Thinkpads Forum

Hello all,

I'm the happy owner of a T520 with the lowest-end i5 available in the machine. I love it as-is, and have no intention of modifying it (beyond RAM addition) so long as it's in warranty. That said, one day, I'd love to swap out the processor for a top-end i7 (when the prices come down, kind of like how many people did the T2400-->T7200 swap in a T60)...is there any motherboard/cooling difference between the i5 and i7 T520?

Thanks!

AFAIK.... most T &W series MACHINES ; are already spec'd and BUILT for hiighest i7 proc (unlike t6x series of past) ,,,,,
having said that , @work one of tech guys has a lowest (i3) changed over to i7 and he said the Fan didnt even change 'speed' ONCE ,,,, even when he ran I7 at full load for 3+hrs

So there is always hope ,,,,,,,,,,,,,and great potential 'penny pinching' upgrades

Here's an alternative suggestion for you when you need the extra speed: an SSD.

That way, you don't have to swap out the processor for extra speed- and you'll see a bigger boost in day-to-day operations with one than you will with an extra 200MHz.

If you don't have a WWAN card installed or plan to install one, you could grab an mSATA SSD and slot it in (the Intel 310 series, and also there are links from forum partners floating around here for these parts as well).

Or, if you don't use your hard drive to capacity (if you're only using, say, the first 90GB of it, for example), you might consider swapping the main hard drive out for a 2.5" drive.

And, it doesn't void your warranty as the hard drive is a customer-replaceable unit just like the RAM and keyboard are.