upgrading sandy bridge to ivy bridge?

According to this article: Intel Ivy Bridge 2012 Laptops - Advantages and Improvements We’ll See

"Despite all these changes the new Ivy Bridge processors will be backwards-compatible with the current Sandy Bridge platform and will only require a BIOS/firmware update to work in existing laptops."

So can I get myself an clevo 8150 , and upgrade to an ivy bridge if I find it worthwile ?

 

What are you using your computer for? Most users will not see any benefit by upgrading their CPU, especially if they are using a dedicated GPU.

 

it would be for gaming/school work (CATIA, etc). I just wanted to know if it was upgradeable with ivy bridge, not that I will be necessarily doing it..

Thanks

 

not on laptops

 

so that site is wrong?

 

Hi sssgood,
The answer to your original question is in the last line of that link.

 

lol I know >_< !!! but I just wanna know if it was upgradeable or not!

Thanks!

 

It really depends on the laptop you purchase, I'm sure that even if it were possible, not all manufacturers will allow it.

 

For starters, Ivy Bridge is not even out. Intel has said the desktop ones can be upgraded. Even if the mobile could be upgraded, your manufacturer's BIOS would have to allow it. If you have no BIOS support, kiss Ivy Bridge good bye.

 

does the sager clevo 8150 have bios support?

 

The answer is that there is no answer because as was clearly pointed out to you:

 

...........lol true that, thanks!

 

IB BIOS support has been available in 6 series desktops for some time now even though the DT IB CPU will not be released until April IIRC. Maybe that says something about laptop manufacturers willingness to update.

I'd be surprised if no one at all upgrades their laptop from SNB to IB but they might have to do their own BIOS mod.

 

do you guys think I should wait 2 more months, or just go for it ( I was looking at the sager np8150)?

 

Buy what you need with the money you have. If you keep on waiting for the next "thing" to come out, you'll never buy a notebook.

 

Yeah, Haswell should be awesome, lol

BTW isn't mobile IB scheduled for May?

 

on april Asus will show its g55 and g75 with Ivy. I would surely wait for up to 3 monthes unless you need laptop asap. People had been waiting longer for Ivy since last year.

 

I've figured out how to get mmtool to work with my notebook just so I could have a chance at upgrading to IB

 

Have you made a start on it yet?

I wonder if the locked mobile SNB's support extra multi's like the DT locked SNB's? I'm still running a C2D laptop, probably be that way for another year or two yet, so no hands on with the later mobile chips.

 

updating microcodes is practically nothing for cpu support. am 99% sure it will be hardware issue. I read smth about it. not all desktop mobos will support Ivy.

 

So your saying that IB will be pin for pin incompatible with SNB?

 

i really havent been following ib development much, but from what i have read, it seems like all the technologies id be interested in like on die gpu's, quicksync, widi, good battery life, 'desktop' level performance are already in sb. you just need software and laptop manufacturers to implement them.
for ib, other than the incremental speed and battery life increases, there really isnt much i see. maybe native usb3 support and ssd caching. but other than that nothing exciting i see.

 

not pin by pin. Ivy needs mobos which support smth (i don't remember how was it called. Some feature which I never heard before). And not even all desktop's mobos has that support.

 

Okay, if you remember I'd be interested to know.

Unfortunately Intel doesn't like to spill too many beans before launch so that leaves a lot of unknowns. Sometimes the reason for not having support isn't a technical one but might be due to problems with implementation for example.

As for the desktop boards there have already been some leaked runs with Ivy and series 6 chipset, plus manufacturers have claimed their boards Ivy ready with just a BIOS update so it would be extremely embarrassing for them if that wasn't the case.

Time will tell.

 

I have already seen mobos with some intel z68 chipset Ivy-ready. MSI mobos and other manufacturers.
Also Asus officially said that many p-67 and h-67 mobos has support for 22-nm CPUs.

I believe that desktops will support Ivy on old mobos. But possibly not all.
While laptops will not.

 

It was stated a while ago that desktop motherboards would support ivy bridge with BIOS update and that mobile chips would not be supported. But no new news since:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...dge-vs-sandy-bridge-laptop-3.html#post8149551

Repeated here for the lazy:


Ivy Bridge’s Backwards Compatibility Explained

"According to an article over at the Chinese hardware site, My Drivers, both a firmware and BIOS update will be required in order to ensure that your motherboard will be able to use a new Ivy Bridge CPU. Unfortunately, only the H61, H67, P67 and Z68 chipsets will be “Ivy Bridge-upgradable” with the Q65, Q67 and B65 chipsets being left behind ( UPDATE: HM67, HM65, UM67, QS67, QM67 chipsets are also reportedly excluded from the update). However, it is important to note that, according to My Drivers, your motherboard must be equipped with the ME8 (management engine) firmware, which cannot be upgrade by the user. We are a little unclear on this requirement, but we suspect it has to do with Intel’s Active Management Technology and that most boards are already equipped."

 

Thanks for the links. A while ago! that's dated 10 months ago.

Okay, some things to consider.

As James said the microcode isn't an issue. Even if it's not there CPUs should still run but lack any fixups provided by it, unless the BIOS is written to stop if it doesn't find a microcode update.

The new family number might be needed to be added to the cpu initializing code in the right places but AFAIK IB should initialize pretty much the same as SNB.

ME8. This might be problematic to update from ME7 but not impossible I feel. I doubt whether the series 6 boards that were used some time ago to leak IB tests had ME8. Also many series 6 boards have been declared IvyBridge ready while still using ME7. IIRC Intel recently released BIOS updates for some of their H6x boards with ME7 to ME8 firmware update via BIOS flash.

Without manufacturer support it's not going to be easy and likely involve a fair bit of work, not something for your average user.

IMHO for mobile users to get the most benefits a 7 series board would be best. Perhaps someone with only integrated graphics on series 6 might get something out of an upgrade through improved IGD and higher clocks but I don't think the majority of SNB users will be missing out on too much from just a CPU upgrade. Still it might be interesting for someone to give it a shot.

 

http://dell.benyouhui.it168.com/thread-1898781-1-1.html

Don't know if they did further tests, yet...if someone here who can read Chinese would kindly go through that thread and bring us up to date?

 

Translated:

 

It's not "plug and play". Without firmware support/modification you should not expect it to work.

The question if it's technically possible to upgrade will possibly only be answered sometime after launch of IB and with quite a lot of effort required to modify the firmware buy the user unless the manufacturer can provide it which seems very unlikely of happening.

 

Here is a quote from the Ivy bridge thread discussing this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/522203-forget-huron-river-22nm-ivy-bridge-way-47.html

 

My own translation with some clarifications and context. The words in brackets are my comments:

 

Why would they let you to easily upgrade one of the vital components while they can keep charging more ? They know they can still make a lot of bucks out of this massive market

 

I didn't try to increase the multi yet.
Just because of what I read here:
Need help

Basically all I can do is update the microcode and OC my ram.

The only reason I want IB is because my toshiba can't handle the SB quad at full power even with ICD thermal paste and a notebook cooler (is around 90C while gaming).

I want something with the same speed but cooler.

If it's anything like going from merom to penryn, I will be very happy.

 

Ivy Bridge likely coming on March 6. Intel is holding a press event in London for that.