Hi,

I am seeing a few people upgrading their t420 with an i5-2520M processor to the i7-2670QM. I'm interested in upgrading mine too. However, since my T420 is carrying an i5-2540M I am struggeling to find out if sticking in an i7-2670QM will be worth it performance-wise (money is not the issue). I have attached a screen dump with a short specs comparison for reference. Input is much appreaciated. :)

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Hi Cashew,

1. As the i7-2670QM is 45W, it is recommended to run with 90W Power Adapter.

2. The internal cooling may not be sufficient if the i7-2670QM is on high or full load, therefore Lenovo does not provide options for Quad Core when purchasing this model.

Peter

ThinkPad X40 | ThinkPad W520 | ThinkPad T560 | ThinkCentre E73 SFF | Yoga 11s | Yoga 3 Pro | Yoga 900 | Yoga Home 900 | Yoga Tablet 2 Pro | Miix 2 10" | IdeaPad Y460p | IdeaPad K1 | 3000 Y300 | Vibe K5 Plus

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Thanks PeterTWJ. I have already acquired the 90W adapter from an older laptop I had lying around.

I am a bit worried about thermals actually. I think I will try it out with some high quality thermal paste and make a review of how well it handles the larger heat output, since this is something that might interest others.

Hi cashew,

You may have to depend on your luck on the CPU chip you bought. Even for the same model of CPU, there will be variations in the manufacturing, therefore will have variations in CPU temperature also.

This is one of the link, where others have tried changing CPU, with reaching near maximum temperature (100C) under full load.

If possible, try to get the best possible thermal paste, as laptops have limited cooling capability.

You could also use TPFanControl to override default fan control, and to push your fan speed to the maximum. 

Peter

ThinkPad X40 | ThinkPad W520 | ThinkPad T560 | ThinkCentre E73 SFF | Yoga 11s | Yoga 3 Pro | Yoga 900 | Yoga Home 900 | Yoga Tablet 2 Pro | Miix 2 10" | IdeaPad Y460p | IdeaPad K1 | 3000 Y300 | Vibe K5 Plus

Give kudos to reward people for their assistance | Mark thread solved if the solution works | I am an active volunteer, not an Lenovo employee

=====================================

List of Sound Enhancement Thread

T520 | W520 ; Dolby ; IdeaPad Slate Tablet ; Yoga 3 Pro ; X100e ; Vibe Shot ; Yoga 900 ; P50 ; P40 Yoga | Yoga 14 | Yoga 460 ; T560 | P50s ; Vibe K5 | K5 Plus ; M0620 Speaker Mod

Peter

ThinkPad X40 | ThinkPad W520 | ThinkPad T560 | ThinkCentre E73 SFF | Yoga 11s | Yoga 3 Pro | Yoga 900 | Yoga Home 900 | Yoga Tablet 2 Pro | Miix 2 10" | IdeaPad Y460p | IdeaPad K1 | 3000 Y300 | Vibe K5 Plus

Give kudos to reward people for their assistance | Mark thread solved if the solution works | I am an active volunteer, not an Lenovo employee

=====================================

List of Sound Enhancement Thread

T520 | W520 ; Dolby ; IdeaPad Slate Tablet ; Yoga 3 Pro ; X100e ; Vibe Shot ; Yoga 900 ; P50 ; P40 Yoga | Yoga 14 | Yoga 460 ; T560 | P50s ; Vibe K5 | K5 Plus ; M0620 Speaker Mod

I am concerned about the 45w processor and the strain on the motherboards power circuitry.  The only time I tried something similar with a CPU that drew more power than any expected CPUs, my motherboard quickly failed.  I was never sure that was the cause, but I suspected.

I see. Thanks alot for this input richk I did not consider that this could be a problem. I will try to look into it.

For such a mod a top quality thermal paste is a must! And you have to be very careful with the correct amount to apply. As previous posters said above, you will need to closely monitor the temps.

Having said that, I have two friends of mine that did the mod and are very happy with their T420's. Of course, YMMV...

.

I did the upgrade today using Arctic MX-4 thermal paste. No problems so far, I have run some initial tests. I have attached the temp graph and stats from a 10 min aida64 stress test. The fan reached max rpm at 90 degrees celcius after which the temps stabilized at 85-86 degrees. The test was done with the 90W charger plugged in.

These temperatures are very comparable to the ones I got from the i5-2540M, which stabilized at 84-85 degrees celcius under full load. However, I'll have to check my notes to see if the fan maxed out under full load with the i5.

With the i5-2540M I had 84-85 degrees celcius under full load with fan at max. I just did 15 mins of video encoding with the i7-2670QM installed and the temps stabilized at 87 degrees celcius with the fan at max rpm (temp/CPU graph from aida64 attached).