X220 from i5 to i7 - Direct drop-in replacement?

[Fusion]

Hi guys.
I'm looking at buying an i5 X220 with IPS and also found an i7 mobo (2640M).
I would like to know if the mobos are a direct drop-in, or other mods are required?

Cheers!

[kfzhu1229]

Yes the motherboard is a drop in if you have the i7 motherboard, just keep in mind that those use BGA sockets so a CPU drop in replacement is impossible

[Fusion]

Oh, I'm certainly not doing any BGA reballing
Yes, it would be the whole i5 mobo out, i7 mobo in. But I will have to reuse the i5 colling as the i7 is just the bare mobo with peripherals, no cooling.

[dr_st]

The cooling assembly is not different between i5 and i7. The only cooling that is different is that for the ULV CPU boards, which were rare and only used in custom models / for special markets. Unless your CPU model number ends with "7", you have the standard cooling, and thus should be fine.

[jaspen-meyer]

Hi guys.
I'm looking at buying an i5 X220 with IPS and also found an i7 mobo (2640M).
I would like to know if the mobos are a direct drop-in, or other mods are required?

FryPpy put an x230 motherboard into his x220.

[TankPad]

Hi guys.
I'm looking at buying an i5 X220 with IPS and also found an i7 mobo (2640M).
I would like to know if the mobos are a direct drop-in, or other mods are required?

FryPpy put an x230 motherboard into his x220.

That's doable but keep in mind they have different types of display ports and you'll need to accommodate that.