CPU Upgrade: Pentium P6100 to i7 640M?

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I have been using the Compaq CQ-62 358TU for a while now, and has treated me well, but needed a long sought after upgrade, (since I'm broke and would rather upgrade than buy a new computer). My plan is to upgrade the usual including Harddrive to SSD, max out the RAM, and upgrading the CPU.

The CQ-62 I have now runs a fairly weak Intel Pentium P6100, and after searching around, have decided to switch out to the i7 640M. The reason I selected this processor is due to the similarities, which hopefully leads to compatability.

The i7 640M and Pentium P6100 both share:

  • PGA988 Socket
  • 64 bit instruction set
  • Same RAM technology (8GB DDR3)
  • Built in Intel HD graphics
  • 35W TDP
  • Arrandale architecture

Sounds like a pretty compatible upgrade from what I can see, but is this enough to have in common? Obviously I'll have to update the bios, but I'm willing to pull stuff apart and create a sort of Franken-computer if it's worth it.

Bottom line: Will it work? Is it a good idea? and will it provide a noticeable improvement in performance?

ezra_vdj

Posted 2015-10-15T10:13:55.343

Reputation: 435

Question was closed 2015-10-16T19:54:07.717

Answers

4

Start by upgrading to an SSD. The P6100 isn't amazing but should suffice for basic browsing/office. The SSD will make a huge difference.

If you do decide to upgrade your CPU your safest bet is the Intel 620m because it's mentioned in the manual ( http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02542455 ) as a possible upgrade. The 640m should also work but is not that much faster and depending on your BIOS might cause issues so it would be taking a risk.

Be aware that replacing the CPU can be a pain for many laptops, especially budget models. The cooling solution often uses cooling pads instead of cooling paste, which will most likely break on when you take off the cooling. Afterwards they might not cool efficiently anymore.

HoD

Posted 2015-10-15T10:13:55.343

Reputation: 2 282

2+1. An SSD upgrade is far far far more important than a CPU upgrade. – qasdfdsaq – 2015-10-15T10:50:05.697

Thanks for the advice! So if choosing to upgrade the processor too, the safest/best option would be i7 620M because it's mentioned in the manual? Would the performance increase enough to be worth it? – ezra_vdj – 2015-10-15T10:54:13.857

You will go from 2 cores at 2Ghz without hyperthreading and no turboboost to a 2 core with hyperthreading (so 4 threads) with a base frequency of 2.66Ghz and a boost frequency of 3.33Ghz. If you are doing a task that is completely CPU limited you might see 50% to even 100% improvement. It's just that most regular tasks like browsing, mail , office etc are more disk performance limited. – HoD – 2015-10-15T12:07:10.263

For those curious, it worked flawlessly in the end! Insanely quick now! – ezra_vdj – 2015-12-18T03:43:01.137

Asked: 2015-10-15T10:13:55.343

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Active: 2016-12-02T13:18:06.557