Can you theoretically upgrade a soldered CPU?

I have a friend who is an electrical engineer for the local health authority. He fixes x ray, CT scan machines including their circuit boards. Is it really possible to install an upgraded processor into my dell with the 4405u chip to increase some performance? He has the tools to desoldier and re soldier the chip on board with no damage.

 

Sure it's possible, but finding a new bga cpu replacement is difficult. Also I don't think there is much to gain from going from your 4405u to a 5xxxu cpu (your only real upgrade option).

 

Typically bottom budget motherboards from Dell have a BIOS that works only with Celeron/Pentium models. If you even manage to source an i3/i5 CPU you could solder it on and it wouldn't even boot. Not worth the trouble at all.

 

Not WORTH it. Unless it has a ZIP socket or like a BGA is Dead End. Some laptops have a CPU with Pins socket and those can be upgraded assuming you can find the right CPU.

 

So what are the obstacles ls to doing this? I would love to put an I7-9400h or something that would replace a 7700hq. I want to say the main obstacle is actually the chipset because I can get the 7700hq off by cutting through the glue that keeps it in, and with that alignment pop in another cpu. Adding pressure and whatever glue they use should keep the alignment. As we know, you can hack older chipsets to get a 8700 working in older motherboards, but I am not sure in regards to a laptop. Theres always the 7920hq which should work.

 

I would assume you would have to atleast inject the microcode and do something with the intel ME

 

Cool, thanks for the information. I am a tinker'er by heart so if I could squeeze some extra performance out of the ole gal, I would. But if it's not worth the effort, I will leave as is. ha ha. Its working really well. I have been developing websites, editing photos and videos, doing graphic design on it. Yep its not the fastest computer on the planet, but it's making me money and has paid for itself a few times over already!

 

It's not only glue on the sides, but you need to reflow the solder underneath. It's really not a worthwhile venture unless you have access to all of the tools in some form or another. My advice would be put the $$ saved by not doing it towards a new laptop in the future.

 

i think that upgrading to core I3/I5/I7 skylake "U" should be possible, the only limitation is the bios support, if you can find the same laptop as you with already a core I3/I5/I7 so it's possible to upgrade.
I would stick to skylake and not try newer processor like kaby lake because you might have a lot of trouble with the bios.
The thing is that your pentium is already "powerfull", an upgrade to the best CPU I7 6600u will only be an upgrade of roughtly 50% which is not so fast compared with selling your laptop and buying a new one with 8/9th gen 8 thread "U" cpu

 

Goodness, that reflow process is way to complicated having watched a video of it. Here i was thinking it would be far simplier. Regardless According to user benchmark, the 7920hq is only 10% faster at best. Better software and maybe some ram timing flashing would probably boost performance before anything else, and most programs dont use more then 4 cores and 8 threads. Unless there is some serious software evolution in the next few years, I should be good for at least that long.

 

Very true. Unless you gain access to couple of dead BGA laptop with higher CPU that can desoldered safely w/o destroying them. There's a slim chance.

uCode can be added provided the BIOS sign certificates and sign must be intact.

@kojack Try updating MEI FW to latest version from Win-raid. Yours should be LP version of ME 9 for haswell.

 

And how would you do ucode? I would love to see any successful soldered cpu upgrade.

 

@Casowen X230 Thinkpads still having cult following are upgraded from soldered dual-core i5 & i7 3rd gen to soldered quad-core i7 3612QE/3632QE. These CPUs obviously share the microcode.

 

Yes of course, when you keep the same generation it's pretty easy unless the manufacturer have specific bios for specific motherboard/processor but I doubt it.
The thing is all these 8th gen cpu are expensive, even dead motherboard are expensive, while skylake and kaby lake board are more affordable. I believe it's possible to run 8th gen processor on 6th gen laptop board but it's just easier and cheaper to sell the laptop and get a new one with 8th gen cpu

It might be worth trying it (low loss in case of fail) in a few years

 

Requires expertise and knowledge.

 

I tried so many times but failed every damn time because UEFI signing certficate gets wrecked. So, most of the times Daz helps me in adding uCodes.