Thinkpads Forum

T420 and T520 use QM67 and from what I know, intel will not release an update firmware to support Ivy Bridge.

Technically speaking, there is no reason why Ivy Bridge shouldn't work on a Sandy Bridge laptop. They are essentially the same chip.

mikemex wrote:T420 and T520 use QM67 and from what I know, intel will not release an update firmware to support Ivy Bridge.

Technically speaking, there is no reason why Ivy Bridge shouldn't work on a Sandy Bridge laptop. They are essentially the same chip.

They do use the same socket, so nothing to get in the way there. I think you should try it. Here's one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-i7-3520M- ... 801wt_1344

The ebay seller says in the auction description "It will NEVER work with 67 chipsets"

I guess it all comes down to whether or not Lenovo has support for it in the latest BIOS update.

Intel has said the mobile CPUs are not upgradeable. Buying one would be a waste of money. The performance bump for Ivy Bridge is very modest and probably not worth the trouble. The GPU is where Ivy Bridge shines and that's not upgradeable at all.

ZaZ wrote:The performance bump for Ivy Bridge is very modest and probably not worth the trouble. The GPU is where Ivy Bridge shines and that's not upgradeable at all.

Isn't the GPU on-die?

ZaZ wrote:Intel has said the mobile CPUs are not upgradeable. Buying one would be a waste of money. The performance bump for Ivy Bridge is very modest and probably not worth the trouble. The GPU is where Ivy Bridge shines and that's not upgradeable at all.

Eh? The GPU comes with the processor so if you replace a Sandy Bridge with an Ivy Bridge, you upgrade the GPU from HD3000 to HD4000 (my main reason to upgrade). Now, that this is actually possible (the missing software part mostly), I'm not sure.

And yes, I agree, I wouldn't burn my money trying right now as it just came out. But later down the road be sure that I will. And by the way, since my only interest is the GPU, I'd rather pick a lower end model. Though it seems that i7 models have faster GPU (a few extra MHz in turbo)...

I know for a fact, though, that in the Core 2 Duo days a Penryn CPU could be dropped in any Merom motherboard. It displayed an error but it worked. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same with Ivy Bridge.

some news or progress ? THX.

Python.p wrote:some news or progress ? THX.

Unless someone here is willing to donate one for testing, I'm pretty sure we'll have to wait some more time until prices drop and it makes sense to risk failure to upgrade. The most likely outcome is that it will not work and burning $100 or more to get a chip you don't be able to use doesn't make much sense right now.

You may want to check the Sandy Bridge chipset QM67 and the Ivy Bridge chipset QM77.

Maybe its time to give it a try; http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel_%28 ... press.html

That page says that i3,i5 and i7 (some models only) are compatible. I will not try it on my t520 yet,but perhaps in the future ( i7 3610ME is now available in some ebay auctions from 100€)

^^ Sure you can always give it a try. It's only money. I know on the desktop side, late SB MB will support most IB CPU after a firmware BIOS update from the MB manufacturer. The key thing is the BIOS update. As far as I know Lenovo have provided no such update nor are they planning to. They rather you buy new and I don't really blame them. Even if it does work, the 5-10% gain in CPU speed under benchmarks is hardly worth the effort or money IMO. Very few people, myself included, come anywhere close to maxing the CPU. RAM and/or SSD upgrade is much better value and I'll assume you've already done that.

Did anyone ever try this?

I'd be curious to know if I can upgrade the CPU in my T410.

Temetka wrote:I'd be curious to know if I can upgrade the CPU in my T410.

You can't. Not with the *20 series CPU anyway.

No support in BIOS for Ivy Bridge CPUs.

The issue is only with BIOS support. I know that there were a very few laptops out there that were given support for Ivy Bridge, but what manufacturer would want to cannibalize their own sales? Maybe in a few years some smart people will hack the BIOS for Ivy Bridge support.

Qing Dao wrote:The issue is only with BIOS support. I know that there were a very few laptops out there that were given support for Ivy Bridge, but what manufacturer would want to cannibalize their own sales? Maybe in a few years some smart people will hack the BIOS for Ivy Bridge support.

That would be very nice.

Maybe some of your buddies over on the 51nb site can do it.

Qing Dao wrote:The issue is only with BIOS support. I know that there were a very few laptops out there that were given support for Ivy Bridge, but what manufacturer would want to cannibalize their own sales? Maybe in a few years some smart people will hack the BIOS for Ivy Bridge support.

I think the idea is hoping out for some eHero like middleton to modify our BIOS so that it could add support for ivy bridge, much like he did for 61-series that can be seen here.

Temetka wrote:That would be very nice.

Maybe some of your buddies over on the 51nb site can do it.

I'm not Chinese, so I don't have many buddies on there.