What are the possible CPU upgrades for HP EliteBook 8760w?

Hello, there! This question may seem ridiculous and obsolete, but please, hear me out. In the past, I've experienced multiple lies from big companies like HP regarding possible upgrades. For example, my 8760w CAN upgrade to GTX 980M, even though the highest "legal" MXM GPU is Quadro K5100M. Because of this, I've decided to turn to you for the REAL answer. I want a solid CPU upgrade, even if it means some dangerous modding and alike. Thank you for your answers!

 

According to HP's specs, the i7 2920XM was available, so in theory, if the BIOS supports it and your cooling is good enough, you may be able to use the 2960XM.

 

Will I get a sensible boost in performance? My current CPU is Intel Core i7-2640M. On Cinebench, this puppy gets around 248 cb at best (an ABOMINABLE result, i know). Is 2920X higher? I will look up the benchmarks myself as well, but since you are experienced I couldn't resist but ask for a first-hand advice.

 

The 2640M is a dual-core while the 2920/2960XM are quad-core, so you'll see a noticeable increase particularly in multi-threaded applications. Again, you have to make sure your power and cooling are adequate because those Sandy Bridge processors run very hot.

The processors themselves are not terribly expensive. The 2920 seems to go for about $120-$130 on fleBay while the 2960 is around $170-$180.

 

Thanks for the answer, man! I am just about to install my new GTX 980M into my 8760w, and I fear MAJOR bottleneck from the CPU's side.

 

See:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=876&cmp[]=888


As you can see from the 'scores' in the link above: the upgrade to the Intel Core i7-2960XM will be minimal/non-existent in single core applications or doing something like navigating the O/S. However, the multicore performance will increase by ~82%.

The downside is that this ~82% improvement comes at a ~57% increase in TDP which your notebook's cooling design may not be able to handle (as has been already noted above).

These kind of 'side-grades' are not that interesting to me. A notebook based on a newer platform will give you greater overall performance and usability and you'll be able to recoup some of it's cost by selling your current notebook too (when you're satisfied with your new(er) purchase).

I know this isn't what you want to hear.

But $$$$ don't care how you spend them (they spend just as easily on great or mediocre (hindsight) 'upgrade' paths). And make no mistake that your time is worth $$$$ too.

With the processor itself being in the ~$180 range; I'm sure you can find a newer platform with much more performance for not much more $$$. Also; the newer platforms can easily be more cheaply upgraded (RAM capacity/speed and SSD compatibility) and if part of your workflows are video editing (guess - from the Cinebench reference) then RAM (16GB bare minimum, with 32GB+ highly recommended) may make a larger difference than a faster processor might (depending on your actual workflow/workloads).

Good luck.

 

Thank you so much for this comprehensive answer. I'm sure it took you quite a lot of time, and I am immensely grateful that you sacrificed it for me. One thing to note: I'll accept the truth, no matter how unfavourable it may seem in my position! In fact, telling the raw and uncensored truth is the best thing you can do, as this line of reasoning removes any false future beliefs and therefore faulty (potentially dangerous) actions! No, I do not edit or render any graphics, I'm just a mathematician, who likes to game above 60 FPS.

 

I can understand the need to tinker with older platforms (because the joy is in the tinkering itself) and I can understand the satisfaction that comes from doing such an upgrade yourself. I can understand because in the distant past I too have done the same when I believed that saving $$$$ at all costs was the best answer ('always').

However; after many systems, platforms, upgrades and decades later; the most satisfying upgrade has invariably been a newer platform and the ability to sell off the old platform complete and usable for others to use/enjoy too (rather than have a box full of parts...). Lately, I have been able to donate my older platforms (complete and working) to where I believe they are most deserved and that gives me as much satisfaction as the increase in productivity that a new/current platform does for my work uses.

I don't game, but you're also not 'just a mathematician who likes to game above 60 FPS'. You have identified and know your workloads/workflows!

Now; all you need to do is identify which upgrade path will give you the compute power for those workflows for the longest period of time and the least amount of money over that time period (the life expectancy of the new platform(s) you're considering).

That path will depend on what newer (but still used) platforms are available to you in your area and/or if you can save/budget for a new/current platform in the near to medium future (6 months to less than ~18 months - 'instant gratification' types need not apply ).

• Keep in mind that there is no current mobile processor that will allow a GPU to give all it has (desktop class hardware is needed for that). Also note that 16GB RAM is the bare minimum for a 2017 build and a modern O/S (Win8x64 Pro highly recommended - if you want to take advantage of the newest hardware and it's capabilities (promised and real) fully).
• Games will keep pushing the old hardware so that what was once able to run @ 60 FPS may not be possible with similar type games in the near/medium future.
• Buy as much CPU+RAM as you can and the best GPU possible at the time of purchase. If/when those hardware limits are reached in their intended workflows; a new platform at that time is usually the best path once again.

Should notebooks be upgradable (CPU and GPU-wise)? Yeah; in theory I agree 100%, they should. The reality though is that 99.9% of the available notebooks are not for 99.9% of the users out there.

The time, cost and benefits are far outweighed by simply purchasing a new(er) system.

Not only is battery life, heat, noise, weight and performance invariably better on a newer platform; it is also a more satisfying path in the long run.

After all; the 'experience' from a newer platform can't be replicated by a substantially older one no matter how many parts you upgrade (i.e. circa 1997's ThinkPAD vs. 2017 MS Surface, for an extreme example - and I loved those ThinkPAD's! ).

 

Please check our Upgrade section for HP upgrades. Your model is listed there. We also offer full upgrade service with 2 way shipping.

 

OK, thanks for the advice!

 

Hi Smerdjakov,
I just got the laptop and am also planning upgrades - we should share notes! How did you get on with the gtx 980m upgrade? Did it work out?
cheers

 

Hi Max!

Sadly, I have to inform you that in the end, I didn't do the upgrade. The minimal price of a new GTX 980M is around 450€. This is half the price of a solid gaming laptop (I'm buying Acer Helios 300 next year, which costs around 1100€); I quickly realised that this is just too much money (I'm not very rich) for a minimal upgrade, while I can afford a fully new system with better overall specs if I just wait another year. But yes, I am glad to share my findings with you:

1. IMPORTANT: before you decide to upgrade, you must know how to open the system! Without extensive knowledge you may cause malfunctioning in your system. So again, you must master every inch of your device before you decide to upgrade it. Here is a video that might help you out.

2. In order for GTX 980M to work, you will have to flash GPU BIOS (also named vBIOS). This process is quite dangerous and can brick your device if you don't know exactly what you're doing. As a safety repercussion, I advise you to make a copy of both your motherboard BIOS and vBIOS. In case anything goes wrong you can open the system and flash the old BIOS exactly where it's supposed to be. I warn you though that if you make such a mistake, the tools needed for its removal are quite pricey - BIOS flashing setup is around 60€ these days. I suggest you to go with this one.

3. Once you have your vBIOS flashed and card firmly installed in your system, you can begin smoothing the edges, i.e, it's time for the fine work. Drivers that will work with your "illegal" combination (HP never meant to put a 980 into an Elitebook, hence a lot of driver problems) are mostly from Chinese iCafes. You can check my other threads, where I discuss this matter in depth with some very qualified people, including @Mr. Fox . Also, don't shy away from looking up forums for 8770w, as the drivers will work identically on both systems (I presume).

I hope this helped you. I wish you a lot of success in your endeavours!

 

Hi Jakov,

Thank you for taking the time to make such a helpful update. I agree that the gtx 980m is very expensive, and maybe not worth it when new laptops with gtx 1050 or 1050ti GPU and faster motherboards, CPUs / RAM can be bought for about twice the money. I'm also not very rich!

I have decent physical experience with CPU and GPU upgrades and BIOS flashing, but not so much on the custom drivers. Thanks for sending the video link - I have watched that a couple of times, and it is useful. Also the flashing tools! I must admit that the fine detail on the from the Chinese iCafes sounds like quite a labyrinth and pretty daunting! I was assuming that because Eurocom sells the GTX 980m as an offocial upgrade kit for the 8760w then maybe the drivers might be included in their package. There's also a Eurocom shop on ebay (named "upgradeyourlaptop") who seems legit and mentions windows 8 and 10 compatibility.

In my case and a more modest GPU upgrade might make more sense (currently have the base Quadro 3000m. Looking at the price/performance ratio, probably a GTX 770m or 780m ($120 / $220) would be a good enough upgrade. I'm not a gamer, I'm using this mainly for video editing, so I don't need bleeding edge GPU performance, just a 'pretty good' speed and a decent amount of GPU RAM. Did you happen to learn whether installing a gtx 770m / 780m (or other GTX you might recommend) would be easier on the bios / drivers side of things?

My first step will probably be to upgrade the CPU from the basic i7-2620M 2.7 2-core, to maybe a i7-2860QM @ 2.50GHz for around $95. Then some extra system RAM. If the graphics is then still a bottleneck, I'll attempt a GPU upgrade.

Thanks again for your really helpful advice!

 

See:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=872&cmp[]=886

For video editing max out the RAM on your system first with your current GPU/CPU. 16GB RAM is still very low (the max that the platform supports) for video editing, but it will be a huge step up from 8GB or less that you have now, depending on the software and workflow used.

The CPU upgrade you're considering will not be noticeable in single threaded operations, even if multithreading will be almost 84% faster.

The most important thing to be aware of is that the processor you have now is a 35W unit and the desired one is 45W. Even if you get it to work; if it throttles for any reason, you may get worse productivity/performance from it than what you currently have.

See:
https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp[]=1547&cmp[]=2534&cmp[]=2536

For the GPU, you have to be careful of the same thing. The GTX 780M is a 122W TDP card vs. the 75W card you have now.

Personally, I don't think the GTX 770M is worth 'upgrading' to - for video editing duties - even if it has the same 75W TDP.

Good luck.

 

if your cooling system can handle a 2920XM it really is a no brainer. Get throttlestop and crank up the multipliers. I have my 2920XM running at 4.4Ghz 4 cores with no added voltage and it is an absolute beast, destroys all intel mobile CPUs (barring desktop chips stuffed into laptops) and can hold its turbo indefinitely (unlike newer soldered CPUs...)

 

Great - thank you both!
The unit is arriving with me in a few days, so I'll be sure to thoroughly check the internals.

My understanding was that all the 8760w machines have 4 RAM slots, but if you have a dual core CPU, it can only address 2 slots of memory (max 16GB). Are you saying that the dual core processor version of the 8760w (which I believe you also had/have) only has 2 physical slots (so maximum 16GB) even if I upgrade to a 4 core CPU? Or just that with dual core only 2 slots are addressable? Either way, I'm only doing hobby video editing, and 16GB will probably be good enough (though always nice to have the option for 32GB).

I had read about the more frequent throttling of higher watt CPUs under heavy load, and I know that for single thread applications, its mainly the clock speed that counts (so the 2-core would do pretty well). However, most of the video editing software is multi-core optimized, so I'd like to go to 4-core. Even the service manual officially states 8760w support for the 2820QM and 2920XM, so I would really like to go upgrade to one of those, probably the 45 watt one for lower heat / throttling. @Raidriar - are you running your 2920XM in a 8760w? Or in an Alienware? Maybe the Alienware has better cooling?

Thanks for reminding me that the GTX 780m draws upto 121 watts - that could certainly be a major problem. I that case, the GTX 770m (same 75watt power draw / heat as the quadro 3000m) would still probably be a significant upgrade because it has 83% better G3D score as well as more VRAM. The video editing software really makes more use of the GPU than CPU in most scenarios.

I'm just a bit confused as to whether I could install any generic MXM 3.0b card, such as the gtx 770m, or whether I would need a specific variant of such a card intended specifically for the 8760w? I've seen GTX 770m MXM cards for around $130, so not too crazy - seems a decent price/performance ratio for my usage scenario. Any tips on whether I would need a specific type for the 8760w??

Many thanks

 

I am running it in the Alienware M18x, but I see that the 8760w has the 2920XM as a factory option. It is likely that they have a different CPU heatsink/fan combo for supporting the 2920XM, I would dig into that if I were you through a parts manual or something.

 

Good advice - thanks. It is indeed a factory option. I guess an upgraded heasink/fan would be a small price to pay if its necessary. HP do offer official heatsink and fan kits, so it looks like it's officially possible & catered for.
thanks again! Any ideas on the generic vs. specific MXM card for 8760w?

 

Which video editing software are you using? Are you sure it is capable of leveraging a GPU upgrade as you expect?

Don't assume...

Also; keep in mind that the PM 'scores' are just indicators of what should be. They may or may not indicate actual productivity increases depending on your software and your workflow/workloads.

 

Premiere and Resolve, I'm very certain of how they use hardware, thanks for checking.
I know pm scores are ideal, but 4 core is significant for these softwares and the price difference is pretty small ($20?) between the fast 4 cores (non extreme) and the moderate ones, so may as well go with faster.
Thanks.
There is not much by way of good info on the non officisl gpu upgrades. The officisl supported ones arenot much fasterand already very expensive. The higher perfomance eurocom ones (semi-official) are horrendously expensive (even the cheapest is 2x what I've paid for the whole laptop). There are some ebay vendors who are partly official in that they offer driver and bios support, but here again, anything worthwhile from a performance upgrade perspective is pretty expensive (1.5x what I paid for the whole). For the moment, I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of buying a generic mxm card and attempting rewriting bios / driver code according to a chinese icafe, and still having non functional brightness control and other glitches etc. Maybe one for the future. For now I'll just OC the existing quadro GPU a bit.
Thanks for you helpful advice!

 

Doesn't seem like Premiere uses the GTX 770M as you may wish? Whereas it does use your existing gpu.

See:
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/system-requirements.html


Davinci Resolve needs a GPU with greater than 6GB RAM to make a difference - sure 1GB more than what you have now will/should be noticeable, but it is still far below the 4GB 'min' for effortless video editing.

 

Yes, and there are some inconsistencies with GPU recommendations between Resolve and Premier. Anyway, for CC2015 (and later) my Quadro is no longer on the recommended list. Those of us on a budget can't afford GPUs with 6GB of RAM, and don't expect "effortless" video editing - I'm not a commercial video production house designing an ideal system, I'm a guy with a limited budget getting into a new hobby and wanting to spend my scant money wisely given the limited choices facing me.
The point is - even if I can only afford a card that can't meet the ideal/recommended specs for these software programs - that does not mean that every other card that is not-a-high-end-card will perform *equally* (or equally badly), so your input on that is not super helpful, but I do appreciate you taking the time.

 

See:
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/system-requirements.html

As far as I can see; your current video card is supported while the one you think is better, isn't.

I'm not saying that the unsupported card may/might not be better for your workflows. I'm saying use what you have and instead work on your budget for a new system/platform instead. In your shoes? With the information I know, I would trust Adobe on what works and what doesn't.

You're already into your new hobby. Enjoy it.

Spending needlessly (from what I researched for you) won't make you too much happier than where you're already at.

 

Thank you. One problem is that Resolve only uses Cuda cards, and I am planning to mainly use Resolve on this machine. Further, Cuda 3.0 or later cards are recommended/optimized for in Resolve (but older ones will still work). I'm facing too many consideration/options, too little real-world tests/information at this stage. Anyway, I guess I should be happy that I managed to get a 17.3" Full HD workstation laptop that *will* work (albeit not at high performance) to play with. My old laptop is an ultrabook, great for portability, but a non-stater for efficient video editing (Resolve won't even run on it!). Appreciate your input and cautionary advice; I will post back here with any hardware tips that I discover through my testing. Cheers.

 

You're very welcome. I look forward to any progress you make with this.

To clarify; I'm not against upgrading older platforms per se; rather, experiment with your options safely and with a full refund where possible for any parts/component swaps that don't actually give you the increase in performance/productivity you're looking for.

I was in your shoes circa 2009 w/regards to SSD's... the advice here was the opposite of what I found for my real world needs then. It took almost two years to get an SSD worthy of consideration back then (Intel... you can search on this forum for my posts...).

But if I had blindly listened to 'common/conventional' wisdom back then? I would have doubled my cost per mobile platform and have actually less productivity as a result too.

Max out the RAM, upgrade the CPU (safely!) if you have the ability and keep saving for a current video editing platform (whenever that 'current' will happen to be).

In other words; change what you can that will bring an effective (and known) improvement and don't worry about swapping parts simply because you can (when little/no improvement is expected in your main workflows).

Good luck.

 

Hello,
Please forgive me if I bring back old topics thanks
please, today in 2017 new quadro graphics cards are out. can I put any of them into my workstation elitebook 8760w or will I be able to only have the quadro 5010m. What is the latest quadro graphics card I can have and how to have the fd11 dreamcolor (1920x1080) on my 8760w. Thank you