Notebook Hardware and Upgrade Questions

ctrout · ‎01-02-2017

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?

Notebook Hardware and Upgrade Questions

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