Making my Envy 14t-1000CTO (Clarkfield) an Envy 14t-2000CTO (Sandy Bridge)

Hey guys,

I apologize if this have been asked before, but I looked around an could not find anything regarding this.

So - I was one of the first people to pre-order the 1st gen Envy 14. I love it, but the battery life blows! (i7 720qm, 8gb ram, radiance display, etc)

I am getting around 2hrs 30 mins stand alone.... around 4 hrs 30 mins with slice.

THIS IS THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THE POST - LOOK HERE

So, to increase performance, go to sata iii, usb 3.0, and increase battery life, i began looking at just swapping my motherboard and CPU out for the motherboard that was installed in the Envy 14-2000 CTO. From all of my preliminary research, the boards are identical as far as form factor, connections, etc.

The CPU and wifi card will be updated to envy 14 2nd gen parts as well. (i7-2670qm)

Do you think this will work? Obviously clean install on the hdd. The bios for 2nd gen motherboard, drivers for corresponding hardware.

What are your thoughts?

I will be purchasing the 128gb Samsung 840 pro ssd within the next week. I am hoping to go through with this project by mid November, if I do I will post pics.

 

If the boards are identical, then it should be able to fit in the chassis, but I doubt you'll see any difference in battery life (In fact it might decrease it slightly due to the higher clock). Both cpus are rated at 45w

 

There will be a significant difference in battery life, assuming it works. The i7 clarkfied CPUs do not have switchable graphics, where as the sandy bridge cpus do. From the graphics side alone I should see an additional two hours. Also, the sandy bridge processors are much more energy efficient in their build.

Also, correct me if I am wrong, but your rating actually comes from the thermal design power (TDP), sometimes called thermal design point, refers to the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate. Little to do with the actual wattage consumption.

Also consider - the i7-720qm rating of 45w is just for the cpu whereas the 2630qm is for both the cpu and graphics.

 

Slightly surprised at the lack of response due to the # of views.

Anyways, I wanted to post an update - 10/25/12 - Searching for a reasonably priced motherboard for the project - I thought I found one on ebay, but the seller had many poor reviews of DOA items.

 

Been subscribed to your thread when I first saw it.

I thought what a neat idea if both mother board fits. Worth the upgrade.

But I have been looking on eBay and having a hard time finding the 2000 version.

Sent from a real Google phone

 

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02878045.pdf

Page 20 - Item #11 - Spare Part # 654173-001

System board equipped with Intel 6 series express chipset, Intel HM65 PCH,
Radeon HD 6630M graphics subsystem with 1024-MB of discrete video memory
(includes replacement thermal material)


Ebay listings:

This is the listing that I am concerned with - Listed as NEW (Other)
HP Envy 14 HD6630 Intel Laptop Motherboard S989 654173 001 6050A2443401 MB A02 | eBay

Here is another listing for used boards - Same issue - poor feedback - many complaints about refurb/reflow boards.
654173 001 HP Compaq Motherboard Envy 14 HD6630 1GB Intel Laptop S989 656657 001 | eBay

I am tempted to go with the first listing. I have to wait until I can order both the CPU & MOBO at the same time to ensure they are functional within the 14 day return policy.

 

Man, I thought it was going to be a bit cheaper.

but almost 200 buck not including the cpu, maybe not worth the upgrade.

Ill wait for you to try it first

 

Yea I was hoping for the same. I sent them a message asking if they would accept an offer, but of course they said no. I might just put an i3-2310m in there to start - cheap and to make sure it works. then upgrade later.

 

Do you guys have any success with this project?? I have the same idea so play respond..

 

soon to be Christmas an I have the same idea. Just spend 2 hours finding picture and comparing the two motherboards. My current motherboard is fried anyways but I'm not sure if the 2nd gen will work (654173-001)! The motherboard is not that expensive and if it works its a cheap upgrade.

And never forget the excitement of building your own unique laptop I'll buy the motherboard and see how it goes. I have a i3 somthing spare cpu. First prove of concept and then upgrade for real!!!

 

Its ordered hope I get it before Christmas. And hope it will fit!

 

I believe this subject has been discussed in more detail in the HP > Envy and HDX forum here. Might want to search or ask around there.

 

Updates: I finally got the motherboard. God news it is the exact same layout, except the connector for the msata slot has 2 pins more. It fits perfectly in the case and all other cable fit and work too.

Now there is only one real problem: the display, my gen 1 envy 14 came with the radiance display it seems the 2nd gen evny does not support the radiance display. I have missing lines (vertical), its an original radiance display no swapped cables or anything modified. I guess if i hock up a brigthview display it will work but i want my radiance display to work.

Any ideas? Does someone successfully swapped a radiance display of an gen 1 envy into and 2nd gen envy?

 

I don't have experience but probably you'd need LCD Cable from 2nd gen machine, one especially for 1600x900 or 1920x1080 display, if such even exists?

 

AHHHHHH!!! the gen2 was never sold with the radiance display, guess it just won't work :-((

 

I think this was the problem when others tried to do the same a couple years ago.

 

Has someone successfully swapped the display on an gen 2 envy with an complete unit of an gen 1 (radiance) ?

 

Just though I'd mention this wouldn't be the case and there would be dramatic battery savings from switching from Clarkfield to Sandy bridge. If you look at the history of laptops, 45w~ has been the standard for many many years.

The main battery saver is of course switcheable graphics but that is a totally different point as switcheable graphics was possible with clarkfield/nvidia combinations.
When dealing with integrated graphics, there was still a huge gain in performance.
The other real factor is the Clarkfield does NOT have lower voltage/frequency states when not in use. It remains full frequency/voltage at all times, in use or idle.

Sandy bridge has steps, from 800 mhz all the way to the max frequency and the voltage adapts (I believe some Core i processors can real as low as .790v stock and 800 mhz clock.
This was the real and dramatic battery saving measures if you look at a Sandy vs Clarkfield. If you look at patterns in use, for example keep Task manager-> performance open you will notice that a majority of CPU cycles remain at low usage. So in practicality it makes for a 0 performance impact, while lowering power consumption usage to a maybe a handful of watts most of the time.
This non-usage of the CPU means the processor does NOT need to be a 2600 [email protected] all the time instead can be automatically downclocked to 800 mhz and .8v~. Saving a dramatic amount of power.

It is also what made Core 2 duo's have much longer battery life than the comparable AMD platform. With voltage tweaks you could even get half an hour or longer on C2D platforms (penryn/santa rosa iirc).

 

Are we talking about a Clarkfield to Sandy Bridge switch in an Envy or an Arrandale to Sandy Bridge switch? I don't know much about CPU architecture, but I'm pretty certain my i5-450M uses variable states to manage power usage. Sandy Bridge Envy 14's did gain a little bit in battery life over Arrandale variants, but not a huge gain. Obviously, if it's a first-gen i7 Envy 14 with no iGPU on the die upgrading to a Sandy Bridge model with switchable graphics will make a huge difference, but first-gen i5 to SB i5 will not be a huge difference, and losing the Radiance Screen would kill it for me even if I were able to go from an Arrandale i3 to a Sandy Bridge i7.

 

Sorry got confused with arrandale. I meant arrandale quad to sandy bridge quad, which I find is irrelevant to the OP. My bad!

 

Hi there,

I am in the same situation as you are with my notebook. I also have vertical lines on my screen with a white tint.
Do you have a solution?

 

Not yet. I googled my off but I can't get it to work. I assume you have a gen2 mobo plus gen 1 radiance display?! I guess it works with a bright view display.

 

You should have made this thread in the envy section . some one did try this few years back but failed because of different connectors

 

NOT TRUE , arrandale in envy can be adjusted using power profile adjust at 99% you will disable turbo . adjust even lower , cpu wont run above 1200mhz still powerful enough for internet+surfing