Asus 5745G CPU upgrade

Hi there, i'm thinking of upgrading the cpu on my Acer 5745G laptop. At the moment it has a i3-330m and i am thinking about getting either a i7-740/720QM or a 820QM.

Does anyone have any experience upgrading this laptop as i am wondering if this upgrade is even feasible. It means going from a dual core to a quad core with 45 W TDP (over 35 w) and also going without the onboard video.

Thanks for any advice/assistance

Edit - Title of the post should say Acer 5745G

 

Possible issues:

1. Depending on your laptop, the dGPU may or may not be muxed directly (i believe it isn't), and without a iGPU you wouldn't get any graphics on-screen. I'm not sure about this, but it's a possibility.
2. Acer's cooling is HORRIBLY BAD. Only consider it if your CPU stays under 65 celsius in full load (wprime or something). If your CPU gets any hotter, it's a fair bet that you're not going to be able to keep it cool. The i3-330m is an Arrandale chip, running on 32nm. Clarksfield CPU's are on 45nm and run much hotter. I upgraded my i5-460m that maxed out at 66 degrees to an i7-920xm and it's running 90+ when under load, indifferent of overclock or not. And I have a big chunky heatsink with 2 heatpipes over the CPU.

 

I found online, a version of the 5745G that runs an i7 : Acer 5745G - great value Core i7 allrounder with Blu-ray burner - APC Notebook Hunter

not sure how accurate it is as the spec sheet only goes up to a dual core i7. I'm worried about compatibility more than temperature, really. Will the board be able to support a 45 W cpu? intel's spec sheet says the 330M is 35 W but cpu-id says 25 W. Anyone know why this is different?

It has a discreet Nvidia 310M video card. I am hoping if i set the video option to discreet in the bios then the switchable graphics won't cause a problem.

Do you know if these laptops use a standard fan type? maybe i could buy a better one to keep temps down.

At the moment it idles at 38 C and i just did a winprime test, the temps go up to 77 C! The thing is, i won't really be using it for for any heavy duty work, although i may convert some video files every now and then.
With speedstep, wouldn't the i7 automatically clock down if/when it got too hot?

 

I agree with what said above. The system was designed for the heat your i3 delivers. Given that Acers cooling isnt that good i´d say do not try to do the upgrade as your CPU will most likely overheat.

If you were going to upgrade you´d rather get an i5 or dual core i7. Those chips are 35W and make less heat that those i7QM´s. But those chips will run hotter as well but your system might be able to cope with them. Something like the i5 560m maybe or the i7 640m or 640LM

 

yes it would go down to the base core speed. And if it runs too hot your machine will shut off. Note that not all cooling systems are the same in laptops the i7QM cooling might well be better than your 330m cooling is. But why upgrade the CPU if you are not running heavy programs? You´d better upgrade the RAM or your HDD if you computer is too slow

 

Hi, Yea. My laptop is upgraded as far as it can be for now with a 128gb ssd and 4gb of ram. It's the enthusiast in my that wants the upgrade

So, if an i5 is a safer option, can anyone recommend a solid model with which i will see a definite performance upgrade. I dual screen a lot and with the i3 i am unable to run a non-intensive game on the 1 screen and a video file on the other. I'm not actually sure if this is being caused by the i3 or the lowly nvidia 310M. What do you think?

Edit - i just had a thought. {If it's the cooling system that is inadequate for an i7, do you think it would be possible to upgrade (relativity cheaply)

 

It's not upgraded as far as you may think:

You may want to try 8GB (2x 4GB SoDIMM's) and Windows 8 x64 Pro.

On an old HP dual cpu workstation - Win8x64 was a huge and immediately noticeable improvement over Win7x64 - almost as much as an SSD made to the responsiveness of the system.


If the above don't get you the performance you expect - then start saving for a new system (upgrading anything else is not worth it at this point).


Good luck.

 

I'm pretty sure that the board only supports 4gb ram max. I have windows 8 (x64) but i don;t really like it so i am sticking with win 7 (x64) until i get the motivation to try again.

 

See:
Computer memory upgrades for Acer Aspire 5745G Laptop/Notebook from Crucial.com


See:
Acer Support: Acer Aspire 5745G Notebook Series Specifications


Nothing to 'like' w/Win8x64 Pro except much better performance with current hardware (like SSD's, for example) and 8GB RAM or more.


Just use it for a few weeks (in desktop mode) and the benefits will soon be obvious enough. Even 8GB With Win7x64 will give better performance - either way, you haven't maxed the system yet.


Good luck.

 

Anyone know how a dual core i7 would compare to my i3, performance wise?

 

My opinion: Better, but a side-ways move overall. Today's O/S's and programs thrive on quad core, high RAM and SSD enhanced environments.

Especially when the low cost is considered - running with anything less is just punishing yourself.


See if you can sell your system and save for a new IB or Haswell (around June 2013) based platform that will run rings around anything you can upgrade to for a very modest (~$600-$800) amount.

 

I agree with tilleroftheearth.

However, if you still want to upgrade CPU, i7-620m is the best option for you I think, although trying out i7-720qm might not be so bad. They should be fairly cheap.
If your 330m goes to 77 degrees when pushed, maybe the 720qm might go up to 90-95, which is still usable for nephalem. This is purely a guesstimate.

You WILL feel the jump to quad core clarksfield. And you'll be able to use faster memory as well.

However, even the most entry-level haswell laptops will completely your system, so personally, I would choose to sell and upgrade.
Even in my case (920xm), i can feel its age.. it hangs on well, but the performance increases i expect from haswell are so huge, i'll have to sell and upgrade too.

 

It really depends on the programs you will be running tho. I´d say for a light user a processor upgrade will be less effective than a ram or ssd upgrade. But if your processor is really dragging you down in terms of pereformance it is worth it. A newer system will indeed be much more snappy. THe 920XM is around the same preformance level as an i5 3210m is. But going to the i7 620m will give you a big boost in preformance tho. The i7 640m will be more than 50% more powerfull than the i3 you are running atm.

If you have problems with dual screens etc. that might as well be a graphics problem. The GPU you got cannot be called that strong. But a decent new system will cost you more than 700$

 

Thanks guys.

I have seen online that a local laptop store has a 35w i7 for about $45 but it doesn't list the model number so i am going to go in and check that out. If it isn't suitable, i think i am not sure if i will upgrade or not. I use this laptop for work only 99% of the time. For gaming and stuff i tend to use my desktop.

I have an SSD inside already and i can't see myself using more than the 4gb of ram i currently have installed. I may take out the optical drive and put in a 2nd HDD for storage.

My current project is to upgrade an old travelmate 2480 that i got for $30 with a T5300 and SSD for my daughter . I'm also thinking of painting it. But when i have finished that, i need something else to do I can't really afford a new laptop at the moment and i doubt this one will sell for much as it only cost $500 2.5 yrs ago

 

Just keep in mind that by 'finding stuff to do' costs real money (that could be going towards a new platform).

Sure, your current system won't sell for much - but it will be sold for what it is worth: an $800 asking price for a new system will seem like a bargain compared to the performance increase you will experience.

Set yourself a goal and work to achieve it. For only a dozen or so 'things to do' - you'll have paid for a new system already.


Btw - it is not 'you' who decides how much RAM is enough with Win7x64 or Win8x64 - it is the O/S.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

 

Aye - I am just looking at a $50-100 processor upgrade and i am not going to take it further apart from perhaps putting a spare 500gb hard drive that i already have in the optical bay.

I have built my own systems since the 486 days, but i have zero experience on laptops.

I know that i don't need more than 4gb of ram for the time being as nothing i use requires it, windows reports about 1.5gb in use the majority of the time and it never uses the page file.

Thanks for the advice and i will upgrade to a better laptop, but not for at least another year or 2.

 

I'm happy to see that you're sticking to your plan and I'm not trying to change your mind (just trying to give you a more complete picture of the situation so you can make the best decision for you).

There is a difference with notebooks vs. desktops:

A desktop allows us to upgrade 'platforms' which can give us an order of magnitude difference in performance while still keeping some of the original components (if we're lucky).

A notebook only offers us 'side-ways' upgrades that come down to O/S, RAM and HDD/SSD making the biggest bang-for-the-buck differences. Which, if done all together can extend the lifecycle of a notebook significantly. Anything past this gets more into the 'side-ways' upgrades more and more - especially as the notebook gets older and newer platforms for the same or lower cost become available (and the probability of the older system suddenly dying gets greater too).



Keep us updated on your progress.

 

Hi there ! Quite crazy that title "jumped" from Acer 5745G to Asus (???!!!) 5745G...!!! Oooppss...!!! Anyway..., a new reply to an old story : I do have an Acer 5745G (i7-740QM ; GeForce 420M 2GB VRAM) which is currently working on 32 GB RAM ( 4 sticks x 8 GB ). Just for the...(curiosity of an enthusiast)'s....sake...

 

Just an opinion cause I didn't read the whole thread...

Personally I think you can pull off the upgrade from an i3 to an i7 on your Acer laptop if a few conditions have not yet been met on your current setup:

- You've never changed the factory thermal paste and getting 77 degrees at full load with your current i3.

- You're not currently running a laptop cooler.

If the above is the current condition with your Acer i3 laptop then by all means your good to go upgrading to an i7 providing you meet those conditions of getting good thermal paste (MX-4 is cheap and good) and a laptop cooler (Cooler Master is cheap and good) when the i7 is installed.

If the above conditions are met for the upgrade I don't see how going from and i3 to an i7 (740QM or lower) would increase full load temps from your current 77 degrees on an i3 and still presuming you've not changed the thermal paste from factory and not currently running a laptop cooler on your i3 and will do so with an i7.

Good luck!