Upgrading from i3 to i7 920xm in my toshiba a665-s5170

First post!

I was curious if you guys think i can upgrade my 380m i3 processor to a 920xm i7 processor in my toshiba a665-s5170?

Same socket. same chipset.

The 920xm is a 55watt processor, and my power supply is only 65 watts. Would I need a power supply with more wattage?

CPU-Upgrade: Intel HM55 Express chipset processor support

^^^that list is apparently all the cpus that can fit onto the same chipset/same socket.

I just need to be told if my thinking is wrong

 

It will be a very difficult upgrade since a laptop has a lot of screws and small, easily breakable connectors.Not only the PSU might need to be replaced (65W minus 55W sounds like you will run into power issue), the new CPU may generate more heat and may need different cooling requirements.

That is, assuming it was not nonreplaceable, soldered-in CPU at first place.

Considering the time and risk involved, I would just save up and replace the whole thing.
If you are willing to accept the risk of doing serious harm to your machine, then I wish you best luck!

 

It's socket, So it should pop right in hopefully.

That's why I came here, to find out what type of power supply to grab, and if there's a heatsink I should get that would go with my motherboard. Internet research has left me stumped with those two things.

 

You can and it will run, but you'll have a laptop without a display ^^.

Your laptop doesn't have a dedicated GPU, but uses Intel HD Graphics, this is embedded in the processor. The 920xm is a Clarksfield, which doesn't support this. You need an Arrandale, of which the best option is the Core i7-640M. Good thing is that its tdp is 35W, just like your current one, so no need to upgrade the adapter to a 90W universal (which the 55W would have required due to its +20W).

Benchmarks of the 380m, 640m and 920xm (fyi); so the 640m would make a decent upgrade.

There is one potential pitfall; bios support. It's not likely, but if Toshiba has only accommodated support for the 380m then it won't recognize any other cpu. I'd take that risk, the update itself isn't very difficult and it's a nice excuse to clear out the dust.

Same basic rules apply to the Gateway, except that the "U" in 2117U indicates "low power". An upgrade from 17W to 35W means over twice as much heat. It may be possible, but you need to be certain you've got sufficient headroom to spare. Run a temperature monitoring program and a stress/benchmark type application; if the cpu stays below, say, 60°C you have a chance. Anything in the area of 80°C; forget it. It would run fine, but continually at lower clocks (to prevent overheating), so your gain would be nil. And, obviously, you may want to get a slightly more powerful adapter.

 

Thanks! The 640m is what I'm probably getting then. I updated my bios last night to the 2.3 update. Since it's discontinued, is that last update?

Is there a way to find out if the bios would support the 640m? I'm finding them used on ebay for roughly 90-130 dollars.

 

No, unfortunately bioses are encrypted these days. You do have the latest version.

However, Toshiba releases a great number of models under different part nrs., yet uses the same bios for all of them (simplicity/cost, and the bios IC has sufficient space):

Code:

ACPI Flash BIOS version 2.30 for Satellite A660/A665 (PSAW0U/PSAW3U)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This BIOS is applicable to the following models:
  o Satellite A660/A665 models having part numbers beginning with "PSAW0U"
  o Satellite A660/A665 models having part numbers beginning with "PSAW3U"

So any cpu supported by any Satellite A660 or A665 (PSAW0U/PSAW3U) is supported by this bios. That's why even the 920xm might've run; there exist A665's that support Clarkfields; Toshiba Satellite A665 Series and Satellite A660 Series.

At minimum, these are all supported:

• AMD Phenom II X4 P920 <<< duh
• Intel Core i3 2310M <<< not this one, it's a PSAW6U/PSAW9U
• Intel Core i3 330M
• Intel Core i3 350M
• Intel Core i3 370M
• Intel Core i5 430M
• Intel Core i5 450M
• Intel Core i5 460M
• Intel Core i7 2630QM <<< not this one, it's a PSAW6U/PSAW9U
• Intel Core i7 720QM
• Intel Core i7 740QM

Now, your 380m isn't in that list since NBC has reviewed the S6085 (370m), but not your S5170 (380m). For obvious reasons; they're nearly identical. An AMD won't fit, of course, and the Clarksfields require, as mentioned, a dedicated gpu. Anyway, think you're in luck with the 640m; the Satellite A665-3DV uses the same v2.30 bios you have and it sports the 740QM (Clarksfield), which is significant because its launch date is 3rd quarter 2010, the same as the 640m. Deduction; Toshiba has updated the v2.30 bios to include a Q3'10 cpu, even though there's no mention of this in their change history, the last line mentioning a cpu update is this one:

Code:

Version 1.40  2010-06-28
   o Updated the Clarksfield CPU Microcode to M13106E5_04.

Well ... think we'll scratch that up to forgetfulness, if the 740qm is supported, it's likely the 640m is as well. That, or it's clairvoyance; Intel might have released details before the actual cpu's were manufactured and Toshiba included them in their bios in advance.

If the upgrade fails (beep error code), there is a last resort method; force-flash the bios to v2.40 for A660/A665 PSAW6U/PSAW9U series. This bios definitely supports the 640m, but doing this might also brick your system as there's no telling what other differences accompany this series versus the PSAW0U/PSAW3U models.

 

Wow, you're amazing.

Though it supports the 740qm, That doesn't mean I can grab that one does it? No interated gpu I'm assuming means no screen.

I'm going to take my shot on the 640m. Surely it will work.

Lol, I have heard of people putting external graphic cards through the 34mm expresscard slot. Could you throw those quadcores in if you had an external graphics card? (Complete noob question)

 

Actually, that's a very good question.

It might work because these Toshiba series work either with the eGPU (embedded) or the dGPU (dedicated), never both. However, there are 2 potential pitfalls.

1.) When the bios expects a dGPU it might look for the device on a specific PCIe bus, not the ExpressCard slot (also a form of PCIe), the worst this could do is that you won't have a display during the bios session, but after boot the OS will support the ExpressCard gpu just fine. You do have a Catch-22; without drivers it won't display anything and without a display it's a tad difficult to install drivers ... . So what you do is install drivers while running the 380m and force the system to run only the 34mm slot, not the Intel HD (perhaps uninstall its drivers, or just disable it in Device Manager). And don't throw away (or sell) the 380m; you'll need it again on any future reinstall of the OS.

2.) You're back with the +20W (don't bother with the 840qm, if you're taking the dGPU-route just get the 920xm like you intended in the first place; benchmarks). Thus the Gateway rules are back; find out how much cooling space you have left running the 380m, but make sure to clean the system properly and apply good thermal paste (which toothpaste is not, it seems ...). It saves at least 10°C, which you're certainly going to need; have repaired a few of these and they're very cramped little devices (not at all helpful in dissipating heat).

FYI; more cores ≠ better. Also, ymmv, think the most performance gain this update will give you is not the 640m vs. 920xm, but the 34mm vs. Intel HD. So you'll have 2 upgrades instead of one. Do report back, others may be interested in this upgrade too.

One more thing. If, for whatever reason, the 920xm doesn't work on your system we can trade; have a 640m now and the 920xm is the only cpu that's better for my applications.

 

I'm probably going to go with the 640m right now once I can get my hands on one. The 920xm project will probably be the year or so down the road, since I have to buy a decent graphics card now.

And that's another issue. I can't figure out much about the What graphic cards Im limited to using the Expresscard slot with the adapter. Expresscard have a 6/gb transfer rate, so am I limited to cards that are in that range? I'm not even sure if that factor has any relation to the what type of graphic card I choose.

 

Yes, you're bandwidth-limited to PCIe x1 v1 (maybe v2), so 1-lane of v1 or v2 PCIe. Although the laptop predates ExpressCard 2.0 it may still accept v2 speeds; ymmv. And even though some adapters may fit a v2 16x lane card and would run fine, you cannot expect it to function at full capacity when it's 1/16th (or 1/32nd) restricted. May want to read " DIY eGPU experiences" thread for more background info, including gpu recommendations. Seems a HD 5870 yields good results.

Also, on this setup the external gpu would output to the hdmi/vga port only, not the lcd (no iGPU anymore with the xm). So if you want to use the laptop's lcd (instead of an external monitor) you need a hdmi/vga > lvds adapter (just an example; correct type depends on the lcd). The complete setup would be "ExpressCard adapter" > "PCIe x16 GPU" > "HDMI-LVDS adapter" > LVDS (=LCD).

 

'Upgraded' my 640m to a 920xm, so if you're still interested in this project; send a PM. Its HD Graphics haven't been used even once (system doesn't support switchable graphics) and it's a bit sad to see that 2 nd die die without ever having seen the light of day ...

The " upgrade" in citation marks; the 920xm Clarksfield is older and 45nm, whereas the 640m Arrandale is newer and 32nm. The 20W+ TDP does not translate 1:1 in more processing power; it'd be a 57% increase, yet it's only 17% irl. Much of it goes to waste in warming the climate ... it's idling at ~50℃. But GTA V's coming, so every % is needed.

 

Really? I thought the consensus was that the 920xm didn't have an internal gpu, So it would work on the laptop?

 

No, it doesn't work on your system. But the upgrade's for my Clevo W870CU, which has a dedicated GPU and therefor runs the 920xm just fine (hot, though).

Think that ExpressCard project is not the way to go, really. It's a lot of hassle for a marginal improvement, so I'd go for the 640m in your situation.

 

Sellin that 640m then...?

 

Update!

I bought the 640m i7 processor and installed it onto my toshiba. It worked like a charm! I had some ram issues at first, but that may of been me not fully installing them into the correct position. After some swapping and wiggling, everything booted correctly.

Make sure you update your BIOS first to the latest update. I found it on the toshiba website. That last update probably gave me the capabilities to use the 640m.

While the graphics were a slight upgrade, I assure you I can tell the performance difference with graphic design programs and some gaming. dota 2 seems like it it's clunkyness is completely gone.

Kudos to T456!