Motherboard transplant on T410S - can I use faster CPU?

[Brainer]

Hi Everyone:

I have a friend with basically no money whose Thinkpad T410s mobo died a while back. Original CPU in the first mobo was a Core i5-520m. We can get him a used working motherboard pull from a fairly reliable source dirt cheap.

If we do a mobo transplant, can he use any mobo from any T410s with a faster processor? Or do things like HSF, cooling, BIOS etc. make for limitations? Any compatibility issues or other gotchas we should know before starting this journey? To be clear, I don't mean getting a replacement board and then a faster CPU. I'd buy the combo, as sold from a working pull.

Also, mechanically, how difficult is this mobo transplant to do ? He has no moneyy to speak of, that's why we're looking at this option.

Thanks in advance

[Thinkpad4by3]

Transplant will take anywhere from an hour and a half to 3 hours depending on the machine and your level of skill. Keep track of your screws, use the right screwdriver and have the HMM at your side and it should be pretty easy. Beside that, order a new one and it should work fine.

[Brainer]

Thanks. And compatibility issues? I assume it can be a slightly different board, as long as it came from a 410s? BIOS issues? Anything else I should know about?

[TPFanatic]

The heatsink design is the same across all T410s as far as I'm aware, except for Nvidia models which would get an extra heatpipe for the DGPU. If just the CPU is changing speed, yeah, no problem. Make sure the fan is clean and you use apply good thermal paste in a good way. There should be no heating problems.

[Brainer]

Thanks for that. Very helpful. Now would anyone happen to know if there are any significantly faster CPUs in that line? Original was a Core i5-520m, and going from that to, say, a 560m isn't gonna make much difference.

[Thinkpad4by3]

The 540M is the top tier option.

[Brainer]

Thanks again. Will Windows 7 accept the original product key, or will there be a problem with that?

[Thinkpad4by3]

As long as it is the same version. You can't use a pro key with home edition or ultimate, just as you can't use a home edition key with pro.

[Brainer]

Thanks. Anyone know the part no. for the motherboard replacement for the 2924-WF9 and the 2901-CTO? Apparently, Lenovo doesn't. See below for my rant.

Wow! Just got off the rudest tech. support call I've ever experienced. 25 mins. on hold with Lenovo USA. Then, she says something about Canadian support, but puts me on hold. She mumbles, and has a heavy accent. So I assume I'm being forwarded to Lenovo Canada Support. Nope. 5 mins. after that, she tells me she has the phone number.

Now, Lenovo Canada keeps me on hold about 10 mins. Then I get a woman with an accent that's so heavy I can barely understand anything she says. On top of that, she mumbles. I tell her I want part nos. She puts me on hold 6 or 7 times. 20 mins. later, she tells me their systems are down and they can't give me part numbers. I complain about all the problems on the call. She then puts me on hold again. She says they don't have part nos. for Thinkpad units earlier than 2013 anyways, so she can't help. When I complain about that, she hangs up on me.

NICE SERVICE LENOVO.

I will now make sure to never recommend Lenovo to any of my clients/friends/relatives.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Yeah, their support sucks. ANY -CTO units are "custom to order" where you cannot tell what the customer bought because it was made exactly to the customer's request instead of a prebuilt configuration. Anyway, motherboards are basically made for their GPU and CPU. So out of a few dozen machine types, there are only 5 or 6 motherboard types for 3 CPU configurations and a dGPU on some of them. You just need to search for an i5-540M motherboard or i5-520M or whatever you need.

[Brainer]

And I should have no problem replacing one mobo with another different mobo in the same line, and with the faster CPU (560m)?

[Thinkpad4by3]

Yes. What should go wrong? They use the same screen, RAM, hard drives, etc. You don't need to deal with different CPU socket ones, so there is nothing to go wrong. You have to be much more careful with socketed machines because sometimes they don't work(ask me how I know ).

[Brainer]

Wait..you mean DIFFERENT sockets, right? These CPUs are socketed, IIRC, right?

Great. Oh, I'm just paranoid, as I used to be a tech. and I often forgot some little compatibility detail and would have to explain to my client that something wouldn't work. I guess I got traumatized by it.

I will order now. Thanks so much!

[Thinkpad4by3]

No, T410s CPUs are soldered. Full size units like the T410, T420, etc. are socketed. I bought the wrong motherboard for a W700 and it refuse to boot. Also, it was DOA anyway since it was poorly packed and damaged.

Anyway, to REALLY cure you worries, here is a picture of a T410s motherboard.

[Brainer]

Hi:

Forgot about this thread for a while and wanted to just come back and say thanks to all of you. Very helpful. I don't know what I'd do without this forum.