CPU upgrade T530

I wonder if anyone has any idea if I can upgrade the CPU on my T530 from a i5 3320M to an i7 3632QM. Both CPU's are 35w TDP and both have a maximum temp of 105c. I have the nVidia 5400m graphics. The T530 supports other QM processors but Lenovo have only used the i7 3632Qm in the E530 so far. I am not worried about the warranty issues, before anyone tells me i will void my warranty. Got the laptop very cheap as a refurb for $600 and upgraded from the base screen to a FHD 1080 ($75 and $40 back on old panel) , took memory from 4gb to 16gb ($80) and added a samsung 256gb 830 drive ($200), upgraded the optical drive to bluray writer for $70.

I see no reason why the upgrade will not work and I can pick up the i7 3632 for just $210 I can even sell the old processor for $150 so the $60 price of the upgrade is very attractive for the performance gain. Also from what i can tell the difference in the battrery consumption in normal use will be minimal. 50% of the time I use the laptop in a dock 3 with 3 external monitors and run a lot of very intensive software tools. I work with servers and different types of machines and have swapped many CPUs in servers laptops and desktops so am not phased by this.

Seems to me that the i7 3632QM is the perfect laptop CPU for all sorts of reasons. Just hope someone can shed somelight on wether or not it will work in a T530. I dont think the Lenovo bios locks out CPUS that are supported by the chipset which is a QM77 Express chipset which has support for the i7 3632QM,

I would be gretful if anyone has any views on this.

The end result would be
T530
i7 3632QM - currently i5 3320M
16gb 1600 crucial RAM
nVidia 5400m 1gb
256gb Samsung 830 SSD
Fingerprint reader
LG FHD 1080 screen
Bluray Writer
9 cell battery
Backlit Keyboard

If it works I will have a system that will meet my needs for at least the next 3 years. At present have a WEI of 6.5 with 7.2 CPU, 7.5 memory, 6.5 graphics, 7.9 SSD.
With all of the upgrades and base machine cost it will stand me in at $1050 which i think is a real bargin..

Charlie

 

Considering you can configure the T530 with 45W quads, I don't see any reason why the 3632 shouldn't work.

 

That was my thinking but as Lenovo have a habit of blacklisting components was wondering if they blacklisted processors somehow that were supported in the chipset but not offered on that model. I guess there is nonly one real way to find out. Take the plunge and try it.

 

So my new i73632QM CPU arrived on Friday. 30 minutes later after undoing about 12 screws, cleaning off the old heat compound and replacing with Arctic Silver my T530 was up and running. I have not done any proper benchmarking yet but the WEI is now showing, 7.5, 7.7, 6.8, 6.8, 7.9. I have installed real temp to keep an eye on CPU temp and the CPU seems to be running about 15-20% cooler than the i5 3320M. Battery life also seems better getting around 5 hours watching Netflixs over wifi on HD content. I now need to sell the old CPU but reckon the CPU upgrade will end up costing me about $50-75. I think an upgrade well worth doing. Obviously this is not for the faint hearted.It is also probably a waste of time for anyone just using it as a laptop, but if you use the dock with multiple monitors especially if you are playing around with video or graphics you will definitely reap the benefit.

As for warranty issues a mute point, I have possibly voided my warranty? But i can always get another i5 3320M if i need to send it back for warranty. I have been using Thinkpads for about 12 years and the only issue i ever had was a faulty CD player. So not a big concern. If anyone is interested in this and has questions then let me know. I suspect you would be able to do this on any T530 including the i3 but as i said i started with an i5.

 

You may wish to hang onto that old CPU. I don't know if they still do, but Lenovo likes to bar code CPUs, which means they can make an issue of if they wish. I don't know how likely it is, but it's a possibility.

 

Thanks for posting on this. Where did you find that chip? I don't see any of the mainstream distributors carrying those. A major auction site has a few listed but mainly overseas.

 

Yes I bought the new CPU from that "famous auction site". Been running it for a bout 2 months now. Really happy with it. Uses less power than the i5 I took out and regularly get 8 hours on standard office stuff on wifi when i am out and about. That is with the 9 cell battery. A great update. All in all it is by far the best laptop i have ever had. Really happy with it. I have been running "real temp" to make ure the CPU is happy and no heat issues. Never had the CPU get over 70 c, usually stays between 40-50 on battery and 50-60 docked and cranked up with multiscreens. screens.


CS
PM me if you have any questions about it.

 

Can you tell me what verison of BIOS you're running? I'm running 2.07, and I just tried to boot with an 3632QM installed (picked one up off that auction site), but the machine basically does nothing (a couple of lights blink when I press power but then it just turns off - I don't think any fans even spun up). Not sure if it's a bad chip or maybe not supported by my BIOS.

 

Just received a replacement 3632QM and it's working fine. Not sure if my original part was bad or if it was a BIOS problem since I upgraded to 2.53 before installing the new part (it's a bit of a pain to swap the CPU, so I didn't bother trying the new part with the old BIOS).

 

I think it's unlikely the BIOS was the issue. Swapping the CPU is a piece of cake compared to the LCD.

 

Yeah the CPU swap definitely got easier by the third time - in particular the top part of the case becomes a lot easier to 'unsnap' once it's been done a couple of times (although the case seems just as stiff as before). I don't doubt the LCD swap is painful on the T530 - I've swapped screens on a T60 and an X201 and both were not fun. At least it's possible, though, which is more than you can say for some machines these days.

Overall the new CPU seems to be working fine, but I just discovered one minor annoyance - I can no longer run with the 65W AC adapter. The 65W adapter ran everything just fine with the i5-3360M installed (including the Nvidia graphics), but now it won't even try to run off the 65W brick.. This is pretty annoying since both CPUs are rated at exactly the same TDP (35W). Now I need to use at least a 90W adapter. Guess I should be thankful - a 45W quad-core proc might require one of the truly massive 100+W bricks.

Come to think of it, that may have been the problem with my first CPU swap. The first time I did the swap I was using a 65W adapter. I tried powering up with the battery removed and basically nothing happened (no BIOS - no warnings, etc.) - probably the BIOS just shut down right away because it didn't like the 65W adapter. Once I got the second 3632QM (and after I'd upgraded the BIOS) I happened to be using a 90W adapter and everything worked fine. Live and learn.

 

Can you at least give the URL of that auction site. Does it start with an E?
Renee

 

That's right... the big 'E'. There are several on there right now. The auction ones have been going for around $200 lately... the buy it now for more like $250-300 and up.

 

How do you like the T530's general "feel" with the i7-3632QM???

I mean your old/new specs are:
i5-3360M (I.B./2.8/3.5GHz)
i7-3632QM (I.B./2.2/3.2GHz)

So one core runs slower with the i7, but you do have 4 cores whereas the i5 only has 2.

If there's a difference, how do you notice it?

 

Honestly I haven't noticed any difference so far. I generally have one or two VMs going, but I don't do a lot of big builds or other heavy-duty stuff that would use the extra cores. I've read that VMware doesn't use the VT-d feature (which is disabled for some reason in the 3632QM but not in the 3360M) - if I were using something that could make use of it I probably wouldn't have switched.

My machine felt really fast before and it still feels really fast. Since most of what I do probably only uses one or two cores it's possible things are overall a little slower (not sure the larger cache offsets the lower clock frequency). For my particular case the upgrade was more playing around than doing something that would really make a difference. Kind of fun seeing your machine clock 64Gflops on Intelburntest (my CPU hit 78C after around 5 minutes).

The biggest annoyance is having to carry around the larger power adapter. The total weight difference is small, but the 65W adapter is so small you almost forget about it and now I can't use the same power adapter for all my machines (I also have an X201 and T60).

 

Glad to see someone else has had a go. For me the benefits are 2 fold,
Firstly on Battery I get a higher run time, this was an unexpected bonus.
Secondly when docked and running multiple monitors I am yet to see anything struggle when i have a lot of heay apps open. I do a lot of data analysis and regularly have large spreadsheets open with 100,000's records that i need to manipulate, but in the back ground am then monitoring servers and telco switches in Virtual mode.

But like Jayku said part of the reason for doing it is because I could.

I still think this is a bout the best Laptop CPU out there and really am surprised that lenovo never put it into the t530.

 

Ah " the big 'E'", I'm glad you cleared that up!

Any tips of buying in a big E auction???