[SOLVED] Laptop CPU in a desktop - BGA to LGA - MADE IN CHINA

[antonyjlawlor]

Hi,

I recently just purchased an i7 4980HQ (yea it's a mobile BGA socket Crystal Well), I’ve attached some pictures. Been back and forth with the guy I got it from, he brought a few back from China with him - he says it can be clocked to 4.6ghz with the right mobo. Reading more about the chip it's self, it can turbo up to 3.8ghz on all for cores and 4.0ghz on a single core by default (don't really understand how all that works if i''m being honest). The main thing here is that it's a BGA-1364 socket converted to a 1150 LGA socket.

I decided to bite the bullet and paid £120 for it, I feel it’s worth it - in terms of TDP and performance. My current system I’ve had for years now that is still rocking a phenom is x4 965 it starting to struggle - was looking for a cheap upgrade. Plan on buying a second hand board etc and transferring my DDR3 ram over to the new system. If anything this product is kind of unique too in a way, I like the jimmy rigging idea of it all!

It would be really interesting to see how they put these together and how hard it might be, done some re flowing of 360 CPUs in my time, and it sounds like it could be a similar process in some ways - anyone with a bit more technical know how than my self able to shine some light on this? it appears they are doing it with a number of laptop BGA CPU's not just mine.

https://imgur.com/FSK8PTe.png

https://imgur.com/pZoXHAi.png

 

[RememberThe5th]

From understanding (if im right)they just clear the pads of cpu soo they are flat, and ofc they desolder it from broken board I guess?
Yes cpu is missing some pads (as the socket number indicates).
Linus has reviewed one similar cpu to yours (see on youtube).

 

[antonyjlawlor]

From understanding (if im right)they just clear the pads of cpu soo they are flat, and ofc they desolder it from broken board I guess?
Yes cpu is missing some pads (as the socket number indicates).
Linus has reviewed one similar cpu to yours (see on youtube).

Yea it was his video that made me search for one to buy. Just wondering how they go about mapping more to less, de-soldering a chip from the board and cleaning it I get, but they must have some kind of template setup that they add solder balls into and heat up, how they even mapped it in the first place just blows my mind!

 

[zyh1987]

there are many "clever" ways in Asia market to reuse the laptop cpu, they have pga to lga adapters, as well as these bga to lga ones.

the only concern i have is that the adapter is not properly tested for longevity and may melt when you push too much current through it. Certainly interesting, from a safety stand point, stay away from those.

 

[antonyjlawlor]

there are many "clever" ways in Asia market to reuse the laptop cpu, they have pga to lga adapters, as well as these bga to lga ones.

the only concern i have is that the adapter is not properly tested for longevity and may melt when you push too much current through it. Certainly interesting, from a safety stand point, stay away from those.

So a BGA to LGA adapter is what I should be searching for.

I kind of agree with you from a safety stand point but the only real difference here is that there is a layer or PCB (the adapter) between the BGA chip and the LGA socket on the motherboard. I'll probably mount mine in a case where the chip and lay horizontal instead of vertical to minimize any issues. I guess there is also a question of the distance between the chip and the socket and whether or not that will cause any timing issues, type of solder used etc.

Still thought really interesting and I wan to know more!

 

[Corwin65]

From understanding (if im right)they just clear the pads of cpu soo they are flat, and ofc they desolder it from broken board I guess?
Yes cpu is missing some pads (as the socket number indicates).
Linus has reviewed one similar cpu to yours (see on youtube).

Yea it was his video that made me search for one to buy. Just wondering how they go about mapping more to less, de-soldering a chip from the board and cleaning it I get, but they must have some kind of template setup that they add solder balls into and heat up, how they even mapped it in the first place just blows my mind!

I think his final analysis was that it was not worth it.

 

[antonyjlawlor]

From understanding (if im right)they just clear the pads of cpu soo they are flat, and ofc they desolder it from broken board I guess?
Yes cpu is missing some pads (as the socket number indicates).
Linus has reviewed one similar cpu to yours (see on youtube).

Yea it was his video that made me search for one to buy. Just wondering how they go about mapping more to less, de-soldering a chip from the board and cleaning it I get, but they must have some kind of template setup that they add solder balls into and heat up, how they even mapped it in the first place just blows my mind!

I think his final analysis was that it was not worth it.

Yea, for that particular chip and the price he paid for it. I personally think the price I paid for mine and the performance that can be had from the chip is reasonable - obviously the CPU tab needs to be screwed up and some gigabyte boards wont work with the chip but all in all I think it's worth it.

 

[Solandri]

I recently just purchased an i7 4980HQ (yea it's a mobile BGA socket Crystal Well), I’ve attached some pictures. Been back and forth with the guy I got it from, he brought a few back from China with him - he says it can be clocked to 4.6ghz with the right mobo. Reading more about the chip it's self, it can turbo up to 3.8ghz on all for cores and 4.0ghz on a single core by default (don't really understand how all that works if i''m being honest).

That CPU runs at 2.8 GHz (can always run up to 2.8 GHz) with a 10/10/11/12 turbo boost (will automatically clock higher if the current CPU temperature allows). That means:

• 
  ■With 4 or 3 cores in use, it can turbo boost by 2.8 GHz + 10*100 MHz = up to 3.8 GHz.
  ■With 2 cores in use it can turbo boost by 2.8 GHz + 11*100 MHz = 3.9 GHz.
  ■And if only 1 core is in use it can turbo up to 2.8 GHz + 12*100 MHz = 4.0 GHz.

A motherboard which supports overclocking may be able to push it higher (probably by messing with the FSB as I don't believe the clock multiplier is unlocked like on the K processors). Realistically, with a modern multi-tasking OS, there will always be 3-4 cores in use. Though there are ways to limit the number of cores which are in use.

This is one of those rare cases where the Wiki page is more informative than the horse's mouth (Intel).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i7_microprocessors#%22Haswell-H%22_(MCP,_quad-core,_22_nm)_2
https://ark.intel.com/products/83503/Intel-Core-i7-4980HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-4-00-GHz-

 

[antonyjlawlor]

Thanks for that! Interesting read, will be doing some overclocking for sure, not going to push it to hard though.

I’ve picked up a second hand board to put it in, ASUS Q87M-E any thoughts on the board?

 

[USAFRet]

You do realize that a laptop i7 is not the same as a desktop i7, even if they are from the same generation.
Right?

As a "project", this might be fun.
But don't expect anything magical out of it. Especially after buying the board and whatever adapters you need.

 

[Solandri]

For the i7, the laptop version is virtually identical to the desktop version, just clocked slower. Although Intel went a bit nuts putting out different versions with different amounts of L3 cache. The bigger issue is thermal throttling when installed in a laptop. Which presumably won't be a problem here since he'll be able to use a desktop heatsink and fan.

It's the i3 and i5 which differ markedly between the desktop and mobile versions.

 

[antonyjlawlor]

As Solandri said, almost the same.

I'm more worried about the TDP and the quality of the solder used - adapter wise the only thing that is required is for 1 or 3 screws to be raised 0.5mm - any 1150 designed heat sink will work with this.

 

[RememberThe5th]

As Solandri said, almost the same.

I'm more worried about the TDP and the quality of the solder used - adapter wise the only thing that is required is for 1 or 3 screws to be raised 0.5mm - any 1150 designed heat sink will work with this.

any 1150 designed heat sink will work with this

By sanding it down ofc. Even like this its Tight Tight.

 

[antonyjlawlor]

As Solandri said, almost the same.

I'm more worried about the TDP and the quality of the solder used - adapter wise the only thing that is required is for 1 or 3 screws to be raised 0.5mm - any 1150 designed heat sink will work with this.

any 1150 designed heat sink will work with this

By sanding it down ofc. Even like this its Tight Tight.

Didn't realize it would need sanding, seller didn't say anything about that - also I don't be-leave Linus had to mod the heat sink in anyway, did he? i could be wrong.

 

[USAFRet]

Didn't realize it would need sanding, seller didn't say anything about that - also I don't be-leave Linus had to mod the heat sink in anyway, did he? i could be wrong.

Don't assume that Linus' staff did or did not do a lot of prep work before producing that vid.
Nothing like that ever works perfectly, the very first time, with no mods or missteps.

 

[Corwin65]

Because of the added thickness due to the BGA adapter he did have an issue. I think he did have to sand it down.

 

[antonyjlawlor]

Interesting... I'll let you guys know once I've got it put together what issues I run into (if any) - going to watch that video back again.

Edit: Watched the video again, no mention of sanding the heat sink.

 

[RememberThe5th]

Linus used aftermarket one not stock, cause its pretty hard press with stock heatsink to mount it. With extra thicc, i dont think you're gonna be able to put the stock heatsink.
You may try, but??

 

[antonyjlawlor]

Linus used aftermarket one not stock, cause its pretty hard press with stock heatsink to mount it. With extra thicc, i dont think you're gonna be able to put the stock heatsink.
You may try, but??

Presuming the mounting bracket is metal, that could ever so slightly bent at all 4 corners to gain a little height perhaps, guess the problem is most if them are plastic... I do have a 3d printer though so I could maybe even custom print something.

Heat resistant zip ties is another option.

 

[RememberThe5th]

Well from my overclocking testing, my motherboards were bent with cpu cooler, but no damage, my r7 250 which i can take piture is bent a LOT and still works fine.

 

[USAFRet]

Well from my overclocking testing, my motherboards were bent with cpu cooler, but no damage, my r7 250 which i can take piture is bent a LOT and still works fine.

Bent parts are never a good thing. You got lucky.

 

[Corwin65]

Well from my overclocking testing, my motherboards were bent with cpu cooler, but no damage, my r7 250 which i can take piture is bent a LOT and still works fine.

Bent parts are never a good thing. You got lucky.

For now.

 

[antonyjlawlor]

The pessimism is strong in this one...

 

[Corwin65]

The pessimism is strong in this one...

Pessimism/Experience

 

[antonyjlawlor]

I installed everything last night into my ASUS Q87M-E - I had to loosen the screws a little that hold the CPU clamp down so it could be raised slightly due to the slight height differences of the chip. As it was now raised I had to loosen the 4 screws slightly that hold the mounting clamp to the heat sink - I probably could have gotten away with not loosening these screws but I didn't want to much pressure on the board and the chip.

Currently all seems to be working well on the CPU side of things, recognized in the BIOS etc - i'm going to update my BIOS, reinstall windows (again, screwed it up a little) as well as the motherboard chip set drivers and everything else.

Idle temps read around 35 degrees c - and 55 / 60 under load (give or take) - using the stock i7 cooler. Will post more results once I have everything setup correctly.