[SOLVED] Is it possible to upgrade a soldered in cpu?

[GoodPenguin]

I purchases a mini windows pc from China to play around with and was wondering if it is possible to upgrade the current soldered in CPU? It currently has an Intel Atom Z3735F processor. If it is possible to upgrade the CPU should the new CPU be one from the same series or could I go with a newer series if there is one?

 

[tennis2]

No, it's not

 

[GoodPenguin]

No, it's not

What would the restrictions be? Not doubting your response just curios.

 

[tennis2]

1) desoldering and more importantly REsoldering all the pins on a BGA chip

2) because the existing mobo has the CPU soldered on, that's probably the only CPU the bios supports.

 

[falcon291]

What would the restrictions be? Not doubting your response just curios.

Just open the case find the CPU, and see how it is soldered. First it would be hard to find a replacement CPU, then if not impossible, it would be hard to solder that CPU. And don't dream that the new CPU you found will make your PC real fast because faster CPUs need better coolers. And your cooling will simply not be enough.

 

[MadsModsat]

I don't consider myself an expert, so this is just a thought, but I think it wouldn't be completely wrong to speculate, that the money, effort and expertise required would not be justified by the potential performance increase as a result of the upgrade.
In theory it should be possible, I'd think -but in the real world I'd say there are too many technical obstacles to realistically overcome.
But I don't know for a fact, so I might be surprised to learn I'm completely wrong

 

[USAFRet]

I purchases a mini windows pc from China to play around with and was wondering if it is possible to upgrade the current soldered in CPU? It currently has an Intel Atom Z3735F processor. If it is possible to upgrade the CPU should the new CPU be one from the same series or could I go with a newer series if there is one?

No.

1. The motherboard and chipset does not know how to handle a different CPU.
2. Replacing a soldered on CPU cannot be done by hand.

 

[USAFRet]

This is a typical BGA mounted CPU, such as your Atom:

The top thing with all the silver dots is the underside, where it connects to the motherboard.

 

[SamirD]

I don't consider myself an expert, so this is just a thought, but I think it wouldn't be completely wrong to speculate, that the money, effort and expertise required would not be justified by the potential performance increase as a result of the upgrade.
In theory it should be possible, I'd think -but in the real world I'd say there are too many technical obstacles to realistically overcome.
But I don't know for a fact, so I might be surprised to learn I'm completely wrong

You're actually absolutely dead-on correct. Technically it is possible, but the equipment, experience, and technical aptitude to do this will cost hundreds of times more than the laptop itself.