ASUS X52F-X2 Can this be upgraded?

Hi all,
New to laptops and bought this one (my first lappy) as a backup machine and I love it. Came with an i3 processor. As my specs show I have no idea what it has for a motherboard or who makes it. The memory modules are a mystery too as I don't who makes them just they are 4GB of DDR3. Just wondering though can it be upgraded, and what are the possibilities for this machine? It's still under warranty so I won't open it up yet.
Thanks,
Jakeman97

 

You can run CPUz and that should tell you the brand of ram.
ASUS probably made the motherboard, but I'm not sure.

I think you should be able to upgrade the CPU to any dual core of the same gen as your i3 (but you have to stick to moblie CPUs, make sure the socket matches).

HDD should be easy to upgrade (Would be nice to get an SSD).

If you have intel graphics, you wont be able to upgrade that.

If you want to take the whole upgrading thing really far, you can upgrade the screen. This would be a harder than a ram/hdd/cpu upgrade.

 

Thank you moral hazard for the info. I'll start looking things up now.
jakeman97

 

If it is anything like my K52f then the i7 will work.

 

The CPU can actually be upgraded on this machine, and it will take one of the dual core i7 processors. As Hazard mentioned, just be sure to get one of the mobile processors that fits the socket. As for the memory, it can take up to 8 GB of RAM (2 slots). You can always upgrade things like the hard drive relatively easily as well.

 

Thank you for that bryneb. I ran CPUz and discovered this has an Asus K52F ver. 1.0 mobo. The X52 Series and the K52 series seem to be interchangeable.
Jakeman97

Thanks Brett I'm going to go the route you suggested.
Jakeman97

 

Can you all list a couple i7's that'll work in the X52/K52 series?

 

I'm not sure as I haven't had time to research yet; but according to poster 'bryneb's signature in this thread he is running an
Asus K52F-d1 w/Core i7-620M ES processor.

 

And it runs amazing!!
I would assume all socket 989 rPGA/Arrandale cpu's would work.

 

Did some research and the following i3-i5-i7 Intel 'Arrandale' 35W 32nm processors will work in the K52 X52 series Asus motherboards:

Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 640M/660LM/ : 2.80 GHz - 2.27 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.46/2.2 GHz

Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 540M/520M/450M/430M : 2.53 GHz - 2.26 GHz, with Turbo Boost up to 3.06/2.93/2.93/2.53 GHz;

Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 370M/350M/330M : 2.4 GHz - 2.13 GHz,
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor P6000 : 1.86 GHz

 

Thanks for the information Jake, I'm sure that will be handy to some looking at upgrading their laptops.

 

Hi Bryn, excellent feedback on the upgrade feature. Mine too is also the same series, ASUS A52F-XE5, though Asus labels it as k52, and it says as much on my laptop. Im curious though, did you do the upgrade yourself? If so, would you mind explaining sometime, no hurry, its not happening soon!!!. thanks

 

Yes, I did the upgrade myself. On this laptop it was less than 5 minutes to do. There is one hatch on the bottom to take off and everything is exposed. I think it was 7 screws holding the HSF assembly down, unlike my old emachine the whole machine had to be dissassembled to change out the cpu.

 

Sounds pretty simple the way you describe it. Now my only problem is getting an Intel i7-620M or a 640M nobody has them in USA. On eBay they are coming out of China and I'm not going to send any $$$ to a foreign country...I'll just have to wait.

 

They're around, just pricey...350.........

 

Is it the same socket as mine? If so, search for the seller extremeprocessor. I got it the day after I bought it one ebay, $140shipped. Pretty hard to beat that.

 

According to CPUz my X52F-X2 model is Socket 989 rPGA, and the Mainboard is a K52F v1.0; Chipset Intel Havendale/Clarksdale Host Bridge Rev.18; Southbridge Intel HM55 Rev.06; BIOS American Megatrends K52F.208; Memory A-data Technology p/n AD7311B1672EG

 

Looks like the same one as mine! Again I'd highly recommend the cpu that I got, for the money you can't really go wrong. Good luck with whatever you chose.

 

Hi bryneb...searched ebay but no luck there. Found one socket rPGA 989/988. Googled and found plenty of reviews but no one has any to sell. Cannot believe the supply is drying up already.
In theory any i3-i5-i7 Arrandale/Clarksfield should work. Found the following at the Intel site.
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43560&processor=i7-620M&spec-codes=SLBPD,SLBPE,SLBTQ
"The rPGA 989/988 notebook PC CPU sockets are designed for Intel's* Nehalem micro-architecture that uses a Pin Grid Array (PGA) 989 or 988-pin packaging with a reduced pitch size of 1.00mm (.039") by 1.00mm (.039"). Also known commonly as Socket G1, Socket 989 or rPGA 989 ('r' in 'rPGA' as 'reduced [pitch] Pin Grid Array), this series of socket mates with Intel's notebook PC processor through the gold pins of the rPGA 989/988 package.

The rPGA 989/988 sockets are a replacement of the Mobile 479/478 sockets for the Notebook PC market. Each socket has contacts arranged in a 36-by-35 grid array with an 18-by-15 grid depopulated at the center of the array. The high-density, low-profile PGA socket utilizes industry-proven Ball Grid Array (BGA) soldering technology for stable PCB processing.

Anyway I'm going to keep looking till I find one. NewEgg only has the new quads in stock.

 

This isn't the same seller that I got mine through, but appears to be the same processor:

NEW Intel Core i7 620M ES 2.4G NOT 2.66G surpass i5-540 on eBay.ca (item 270716844175 end time 06-Apr-11 14:08:02 EDT)

 

That's it....now why couldn't I find it I'm really not familiar on how to search on ebay. Anyway, I guess I'll shoot some $$$ into my PayPal and send 'em to Taiwan. It is an ES (engineering sample) and not 2.66; but it's half the price of a 2.66 620M. Thanks for the heads up and and all your help.
Jakeman97

 

How'd you make out?

Edit: Oops. Nvm, I see you got an I7 in there now.

 

Hi bryneb,
Made out great... was able to get an i-7 620M 2.66 stateside second hand by trading off one of my XFX 5870 cards. It cost a little more but who cares, got some crucial memory and changed that too. Works like a charm! It's fast as hell and I really don't care about the onboard graphics as I don't game on it. Was able to obtain a K52, K52F series disassembly manual which also covers the A52, A52F, X52, X52F from Asus and will be pulling it down again when I change out the motherboard to ver. 2.2 ( it's on the way) just for the heck of it.

 

What are the benefits of going to the 2.2 board?

 

To be absolutely honest I don't know yet until I see it and read the specs. I'm buying this as a replacement for a K52F that I picked up in trade with a bad board. The ver. 1.0 is on back order everywhere I've looked. Now that I know how to tear this one down replacing the board will be easy. I just hope nothing else is fried in there Hopefully when I'm done I'll have two functioning laptops with the latest technology.

 

Hi Jake, nice job. Would you mind sending me the manual, as I have the same machine, and will be looking to upgrade this summer. tyvm in adance

 

There is no reason to upgrade that core i3. It already overclocks to a decent speed and should perform well for anything you are doing. Obviously you aren't playing intensive games without a dedicated graphics solution.

The least cost effective upgrade would be the processor. The most cost effective and noticeable upgrade would be a SSD hard drive. Then RAM. Don't waste your time upgrading the processor since you will spend $300 and notice little to no difference in the speed of applications that the machine is capable of running without a dedicated video card.

 

Hi asusmike,
pm sent to you with a link to the file for you to download. Have fun.
Jakeman97

Thanks for the tip on th OC'ing; but I picked up a practically new K52F (non-functioning), a new i7-620M processor, and 8GB of Crucial memory in trade for my XFX HD-587A-CNF9 Radeon HD 5870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Eyefinity 6 Edition Video Card. I still have two of these cards left and I'm going to crossfire them in my CM 690 II Advanced case.
I'm not a gamer so I don't really care about the graphics on the laptop. I think I'll take you advice and investigate an SSD drive for one of these. Thanks for your interest and tip.

 

A bit late here, how would one 0/c this machine to a safe number, that comparable to what jakes running on his i7.

 

hi jake, did you pick up the ES mentioned, and do you see a significant improvement?

 

does anyone know how to get a full size picture .when you hook up to your tv. Using hdmi, and the screens only 2/3.TYVM in advance