CPU upgrade question for Probook 6570b

[ctrout]

I recently picked up a Probook 6570b.  So far I have upgraded it with a 240gb SSD and have installed a 1TB HDD in the optical bay. The system board has non-upgradeable Intel HD 4000 graphics but I upgraded to 8GB RAM to help with this. The last possible upgrade would be the CPU.

I have seen plenty of threads on this laptop that have a cut-and-paste list of processor options from the HP website so I know what the manufacturer recommends. The problem is, I want to know what others have tried and what their results were. 

I have seen similar HP laptops that went from 35w to 45w processors and even i5 dual core to i7 quad core processors but I've never seen anyone post results of attempts to upgrade the 6570b in a similar way. The reason I am looking to upgrade above the recommended CPU performance is because the best processor recommended for this machine is the i7-3540M which is only dual core. This machine is ivy bridge with QM77 chipset and socket G2, all of which will support quad core. I was looking at the low power i7 QM chips to keep the CPU wattage the same but there are only two that will work and they go for over $200 on eBay. If I am able to run a 45w quad core, I'll get better performance at about half the price.

So, has anyone ever tried something like a 3630QM or ideally, a 3840QM chip in one of these Probooks? If so, how were the results? If no, is there an online community that may be better suited to assist with this project?

So here is a little added information that I found while researching this project.

The computer that I have (6570b) is covered in the same service manual as the Elitebook 8570p. The manual shows that the Elitebook can accept the whole range of quad core i7 CPUs, up to, and including the i7-3740QM (2.70-GHz processor (SC turbo up to 3.70-GHz; 1600-MHz FSB, 6.0-MB L3 cache, 45 W). The manual also shows that the heat sink is the same for both models. Since the heat sink that I have is therefore sufficient to cool a 45w CPU in the Elitebook, I see no reason to believe that it wouldn't cool the same processor in my 6570b Probook.

Additionally, there is another heat sink listed that is designed to remove the additional heat of a discreet memory GPU. Mine has UMA. I have looked at pictures of both heat sinks and the only difference in them is the addition of the pad that would contact the GPU for the one with discreet memory. I would assume that since they have the same dimensions, this other heat sink being designed to remove the additional heat of the GPU (and the 45w CPU of the Elitebook), would certainly handle the heat of only a 45w CPU.

I guess this leaves me to only a few questions. What is the limiting factor that keeps the CPU recommendations for this laptop so conservative?  Will the bios in my laptop recognize the i7-3840QM that I would like to install? If not, can I load the bios from the Elitebook to allow my laptop to make use of the processor?

Am I thinking clearly here or am I way off base?

[Huffer]

You are thinking that is for sure but the limiting factor is the circuitry HP installed in the motherboard, not just the BIOS. A quad core actually has a different pin arrangement (the pins look the same but different functions are assigned to some of the pins) than a dual core and you can accomodate quad cores or not based on the way the socket is configured. This socket accepts only dual cores and the i7-3540M is the top processor it will handle. This is not a recommendation it is a hard stop. Every now and then a processor not listed in the HP Manual will work but that is usually a processor that is similar to the ones in the Manual but was just issued by Intel after the Manual was printed. I have been here many years and have monitored CPU upgrades and never seen someone report getting a Quad Core to work where the HP Manual lists only dual cores. Having said all this the i7-3540M is not a bad processor. You don't say what you have now so I can't comment on whether the upgrade would be worth the cost. 

[ctrout]

The current processor is an i5-3340M at 2.7GHz.

[Huffer]

Not much difference:

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-3540M-vs-Intel-Core-i5-3340M

[ctrout]

It looks to me like somebody has gotten a quad core to work in the 6570b.  I ordered the same processor that this one has in it.  I'll report back with my results in a few days.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Probook-6570b-laptop-Intel-I7-3720qm-2-6-3-6ghz-8GB-ram-NEW-750gb-hdd-W8-...

[ctrout · Accepted solution]

Update!!!

The cpu arrived today and I installed it and it is functioning perfectly! Both the bios and windows recognize the chip and report it as i7-3720QM running at 2.6GHz. I know that this is an older laptop and there will probably not be many people wanting to spend money upgrading an old machine but in case they do, I hope that this thread and the other two that I have out there on the web will be of benefit to someone. I would have liked to have used the 3840QM at 2.8GHz with the 8MB L3 cache but The 2.6GHz, 6MB L3, 3720QM was $100 while the faster chip was over $200 and only offers about an 8% performance gain. I determined that for me, the 3720QM was the best bang for my buck.

The 3840QM is the fastest 45watt chip so it is as fast as I would trust going in this particular Probook. As I stated earlier, the heat sink in this machine is the exact same part number as the heat sink in othe HP models that use 45w quad core cpus like the 3840QM so I believe that the temps will be fine.

[rezoloot]

I've got the probook 6570b but have the onboard qm77 and amd GPU onboard, I'm running it with an i7-2820 right now but am going to put a 3820 or 3840 in it, its got an ssd, 16gig ram and is running really well, if the 38x0 dosen't pull through, hell I can always sell it, you might say I agree these are older machines but hellfire they run really well and would put them up against the base to mid models of some of the newer laptops out there, screen pixel quality, not a chance but Im not here to stare at pretty colours, I want a robust machine that can easily do the job