How can I find out which sockets my motherboard allows?

I have a motherboard, but no GPU, CPU, RAM, just really nothing. I have a notebook with an intel PM55 chipset motherboard being delivered and can't find any information about the sockets that it will allow. If you have this motherboard or know a place where I can find information about it please post. Thanks for everything!

 

double fail...

double confusing...

what, exactly are you trying to do?

"sockets it will allow"??

What make/model of machine or motherboard?

Is this an initial test post to prepare us for an onslaught of spam?

 

I am trying to see which intel processor I should buy according to my current motherboard. The motherboard is a intel pm55, now does it allow PGA988? I don't know. Easy enough question I should think

 

Can you tell us which exact motherboard you have?

 

Where can I find exact? It says intel pm55 mainboard. Here it is on intel Mobile Intel PM55 Express Chipset - Overview

 

I agree.

What laptop do you have?

 

I have a car with four wheels. What color should I paint a door?

 

We're not paid detectives to read your mind, vgnc.

Besides having a PM55 chipset to help you further, please supply us the following answers to our questions accordingly:

1. What motherboard was this notebook from?

2. Where did you buy it or/and where did you purchase it from? eBay? Newegg? Etc...

3. What does it (the notebook's chassis in perspective) look like? What brand is it? MSI? Asus? OCZ Whitebook? Is there even a picture of it? Does it even come with a chassis??
Or did you just simply buy a bare mobo? (I suspected this.)

4. Laptop =/= desktop, you can't just buy any notebook motherboard and expect to find components to make it work as you wish. Even if it did, the motherboard has suit the following laptop chassis it was designed for. So back to question 3.

5. Are you trying to do up a custom-made notebook?

Seriously, I just don't understand the jist of what you're trying to do.

 

forget it. Why would I have to give you the laptop brand? Do you guys seriously know nothing? Every computer has a motherboard, different motherboards require different number of pins for things like CPUs. I was able to just look up my intel motherboard on wikipedia's list of Intel chipsets. I found mine, and found out it supports the intel i3,i5,i7 Mobile processors (45 nm and 32 nm with PGA988). This was my situation that you guys failed to solve: I got a Xplorer X8-7600 notebook with nothing but the motherboard and a 320HD. I needed to know what particular kind of intel processor my particular motherboard would allow (in this case PGA988). I'm sorry, but this is my first computer and I have much to learn. I just really don't know what the confusion was about..

 

The reason they were asking for the laptop brand is because even though the chipset of PM55 is designed to support essentially all mobile i-cores, many manufacturers limit the processors that can actually be used in the system via BIOS or other hardware limitations. Heat can also be a consideration; the 45 nm i7 quad core processors run much hotter than their dual-core i5 or i3 counterparts, and if the manufacturer designed in a heatsink that was adequate for an i5, but not for an i7, then you really shouldn't put an i7 in there (even though it would "fit"), because you'd shortly end up with an overheated, melted mess of a notebook (worst case).

Now, in your particular case, the X8-7600 is listed as being available with i5-430M, i5-520M, i5-540M, i7-720QM, i7-820QM, and i7-920XM processors. This is not necessarily an exhaustive list, the new i7-740QM, i7-840QM, and i7-940XM may work as well (or may not if unrecognizable in BIOS, unlikely, but possible), or the dual core i7-620M, and there may be different heatsinks involved when mounting an i7 compared to an i5 (due to previously mentioned heat issues), so some more research into this specific model might be required.

 

What is this, a psychic test?

Now isn't that so hard to say? That is what you should have at least pointed put in your very first post, as that's what we need. You also mentioned and I quote: "Every computer has a motherboard, different motherboards require different number of pins for things like CPUs." and that's what you didn't at least mentioned; saying "I got a PM55" isn't enough to justify you a solution as there are over 101 i5 and i7 laptops that has the same chipsets and configurations, and we can give you 101 possibilities of solutions if you're not specific enough.

And not every notebook is the same; doesn't mean you have a PM55, doesn't mean a certain component will specifically work in it (Not only just CPUs but the notebook in general) And that's why we asked. And processors are not called sockets. A CPU socket is built onto the motherboard to cater the CPU.

No pun intended, but here's how you sounded of saying: "Hey Autodealer, I got a car, I want to upgrade the engine." Autodealer: "Alright, what is your car's model?" You: "Didn't you hear what I say? I got a car, so tell me what engine works." Autodealer: "#$%^&"

To answer your question, and now at least we know you have an Xplorer X8-7600 laptop, purchased from CyberPower PCs, it's assumed to be a new (Still somewhat unknown) Compal based notebook that supports the i5 Dual and i7 Quad core multi and hyper-threading mobile processors, such as the i7 720QM, 740QM, 820QM, 840QM, i7 920XM and 940XM (being the highest most powerful but expensive option) respectively.

Currently the i7 720QM and i7 820QM are currently the best bang per buck performance (depending on the price structure the manufacturer gives) in its range for everyday usage, but that also highly depends on what kinds of software you run on your system on daily tasks, and that the CPU caters for it. The i7 920XM/940XM (if you have the budget) extreme processors with unlocked multipliers for overclocking using ThrottleStop will gladly help you better in multi-threaded applications, and some of which requires not only just raw CPU speed, and power - tasks such as 3D Max renders the final image faster because of its advantage not only its multi-core rendering architecture and but also its speed.

Also depending on the BIOS, not every PM55 is compatible with the extreme series. And even so, depending on the specific notebook (Hence, that's why we asked you) and its cooling capabilities the amount of heat it can put off with, as Judicator mentioned.

 

Ok thanks all. I am sorry I should have done more research. Since I am on a tight budget I will probably get the i5 540 2.3GHz one, just because I only will be using it for games (I will focus on a great graphics card). I rarely multitask. Starcraft 2 is coming out and I need my gear ready and mobile. Thanks.

 

actually an i7-720qm doesn't cost much more and should be similar price and much better as it is a quad with 8 threads.

 

yeah, I guess I could fork out another 100 dollars or so and use the laptop for a long time. I'm going to have to use my laptop as my maincomputer, and I really think the 720 will help. I have just been going pretty low because my old desktop CPU runs at around 1.5GHz, something like that, so basically anything would be a great improvement.

 

3 things that would have solved this:

1. Ya, but some laptops, while the motherboard supports it, can't handle the heat of an i7 Extreme.


2. Maybe you should have used Google, instead of ranting about how stupid we are.


3. Why try and make us guess what laptop you have? Spit it out in the first post. After 4 or 5 people ask what laptop you have may be important to post it.

We don't mind doing research for you, just give us all the info.

 

Things to understand about cpu swaps/upgrades

a) do the sockets line up?
b) will the chipset support it?
c) are the voltages similar?
d) are the tdp's close (so that the existing heatsinks will work well)?

and the hardest to find out:

e) does the machine bios support the chip?

You need to find the answers to all five questions. A no to any of the five kills your project.

YOU and ONLY YOU have the info needed because YOU have the machine/mobo. None of us can guess what you have. In fact, YOU have REFUSED to provide requested information. Not just neglected to provide, outright REFUSED. YOU admit that YOU don't know much about computers and have much to learn and then YOU have REFUSED to cough up the basic information needed to help out.

Stop Trolling.

 

Thanks, I have checked and the CPU I plan on getting is suitable for my laptop . I could not give much information because I don't have it yet. But I have ordered everything and will get my first computer in a week!

 

But you did know the laptop model you bought. Thats all we asked for. Not some impossible to find number on the motherboard.

 

well, then say so. There is lots of legit information here for the asking, but none of us are mind readers.

When you get your gear and if you need help, do some searches and ask for help when necessary. Better to get a little bit of help than to waste a few days in frustration or potentially fry some new gear.