Would Like to Upgrade ASUS A52JK Processor from i5-430M to i7-640M or i7-940XM (If Possible)

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Faisal McMissile Damieya

Honorable
Apr 26, 2016
7
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10,510
Good day ladies and gentlemen,

I am a newbie here and would like to ask a question. I own an ASUS A52JK that was bought in 2010. It comes with Intel® HM55 Express Chipset & Intel® Core™ i5 430M Processor. The specification for the laptop is available in the link below:
https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/A52JK/specifications/

Beside the Intel® Core™ i5 430M Processor, this laptop model also comes with different processors (according to the link above), which are:
a - Intel® Core™ i5-540M Processor
b - Intel® Core™ i5-520M Processor
c - Intel® Core™ i5-460M Processor
d - Intel® Core™ i5-450M Processor
e - Intel® Core™ i3-370M Processor
f - Intel® Core™ i3-350M Processor
g - Intel® Core™ i3-330M Processor

My laptop is still in good condition, however lately it feels slows whenever I'm running newer programs such as Ms Office 2013 & 2016. At first I decided to buy a newer laptop (an MSI GE62 6QD Apache Pro, an ASUS ROG GL552VW or an ASUS ROG G501VW. Before purchasing the new laptop, my friend of mine suggested me to upgrade the HDD in the laptop to SSD. After upgrading to SSD, another friend of mine suggested me to upgrade the CPU to i7 (provided that the socket is the same).

According to ark.intel.com website, the processors that are compatible with Intel® HM55 Express Chipset are listed in the link below:
http://ark.intel.com/products/43183#@compatibility

Out of all the processors listed in the link above, I am interested with the following processors:
a - Intel® Core™ i7-940XM Processor Extreme Edition (8M Cache, 2.13 GHz Base Frequency, 3.33 GHz Turbo Frequency, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 55 W TDP)
b - Intel® Core™ i7-640M Processor (4M Cache, 2.80 GHz Base Frequency, 3.46 GHz Turbo Frequency, 2 Cores, 4 Threads, 35 W TDP)

I have 1 question - can I simply remove the existing Intel® Core™ i5 430M Processor and then replace it with either one of the 2 i7 processors above (Intel® Core™ i7-940XM Processor Extreme Edition OR Intel® Core™ i7-640M Processor)?

If not possible, can I replace the existing Intel® Core™ i5 430M Processor with the fastest i5 processor that is compatible with Intel® HM55 Express Chipset? According to the http://ark.intel.com/products/43183#@compatibility link, the fastest compatible i5 processor is:
a - a - Intel® Core™ i5-580M Processor (3M Cache, 2.66 GHz Base Frequency, 3.33 GHz Turbo Frequency, 2 Cores, 4 Threads, 35 W TDP)

If still not possible, I think the only possible thing that I can do is to replace the existing Intel® Core™ i5 430M Processor with the fastest i5 processor that comes together with ASUS A52JK model. According to the https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/A52JK/specifications/ link, the fastest ASUS A52JK model is:
a - Intel® Core™ i5-540M Processor (3M Cache, 2.53 GHz Base Frequency, 3.066 GHz Turbo Frequency, 2 Cores, 4 Threads, 35 W TDP)

I hope I can get advice and guidance from all of you regarding this matter. Thank you very much.
 
Solution
Calculagator
You should not upgrade your Laptop CPU.
First: the i5 430M comes in two varieties: one is removable and one isn't. Your laptop probably uses the removable one, but you would need to check to be sure.
Second: the quad core i7 won't be compatible. Even if you could install a new cooling system to handle the extra 20w, your bios probably wouldn't support it.
Third, the i7-640m will only be marginally faster. It's the same chip just clocked a little higher. Often, however, the higher clocks result in more heat, which will limit any potential performance gain.

Caveat: if you have a super cheap supply of laptop chips, a lot of extra time, and you don't mind breaking things, then, by all means, try to upgrade your laptop. Otherwise, for the...
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Calculagator

Calculagator

Admirable
Nov 18, 2014
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You should not upgrade your Laptop CPU.
First: the i5 430M comes in two varieties: one is removable and one isn't. Your laptop probably uses the removable one, but you would need to check to be sure.
Second: the quad core i7 won't be compatible. Even if you could install a new cooling system to handle the extra 20w, your bios probably wouldn't support it.
Third, the i7-640m will only be marginally faster. It's the same chip just clocked a little higher. Often, however, the higher clocks result in more heat, which will limit any potential performance gain.

Caveat: if you have a super cheap supply of laptop chips, a lot of extra time, and you don't mind breaking things, then, by all means, try to upgrade your laptop. Otherwise, for the cost and time required to upgrade, you will be better off just getting a newer machine.

At best, upgrading your CPU will give you ~20% better performance if you have no other bottlenecks. Upgrading to one of the laptops you listed will give you something like 220% better theoretical CPU performance. A new laptop will also support SATA 6Gbps, which is significantly faster or even PCI-E storage.

It's your money: I would either keep your current machine with its aging CPU-perhaps reinstall windows, or upgrade by buying a new laptop.
 
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Solution
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Faisal McMissile Damieya

Honorable
Apr 26, 2016
7
0
10,510
Dear Calculagator,

Thank you very much for your feedback. Sorry for taking quite some time to reply. Recently I was a little bit busy and forgot to reply your message. My laptop uses the the removable PGA988 socket. The original CPU is i5-430M. Some people advise me that the the highest CPU that my chipset might be able to accept is only the i7-640M and not the i7-940XM. This is because the i7-640M shares the same CPU ID with the i5-430M and might not be blocked by BIOS. Meanwhile the i7-940XM has different CPU ID than i5-430M and might be blocked by the BIOS.

The TDP rated for i5-430M and i7-640M are also the same, which is at 35W. If I omit about the ~20% better performance, is there any possibility that upgrading my laptop to i7-640M wont harm my laptop? Even though the ~20% might not be so significant compared to the new laptop that I would like to buy (listed in my previous posting), I still would like to consider upgrading the CPU as my personal project/hobby (as long as doing this wont harm my laptop. Even if I have to buy a new laptop, I still would like to upgrade the CPU of the current laptop if it doesn't bring any harm.

Thank you.
 
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Calculagator

Calculagator

Admirable
Nov 18, 2014
2,508
1
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There is nothing inherently harmful in trying to upgrade a laptop CPU, but it's delicate work and a lot of things can easily go wrong. If you want to try it for the experience, that's fine, but otherwise, I don't think its a worthwhile endeavor.
 
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