T420 upgrade to I7-2720QM ES Q154 Successful! :)

Hi everyone.

I just recieved my I7 2720QM that I bought off ebay. I got the CPU last night, and I have t admit, it took me 35 minutes to install in and have it up and running.... Such was my expectation.

First impressions are very positive indeed, low idle temperatures, 8mb cache vs the 6mb of the production version. All hunky dory. I used the new Arctic MX-4 thermal compound, as the heat transfer. All seems to work very well... In cinjunction wth my HyperX 1866Mhz ram, and the other goodies, I could not expect more........ A truly recomended upgrade for those that need more power......

Cheers,

Harry

 

Does it allow for overclocking?

 

Would be interesting to see the stress temps of the ES i7-2720QM, my production sample really struggled in the T420 chassis that I had to revert back to the Dual Core i5 in mine.

 

Hi,

No Overclocking. Not realli interested, I believe the added cores and 8Mb cache ( yes the Es saples have 8Mb intead of 6Mb ) is more than a speed boost. As far as the temperatures, I have to say that running 12 threads of super Pi for 30 mins, I never saw temps over 91Cº, which is 9 degress below Tjunction........ I think the main trick, is not to disable processor throtling functions, so when the machine is under light load, it clocks down to 800Mhz, which keeps it at a nice 43-44 degres Cº The speed boost is really incredible.

what kind of struggles do you mean? What thermal compound did you use?

Regards,

Harry

 

I used Arctic Cooling MX-3 compound in mine and tested using Prime95, but I think we both observed that temperatures can exceed over 90c during stress (mine usually around 95c for the hour with constant throttling) which personally I don't find comfortable in the long run considering the T-Junction is only 100c (though since yours is the ES there may be some variations). Another drawback is that it hammers the battery time pretty badly, I lose around 2 hours on average compared to the Core i5 during my usage.

In the end weighing in that I couldn't use the Quad Core to its full potential due to constant throttling and high temps under load, as well as taking a hit on the battery time I decided to revert to my original CPU in the end. Though you could have a bit more luck in yours considering the ES versions are different from the retail versions.

 

Any update on this? Was the ES 2720qm a long term success?

 

Hey guys,

I have lenovo t420 with i5 2520M I was thinking about upgrading it to i7 QM CPU. I am thinking about 2630QM or 2670QM? It will work? It will overheat or throttling will occur? I will be using collaboratory liquid thermal paste, also I am thinking about lapping surface of cpu cooler.

 

I updated my T420 with a 2720QM. The quad core gets pretty hot when running intensive programs for a long time. I've seen temperature readings reach 99C. I don't know if the CPU is throttling at this point. So yes, the upgrade will work, but heat and battery life will be an issue.

 

im impressed that you guys doing this kind of thing on a laptop.

 

Hmm... So I thought that, It will cause problems...

 

Any updates or news, guys? Still recommended upgrade?

 

I own a T420 4236 C09.
Now it has mounted an (original) CPU i5 2540 (2 Cores).

Already upgraded:
- RAM from (original) 2*2 to 2*4 GB 1333MHz pc10600.
- HDD (original) 250 GB 7200 rpm to SSD Samsung Evo 850 500 GB (Acronis partitioned it to 2*250 GB each).
Am now evaluating to upgrade the CPU to i7 2820 (4 Cores).
From this thread, it is already stated it should supoport RAM up to 2*8 GB.
Now, since I read that the CPU i7 2820 could support also a Clock frequency of 1600MHz pc12800,
Question: once settled the CPU i7 2820 (hoping and supposing every thing goes right): could the remaining HW be passed/ clocked to 1600MHz pc12800?

I would have already available a set of RAM Kingstom HyperX 2*8GB Cl9, which states coul work at 1600MHz pc12800 and higher,
Question: once upgraded the CPU, could be tested these sticks without harming something else?
Thanks for your comments. Regards,

 

Dears,
Since it might happen to not find well clear information about to available upgrades on this NoteBook, I would like to share my experiences, hoping it might result useful to other members here and other forums.

I recently finished to install some upgrading components in my Lenovo T420 original 4236 rq9.

Last components are:
- CPU i7 2820qm
- Kingston HyperX So Dimm #2* 8GB 1333/1600 MHz pc10600/12800 cl9
- Screen HD+ 1600*900 resolution
- Connector within MoBo to Screen for HD+

Results (from CPU-Z):
- RAM Clock frequency is running at 1600 MHz, so, I understand it is the CPU that controls it. I think it is important, since I did not receive prior to upgrade a clear statement about what would be results.
- CPU Clock frequency is running at 2300 MHz.

Up to now, differences between original and to date:

Original:

CPU: i5 2540
RAM: Samsung So Dimm #2* 2GB 1333 MHz pc10600
HDD: 250 GB 7200 rpm (do not remember brand/ model, but was working good).
Screen: HD 1366*768 resolution.

To date:
CPU: i7 2820qm
RAM: Kingston So Dimm #2* 8GB 1600 MHz pc12800 cl9.
SSD: 500 GB Samsung 850 Evo (when installing, it went partitioned in #2* 250 GB each).
Screen: HD+ 1600*900 resolution.

Dates apparead in Components Punctuation from Windows 7 System Performances:
CPU: 7.4
Memory RAM: 7.8
GPU: 5.9 <- this is the BottleNecking
Gaming Graphics: 6.5
HDD/ SSD: 7.9

Also purchased an extended battery of 9 cells, 7800 mAh, which should provide close to a 50% more lasting ..

Looking forward for comments ..

 

Hi,

How did you solved the cpu heating problem ??

thanks,

 

I sought and bought out the components, however, since I am not owning tools and am not so skilled with notebooks, I preferred to let perform the work in a shop which take me reasonable expense.
However, they informed me that the fan and the heatsink remained the same as original, no special junction substance was required, and it is working fine.
I think it is important to remark, that in my case, it was updated the Bios to previous version 1.27. There is a newer one, 1.37, but the guy of the shop told me that did not achieve to flash it, and rather yes the 1.27. Someone told me, that there is the 1.37 that allows for higher CPU speed, over 3 MHz.
At moment, my CPU clock is working at 2.3 MHz, and, sincerely, am not interested to bring it to higher speed. However, I will seek to get information about issues to install the newer 1.37 Bios.
In the other hand, probably, the replacement of the HDD to an SSD, helped to save some heating from the machine. It is known that the SSD requires lower power respect to a HDD.
State again that the machine, is now working fine, not experiencing any issue related to overheating.
Hope my answer helps in some way, I suggest to not perform the upgrade of the CPU if not before performed upgrades on HDD, and RAM memory, even because, I read that there are substantials greater benefits by upgrading: - HDD to SSD, - RAM memory from 4 to 8 or 16 GB, allowing to work at Pc10600 and Pc12800, and so better if of Cl9. In fact, it was reflected once performed the overall upgrade, that according to Windows Components Perfomances, higher gains were obtained in HDD/SSD (achieving 7.9), and Memory RAM (7.8), while CPU (7.4).

 

Hi,

Where did you buy the i7-2820QM?
Do you remeber the price?

I want to upgrade my i5-2520M to support 1600MHZ RAM and for better performance

Thanks

 

Your system with the i5-2520M can run RAMs at 1600MHz if you have the correct modules. You have to ensure you're running BIOS version 1.37 or lower (or use a modified 1.46 BIOS and force set RAM timings).

As for Sandy Bridge Quad Cores places such as eBay are usually populated with them for sale.

 

Are you sure?
I want to get these sticks:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_3&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Is there anything better?

I am currently runnig BIOS version 1.37 (2011-11-28)
With the current bios the RAM above would run at 1600MHZ?
Where do i get the modified 1.46 BIOS and how do I nstall it?

Thanks mate!

 

For sure, I have the Corsair Vengeance sticks in my T420 and it pretty much works within the intended speeds. It reported the same when I had BIOS 1.37 too.


There are some that managed to run 1866MHz speeds fine too if you pop over to this thread which seems to be the max for this particular model. Just choose whichever is within your budget.

The modified 1.46 BIOS can be found here which opens a wealth of new options in the Advanced tab (including Memory Timings). Be careful as this is not an official Lenovo BIOS so you will be flashing this at your own risk.

 

I guess the attempt to upgrade the BIOS could be a good idea, but this is an operation to be performed with top caution.
I bought out an i7 2820qm 2nd hand (extracted from an HP NoteBook) on ebay.com (USA).
It was quoted at us$ 130, as "Buy Now", since am in Europe, with shipping and taxes, achieved to spend around us$ 160.
As RAM steaks, other than your option, I bought the Kingston HyperX kit cl9, you can find now here:
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-HyperX-1600MHz-HX316LS9IBK2-16/dp/B00KQCOV5C

 

What do you mean by "I guess the attempt to upgrade the BIOS could be a good idea, but this is an operation to be performed with top caution."?
What BIOS version do you use?
Do you recommend upgrading to the modified 1.46 BIOS?

Thank you!

 

I still conserve the previous version, 1.37. I also received the suggestion to update to 1.46, somebody told me the same, that it allows to overclock. I have not yet did, since I prefer to do with some expert guy.
I do not try to update a Bios since 8 years ago, at that time it was a risky procedure, if accidentally was not completed the operation, it was unfeasible to try back again since was lost the Bios in respective chip.
I think it is convenient to update the Bios, but in that case, my personal suggestion, try to do together with someone skilled guy.
Probably today, risks and countermeasures are easier to afford respect to a past, other people here I guess and hope could provide better instructions, since honestly am not updated.

 

just to add, I have just updated the Bios version to Official Lenovo 1.46 .. it was less complex than I was envisaging .. but still do not find vantages from this update ..

 

just to add, I have just updated the Bios version to Official Lenovo 1.46 .. it was less complex than I was envisaging .. but still do not find vantages from this update ..

 

I have upgraded my T420 to the i7-2720QM two months ago. As some have mentionned, it runs pretty hot under heavy CPU and GPU load (~95 degrees in my case, even with Arctic Silver thermal paste). I am currently running Linux, but I cannot find a solution to at least limit the GPU clock to get the heat under control, or even speed up the fan. I have read on many forums that it is indeed possible, but it's not that straightforward to set up. It is worth the upgrade though, as long as you don't push it too much. It will feel much snappier with the quad core, especially with TurboBoost enabled. If you can pick one up for around 65CAD (50USD) like I did, go for it. You won't regret it!

 

holy necro...



@PatchySan still alive buddy?