Question CPU upgrade for my notebook

Jun 26, 2020
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I hope this is the right section, in case it isn't then sorry

Hello, so I have a HP Pavilion 17-e101sl which recently the CPU (an i5-4200M) died and I need to replace it (yes, the CPU on this board is replaceable)
Now, I could just buy the same one on Internet but then I thought it would be better if I just try to upgrade it instead.
Based on my knowledge, when you upgrade a CPU on a notebook you must be sure that the new CPU has the same socket compatibility of the original one (FCPGA946 socket in my case), then it must be of the same generation of the og one (in rare cases you can even upgrade it to a new gen, but I don't think this applies for me) and it needs to have a same, similar or lower TDP level like the old one in order to prevent overheating due to unsufficient cooling. So my best guess is that I can upgrade the CPU on this notebook from it's stock (dead) i5-4200M to an i7-4600M which seems to be the perfect and most compatible choice. Problem is, I can't find any documentation for this notebook on what processors it supports and before buying a new CPU I want to be sure that the upgrade will probably work. The PC BIOS is updated to it's last version (2017) so there shouldn't be any bios-related issues. Any suggestions?
 
Jun 26, 2020
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They don't give cpu support lists for laptops. Upgrading laptop cpus is typically either googling to see if someone has already tried or trial and error.
A friend just made me notice that with HP there is a manual about the general lineup of products with an apparently list of supported processors when you search for user manuals about a specific model
I downloaded the PDF and in reading it I noticed that indeed there was a list of type of processors used, which included my dead i5-4200M, with the only i7 4th gen present being the i7-4702MQ (no i7-4600M) which is a really nice CPU but it's not worth buying because it costs around 200$ (versus the 70 of the 4600M) and probably it's too powerful for the discrete graphic card my laptop have which is a Radeon 8670M, it's not a bad gpu but it's really bottlenecked by it's 2GB VRAM which is DDR3 type and it really sucks
So yeah, at this point I'll probably make a huge mistake in buying a i7-4600M because most probably it will not work, and instead it's better if I just buy a used i5-4200M
 
That's a list of cpus offered for the laptop model, not a cpu support list. Other companies don't make it that easy to see all the cpus offered but hp is the best I've seen for documentation from oems.

I'd still wonder why the cpu died and if it did actually die. The chances of it dying on its own is very rare. Of years of support, I still have not seen a cpu die alone (with stock laptop settings).

I wouldn't say the gpu is even powerful enough to care about 2gb but that's another conversation. Ddr3 does hamper it quite a bit considering the 8690m is that exact same with gddr5 and almost double the performance. Any cpu change is a minimal difference anyways so it's not even worth a thought on how a gpu is effected.
 
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Jun 26, 2020
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That's a list of cpus offered for the laptop model, not a cpu support list. Other companies don't make it that easy to see all the cpus offered but hp is the best I've seen for documentation from oems.
I had this feeling of that pdf not being a cpu support list from the start, and now that my feeling is confirmed, is there still hope for an i7-4600M to work? I know it's not that big of a difference in terms of performance but a little upgrade surely won't hurt
And I mean, the chance of compatibilty should be high since the 4600M is just a i5-4200M but with better clock and a megabyte more of cache, so there shouldn't be any reason for the PC to not boot up

I'd still wonder why the cpu died and if it did actually die. The chances of it dying on its own is very rare. Of years of support, I still have not seen a cpu die alone (with stock laptop settings).
Yeah, about that...uhm, I don't want so way what happened, but trust me, the CPU is dead
 
Jun 26, 2020
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There's a good chance it will work because of the similarities you went over but no one can say if it will work unless they did it or have found proof.
Welp, the only way to find out is to try, so I guess I could give it a try and in worst case scenario I'll just resend the CPU back and get a refund
Don't know if you're interested but there's a used I7=4700MQ listed for <$85 ... or best offer which probably means $75 would take it. It's a tad better than the 4702 you mention BUT ... it does use 47w as opposed to 37w. It my experience, as long as you thoroughly clean the cooling assembly it shouldn't be a problem.
I think we're getting a little bit too far compatibility wise now, also I don't have much patience in disassembling my PC more constantly than what I do normally just to clean it.
And I can't find that used 4700MQ you are talking about, only ones that costs almost 200$
I tried to see the link and the website said that my IP is banned for god knows why since I never visited that website before, lol