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    Pavilion G7-1261nr Processor Upgrade

    Discussion in 'HP' started by dmw_4814, Mar 17, 2014.

  1. dmw_4814

    dmw_4814 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have a Pavilion G7-1261nr laptop that I bought new in April, 2012. recently, I've begun having problems with the unit shutting down on me, and I've been getting some error messages about the cooling fan not working. I'm not sure if the fan is defective (I can hear it running while the unit is on A/C power, as the BIOS is set to "Fan always on when on A/C power", but only at what I believe would be low speed; it never runs at any different speed & never comes on, when running on battery, when the unit is first powered up), but I bought a new fan from Amazon.com. I hope it's the right one; I bought it after I entered my unit's serial number at the HP PartSurfer webpage & got the part number for my unit's fan, and I searched Amazon.com for that number. I'm going to take the unit apart and clean it out, and replace the fan if necessary.

    I have a .pdf of the HP factory service manual for this unit that I'm going to use as a guide to disassemble it, and I noticed it lists some other processors that I'm wondering if I can upgrade to while I've got the unit apart. I currently have the A4-3300M 2.50 GHz dual-core processor, and I'm wondering if I can upgrade to the A8-3500M 2.40 GHz quad-core processor? I found that processor on Amazon.com for only $25 (plus shipping). Would this be a worthwhile upgrade, or is there an even better processor I should consider? From what I understand, the A8-3500M plugs into the same socket as the A4-3300M, but do I need to change the system board too, if I change the processor?

    I'm not a gamer, but I do typically have lots of programs/windows opened, and sometimes my laptop slows down noticeably (I have 8 GB RAM). I'm just looking for slightly better performance. Oh, yeah - I'm also upgrading the HDD from the stock 500GB unit (which I believe is 5400 rpm), to a Hitachi 1TB 7200 rpm drive when I take the unit apart to service the fan issue; I bought both the fan and HDD at the same time from Amazon.

    Thanks,

    Dennis
     
    dmw_4814, Mar 17, 2014
    #1
  2. tweake628

    tweake628 Notebook Consultant

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    tweake628, Apr 5, 2014
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  3. dmw_4814

    dmw_4814 Notebook Enthusiast

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    dmw_4814, Apr 6, 2014
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  4. simonmpoulton

    simonmpoulton Notebook Deity

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    The cooling system on these laptops isn't really that good - I personally wouldn't shorten the life of this machine by putting a hotter processor in there.
     
    simonmpoulton, Apr 14, 2014
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  5. 3Fees

    3Fees Notebook Deity

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    Check the PDF file for your laptop, HP Support it will show the processors that can be installed, ect Repaste your CPU with Arctic Silver 5, use an usb 2.0 cooling pad with fans-cheap cooling solution.

    Cheers
    3Fees :)
     
    3Fees, Apr 23, 2014
    #5