Latitude E6520 processor upgrade?

I'm searching to replace my older D630 with a new E6520. I was thinking of getting a i3 processor for now to save costs upfront (like getting the lowest hard drive and memory and upgrade them later).

I searched but could not find anyone that has upgraded the processor on the new Latitudes from i3 to i5 or i7 processors later. I've done it on previous Latitudes and some HP notebooks too. So I know it can be done, likely. But I'm not experienced with the new Sandy Bridge processors yet.

Anyone? Thanks.

 

E6520 has PGA processors, should be upgradable. Not sure if the cooling system can handle over a 2760QM though.

 

Hi,

I have read all the posts from this thread from the beginning:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/565905-e6520-owners-thread.html

You can get many useful information about the e6520.

In the page 43, a user Khenglish told his experience upgrading his i3 to i7 2920xm ES.

He also told that he didn't change the cooling system even if his laptop using integrated vga card that don't have extra cooling. (page 49 and 59)

I just joined and have not tried it that myself. so better pm him if you want to know.

 

Khenglish's exact post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/7879861-post487.html

Another post afterwards showing the difference in size between the dual core and quad core with discrete GPU: http://forum.notebookreview.com/7880272-post489.html

Not sure if Khenglish has a discrete card or not, though he's dabbling with eGPU rig, so an onboard nVidia GPU would probably be sitting on the sidelines and wouldn't contribute much heat anyway if he did.

Other things to point out:
1. The configurator on Dell has three different types of graphics cards for E6420/E6520:
- Intel only,
- nVidia for dual core, and
- nVidia for quad core.

The only valid choice if you pick a quad-core CPU is nVidia for quad core (picking Intel will prevent you from submitting the order).

2. TDPmax is different on Sandybridge mobile dual cores vs quad cores. All the dual cores are 35W parts and the quad cores are 45W parts though the difference in heatsink sizes seems to be quite substantial for that extra 10W.

If you put in the CPU, it would probably work, but you might have cooling issues. Some dual core users were complaining the CPU was running hot, but my quad CPU barely ever goes past 60C unless I'm doing something CPU-intensive. It's hard to say what the rating of that heatsink and whether it's overkill or not.

If you want to save costs upfront, my recommendation would be to wait for a business sale. I bought my E6420 on Days of Deals, then the week after they had a business sale which not only had a larger HDD, double the RAM and a better warranty, but was 100$ less (which prompted me to quickly drop the old order and make a new one ;-p)!

 

Before you do this, make sure it doesn't void the warranty. The 3-year warranty on the E6xxx line is probably worth the extra $$$ for a CPU upgrade from Dell.

 

Why not consider dell outlet? Get a "dell certified new/previously ordered new" system from them and it's literally a machine that was returned without the box even being opened, for a lot less than a custom config system.

I was able to get a i5 e6420 with 4 GB of ram, high rez screen and other toys like bluetooth, nvidia graphics and webcam for around 500 bucks with a coupon. Those coupons are fairly common too. And outlet systems carry the same warranty coverage as their new counterparts, 3 years in the case of the e6xxx line.

 

As long as you don't mess up the install, it won't "void" the warranty for obvious reasons Dell won't cover the aftermarket CPU.