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Replacing laptop cpu, worth it?

Sixense

Sixense

Sixense

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28 Aug 2014
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177
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Lancs
So apparently I won't be able to afford a new gaming machine this year, got me thinking, will I get any noticeable improvements if I change my cpu?

Current laptop in signature, looking at i5-580M or i7-620/640M, as they're same 35W as my current 350M. Don't know if I can change the gpu chip in there, haven't seen any, except for 780M or something similar for Alienwares.

Any help much appreciated, planning to buy on weekend if it's worth it (like £25 for i5 and £40 for i7s)

Playing World of Tanks and War Thunder mainly, some Civ5.
 
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Lordzargon, it's a web browsing and small gaming, i.e. WoT, WT, Civ5, Terraria, some Source engine games.

P.B., what's an 'mxm gpu'?
 
I upgraded my CPU in my laptop to a i5 3340m and it runs a hell of a lot faster than it did before, also added a ssd for booting faster.

It's all about the price as well, my CPU was brand new and was £45 delivered, i could have spent three times as much for an i7 but doubt it would have been any faster really.

Do make sure you stick to same TDP wattage as it may draw too much power and/or run too hot for the laptop you have.

Rich.
 
usually not worth it, unless you change from say Pentium to i7 and have good use for it. the GPU cannot be changed 99% of time and that is what matters the most for gaming.

MXM is interface that allows changing mobile GPUs, similar to PCI-E slot, but even then you need to have BIOS support etc. it's found on expensive gaming laptops usually.
 
So I've ordered myself an i7-640M @ 2.8 GHz, we'll see how it improves my laptop (if it doesn't explode right away) :D
 
I've upgraded a few laptop CPU's in the past with good results. Firstly an old 1.5GHz Celeron to a 2.4GHz P4, then a 2.0GHz AMD Turion to a dual core version.

I was going to do my 1st Gen i5 laptop to an i7, but I decided on a new laptop in that case.
 
ukxenon said:
Report back and let us know
Click to expand...

It finally arrived yesterday, took 2 hr to replace it (basically because I forgot to add some TIM after cleaning everything off and remembered just before turning it on >.<)

Laptop seems a bit snappier, WoT and WT is way more stable, it doesn't stutter anymore when enemies get spotted, maybe even a few FPSes were added, or maybe it's just that it doesn't drop that often.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. News sites with a bunch of ads don't lag nearly at all, while with my i3 I could just barely browse them, and I can watch 1080p Youtube without freezes every 2 seconds and 720p doesn't lag at all.
 
Sometimes the juice is worth a squeeze. I have Acer Aspire 7003WSMi (dinosaur old) laptop used only for my car diagnostic. An factory fitted AMD Sempron was running at 1.8GHz (plus very low 256 KB cache) - been swapped to AMD Turion mk38 with 2.2GHz (512 KB cache). Significantly faster with more instructions handled gives me smooth operation on it :)
 
Generally I've found it relatively pointless as you are stuck in the same family of CPUs, but I guess with a machine of this age you can find a new CPU pretty cheaply :)
 
rtho782 said:
Generally I've found it relatively pointless as you are stuck in the same family of CPUs, but I guess with a machine of this age you can find a new CPU pretty cheaply :)
Click to expand...
But what for? This upgrade I was needed just for one program - make it running as it should. Not using this laptop for absolutely anything else - as I mentioned before...
I got PC for myself and another laptop used by my fiancée.

Changing there for any x2 Turion just for the numbers - waste of money as you can see. But changing for mk38 for running Diagnostic Interface without hangs was cost me only 3 Quid... Bought it for £10 and sold Sempron for £7. That's all :)
 
lordzargon said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, your particular model may offer this, but almost no laptops offer the facility to change the CPU/GPUs. You're stuck with the CPU/GPU, I'm afraid. :(


-Edit-
Oh... I stand corrected..
http://czesci-do-laptopow.pl/670-1444-thickbox/plyta-glowna-emachines-e730g-new70-la-5891p-rev10.jpg

Don't hotlink images - Rilot

That looks like a CPU socket!

For that much money, may be worth it - but the gains will be relatively small - what do you plan on using it for?
Click to expand...

Yep quite the opposite when not dealing with netbooks etc.. many non superslim notebooks/laptops will not have cpus soldered to the board
 
I'll be doing a very similar upgrade- a arrandale Pentium dual core 2GHz, 4GB 1066MHz RAM and a basic HDD to an i5 560 2c4t 2.66 (to 3.2GHz boost), 8GB of 1333MHz RAM and an SSD. Also gonna clear out all the dust too. It will be quite a jump! The CPU cost £18 aswell!

Edit- we must have very similar laptops / same laptop chassis as mine also has a 5470 512MB- it's an HP Pavillion DV3-4100sa. Does yours have switchable graphics?
 
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