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    Ivy Bridge Upgrade

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by WA2SI, Apr 30, 2012.

  1. WA2SI

    WA2SI Newbie

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    Will an Ivy Bridge CPU fit into a Sandy Bridge socket? Does anybody think the upper range Sandy Bridge QM's or XM's will drop in price with the release of the Ivy Bridge CPU's?

    Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
     
    WA2SI, Apr 30, 2012
    #1
  2. ExMM

    ExMM Notebook Evangelist

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    ExMM, Apr 30, 2012
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  3. moral hazard

    moral hazard Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    They will fit, but it would take a lot of work to get one to work in an older motherboard.
     
    moral hazard, Apr 30, 2012
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  4. Atom Ant

    Atom Ant Hello, here I go again

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    This is an interesting topic, very nice from Intel if possible to use Ivy Bridge processor in Sandy Bridge laptops. Basically this mean to use the latest technic from Intel with significantly improved graphics performance; folks only need to change a CPU and not need to buy a whole new laptop. I hope AMD will offer the same upgrade option with Trinity.
     
    Atom Ant, Apr 30, 2012
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  5. Botsu

    Botsu Notebook Evangelist

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    Ivy's IGP may be ~60% better than Sandy's but it still sucks big time. In any case you'd be better off buying a notebook with a discrete GPU decent enough for your needs rather than betting on the (very low) probability of being able to upgrade to IB.
     
    Botsu, Apr 30, 2012
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  6. WA2SI

    WA2SI Newbie

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    Okay, looking to take the plunge and drop an Ivy Bridge i7-3820QM into my Sandy Bride i7-2820QM powered ThinkPad W520. I see the W530 is coming out but just love the W520's non-chicklet keyboard.

    Any thoughts, ideas, concerns, warnings, comments, etc?

    (With the exception of the ubiquitous "Do you need that much processing power?" please. The answer is because this is my "mid-life toy" and I want it. Been busting my hump for a long time for my just the bare necessities. My 8 hr. mandatory o/t stick last night will cover the CPU purchase - a frivolous "want.")

    Thanks so much. My second choice would be a hot-rodded Sager NP-9150. I suppose I could live with the chicklet keyboard while getting a choice of GPU's. (No choice w/the W530) Thanks in advance.

    Bert

    Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
     
    WA2SI, Jun 5, 2012
    #6
  7. Karamazovmm

    Karamazovmm Overthinking? Always!

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    Aside that you cant do the upgrade? nothing more
     
    Karamazovmm, Jun 5, 2012
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  8. jclausius

    jclausius Notebook Virtuoso

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    Dunno if the W520 already supports IVB, but if not (and it only shipped with SNB CPUs), then there's this article to consider:

    And these posts:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...ng-sandy-bridge-ivy-bridge-4.html#post8299063

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...ng-sandy-bridge-ivy-bridge-3.html#post8298244

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...dge-vs-sandy-bridge-laptop-2.html#post8145622

    As I mentioned, I have no idea if the W520 already supports both SNB/IVB processors, but if it does, it is just a matter of just dropping in the CPU. If not, you probably won't be able to boot.

    Let us know how it works out for you.
     
    jclausius, Jun 5, 2012
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  9. User Retired 2

    User Retired 2 Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    Supposedly all you need is ME 8.x firmware from a donor Series-7 (IVB) system. If you can unlock the flash descriptor then can use the Intel fptw64.exe utility to write the ME 8.x to your system's bios eprom.

    There's some interest in how to do a SB -> IVB CPU upgrade in a 2560P. See Ivy Bridge CPU retrofit for 2560P? for proposed methods to flash the bios and emergency recovery process in case of failure.
     
    User Retired 2, Jun 5, 2012
    #9