hp envy 15t-j100 quad edition cto notebook pc - query about ram and storage upgrade

[iamagoodboy2008]

Hi HP community! 

Hope everyone's doing well. I have a hp envy 15t-j100 quad edition cto notebook pc that I bought in 2014, and 7 years later, it is going strong with very few issues (the webcam doesn't work anymore, and the CPU heats up a lot - upto around 68 C). I am looking for ways to improve the laptop's performance, and have the following questions:

1. is the processor upgradeable? i did some research and it looks like it's not, but just wanted to confirm here

2. i m looking to upgrade the ram from the current 8 GB (4 GB x 2) to 16 GB (8 GB  x 2). I wanted to ask if this makes sense, will this be a worthy upgrade? 

3. i m looking to upgrade the storage to an SSD - i saw the product manual and saw that the maximum supported size is 512 GB, however the crucial site says i can put a 1 TB SSD - can i do it?

4. i see that this laptop has a slot for something called a 24 GB msata ssd - i want to understand whether i can install the crucial ssd on this slot, and have the regular 1 TB HDD as a backup? is that a thing? 

5. the CPU heats up pretty high - touches 70 C at times - what can i do about it? open up the base and clean inside? or change the thermal paste? is 7 years too long for the thermal paste? 

as you might  have guessed, i am a newbie in many things, so i would love any feedback from anyone here. thank you! 

[banhien · Accepted solution]

@iamagoodboy2008 

It is a CTO machine which does not have REAL specs. It is a bit old now therefore you have to work on cost/performance to make decision given Windows 11 is around the corner. Anyway

A1, You have to buy new System board (if available) the system board will have few parts on it including CPU and Windows license,

A2. It supports DDR3L 1600MHz RAM and you can upgrade to 2x8GB

A3. The number of GB on the manual is for pre-installed options you can use 1TB

A4. That mSATA port is for cache, the physical size is shorter than 2280 format . The following vendor shows its available product

           https://www.cactus-tech.com/resources/blog/details/what-is-the-largest-msata-ssd-on-the-market/

      I would not try this

A5. Again, cost and cost. 70°C is bearable. Some machines now run over 90°C.

Again, machine is old now. Please check cost/performance OR saving a bit more to get new machine.

Regards