Sandy Bridge laptop CPU upgrade? i5-2410M to i5-2540M (both rPGA988b)

I have a 5 year old Toshiba Satellite L755-5258 laptop (HM65 chipset), which came with a an intel Sandy Bridge i5-2410M CPU in it (2C/4T), 2.3 GHz (base freq) to 2.9 GHz (TurboBoost). Runs Windows 10 Home x64 like a top. I've pretty much maxed out this laptop with a Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB SSD (on a SATA3 port), and 16 GB of Crucial Ballistix PC3-1333 CL9 RAM. Only thing left is a CPU upgrade.

What would be the likelihood of success if I attempted to upgrade the i5-2410M CPU to an i5-2540M CPU? The i5-2540M is about 14% faster, all around. The i5-2540M runs from 2.6 GHz (base freq.) to 3.3 Ghz (TurboBoost). I found one on eBay for $32 USD - the seller has a 99.99% satisfaction rating (for 711 sales transactions), 30 day return.

Both CPUs are rated at 35W TDP, both are rPGA988A / G2 socket, and both are compatible with HM65 chipset. I have opened my laptop several times now to clean it, and have observed that the CPU is removable, in a ZIF socket (not soldered to the motherboard).

My concern is about the base frequency of the i5-2540M CPU, at 2.6 GHz. Is it likely that some crystal oscillator or timing circuit on my laptop's system board is limited to 2.5 GHz, and would throttle down the faster CPU, or simply prevent the laptop from booting altogether?

ACPI flash BIOS is version 3.60.

A silly little endeavor, but I enjoy little projects like this.

 

Should work just fine, as should a quad core i7 too provided you can keep it cool

 

@Trevayne10 no point in changing a dual-core to another dual-core. A quad-core would be a whole different story.

 

Thanks, Starlight5 - i considered that, as well...but figured, "hey, a 14% speed improvement is a 14% speed improvement". Probably shouldn't even consider going with an i7 quad core (like the i7-2640QM) because they're all 45W TDP. My laptop power supply and cooling are rated for only 35W.

 

@Trevayne10 I still recommend trying 2720QM or 2740QM if you can get one locally and return right away if it doesn't work or overheats.

 

Agreed... Give it a shot.. Quad core will be a great improvement.. Get some good thermal paste like IC Diamond or Gelid GC Extreme and that should help to reduce the load on the cooling system..

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks, TomJGX - I might just go for it, once the eBay prices for these i7-2740QM CPUs drop below $125 USD.

 

Thanks again for the quick reply, Starlight5 -

2740QM (or -60QM) looks compelling, but eBay prices are upwards of $120 USD - cheapest I could find, and still a bit pricey, imho.

Much appreciated!

-Trev

 

Not sure if you are searching properly, but I found a 2760qm under $125 in less than a minute:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...057122?hash=item58d99cd922:g:m2sAAOSwXj5XGRL~

 

@Trevayne10, may I know how did you check the TDP rating for your laptop power supply and cooling? I also would like to do the similar thing like you. I have created a new thread about what I would like to do with my laptop in the link below:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...0m-to-i7-640m-or-i7-940xm-if-possible.790967/

 

@Faisal McMissile Damieya TDP is just a design guideline that is often the same for CPUs generating dramatically different amount of heat; you can check it on Intel's website. You can definitely put i7 640M; 940XM I don't know.

 

Starlight5, thank you very much for your reply. If that's the case, I will choose to upgrade to i7-640M (instead of upgrading to i7-940XM). I think I will only start my upgrade project after receiving good result from Trevayne10 about his project. Even if I decided to buy new laptop (an MSI GE62 6QD Apache Pro, an ASUS ROG GL552VW or an ASUS ROG G501VW), I would still like to upgrade my current laptop processor as a personal project/hobby (provided that it is possible to upgrade and wont give any bad side effect in the long term)

1 more question - is there any possibility that the manufacturer lock (not allow me to install) the i7-640M through BIOS? Thank you very much.

 

@Faisal McMissile Damieya those CPUs have the same CPUid, so BIOS will definitely support i7 640M. Selling it by parts is a good alternative, though - you may get much more vs selling as a whole. Parted my heavily upgraded 5930G back in the day - and the money I got covered the purchase of one of my convertibles and accessories, even though I kept the parts I found useful - namely, SSHD & HDD.

 

Hi Faisal -

I found out the TDP power rating of my laptop from the Toshiba OEM support website. I have decided not to pursue any Sandy Bridge i7 quad core upgrades to my perfectly functioning, albeit 5 year, old laptop, since all of these CPUs are rated at 45W TDP, which is 10 W above my laptop's OEM rated spec of 35 W (even though the i7's in question are pin/socket and chipset compatible). I do not want to risk burning out some chip or component somewhere, or overtaxing the PSU / regulator circuit, or even the AC power brick. Since your laptop is doubtless older than mine, I would advise you to not undertake similar risks with yours... of course, it's your call. Just my 2 cents.

Cheers,

- Trev

 

@Starlight5, thank you very much for the explanation regarding the CPU ID. below is the CPU ID for my current CPU and the CPUs that I am interested in:
1) i5-430M (PGA988) CPUID signature: 20652
Source: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i5/Intel-Core i5 Mobile I5-430M CP80617004161AD.html#cpuid
2) i7-640M (PGA988) CPUID signature: 20655
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core i7 Mobile I7-640M CP80617004152AE.html#cpuid
3) i7-940XM CPUID signature: 106F1
Source 1: http://www.cpu-world.com/cgi-bin/CPUID.pl?CPUID=39610
Source 2: http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SLBSC.html#cpuid

Based on the CPU ID, I can only proceed with the i7-640M and forget about the i7-940XM. Please advice if the source that I referred is not reliable and should proceed with a more reliable sources.

@Trevayne10, for my case, both the i5-430M and i7-640M have the same TDP, which is rated at 35W. The source of the reference is listed below:
1) i5-430M
Source: http://ark.intel.com/products/43544/Intel-Core-i5-540M-Processor-3M-Cache-2_53-GHz
2) i7-640M
Source: http://ark.intel.com/products/49666/Intel-Core-i7-640M-Processor-4M-Cache-2_80-GHz

If the TDP is rated the same, theoretically I should have no problem with burning out some chip or component somewhere, overtaxing the PSU / regulator circuit, the AC power brick etc. just in case I want to upgrade from i5-430M to i7-640M, right?

Thank you

 

@Faisal McMissile Damieya 940XM don't have iGPU, while 430M and 640M do. If you don't have a dGPU, 940XM or any other i7 quad is a definite no-go. If you do have a dGPU - maybe, but my limited knowledge of first gen Core i machines is not enough to tell for sure.

 

@Trevayne10 it should be no Problem upgrading to a i7 2xx0QM. Your powerbrick should have enough Juice to sustain it. Personally I would go with the 2630qm, as it is the cheapest one and the difference to a 27x0qm is negligible. The 2720qm is also a good choice, because it should be cheap(er) as well.

Additionally you could grab a bigger power brick and solve any power related Problems. I did so with a Lenovo T420, swapping the i5 2410m for a i7 2630qm and replaced the 65w brick with a 90w one. No Problem, still running like a Greyhound!

EDIT: Paste you new CPU with Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and you will have a cool running rig. Applying it is super easy as it comes with a spade point. I would paste the CPU and the heat sink with a thin layer each and you will be golden with your rig again!

 

Gelid GC Extreme is much cheaper and good enough tbh..

 

Jupp! I just mentioned it, because this spade point made applying it very accurate and easy peasy! We all know applying ICD was/is a lot of fun!

 

Did you succeed in replacing the cpu? I have a Toshiba Satellite L755-167 (I5-2410M, 8gb RAM), and would like to upgrade the CPU. I've seen the youtube videos etc, and it seems simple (I have done cpu replacements on several laptops earlier). I could not find any information online about the CPU's supported in BIOS for L755 model. Any suggestions?

 

Hi senor_massao -

I haven't pursued this any further, so I don't know what CPUs or BIOS would be needed.

The main reason I decided against doing the upgrade on my Satellite L755 is, the i5-2410M is still a snappy little hyper threading dual-core CPU, even in 2016. So I'm just leaving it alone...it runs just fine 24/7/365 as an IRC security and firewall server for the UnderNet. It has 16 GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600 RAM (CL9, and runs the memory at that speed), and a 120 GB OCZ-Toshiba 460A SSD, running Windows 10 x64 Anniversary Edition v. 10.0.14393. Also has a 1TB 5,400 HGST spinner drive for data & archive storage. It boots from power off to a Windows 10 desktop in about 12 seconds. If it ain't broke...

- Trev

 

@ senor_massao, please inform me the result after upgrading your CPU. I am also interested to proceed upgrading my own laptop. Detail of my upgrade can be found on some of the previous comments in this discussion.

 

I see your point. No doubt it is a snappy laptop, even in 2016. In fact, it feels much quicker than my other laptops with higher specs. For ex: Dell XP2 15 (L502X) with quad core i7-2630QM, 2gb Nvidia 540m, and a 7200RPM. My Toshiba has 1gb Nvidia 525m and a 5400rpm hard disk. So not quite sure, how and why it is snappy, but whatever Toshiba has done with software, it is good . I just thought of the possible CPU options to look out for on Ebay, and maybe replace the CPU the day my Toshiba starts getting too warm. I would than need to take it apart and clean it, and might as well replace the CPU.
But how come you have 16gb 1600MHZ Ram? I thought this laptop supports 1333mhz ram up to 8gb only?

 

I will Have not done it yet. Did you successfuly upgraded the cpu? from which model numer to which one?

 

My laptop actually runs DDR3-1600 MHz RAM at 1600 MHz just fine (a lot of Sandy Bridge CPUs can actually run 1600 MHz RAM at that speed, and are very stable, as mine is). It's so fast! I use the 3.50 BIOS for it, which is the only one released by Toshiba that lets it run at that speed (the other 3.30, 3..40 and 3.60 BIOSes force PC3-1600 memory down to 1333 MHz speed). You probably have different BIOSes for your model.

-Trev

 

@senor_massao, sorry for a very late reply. So far I still haven't upgrade my CPU. The detail of my upgrade can be found in the link below.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...0m-to-i7-640m-or-i7-940xm-if-possible.790967/

My laptop came with i5-430M and Intel® HM55 Express Chipset. Originally I would like to upgrade to Intel® Core™ i7-940XM Processor Extreme Edition (the most high end processor that is compatible with Intel® HM55 Express Chipset (according to ark.intel.com). However some of the people in the forum told me that there is a possibility that the i7-940XM Extreme Edition might be blocked by my laptop because the CPU ID for i7-940XM Extreme Edition is different with i5-430M. Instead, I was suggested to go for i7-640M because the CPU ID is the same with the CPU ID for i5-430M.

If you have any suggestion/advice, please feel free to inform me

 

How about i7-720QM/740QM/820QM? Much more affordable and 10W lower TDP than the 9x0XMs, though they're still quite hot.

For dual core look for i5-560M/580M/i7-620M, again cheaper than i7-640M while doesn't perform significantly worse.

I faced similar situation with my ThinkPad T61 and R61: Either go with T9300 or T9500, in the end I went with T9300 for both, much cheaper while only 100MHz less.

 

@Faisal McMissile Damieya if you don't have a dGPU, i7 quad is a definite no-go for this machine, because it will end up without any GPU; if you have a dGPU, i7 quad will most likely be OK.

 

Judging from his thread, his ASUS does have dedicated graphics, even if it's not a powerful one.

 

A quad-core i7 should work, then.

 

Yes, my laptop comes with ATI Mobility™ Radeon® HD5145 with 1GB DDR3 VRAM.

I have checked the CPU ID for i7-720QM/740QM/820QM
1) i7-720QM: CPU ID = 106E5
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_...7-720QM BY80607002907AH (BX80607I7720QM).html
2) i7-740QM: CPU ID = 106E5
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_...7-740QM BY80607005259AA (BX80607I7740QM).html
3) i7-820QM: CPU ID = 106E5
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core i7 Mobile I7-820QM BY80607002904AK.html

Can I still proceed with i7-720QM/740QM/820QM even though the CPU ID for the processors are different with the laptops original processor, which is 20652 ( http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i5/Intel-Core i5 Mobile I5-430M CP80617004161AD.html)?

Thank you.

 

@Faisal McMissile Damieya upgrading CPU is not about matching CPU ids. I never had a first-gen Core i machine, but according to what I read, it should work. There is always a small chance something won't work with particular machine, it's just how things are, but if general logic suggests it should work, and there are no reports of it not working, it's usually safe to proceed. Given the price of these CPUs, I'd still wait for confirmation of one or two forum members, before going forward with upgrade. Good luck!

 

Those are the wrong class of processors, Faisal. Your i5-2410 is a Sandy Bridge, and those ones you mention here are older, Nehalem CPUs. Also, the i5-2410 (and your laptop) is rated for 35W TDP. Those i7 Nehalem processors have a TDP of 45W. Could cause power and heat problems both with your system board voltage regulator / circuitry, as well as your AC adapter/brick. I guarantee that you will have nothing but problems. I doubt your laptop will even POST.

 

@Trevayne10 he has i5-430M...

 

Yes, mine is i5-430M. Maybe @Trevayne10 got confused because I discussed about my laptop in this thread. Sorry about that

The original thread for my laptop is here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...940xm-if-possible.790967/page-2#post-10331204

However, I found this thread after creating mine and decided to join this one. Sorry if I messed up and made anyone confused

 

@ Starlight5, all right, I will wait for confirmation from other 1-2 forum members regarding the CPU ID. If replacing processors with different CPU IDs should not be a problem, I will consider to replace with processors other than i7-640M (i.e. i7-720QM/740QM/820QM or i5-560M/580M/i7-620M), as suggested by @OverTallman

 

I have finalised to select between i7-640M vs i5-580M. the reason is because the TDP for both CPUs (i7-640M and i5-580M) are the same with the TDP for the existing CPU (i5-430M), which is 35W.

In terms of price, I think i5-580M has better value for money. Below is the summary:
a - i7-640M: 4 MB (Intel® Smart Cache), 2.8 GHz (Processor Base Frequency), 3.46 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency), USD151.42 (Price for brand new on Amazon)
b - i5-580M: 3 MB (Intel® Smart Cache), 2.66 GHz (Processor Base Frequency), 3.33 GHz (Max Turbo Frequency), USD37.55 (Price for brand new on Amazon)

However, the CPU ID for both CPUs (i7-640M and i5-580M) are different from the CPU ID for the existing CPU (i5-430M), which are:
a - i7-640M = 20655
b - i5-580M = 20655
c - i5-430M = 20652
Please advice that the i7-640M and i5-580M won't be blocked by the manufacturer's BIOS setting. I have dealt with the seller for i5-580M on amazon - the seller agree to accept product return if the i5-580M doesn't work on my laptop (but still time and money consuming to return the product just in case it is not working). So far the seller for i7-640M still hasn't reply my message.

 

The CPU ID difference is due to different steppings of the CPU, i5-430M only comes with older C2 stepping while i5-580M and i7-640M only come with newer K0 stepping. However, your model could also come with i5-450M and 460M (which are K0 stepping only CPUs) so I believe you should be fine.

But to be safe update the BIOS before upgrading your CPU, if you haven't done so. As an example, a while ago I upgraded a Tecra M11 from i3-330M to i5-460M and it didn't boot until I update the BIOS. There's a newer BIOS (version 208) for your model, which I'd guess is for support of K0 stepping CPUs.

 

All right, noted. The BIOS for my laptop has been updated to version 208. I will order the CPU from amazon in few more days.

Btw, I accidentally typed the prices for both i7-640M and i5-580M in my last posting above as USD151.42. The price for i5-580M is USD37.55 while the price for 7-640M is USD151.42. I have edited that posting with the correct price for i5-580M.

 

If you don't mind eBay, the offers there are usually cheaper

 

I just realised that the price USD37.55 on amazon is actually for i5-560, not i5-580.

I have double-checked the prices on ebay. The price for i7-640M is USD69.00 while the price for i5-580M is USD47.00.

Since the price difference of i7-640M vs i5-580M on ebay are not that much (USD69.00 vs USD47.00) vs compared to the prices difference of i7-640M vs i5-560M on amazon (USD151.42 vs USD37.55), I decided to go for i7-640M on ebay.

However, the sellers for i7-640M and i5-560M on amazon claims that their CPUs are new while the seller for i7-640M and i5-580M on ebay claim that their CPUs are New other - fully tested and confirmed good working

The seller for i5-560M on Amazon is from the US, the seller for i7-640M on Amazon is from Japan, and the seller for i7-640M and Hong

By the way, is it worth it to buy this "new other - fully tested and confirmed good working" condition?

 

Judging from the description at the back, it's pretty much safe. CPUs are unlikely to fail under normal circumstances, even less likely for mobile ones as most wouldn't bother OCing in their laptops, and it's hard do to so in the Westmere generation (since Westmere chips are more locked down compared to Penryn and SB or later).

There are some US deals for i7-640M in eBay, either "Used" or "New other". Don't discount used parts especially when it's tested working!

 

You mean, I should not worry purchasing cheaper i7-640M from the US seller even though it is a used item?

 

Not much to worry really, if it turns out to be faulty you have the rights to ask for refund, though bad ones are unlikely when it comes to CPU. I've bought dozens of CPUs over the last 1-2 years to upgrade laptops that I refurbished and I only got two duds: a Pentium M 740 and a Core 2 Duo T7200, which are over 10-year-old stuff.

 

I have checked the used CPU from the US sellers. Most of them charge around USD15 for postage to my country. After this mailing cost is added to the used CPU price, the total cost will be more than USD60.00. Only one US seller has the total cost of around USD52++. There is even e seller that charge USD50 just for mailing cost to my country.

Since the Hong Kong seller provide free international shipping and the CPU price is USD69 (new other - fully tested and confirmed good working), I think maybe I'll just stick to this Hong Kong CPU. Add a few more bucks, but get 'new other' chip.

 

Oh didn't know you're not in US. Then buying a new one for a few more bucks seems reasonable

 

Hahaha. All right.

Based on your experience so far, was there any time where this kind of upgrade doesn't work? My friend who is the one giving me this idea in the first place (last year) now tells me that sometimes this kind of thing doesn't work (based on his experience). He works in an IT dept of a bank. He said sometimes he downgrades the CPU of the old PC (belongs to his company) that his employer going to give away for free (as a second hand PC). Even though the socket of the downgraded CPU is the same, he said sometimes the the screen goes blank after the PC is powered on. However, he never mention anything about updating bios to the latest, whether the downgraded CPU is from the same architecture/generation or not (because the company is going to give away the PC for free, so he doesn't bother to check whether the downgraded CPU is from the same architecture/generation).

Now he has made me feel guilty to proceed with this . I will only buy the i7-640M after Monday, so that I have enough time to think and get enough feedback whether this upgrade thing is going to work or not .

 

I upgraded 2 Toshibas

A Pentium T2370 to a Core2Duo T6400 and an i3-2350M to an i5-3340M and both worked fine.

If you're gonna upgrade, maybe upgrade to something Ivy Bridge? Should support it, and also 22nm as opposed to 32nm so should run cooler and use less power

 

For the second case, you upgraded from 2nd Gen CPU/Sandy Bridge (i3-2350M) to 3rd Gen CPU/Ivy Bridge (i5-3340M). For the first case, I have no idea because I never study about Pentium and Core2Duo

I have check the following links
1) Socket G1:
http://www.cpu-world.com/Sockets/Socket G1 (rPGA988A).html
2) Socket G2
http://www.cpu-world.com/Sockets/Socket G2 (rPGA988B).html

Based on these link, Socket G1 is only compatible with Nehalem while Socket G2 is compatible with Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. I think that is the reason why you can upgrade your toshiba from an i3-2350M to an i5-3340M.

One more thing, the second link above says "Sockets G1 and G2 have the same number of pin holes, but they are not compatible with each other due to different position of one pin hole.". Therefore Sandy and Ivy Bridge is out of my list.

 

Oh sorry, I was replying to the OP! Since his scenario is similar to mine (SB i3 to IB i5)

I just made sure the socket and TDP were the same

The i5-430M and i7-640M seem to be virtually identical other than the clock speeds, so I would say it's a safe bet to upgrade.