CPU upgrade for old HP Pavilion DV7

[TheSpartan]

Greeting, it is my first post in these forums!

I would like to upgrade the CPU of 2 HP pavilion dv7 I posess.

HP pavilion dv7 3090ep:

Current CPU: Intel Core i7 720QM @ 1.60GHz

Question: Is there a list of possible CPU upgrades for this product? If so please give me that list and any possible suggestion specially regarding performance. The manual states the Intel Core i7-820QM, but the difference is so little that I am unsure if it is worth the investment / risk of opening the laptop.

HP pavilion dv7 2150ep:

Current CPU: Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz

1st Question: Can I upgrade to a Core 2 Duo Quad QX9300? Accordingly to the manual the Quad Q9100 is supported but I am not really interested on that one due to lower base clock (and higher power consumption to what I already have!). I would like to mention that I also bought the T9800 since it was very cheap and since it uses the same 35w as the P8700, but I haven't installed it yet.

2nd Question: Supposing I add the QX9300, does the HP bios support overclocking/underclocking? Right now it doesn't, but i was wondering if anything would change (in terms of options on the BIOS) if I replaced the CPU with an Unlocked/Xtreme one.

3rd Question: More like a personal opinion than a technical question, but what would you do? Back when I bought this laptop I prefered higher clock speed for the CPU than multi cores since most processes used 2 cores at most. Things  have changed +10 years later, but I am not sure if these old Quad Cores are efficient enough at processing things today. Money is not really a question (but power consumption could be).

Additional Info: Already have all the RAM I could get and SSD for the boot+secondary drive on both laptops. My idea was to use the dv7 2150ep for web browsing and low level gaming / low level work specially taking power consumption in consideration to lower the costs of running it. A quad core would be a great addition I believe but my experience with these old Quad Cores is pratically none, specially given today's requirements and my own requirements for lower power consumption since I do not know if they are consume little if at idle / under light load.

Thanks for the attention (and forgive me the wall of text!)

[Dilip_18 · Accepted solution]

Hi@TheSpartan,

Welcome to the HP Support Community! I'd like to help!

I see you are looking to upgrade the CPU on the HP Pavilion Notebook. I apologize for the Inconvenience. 

Based on Intel chipset specifications these are compatible for this model.

Intel Core-i7-720QM

Intel Core-i7-740QM

Intel Core-i7-820QM

Intel Core-i7-840QM

If you upgrade to a Core 2 Duo Quad QX9300 according to the manual it has higher power consumption. 

The overclocking capability is limited by the BIOS. An unlocked processor installed in the system enables the user to overclock the system if desired, but overclocking is not supported by HP.

While overclocking is possible on select HP systems, overclocking is not supported by HP. HP does not ship systems that are already overclocked, does not help customers overclock, and does not help customers step back down from overclocking (i.e., reset an overclocked system to a default un-overclocked state).

You can also reach out to the HP Technical Support team in your region regarding more options.

Click on this link - https://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click on the YES button to reply that the response was helpful and/or to say “Thank You”.

Have a great day!

[TheSpartan]

Hello @Dilip_18

I have another question regarding one of these old laptops!

A few days ago I finally replaced the Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz (25w) inside HP pavilion dv7 2150ep with an Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T9800 @ 2.93GHz (35w). Everything went nicely, but the computer shuts off ocasionally under load. Initially, I thought it was due to heat, but after checking temperatures things were OK, and then power consumption (again!) came to my mind. My charger is still the original 90w (from HP) and I am thinking of replacing it in order to be able to use the new CPU, but I have heard that some of these old Quanta boards are not able to receive enough power to accomodate the needs of these improved CPUs. Is there any way to be able to confirm if the problem is about my inadequate charger or about the motherboard? Current motherboard: Quanta 3624 with 1024MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 (I have heard that the motherboards with ATI were the ones able to receive more power for the CPUs, but I am unsure if the info is reliable).

Anyway thanks already for the answers, specially in regards to my other laptop!

[Dilip_18]

Hi@TheSpartan,

Thank you for responding, I appreciate your time and effort.

You can try upgrading or replacing the charger and check if it works. As we cannot confirm if the problem is with the charger or the motherboard.

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance.

Have a great day!

[TheSpartan]

Thought HP would have known a bit more about the motherboards they were using!

Well, thanks for the help though, I think all my answers were more or less answered!

[Dilip_18]

Hi@TheSpartan,

Thank you for responding, I appreciate your time and effort.

Good to know that the issue is resolved.

Feel free to contact us in future if you need any assistance.

Have a great day!