Replacing the Motherboard on a Laptop

VVar · Jun 23, 2014

I am an avid gamer, and I have a laptop, a bad laptop, but a laptop nonetheless for when I leave home to casually game. The laptop (HP Pavilion g7) is decent on low graphics settings, but there are a couple of games that I can't play on it that I would like to.

It seems as if the integrated graphics are the only thing killing me. The laptop has an AMD A8-4500m with Radeon HD Graphics, and it does ok, but games are evolving, and it just isnt living up to it.

A tech friend of mine said that this specific graphics card was integrated into the motherboard, and to replace the graphics card, I would have to replace the motherboard. Some would say I might as well buy a new laptop, frankly I don't care.

I am quite a newbie at anything hardware related, so I have no idea what motherboard will be compatible with my computer and need some help. Thanks.

Edit: Product number is B5Z52UA

tmbates12 · Jun 23, 2014

Usually with something like a laptop, at least most standard consumer ones, are not going to let you change out the motherboard or other similar hardware except the RAM and the Hard Disk. Sorry to hear about your problem

getochkn · Jun 23, 2014

The A8 chips have the GPU built into the CPU. They are called APU as they are a GPU and CPU in one.

Now your laptop may have a 2nd dedicated GPU on the motherboard, but odd's are it's using the one built into the CPU.

Could you upgrade the CPU and then perhaps get a better graphics chip as well? Maybe.

Usually with laptops the best upgradable CPU is whatever was available at the time the laptop was sold for that model.

For example.

You bought Laptop Model 1234-ABCD from some company.

When that model came out, you could buy the laptop 1234-ABCD with the following chips:

RandomChipCompany dual core 2ghz
RandomChipCompany dual core 2.4ghz
RandomChipCompany quad core 2ghz
RandomChipCompany quad core 3ghz

You have the dual core 2ghz. It is most likely you can upgrade the CPU to the quad core 3ghz as the same motherboard is used for the same model laptop, cooling, etc.

This does not mean you can buy any cpu and get the latest released last week RandomChipCompany 16-core 9ghz chip and put it in.

Now since you have an APU, you could probably upgrade the the fastest that was available with that model. To find that out, we need the model number from the bottom, not just G7. They have been making G7's for 10 years and it covers a hundred models.

logainofhades · Jun 23, 2014

Looking at this, the best you can probably do is an A10 4600m.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03315557.pdf

house70 · Jun 23, 2014

Given that:
a. replacing a motherboard in a laptop is a completely different animal than replacing one in a desktop, and certainly not for the faint of heart ( only disassembling a laptop can be quite taxing, not to speak of some soldering-desoldering that might be involved in your particular case)
and
b. you are a self-proclaimed newbie at anything hardware-related

the logical conclusion would be to finally upgrade to a better model and maybe sell this one or save it as a back-up system in case your other one crashes.
Aside from HDD/RAM/CD-DVD bay upgrades, and sometimes WiFi/BT cards, laptops are very unfriendly in that respect.

VVar · Jun 23, 2014

getochkn :

The A8 chips have the GPU built into the CPU. They are called APU as they are a GPU and CPU in one.

Now your laptop may have a 2nd dedicated GPU on the motherboard, but odd's are it's using the one built into the CPU.

Could you upgrade the CPU and then perhaps get a better graphics chip as well? Maybe.

Usually with laptops the best upgradable CPU is whatever was available at the time the laptop was sold for that model.

For example.

You bought Laptop Model 1234-ABCD from some company.

When that model came out, you could buy the laptop 1234-ABCD with the following chips:

RandomChipCompany dual core 2ghz
RandomChipCompany dual core 2.4ghz
RandomChipCompany quad core 2ghz
RandomChipCompany quad core 3ghz

You have the dual core 2ghz. It is most likely you can upgrade the CPU to the quad core 3ghz as the same motherboard is used for the same model laptop, cooling, etc.

This does not mean you can buy any cpu and get the latest released last week RandomChipCompany 16-core 9ghz chip and put it in.

Now since you have an APU, you could probably upgrade the the fastest that was available with that model. To find that out, we need the model number from the bottom, not just G7. They have been making G7's for 10 years and it covers a hundred models.

Product number is B5Z52UA

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