* HP EliteBook 2570p Owners Lounge *

Better late than never. Here you go!

Details will follow.....

 

I recently acquired a 2570p and now look into upgrading and modding the little beast. I'm particularly interested in doing the following:

1) Improving the cooling system
2) Upgrading the cpu to 4-core and maybe even OC'ing
3) Upgrading the screen to IPS
4) Getting faster RAM (like 2133mhz) work

 

update on 1) Improving the cooling system:

I have a 3360M CPU

Before Repasting: Load temps in Prime95 were reaching 97C in about 3 min, had to stop the test.

After Repasting (using a very mediocre Shinetsu TIM): Load temps in Prime95 stabilized around 86-87C after about 10min. All tests were done at room temp of 24C.

Conclusions:
A good thermal paste alone would probably improve the temps by another 2-3C. Any further gains would be impossible without modifying the heatsink, which has a single 6mm pipe (probably the biggest bottleneck in this system). On a bright side, the air circulation is very good, and there's a lot of room for extra copper. Plus, of course, the ease of accessibility . So, realistically, it might be possible to slash the load temps by another 7-10c, which would then give hope of upgrading to a 45W quad. Now, I'm not holding my breath for any OC'ing potential even after a successful cooling overhaul. But there's definitely a chance of taming a full blown quad without any OS tweaks. IMHO, there's no point of having a quad in this system if it's crippled and locked down to squeeze another 30min of battery run time. Without any tweaks, my beast manages 6hrs+. So if a quad reduces it to 5.5hrs, - perfect! But the only reason for me to go quad, would be if and only if it can hold max clocks without overheating and throttling down.

To be updated as the show goes on....

 

Lol, am I the only 2570p owner here??

 

Not a whole lot, it seems that this laptop isn't very popular for consumer use. If you do go quad, be sure to post back with your results. I'm frequently tempted by the various 3632qm cpus on ebay, but for the price of those I have most of an eGPU setup. Because of the cooling issues, I wouldn't mess with the 45w quads unless you want to have them get throttled. Only bad thing about the 35w quads is that their GPU is slower.

Also, swapping CPUs will void your warranty!

Arctic silver worked pretty well for me, it dropped the temps by about 8 deg C while playing Kerbal.

I did a few things to my 2570p that you might want to consider. I grabbed an expansion bay caddy and threw in the hdd from my old laptop (Acer 1810tz...RIP), put in 8gb of low voltage ram, and the arctic silver already mentioned. Mine came with the 128gb ssd, which helps out the battery life quite a bit vs a spinning disk (expansion bay is set to spin down after 2 minutes of not being used on battery). The newest bios is F.41, but keep in mind that anything newer than f.20 or f.30 is RSA signed so you can't go back. My bluetooth reception sucks, but if you get the October 2012 drivers (go in revision history) it gets noticeably better.

EGPU is probably next up on my list unless I can find a 3632qm or 3612qm for cheap. The 3360 gets about the same CPUmark score as my core2quad in my HTPC, and most of the stuff I want to do would benefit more from an eGPU than a quad core.

I've had it since December, it's been a great laptop even though it's a brick (thickness and weight). Most of the stuff for the 2560p works for the 2570p, so give them a holler if you get stuck.

 

3632qm looks good on paper but it lacks many features of the higher end 45w quads and even dual core's. If anything I'd go for a 3720QM or higher. But like you said, cooling is a big problem. I'm still hitting 90C in Prime95 (i5-3360M) when running it for about an hour. Currently looking for ways to improve cooling. Ordered a spare heatsink and copper shim for experiments. To be able to control a 45w at full load, we need to figure out how to dissipate about 20-25W extra (most quads draw about 60-65W in Prime95 while dual cores - 40W). But if we are successful, can skip haswell easily. The upgradeablility of this machine is incredible. You can land 2 full sized HDD's in it + wwan + 16GB RAM + Quad...

 

Any update Guys. Got a 2570p an need to know my upgrade options......

 

I'm currently working on improving the cooling system. The goal is to shave another 10c of the max load temps. If achievable - will grab a quad.

Generally, you got a ton of upgrade options: 2 hard drives, 16GB RAM@1866mhz or even higher if overclockable, IPS screen...

 

i have alot of older alienware and other larger laptops and small laptops with all kinds of heatpipe shapes/sinks.

You mentioned the heatpipe diameter being the issue.
Would modding multiple heatpipes to the fins or simply slightly flattening a larger diameter heatpipe be more desirable?
I had a somewhat of an inclination towards making my 2570p replacement for my desk workstation which has a ivy i7 quad which would be upgraded to an ESXi/Cisco Lab emulator machine for virtualization.

use my 2570p + Quadcore + eGPU for the limited gaming type thing as the i7 quad seems over powered for just gaming.
also... I did find a few IPS screens of matching dimension and identical connection display to ours by doing some research into LCD panel manufactureres.
Going into specs for aftermarket and oem display panels for our stock panel. I kind of went into a OCD super-focus rabbit-hole from some new add medications
and spend the better part of a afternoon learning everything there is to know about the laptop OEM replacements.. the actual ODM manufacturers.. distributors and
finding the engineering white specs... then I realized... I haven't really enjoyed using my 2570p as a "portable" machine all that much. (came from a lenovo x200 tablet convertible)
reality of the ultimate ultraportable virtualization workstation/gaming/hacking upgradeable laptop isn't quite doing it for me.


Starting to feel I would much favor a thinner lighter tablet with sliding keyboard and point stick more than anything else for any work where I'm gonna sit down and do something for less than 2 hours... and apparently with haswell it's all of acceptable speed to handle 20+ tabs + other non gaming/vm crap.

 

Yeah, you really don't need a quad core machine for your esxi / cisco stuff. Even a dual core ulv will be able to handle anything you throw at it. All you need is VT-X/VT-D enabled in BIOS, about 8GB ram (unless you wanna do a full blown SC2012) and some ssd space. My 2570p is running server 2012 datacenter as the main os, tons of vm's, a gazillion of GNS3 topologies, all without any hiccups.

From my testing so far,..... no way of running a 45W quad. Not at max load. You could probably get away with it at reduced frequencies/disabled turbo. The heatsink isn't robust enough and it's not just the pipe. The radiator is also too small. I tried several things, like using a higher quality paste, slapping a ton of copper on the HS. The best I can do is slow down the initial heat buildup but it would still reach 90C in Prime95 (dual core). unless you remove the back plate and mount an external (desktop) cooling on it - there's no hope. Best you can do is get a 3632QM (35W) but that would mean sacrificing some features (like VT-D) as well as lower max turbo...

 

Edit:

There might still be a chance..... I've just installed a 2560p heatsink into my 2570p and it seems to fair better than the original one. Hit 85C in Prime95 at full load and 25C room. This gives us some headroom.... need to do more testing though. Maybe installing a micro fan directly on the HS and making vents in the back plate could help.

 

IPS from X220/X230 upgrade is impossible as I described in 2560p thread.

 

Surely possible. Just need to mod the lid a bit. I'm just to busy to dedicate time for the project but will definitely do as some point.

 

good luck. Have You seen my level of disassemblied IPS panel? there was no other option to dissasemby/mod it more.

 

Yes, I have. that's why I think it's possible. You haven't modded the lid itself.

 

Added a second HDD (1TB WD), appears to be faster than the stock Toshiba 500GB in the main drive bay. Both ports apparently can operate at sata III speeds. 2xSamsung 840 EVO 1TB would be an awesome combo, hehe!

 

Wow, just wow! Added an extra pipe to the heatsink (destroyed a spare to remove it, lol). Idle temps are in 30s at room 26c.

Coming next - load temps....

Prime95 only pushes the 3360m to about 81c peak! That's insane! the second heat pipe does the trick! now I can try a 45W quad core.

To be continued....

 

DUDE THATS AWESOME!
I'm waiting for my spare heatsink for my 2570p to use a 3820QM.
Please post a tutorial with pics for the mod, LOVE IT!

 

I have a few parts kicking around so here's the idea:

1) Remove the heat pipe from the spare HS. Use a flat thin screw driver to carefully pry the copper plate from its housing. At some point the heat pipe will fall off. In my case it fell off with the copper plate still on it, so I had to use 2 pairs of pliers to keep bending both "wings" of the plate till there was tiny opening, and then use the screwdriver to release the pipe completely. Be careful not to damage the pipe.

2) Using the same screwdriver, remove the radiator fins from the other end of the pipe. I simply destroyed them one by one and then used a sanding paper to clean the residue from the pipe.

3) remove the other heatsink from the laptop and using arctic silver thermal adhesive (2 part solution, follow the instructions carefully) glue the heat pipe on top of the heatsink, so it'll sit on top of the old heatsink parallel to the old pipe.

Now comes the problem. The thickness of the created heatsink won't let you install it without disassembling the entire machine, so follow the maintenance guide to open the beast to the point when you can remove the bottom cage. You can then install the new HS and reassemble the machine. You may need to trim a few protruding corners on the bottom cage and also the bottom cover to make sure you can fit everything back. Or if you are comfortable messing with the pipe, you can try and flatten it a bit.

That's about it.

 

Aikimox
Well done. Can you show a photo where you installed it already into your laptop?

 

HI Everyone,

I am looking for a QUAD cpu on ebay, however I have doubts on the socket type in this laptop. Could anyone enlighten me please.

Many Thanks!

 

If you look on HP website you will see that it takes and I5 or I7.

 

Socket type not processor type..... So FCBGA1023 or FCPGA988??

 

hasaarin
FCPGA988

 

Update!

Successfully installed i7-3632QM Quad! Went with the 35W version in order to have a better control over temps.

Here you go:



Next step, additional cooling overhaul and upgrading to 3840QM!

Meanwhile, there's a very interesting idea floating around: making a custom converter from DP to eDP in order to use the 1700p screen from Chromebook. That is a very big and expensive mod but if successful, will further future prove this great machine!

Stay tuned for more!

 

Here's another screenie with temps and load, while running a complex GNS3 topology with 13 routers fully loaded. Running the exact same scenario with a dual core cpu (3360m) kept utilization in 60-70% and while temps were 10c higher. I'm really liking how this thing handles complex computing tasks without any hiccups.

In addition I played a few games for a couple of hours and hit 65c (room 27c) max. I did ,however, optimize performance to reduce the power consumption as much as possible. Still, the results are amazing! More than 10c reduction in load and idle temps.

 

Good job man!
Could you please post a picture of the heatsink, at least assembled in the notebook?
Would be awesome!

 

Thanks! The thing is, I'm currently using a stock heatsink from 2560p. I dismantled the custom one as it needs a complete redesign if I'm to go for 3840QM+overclock. The stock HS is more than adequate for 3632QM. In fact, the system runs way cooler at idle and average load. Only at 100% load in Prime do I see 90c+. It draws about 5-10w on average and about 2-5w when optimized for battery life. If you want to go for a 45W quad, wait a couple of weeks, I'm gonna finish the project and post detailed guide with pictures. Same goes for an IPS screen upgrade.

 

I'm currently using a 3820QM in my 2570P, I use copper coin-mod for the moment. My results is ~43c idle, ~58 youtube 1080P fullscreen, ~85c BF3 (ultra@ all settings maxed). I cleared Prime95 Mix test @ 95c, 100c, 95c, 95c (core# 1/2/3/4).
My goal is to clear Prime with ~90c on all cores so I've ordered an extra heatpipe that I hope to fit in there.

So what your new design plans for the heatsink?
Also did you get a hold of a 12.5" 1080P screen, or just going for a 1366 one?

It's nice to have another 2570p-modder to talk to!

EDIT: I'm running an eGPU if you wonder how I manage gaming.

 

Wow, awesome results! How long did you run Prime95 for and did the CPU maintain 3.5 Ghz on all cores?
I'm hoping to replace the 6mm pipe with a couple of 8mm ones, one will go to the radiator and another to the opposite direction with a large and thin copper shim at its end.

As for the screen, going with a 768p for now but long term will try that DP to eDP mod for google chromebook panel

 

Hi!
The Tjunction for 3820QM is designed for reaching 105c (inside the core) before throttling so I'm good there, speedfan read temps outside the core surfaces as far as I know so it should be ok.
Your 8mm heat pipe-mod sounds like a really good idea! I guess all you have to do is widening the existing slot for a little thicker pipe. Would pipe #2 run on the topside of the heatsink with a 2mm copper shim or are you thinking parallel pipes?

I ordered an extra heatpipe for my sink yesterday but it need to be bent like the original one, do you know anything how to flattening & bending heatpipes?

EDIT: I ran Prime95 mixed test until it said that it was done, my guess is ~15-20 mins or so.

 

I was thinking to run the second pipe on the topside of the heatsink but with a part of the HS removed so that both pipes have direct contact.

Flattening and bending pipes after they have been sealed is not recommended. Their efficiency goes down quickly. I'd rather have the supplier bend and flatten them but that would cost quite a bit more. You may be better of buying an old heatsink with a similarly bent/flattened pipe. In most cases those pipes are easy to remove without damaging.

 

Ahh dammit I knew it should have looked it up before I bought it, I'll have to try at least or else it's a total waste. I wish you best luck now, please keep me updated =)

 

Thanks, same to you. Don't worry about the pipe, worst case, will get slightly lower results but at least you can prove the concept. Do you have a HWinfo/HWmonitor screenshot with temps and power consumption values? I'd like to compare it to my CPU.

Also, I'll probably go for the screen upgrade first and then proceed with processors. Not being able to upgrade an IPS would be a deal breaker for me.

 

Here is a screen from HWinfo+Prime95+Speedfan. Regarding the screen, is this what you are looking for?

 

thanks for the info. there's definitely a room for improvement but at least your are able to run it for a short time without throttling and shutting down.

Yes, that's the screen I'm looking for. I know there were unsuccessful attempts in the past and I'm not too optimistic, but gotta still try

Edit: BTW, try overclocking your CPU, it should be able to go up to 3.8-3.9 on all cores as it's got partially unlocked multipliers. You can try using intel XTU and throttlestop. maybe we need a BIOS unlock of sorts.

 

Yeah, I really want to unlock the multipliers but throttlestop didn't do much for me so I'll check out XTU next time, but first I need to improve my heatsink =)

 

I'm afraid we will need a BIOS hack to unlock the feature.

 

In my opinion, If we want to reduce temps we have to do some vents in bottom case (near heatsink and fan). For me it's very strange that HP created 12,5" QuadCore CPU capable laptop without any vents on the bottem. Take a look on the 8460p/8470p bottom. There are a holes covered with mesh, I've been planing to do the same but I cant find spare cover in poland (I don't want to order from ebay cause in poland, sometimes we are able to find this cover or whole cooling system for less than 10$).

I'm going to swap i5-3230M with 3612QM/3632QM but only when I do my heatsink mod (using copper plates (instead of pennys) from VAIO cooling system) and bottom case mod. We need remember that I already have modded fan to lower rpms in first treshold and Im going to solder another one diode to lower rpms wit anothe 400rpms

I need to maintain <50C in idle and max 85C with gaming (not Prime test) with QM, If I wouldn't be able to do this, I will be forced to give up with QM.

 

I actually removed the entire backplate and compared the load temps - they get to the same values but slower, so the main bottleneck is not the absence of vents (yet I agree, adding those is not a bad idea, will keep the RAM cooler) but the thin pipe and tiny radiator. that's why adding another pipe and a ton of copper might significantly improve the situation. BTW, without any fan mods, my 3632QM is sitting at 35-38C when just browsing and about 45-50C when watching videos. Only when gaming do I see 85c+ and only because I don't have eGPU. If I set graphics power mode to max battery - temps drop to 60c max but then the performance also drops. So, when using eGPU you will be able to stay under 80C even at stock cooling and 45W CPU just by changing the CPU power settings.

 

It's strange cause when I compared maximum temps in 3dm11 with and without backplate, there was almost 10C difference!

 

But did you try 100% load for 10-15min? From my testing the temps were lower at first and rose slower during load but they still hit 90c+ in Prime95

 

Fact is that I never used a Prime95, it's really far away from real life load (my circumstances). I prefer testing with 3dm11, as a max noticed temp. Just because, everytime when i checked max temps in 3dm11 before playing game on eGPU (Tomb Raider, Crysis 2, witcher 2) they were lower than average (even max) temps during this games (according to HWinfo log).

 

Well, if you go by 3dm11 and games then there's definitely a big difference. I'm gonna test this tonight.

 

Upgraded to 3840QM! I'm so glad HP kept socketed CPU design! BTW, idle power draw is still below 5w.

 

Hi~
I just bought a 3320m ES cpu for my 2570p, but it can't work. After I pressed the power button, I could hear the Cpu fan running, but nothing displayed on the screen. After about 5 seconds, the fan stopped running, and nothing happened anymore.
I don't know what's the problem, maybe the ES cpu can't be recognized by the bios, then can I update bios to solve this problem?
Have you ever met this problem before? Thanks for your advice.

 

Has you or anyone else successfully modded it to an IPS screen? I am really considering this over the X230 due to the fact that it is socketed, i want to keep the computer for a few years and it would be nice to be able to upgrade the processor if necessary for more CPU intensive task.

 

Aikimox
I upgraded to 3840QM and I have several questions. Send me you email. Im russian too.

 

Aikimox
I need know about don't soldered USB on the motherboard.

 

Hi, Newbie here.
1. Can the internal (standard) drive be upgraded to 1TB.
If so which model is the best to choose - reliability rather than performance.
2. Exactly which part number IPS screen is the nearest to fit without electronic/wiring modification.
Hope someone can help.
Terry Toye,
Dorset, UK.