Laptop cpu upgrade

[yodii77]

Hello,
So I recently created a Franken-computer from my old laptop. I gutted all the internal hardware and mounted it in a open air case. My original reason for doing this was that I had bought a new desktop and laptop. Also it was past it's warranty and beginning to to have heating issues. Well it was always a very hot laptop even with a cooling pad but it would have thermal shutdowns, even after I had cleaned the cooling unit. It was a HP DV7-4060 us, with a AMD Phenom II Triple-Core Mobile N830 (2.1ghz), 8 gigs of ram (ddr3 1333), and a AMD 5650. Despite its apparent lack of wowing specs it has been an inedible performer running Maya, 3ds max very well, and every game I could throw at it in high setting, hi resolutions, and even decent anti aliasing. I have always been very shocked at how fantastic this machine runs, but I have a urge to tinker so gutted it like a fish.
Let me further preface my query by telling you all that I just upgraded the CPU on another ex laptop of mine that I had removed the screen from and hooked to my TV as a hd entertainment machine. That experience got me thinking about perhaps doing the same to my other "mess around" machine. However I had had some issues with the last laptop cpu upgrade. I had used a Turion Ultra to replace a turion and the bios didn't recognize it, but I flashed it with a newer toshiba bios and it hasn't given me any grief since. Anyway that got me thinking that I should check the service manual for my hp before I tried to upgrade it's CPU. The highest performance processor I saw that was officially supported by my particular dv7 was a AMD Phenom II Quad-Core Mobile N970 (2.2 ghz). However AMD released the AMD Phenom II Quad-Core Mobile X940 Black Edition (2.4 with a unlocked multiplier) after that. It is not listed as being supported as a replacement or upgrade and as far as I can tell It has never been in any laptop sold anywhere. Another thing is it has a 10 watt higher TDP than any other supported cpu.
I have found both the N970 and the x940 on ebay from the same company I got the turion ultra, but I suppose my question is will the x940 even work? I it is the same socket (S1g4) and I have a 120 watt power supply connected to the machine which is technically 30 watts over the official hp supply... I guess I should leave well enough alone but I am not gonna so any advice or experience with laptop cpu upgrades is welcome.

 

[o1die]

Be careful with an unlocked multiplier cpu on any laptop. It's liable to default to a lower multiplier setting, and with no multiplier settings in the bios, you'll end up with a slower cpu.

 

[yodii777]

Thanks,
I can't get any definitive information on the x940, so it looks like I will do the N970. I love AMD but sometimes I hate them. They do this with every mobile processor. They come out with it and it is never picked up by a manufacturer so there is nothing but speculation on what it's potential could be. Then the whole line is scrapped and they all end up in Hong Kong being sold on ebay. This was how it was with Turion Ultra for the most part, and now the phenom mobiles. I guess AMD make these CPU's as an intellectual exercise or something. Like PPC I suppose the k10 architecture is just to hot for mobile machines which is a damn shame because this laptop and subsequent franken-rig has performed admirably despite what notebook check or geekbench has to say about it...

 

[yodii777]

I used to primarily use yahoo, but I started using Gmail more a while back so I must have hastily made an account for that email on the thought I'd get notified about answers to threads faster. I am in school, and loose track of all the logins for forums sometimes. However I received both the notification of yours and o1die's response at my yahoo mailbox which I sometimes use for chat so that is how i signed in... why is that a party foul or something?

 

[liquidcomputers]

Hello,
So I recently created a Franken-computer from my old laptop. I gutted all the internal hardware and mounted it in a open air case. My original reason for doing this was that I had bought a new desktop and laptop. Also it was past it's warranty and beginning to to have heating issues. Well it was always a very hot laptop even with a cooling pad but it would have thermal shutdowns, even after I had cleaned the cooling unit. It was a HP DV7-4060 us, with a AMD Phenom II Triple-Core Mobile N830 (2.1ghz), 8 gigs of ram (ddr3 1333), and a AMD 5650. Despite its apparent lack of wowing specs it has been an inedible performer running Maya, 3ds max very well, and every game I could throw at it in high setting, hi resolutions, and even decent anti aliasing. I have always been very shocked at how fantastic this machine runs, but I have a urge to tinker so gutted it like a fish.
Let me further preface my query by telling you all that I just upgraded the CPU on another ex laptop of mine that I had removed the screen from and hooked to my TV as a hd entertainment machine. That experience got me thinking about perhaps doing the same to my other "mess around" machine. However I had had some issues with the last laptop cpu upgrade. I had used a Turion Ultra to replace a turion and the bios didn't recognize it, but I flashed it with a newer toshiba bios and it hasn't given me any grief since. Anyway that got me thinking that I should check the service manual for my hp before I tried to upgrade it's CPU. The highest performance processor I saw that was officially supported by my particular dv7 was a AMD Phenom II Quad-Core Mobile N970 (2.2 ghz). However AMD released the AMD Phenom II Quad-Core Mobile X940 Black Edition (2.4 with a unlocked multiplier) after that. It is not listed as being supported as a replacement or upgrade and as far as I can tell It has never been in any laptop sold anywhere. Another thing is it has a 10 watt higher TDP than any other supported cpu.
I have found both the N970 and the x940 on ebay from the same company I got the turion ultra, but I suppose my question is will the x940 even work? I it is the same socket (S1g4) and I have a 120 watt power supply connected to the machine which is technically 30 watts over the official hp supply... I guess I should leave well enough alone but I am not gonna so any advice or experience with laptop cpu upgrades is welcome.

I have an HP Pavlion G6 which came with a Mobile Athlon II P360( 2.3 GHz X2 1MB- 512X2 25 watt) It has the RS880 / Radeon 4250 Graphics 256MB shared with VISON Technology)

I have been a Hadware tech for 17 years, had my own computers store, yada yada... and have done countless laptop and Computer upgrades tech repair, trouble shoot, data transfers, mirroring drives over to larger drives, software trouble shooting programs to hardware post cards ect.

So I came about this Pavilion G6- LQ537UA#ABA with a broken screen no hdd etc from a fellow geek for like 20 bucks because supposedly the HDMI out put was wacked?
I did my usuall check stuff booted off the ole' hirens cd /external LCD monitor and "botta bing" working laptop. 3GB ddr3-1333 RAM. Because of the controller on the P360 everything was only running at 1066 with 1600 Hyper trans port.

I decided to go looking for a better cpu. After reading some of the pit falls and specs of the( S1g4 socket) Phenom II mobile quadcores in single threaded applications and only 2.4Ghz tops, I decided to choose the AMD Phenom II X640 BE, (45 watt- 3.2 Ghz X2 with Dual 1Meg cache and an embedded 1333 Mhz memorey controller with open clock and an 1800 MHz Hypertransport and it does not Default to lower clock speed (3192 MHz as of this moment). with the AMD software you can actually bump it to 3.4 GHZ but temps run significantly higher- mid 70's on idle)

I ordered 8 GBs Crucial ddr3 1333 + the CPU ) all for 80 bucks) and yes I saw the 45 watt verses the 25 watt difference. ( pays to read and do research)
So the answer is YES update the bios, YES it will work on these HP models ( so will the Quads) ( I used Antec 6 thermal paste) and it is a full disassenble on The G6 Models.
Temps ae 55-58 celcius. WEI score was 4.0 (AREO) 5.0 Gaming. NOW 4.3 (Areo) 5.3 Gaming . Memory jumped to 7.1 CPU went from 3.9 to 6.6. 500 GB sata II 5.9

I did a full load ( usingAIDA64 EXTREME) on the CPU (after the initial break in which allows the thermal paste to settle properly in case of hot spots) and after 30 minutes of a Full load the fan kept the CPU at 80 celcius and never peaked above that. I did not use a cooling Tray. The Fan was fairly loud at that point, but on Laptops, I always have the coninuous fan setting turned on in the bios if it's an available option, ESPECIALLY if its an HP or COMPAQ OR ACER. And yes it does reduce battery performance times. I have not
done a battery usage test due to the fact that I am using this system with a 19" viewsonic LCD with an HDMI to DVI cable so it is not mobile at the moment. I have been running this system for 45 days the way it is.

Well I hopes this Helps People who are contemplating a CPU UPGRADE using the AMD Phenom II X series Dual and quad core processors with 45 watt DTP.