T430 Upgrade

I've been researching the different T series ThinkPads and I think I've settled on the T430. I've read through a majority (if not all) of the posts in the T430/T430s/T530 owner's threads and one thing I came across in the T430 thread is the mention of upgrading the CPU to a i7-3612QM. I know that the TDP's are the same for both processors, but a site I was looking at that compares processors says that the i5-3320M (one of the T430 options) uses a different socket than the i7-3612QM.

Before I go the route of the T430 and a i7-3612QM, I was just looking for some confirmation that the upgrade is possible and how easy the upgrade is (I repair desktops/laptops on a pretty regular basis at my job). Since the TDP's are the same for the processors, would the fan speeds/temperatures be about the same and would there be a noticeable change in battery life?

Lastly, I've seen a lot of discussion regarding the LCD panels on the T430(s)/T530. My desktop has HP S2331 monitors and that's all I've used for the better part of a year now and was wondering how much difference there may be and how would it compare to consumer laptops. The one thing that my purchase is kind of hinging on is that I can't walk into a store like a Best Buy or MicroCenter and look at one in person (I hate making purchases without seeing the actual item and that's why I hope retail stores never go away).

 

See: Compare Intel® Products The 3612QM seems to use the same socket type as the 3320M, fcpga998. So you should be good, but take into consideration that swapping the CPU voids your warranty.

 

The T430 panels are average, which means it's fine for Office and Internet type stuff, but anything where image quality is important, there's better options. The 3612QM might work, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lenovo didn't support it.

 

Sorry, my desktop has been having issues so haven't been able to check up on this till now. I pretty much figured that the warranty would be voided and as I thought about that, the less interested I became in doing this. Aside from the X230 and the X1C, are there any Thinkpad line laptops that have better screens? It seems like the X230 IPS and the X1C screens are the only ones most posts mention as good.

 

T|W530 with the FHD upgrade. It's what I have and I love it

 

Yes, among the Thinkpads, the ones with the best screens are the X230 premium panel (IPS) and T530 FHD screen (TN, high-gamut). The new X1C's screen (TN) is supposed to be quite nice as well, with above-average contrast and brightness.

 

So about 3 weeks after the t430 came out I installed the 3612qm into mine from a 2370. Funny this is this processor runs cooler then that low end sandy bridge and ivy bridge is a reason for this. As long as you got the 90w power unit wouldnt worry. I have the nvidia gpu as well and temps rarely go above 50 . Use mx-4 or arctic silver because they offer good performance for a device that needs good cooling. Honestly if I had to go back and remake the decision I would have just put the 3820qm in this laptop. Increases value and heating shouldnt be a problem with the t430 because I put a 2820 in a dell e6420 and it ran pretty good. let me know what you do!

 

Brady
can u please say more about your t430 model?
and exactly the steps u made to upgrade.
i owe a t430 2344 series with i5 and also considering to go for i7 3612qm....
thanx in advance.

 

Honestly, just get an SSD instead.

The processor upgrade isn't going to give you a noticeable boost in speed- even from 2 cores to 4, the CPU is still waiting for the hard disk to load its data.

The 250+ dollars you're going to spend on that processor would be better spent on a 256GB SSD- the speed boost will be FAR more noticable.

With one of these things, a cold boot to the Windows desktop is going to take 30 seconds. The desktop is immediately responsive, too (you can launch programs and they respond immediately)- it's not like with a hard drive where you have to wait 1-2 minutes before you can launch anything.

 

This.

Unless you know you have some specific application that's going to be CPU limited, an SSD is always the better choice.

 

at least for me it aint about ssd.
first thing that i upgrade when get a new lappy is the memory and harddrive.
so on my t430 already have 8gb memory and a samsung 830 ssd.
next thing is the cpu and of course i wont do it just now, i will wait the price to get down a little.
but the main reason for getting t430 was that it has the cpu socketed not soldered.

 

I never saw that you had posted this and sorry for such a delayed response which I am sure you have probably already decided on what you wanted to do months back . But just for future reference, upgrading the t430 cpu couldnt be any easier. Its so nice to have that extra computing power if you ever need it. I know an ssd is a great upgrade but going from an i3 sandybridge to i7 ivy bridge is definately a noticable difference. In my opinion it was worth the extra dough for a laptop I know I will keep for years to come and plus I use it so much it doesnt hurt to add a little to it. Only complaint is the screen but I am sure people have found a compatible screen for t430 to upgrade as well which is not a hard upgrade either.

If your still considering doing it after all this time I would be glad to help you if you are stumped by any steps on upgrading cpu.

sorry again for such a late response!

 

hey
thanks for the reply.
also saw this just today....and wanna tell you i already replaced the cpu.
got a i7 3612qm and replaced the i5 3210m. the lappy is noticeably faster and i am really pleased.

 

Hi bradyboyy.

I came across this forum when searching for the same purpose of upgrading my T430's CPU and read you were successful doing it.
If you don't mind me asking, I bought the i7-3630QM and was wondering do you know if this CPU is compatible with the T430's socket.
Also, after the upgrade did you continue using the 65W power supply or did you get the 90W or even the 130W power supply?

Your response will be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

I installed the i7-3630QM a week ago and it's been working great. I've also been using the 90w power supply instead of the 65w.
I noticed the average CPU temp is between 42/48 degrees Celsius under normal use. Does not get any hotter then the original i5-3320 CPU.
To make things even better I also installed a Crucial 512Gb SSD and so far I'm very pleased with the results.

 

Howdy,

I know this been a little bit old. I am also planning to upgrade my T430, from i5-3320M to i7-3630QM. But I just little bit worry about the TDP, my T430 with i5-3320M and its TDP is 35W, i7-3630QM's specs say it is 45W TDP.

Have you experience any issue with this?

Thanks for your time!

-Don

 

I agree with everyone the SSD part. I have been long using SSD's since some of the very first ones. My first "true" was an OCZ Vertex 2, which at the time was a beast. However, as tech passed and years passed.. SSD's are becoming a common practice among computer users of ALL OS's and types. With that being said, being a personal T430 owner, with a SanDisk 256gb SSD- I have ZERO ambition on upgrading for a very long time. My T430 does everything I need it to and then some. The best thing to do is look at what you have and truly compare it spec-by-spec, and I am more than positive that you will not see a drastic change, nothing you will notice (depending on usage obviously). My .02 cents= people upgrade to upgrade for bogus reasons. These machines are built specifically to have an amazing experience now to future. Consider the SSD option, please.. I promise you will not be displeased.

 

I agree with this. SSD has been the only performance upgrade I've ever mad that's ever been noticeable. I only upgrade to get lighter laptops with longer runtimes now.

 

Just for the record I'm commenting on the topic because it was useful when I was looking to upgrade mine.

Just upgraded from the i5 3360 to a i7 3820QM and it's working like a charm.
I was wondering about the power consumption but I had a 90W PSU when I bought it. consuming about 30 watts with basic windows load on the intel HD, max peak around 50 watts.
it's a t430 with 16gb hyperX memory, 3 SSDs and the nvidia graphic over the HD+ screen.

Hope it helps people looking to upgrade too

 

Hi!

I have wondered what CPU to buy. I have the i5-3320m and I have checked i7-3632QM. Is the TDP how big a deal? I mean, could I just buy like i7-3840 and 90W PU?