better off saving the money and getting a much newer laptop with higher resolution screen. For example this laptop from Best Buy will run circles around your current one once you can buy it. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-v...tate-drive-slate-gray/6451625.p?skuId=6451625 At that price there will be some obvious tradeoffs, like the screen probably isn't the greatest and battery life will be lower than higher end laptops. That said the screen and battery life will probably be better than what you currently have.

It used to be very common for the cpu's to be replaceable on a laptop until around haswell, I remember doing this many times with Core 2's, Turions, phenoms, AMDs early APU's, and sandy and ivy bridge core i5's to i7's. The bigger issue was the added heat output, i know with dell it typically wasnt an issue because they used the same heatsink and cooling from core i3's to i7's if they were all available on the same laptop line. Toshiba's however were a little different, they didnt typically design it for the top end cpu that could go in there, even though it copuld still go in there. I mean at the end of the day, unless you were doing something that requires or could use more threads, like modern gaming or editing, you wont really see too much of a bump, even though you will be moving from 2 cores and 4 threads to 4 cores and 8 threads. Even if you are gaming you'll be severely hamstrung by the gpu, which even if you can upgrade if it is mxm, can be a bit difficult and expensive to get working right.

 

[jeremyj_83]

The main reason for me wanting to replace the CPU is that I have doubts that the integrated GPU might be damaged or something. I ran AIDA 64 stress test on CPU resulting in temperatures not going over 75C on 100%. However when I stress GPU it climbs over 85C which is getting too hot for the comfort zone.
I am no expert in anything and my knowledge is basic throughout hardware and software enterprise, which doesn't certify me to make a conclusion that GPU may be faulty.
I cleaned laptop thoroughly and reapplied Arctic MX2 thermal paste to the CPU, which resulted in CPU temps on stress test rarely passing 70C, but GPU is still in the hot zone.
This might be normal or not. I do not posses such experience to be the judge, but 25 euros upgrade, for like i7-3740QM is not going to harm me so much but could solve my problems, or let's say i7-3612QM that should be 35W if I am not mistaken.

Looking at Intel's Ark page, apparently there is a PGA version of the 3612QM. https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...m-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-10-ghz-rpga.html If you can find that it would be an upgrade to what you currently have. I would not put the higher wattage CPU into you chassis as it would probably cause a lot of issues.

The GPU running hot isn't surprising. When you are stress testing an iGPU, there will be higher power draw as the CPU and GPU are active. However, 85C is still in the acceptable range for that CPU as the T-junction is 105C. https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...-3320m-processor-3m-cache-up-to-3-30-ghz.html The problem you have is related to cooling capacity in that laptop. At even 70C CPU temps your laptop is going to be quite hot.

 

[jeremyj_83]

It used to be very common for the cpu's to be replaceable on a laptop until around haswell, I remember doing this many times with Core 2's, Turions, phenoms, AMDs early APU's, and sandy and ivy bridge core i5's to i7's. The bigger issue was the added heat output, i know with dell it typically wasnt an issue because they used the same heatsink and cooling from core i3's to i7's if they were all available on the same laptop line. Toshiba's however were a little different, they didnt typically design it for the top end cpu that could go in there, even though it copuld still go in there. I mean at the end of the day, unless you were doing something that requires or could use more threads, like modern gaming or editing, you wont really see too much of a bump, even though you will be moving from 2 cores and 4 threads to 4 cores and 8 threads. Even if you are gaming you'll be severely hamstrung by the gpu, which even if you can upgrade if it is mxm, can be a bit difficult and expensive to get working right.

It isn't hard at all to notice a difference between 2c/4t and 4c/8t in normal usage just with web browsing. With all the ads that are on modern webpages, having multiple tabs open will eat up RAM and CPU quite quickly. The added cores and threads make it much easier to use.

 

[Therealfifi11]

It used to be very common for the cpu's to be replaceable on a laptop until around haswell, I remember doing this many times with Core 2's, Turions, phenoms, AMDs early APU's, and sandy and ivy bridge core i5's to i7's. The bigger issue was the added heat output, i know with dell it typically wasnt an issue because they used the same heatsink and cooling from core i3's to i7's if they were all available on the same laptop line. Toshiba's however were a little different, they didnt typically design it for the top end cpu that could go in there, even though it copuld still go in there. I mean at the end of the day, unless you were doing something that requires or could use more threads, like modern gaming or editing, you wont really see too much of a bump, even though you will be moving from 2 cores and 4 threads to 4 cores and 8 threads. Even if you are gaming you'll be severely hamstrung by the gpu, which even if you can upgrade if it is mxm, can be a bit difficult and expensive to get working right.

The heat output is mi biggest concern at the moment. As for the CPU strength, I guess I could use it since I have loads of tabs in the web browser followed with tons of stuff in Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop

It isn't hard at all to notice a difference between 2c/4t and 4c/8t in normal usage just with web browsing. With all the ads that are on modern webpages, having multiple tabs open will eat up RAM and CPU quite quickly. The added cores and threads make it much easier to use.

The main reason I am going for a quad-core with 8 threads. I work in Dreamweaver and Photoshop, along with multiple tabs in browser always open. When I say multiple, sometimes that means a lot of them. 3320M has significantly higher base clock speed but I guess 3612QM could work with that load atleast 10-15% better and perform better overall. As I said, small upgrade for tiny bit of money, but could result in having a decent studying laptop.

 

[artk2219]

The heat output is mi biggest concern at the moment. As for the CPU strength, I guess I could use it since I have loads of tabs in the web browser followed with tons of stuff in Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop


The main reason I am going for a quad-core with 8 threads. I work in Dreamweaver and Photoshop, along with multiple tabs in browser always open. When I say multiple, sometimes that means a lot of them. 3320M has significantly higher base clock speed but I guess 3612QM could work with that load atleast 10-15% better and perform better overall. As I said, small upgrade for tiny bit of money, but could result in having a decent studying laptop.

You would notice a snappiness drop for any prolonged single threaded use since you are losing 500mhz (~19%) on your base clock, but for your use cases it wouldnt be a minor improvement for those applications since they all scale well with threads and you would be doubling them. Its worth the upgrade if the laptop can handle the thermals.

https://www.cpu-world.com/Compare_CPUs/Intel_AW8063801031700,Intel_AW8063801130504/