ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

T430/T440 and T530/540 series specific matters only
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kfzhu1229
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ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#1 Post by kfzhu1229 » Wed Jul 27, 2016 5:01 pm

I currently have a 2nd Gen i5 which I feel like it is downgrading the motherboard, if I put a 45W i7 quad-core processor, do I have to replace the heatsink and power supply?
Patience, boys. All good things to those who wait. – Mother Gothel (Tangled)
_________________________________
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
2xT43 14.1" 2.26 SXGA+ 2gb 1*fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
Flexview UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10

dol
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Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#2 Post by dol » Sun Aug 07, 2016 6:02 am

kfzhu1229 wrote:I currently have a 2nd Gen i5 which I feel like it is downgrading the motherboard, if I put a 45W i7 quad-core processor, do I have to replace the heatsink and power supply?
No I run a T530 with i7-3940XM and NVS 5400 from a 90'w PS without any problem. I did not change sink, just applied fresh cooling paste.
Works incredibly fine. It was originally an i5 machine.

kfzhu1229
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Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#3 Post by kfzhu1229 » Sun Aug 07, 2016 11:27 am

Mine was a 2nd I3 machine... Salvaged an I5 from a broken computer. Now has 16gb DDR3L (I know I'm supposed to get DDR3 but this works too). I'm just worried about TDP
Patience, boys. All good things to those who wait. – Mother Gothel (Tangled)
_________________________________
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
2xT43 14.1" 2.26 SXGA+ 2gb 1*fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
Flexview UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10

dol
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Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2016 5:50 am
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#4 Post by dol » Tue Aug 09, 2016 11:56 am

kfzhu1229 wrote:Mine was a 2nd I3 machine... Salvaged an I5 from a broken computer. Now has 16gb DDR3L (I know I'm supposed to get DDR3 but this works too). I'm just worried about TDP
As long as you have the latest BIOS, running the CPU is not a problem. 90W power bric works perfectly.
You need not to worry about TDP. Right now all my cores are maxed out at 3692GHz and temp is 45-55 Celsius s per Open Hardware monitor.

Edit: I was not aware of the existence of a T530i model, however an integrated graphics model should handle the i7 even better since no graphic chip sits and sucks power next to the cpu.

Cigarguy
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Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#5 Post by Cigarguy » Tue Aug 09, 2016 12:28 pm

dol wrote:
kfzhu1229 wrote: Right now all my cores are maxed out at 3692GHz and temp is 45-55 Celsius s per Open Hardware monitor.
At full throttle that's amazing. That would be miraculous on my desktop pimped out cooling system. Even more so for a laptop cooling system.

kfzhu1229
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Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#6 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Aug 09, 2016 2:20 pm

dol wrote:Edit: I was not aware of the existence of a T530i model, however an integrated graphics model should handle the i7 even better since no graphic chip sits and sucks power next to the cpu.
Uh my model is T530i but I think it is a mistake as it does have the Nvidia NVS 5400M GPU.
And with the 2nd gen i5 it is already going to 90 degrees maximum but does not throttle, but the 2nd gens have a higher TDP than the 3rd though
Patience, boys. All good things to those who wait. – Mother Gothel (Tangled)
_________________________________
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
2xT43 14.1" 2.26 SXGA+ 2gb 1*fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
Flexview UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10

thinkreal
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Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#7 Post by thinkreal » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:31 am

dol wrote:
kfzhu1229 wrote:I currently have a 2nd Gen i5 which I feel like it is downgrading the motherboard, if I put a 45W i7 quad-core processor, do I have to replace the heatsink and power supply?
No I run a T530 with i7-3940XM and NVS 5400 from a 90'w PS without any problem. I did not change sink, just applied fresh cooling paste.
Works incredibly fine. It was originally an i5 machine.
Nice CPU. The i7-3520 is the bottleneck on my T530. I will probably look for one in ebay.

kfzhu1229
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Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#8 Post by kfzhu1229 » Wed Oct 05, 2016 11:02 am

thinkreal wrote:
dol wrote:
No I run a T530 with i7-3940XM and NVS 5400 from a 90'w PS without any problem. I did not change sink, just applied fresh cooling paste.
Works incredibly fine. It was originally an i5 machine.
Nice CPU. The i7-3520 is the bottleneck on my T530. I will probably look for one in ebay.
I can take your CPU if you are planning to upgrade. It is MUCH better than the second gen i5
Patience, boys. All good things to those who wait. – Mother Gothel (Tangled)
_________________________________
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
2xT43 14.1" 2.26 SXGA+ 2gb 1*fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
Flexview UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10

thinkreal
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#9 Post by thinkreal » Wed Oct 05, 2016 10:41 pm

kfzhu1229 wrote:
thinkreal wrote: Nice CPU. The i7-3520 is the bottleneck on my T530. I will probably look for one in ebay.
I can take your CPU if you are planning to upgrade. It is MUCH better than the second gen i5
What CPU do you have on your T530i?

kfzhu1229
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Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#10 Post by kfzhu1229 » Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:25 am

Upgraded from the lowest 2nd Gen i3-2330M into 2nd Gen i5-2520M... :roll:
How much do you want to sell?
I'm 100% sure it is T530 series because it has the non-classic keyboard
Patience, boys. All good things to those who wait. – Mother Gothel (Tangled)
_________________________________
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
2xT43 14.1" 2.26 SXGA+ 2gb 1*fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
Flexview UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10

thinkreal
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 11:33 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#11 Post by thinkreal » Tue Oct 11, 2016 2:41 am

kfzhu1229 wrote:Upgraded from the lowest 2nd Gen i3-2330M into 2nd Gen i5-2520M... :roll:
How much do you want to sell?
I'm 100% sure it is T530 series because it has the non-classic keyboard
I do not intend to sell it unless I find a replacement CPU.

kfzhu1229
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Re: ThinkPad T530i i7 upgrade

#12 Post by kfzhu1229 » Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:04 am

Yes I know I am really not in a hurry because I have 2 T43 machines as my daily driver instead of that. I think it would be much better using an i7 to run stuff like Adobe Premiere Pro
Patience, boys. All good things to those who wait. – Mother Gothel (Tangled)
_________________________________
T23 PIII 1.13ghz 1gb W7
2xT43 14.1" 2.26 SXGA+ 2gb 1*fp W10
T530i 15.6" i7 16gb fp W10
Flexview UXGA:
A30p PIII 1.2 1gb W7 (IDTech)
T43p 2.26 2gb fp W10

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