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l420 i7-2630QM

SL300/SL400/SL500, L400-L420 and L500-L520 Series
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gaelord
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l420 i7-2630QM

#1 Post by gaelord » Mon May 10, 2021 11:33 pm

Hi im getting a l420 it has a i5 in it stock

i looked on the specs and there is a version that comes with a i7-2630QM

can i upgrade to a i7-2630QM ? seems logically do able . eh ?

RealBlackStuff
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Re: l420 i7-2630QM

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Tue May 11, 2021 1:21 am

Yes, you can.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

WarMachine
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Re: l420 i7-2630QM

#3 Post by WarMachine » Sat May 15, 2021 6:38 am

Hello,

Welcome to the forum, Gaelord. :)

As RBS :thumbs-UP: said, you can put an i7-2630QM on your laptop. I'm wondering, as I don't know well these series, but I'm pretty sure you have an i5-2520M or i5-2540M, with a 35 W TDP: will the native cooling system be sufficient for the i7-2630QM (45 W TDP)? If not, you could under heavy load experience throttling, a lot of noise and performance loss. If there's only one cooling system for these machines, use some good thermal paste and install TPFanControl for optimization. :)

W.
701Cs| 755Cs| 560| 600E| T23| X20| X24| X31| T30| R30| T41p| T42| T43| X41
T60 14.1"| T60 15.4"| T61 14.1″ WS| R60| X60t| X61s| X61t| X301| T400| T400s| W500| X200| X201| T410| T410s| X220| T420| T420s| W520| T430| X240| T440| T440s| T440p| T450s| X250

defaultusername123
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Re: l420 i7-2630QM

#4 Post by defaultusername123 » Sat May 29, 2021 5:11 am

WarMachine wrote:
Sat May 15, 2021 6:38 am
Hello,

Welcome to the forum, Gaelord. :)

As RBS :thumbs-UP: said, you can put an i7-2630QM on your laptop. I'm wondering, as I don't know well these series, but I'm pretty sure you have an i5-2520M or i5-2540M, with a 35 W TDP: will the native cooling system be sufficient for the i7-2630QM (45 W TDP)? If not, you could under heavy load experience throttling, a lot of noise and performance loss. If there's only one cooling system for these machines, use some good thermal paste and install TPFanControl for optimization. :)

W.
hello thanks for the reply i lost my old account..

the listed available processors are Available processors are:

Intel® Core i5 processor i5-2410M (2.30GHz) with dual-core, 3MB cache
DDR3 memory controller (up to 1333MHz), Intel Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading technology; 3MB cache
Intel® Core™ i5 processor i5-2520M with dual-core
DDR3 memory controller (up to 1333MHz), Intel Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading technology; 3MB cache
Intel® Core™ i5 processor i5-2540M with dual-core
DDR3 memory controller (up to 1333MHz), Intel Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading technology; 3MB cache
Intel Core i7 processor i7-2620M with dual-core
DDR3 memory controller (up to 1333MHz), Intel Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading technology; 3MB cache
Intel Core i7 processor i7-2630QM with quad-core
DDR3 memory controller (up to 1333MHz), Intel Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading technology; 6MB cache

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/soluti ... nkpad-l420

im trying to figure out what socket type the l420 takes as im about to purchase the i7-2630qm to replace the stock i5

can i upgrade the fan in the l420 to a better one that will keep the heat down ? i really want to put a quad core in this machine as i will be using it for video editing . i was meant to buy the t420 but i purchased the wrong computer so this is going to have to do eh .. human error my mistake.

any hooo i cant find a l420 that was sold stock with a i7-2630QM but the lenovo website says they are available ?
wondering if i will have to update the bios or do anything before dropping the i7 cpu in ?

thanks for the help

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Re: l420 i7-2630QM

#5 Post by WarMachine » Sat May 29, 2021 1:59 pm

Hello,

There's only one socket for the i7 2630QM: FCPGA988.

So you don't have to worry, if you find one, it will necessarily be compatible with your laptop. When I told you that I don't know these machines very well, there are things I'll be saying which are wild guess but I'm not surprised that you don't find high end L420 with i7 processors. Those machines are entry level Thinkpads and entry level often means low budget too, I think most of the people who buy this type of machine watches his wallet at first and then watches what are the specifications of the machine, in a second time. I would not be surprised that an high end L420 is the same price than an i3 or an i5 T420 for example. So I'm guessing it's easier to find low specs L420 than high specs ones.

But fortunately, its possible to change the components inside the laptop. So you can have the same level of performances than a T420 after replacing or adding components. You'll only end with a laptop which is not of the same build quality, more bulky and less resistant. But if it's for home usage, that's not really a problem. As far as I'm concerned, I don't like these machines because of their looks (speaker under the screen, buttons at the left and at the right of the keyboard, width of the laptop, internal design and so on), but it's just my opinion, of course.

About the fan, I don't know if there are different models across the various machines. I think so, because the CPU don't have the same TDP, I doubt that Lenovo put the same best fan system in i5 machines and in i7 ones (particularly the ones with the Quad Core CPUs). Someone of the forum will certainly be able to answer better than me you about that.

One thing too: if you change your 2.5 GHz Dual Core CPU by a 2.0 GHz Quad Core one, there are some applications which will run slightly slower. The use of the Quad Core is really interesting if you launch a lot of applications at the same time (or if the applications are developed to use all of the cores). On my T420 (which is originally a T420i), I had an i3 2310M. I replace it with an i7 2640M (the main differences are the frequency – 2.10 GHz for the i3, 2.8 GHz for the i7 – and the L2 cache – 3 MB for the first, 4 MB for the second). Well, for basic tasks, the difference is barely noticeable. It's more visible in game because the IGP has a better frequency, but that's all. I can also compare with my T420s, in which I have an i5-2520M. Same thing, there's not much differences for a day to day usage. I changed my CPU on the T420 because I could have one for 15 €, and that was a real bargain at the time. On the other hand, I bought the machine as dead but it wasn't – and it was even in pretty good shape and complete but without RAM and HDD/SSD, I paid it 50 bucks and I wanted to have and "high end" (or sort of) PC without spending too much. In fact, I paid 50 € for the laptop, 15 € for the CPU, 60 € for the screen, 4 € for the touchpad rubber, the rest, I already had. So I paid a total of ca. 130 € for a laptop I would have paid 250 or 300 € with the same specs but fully operational. One of the best bargains speaking of my Thinkpads.

The 2630QM, I doubt you'll find it for 15 €, it will be more likely around 60-80 €, so you must be sure it has a bit of interest for what you plan to do whith your laptop.

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/I ... /2729vsm29: performance difference is not enormous.

W.
701Cs| 755Cs| 560| 600E| T23| X20| X24| X31| T30| R30| T41p| T42| T43| X41
T60 14.1"| T60 15.4"| T61 14.1″ WS| R60| X60t| X61s| X61t| X301| T400| T400s| W500| X200| X201| T410| T410s| X220| T420| T420s| W520| T430| X240| T440| T440s| T440p| T450s| X250

defaultusername123
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Re: l420 i7-2630QM

#6 Post by defaultusername123 » Sat May 29, 2021 8:58 pm

thank you for all the information that has been some what helpful. i have to use the L420 as i have already purchased it by accident eh i literally thought i was buying a t420 i guess i was starring at the screen for to many hours and mistaked the L for a T haha

gaelord
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Re: l420 i7-2630QM

#7 Post by gaelord » Sun May 30, 2021 6:34 pm

on another note with the L420 can i use any mobile sandy bridge cpu in the L420 like the Intel® Core™ i7-2920XM

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... 0-ghz.html

or the Intel® Core™ i7-2720QM Processor as it operates at 3.3ghz

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Re: l420 i7-2630QM

#8 Post by WarMachine » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:39 pm

Hello Gaelord,

Glad to help. A bit late with my answer, I was pretty busy last month (pandemic, holidays, and so on! :D). Again at work, so,I have more time! :D

I, am too, looking for a CPU for my incoming W520. I hesitate between a 2860QM and a 2960XM. No much difference performance-wise between those two (and I absolutely don't plan to overclock, it's not my thing). The 2920XM is close too. Price is also very similar so it won't be the judge of peace. If I want to play "I've the biggest Sandy Bridge CPU", no questions asked, I go for the 2960XM. But, like the 2920XM, it a 55 W TDP CPU. The 2860QM is "only" 45 W. This only element is sufficient to force me to choose the QM. And as I'm not the kind to brag about what I have under my kilt, it will not be too much of a problem if I don't have the flagship Sandy Bridge Mobile CPU! I will play safety! :)

I would have the same toughts for your machine, also considering that there probably isn't a fan capable enough to cool the Extreme CPU. If you need a quad-core, it will probably be safer to stick to the 2860QM (or any other quad-core which is not an Extreme Edition one).

Have a good day! :)

W.
701Cs| 755Cs| 560| 600E| T23| X20| X24| X31| T30| R30| T41p| T42| T43| X41
T60 14.1"| T60 15.4"| T61 14.1″ WS| R60| X60t| X61s| X61t| X301| T400| T400s| W500| X200| X201| T410| T410s| X220| T420| T420s| W520| T430| X240| T440| T440s| T440p| T450s| X250

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