Swapping CPUs in laptops?

[FatRakoon]

Right, dont judge me too harshly, I am not i na position at this time to do all the messing about, its more of a thought that may or may not come to pass.

Right, I have, among my arsenal of Laptops, 2 that are sort of stuk in no mans land in regards to their use.

Firstly, My HP DV6. Its a 1.6Ghz I7 and it has ATI Radeon grphics and plays very basic games fairly well. With an I7 it has power, but at 1.6, its quite crippling in many ways.

Second one, is a Sony Vaio. Its running a lowly I3 however its 2.4Ghz, and uses Intel graphics and therefore its utterly useless.

Now, I was thinking of swapping the CPUs over.

The I7 is a proper 4+4HT CPU and the I3 a 2+2HT and I am fully aware that the I7 is still the better CPU in terms of total raw power, but the I3 is one hell of a lot more responsive than the I7 is, and runs a whole lot cooler.

I have many questions before I have a shot at swappign the CPUs over...

Will they fit physically?
Will the Intel GFX on the Vaio rely on the GFX capabilities of the I3 CPU as they are almost definitely NOT present in the I7
Amd I just being an idiot even considering it?

The fact is, that for the use I want out of it, the I3 would be just fine, if it allows me to play the same games and stays cool, while the Vaio will get a nice little boost too!

Anyway, Iam currently suck in hospital and so I dont want to bring in 2 more laptops ( I already have 3 here now through boreddom ) and have them stripped out all over the place if its not likely to work you see...

Any thoughts on the matter will be fantastic.

All my love etc.

 

[oweneades]

The i7 is I assume the 720QM? This will boost to up to 2.8Ghz on a single core (could be dual core I can't remember with the older clarksfield processors) thus won't always be running at 1.6Ghz anyway (unless it is throttling).

Whether the i3 will fit or not will depend on what architecture it is. Assuming that it is the 370m it will technically fit but will be slower than the i7 in anything that requires more threads (and likely slower in single threaded apps as well due to the i7's turbo). If it is a newer i3 2xxxm+ then it won't fit at all.

I can't remember the IGP setup on the older mobile cpu's but the DV6 is likely setup to not use the mobile IGP at all given that the i7 doesn't have one in the first place.

Your best bet is to have a look at Throttlestop (you will need to google this). It is an application (or guide I can't remember) that will help with the potential throttling on the i7. Alternatively you could source one of the higher end i7s from the generation yours is from. Of course you will need to confirm that the processor is socketed (not soldered to the MB) in the first place to do this. IIRC the clarksfield i7's were.

 

[FatRakoon]

Hmm...

I am not willing to spend out. Its only a little idea I have. I have my main laptop for proper power, its just that the I3 in the Sony feels really snappy compared to the I7 in the HP... Sure, for Multi thread apps, as I said the I7 is far better, thats not the issue, and indeed the I7 is not limited to just sticking at 1.6, it does indeed go higher... When it does, it has a nasty habbit of chugging when it does it and it causes a lot of jerking when playing games because it goes 1.6 then overclockes and then drops back and then goes back up... Irritating.

No, its not even that... Its the fact that the heat is scary toasty and the speed of the I3 is perhaps quick enough to go with the ATI Graphics on the DV6 to make it a nice little basic gamer, while the I7 will be a nice little workhorse for the Sony and I can let the missus have that.

But yes, the GFX in the I3 not being present in the I7 is almost definitely going to be a factor even if I did bother to have a try and they did fit.

I just need to find some way of keeping the DV6 cooler than it is perhaps?

Its a shame cos its a great Laptop that hasa very nice feel to the keyboard... Even my £2K Clevo I bought the other week is right crud with the cursor jumping all over the place when Im typing.