Help needed with cpu upgrade

[Mihnea Radu]

Hello everyone. This is my first post so i hope i made it in the correct subforum.

I have a Dell Inspiron N5010 laptop that came with a i5-460m (dual core, first gen) - link here.

My wish is to upgrade that to an i7-640m (dual core) (link) or a quad core i7-840qm (link). 

My concern with this the TDP of the cpus and the increase is temps i would get. The i5 i have is rated at 35W on the intel website, but CPU-Z tells me max TDP is 25W. The dual-core i7 is rated at 35W and the quad-core at 45W.

My laptops cooling is like this and it usually runs at 65-70⁰C (both CPU and GPU-radeon HD 5650m) at max load, depending on ambient.

From what i gathered on the internet my choice would be to go with the i7-640m, given it's got a much higher clock than the quad-core, and 2 more cores at that low clock don't really seam to make a significant difference over the 640m. Plus i would certainly be getting higher temps with that 45W TDP and i don't think it would be worth it. But hey, i'm don't have much knowledge on these matters so i might be wrong.

So please feel free to help me out with this decision and ask me anything that i could provide to be useful. Thanks   

[EquippedSword99]

You cannot upgrade the cpus. They use a BGA socket, ball grid array. They are welded to the socket and therefore cannot be changed

[Mihnea Radu]

That's not true. I recently changed the thermal paste and the CPU is not soldered. Only the GPU is.

[EquippedSword99]

Oh so it uses a PGA socket?

 

[Randomguy1911]

1 minute ago, Mihnea Radu said:

That's not true. I recently changed the thermal paste and the CPU is not soldered. Only the GPU is.

Sockets Supported

BGA1288, PGA988

1 minute ago, EquippedSword99 said:

Oh so it uses a PGA socket?

 

Available in both versions.

[EquippedSword99]

Just now, Randomguy1911 said:

Sockets Supported

BGA1288, PGA988

Available in both versions.

Yeah didnt realise

[EquippedSword99]

What are you using the laptop for?

 

 

[meenmeen1103]

Wouldn't consider the quad core. The 640m will make a big difference while temps allow for the turbo, but even if it thermal throttles it should still be a slight improvement over your current CPU. Are you getting a good deal on it? If so, I'd upgrade it no worries

[Mihnea Radu]

I'm using the laptop for gaming mostly. No video editing or rendering. 

As for the prices the dual-core i can get it for 50 bucks and the quad-core for 70. But the money is not an issue as i was planning on spending up to 100 dollars for the cpu.

The increase in temperatures is my concern.

And because i'm a nut i'll surely upgrade but need to decide.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Mihnea Radu

[EquippedSword99]

How long have you had this pc for? And if money isnt a concern, why not get a new pc or laptop?

 

[Mihnea Radu]

I've had it since 2010-2011. Money isn't a concern up until 150$ and at this time i can't save some for a new laptop.

[EquippedSword99]

The TDP is the same but if the temperature manages to rise, you could get an external laptop cooler. Just make sure that the cpu socket is PGA and not BGA

[Mihnea Radu]

The TDP of the i7-640m is the same as the i5 (35W). But the quad core i7-840qm is 45W. Would the 10W difference make a significant impact on temps ?

Also i'm quite curios why CPU-Z says that my cpu has max TDP of 25W when the intel website says 35W.

[meenmeen1103]

13 minutes ago, Mihnea Radu said:

I'm using the laptop for gaming mostly. No video editing or rendering. 

As for the prices the dual-core i can get it for 50 bucks and the quad-core for 70. But the money is not an issue as i was planning on spending up to 100 dollars for the cpu.

The increase in temperatures is my concern.

And because i'm a nut i'll surely upgrade but need to decide.

Again, I wouldn't consider the quad core. It will surely run hotter, also meaning it would thermal throttle and limit itself to core clock instead of using it's turbo clock speed. I'd like to think Intel knows their CPUs better than CPU-Z and has the correct information in ARK. If you really just want to upgrade the CPU, the dual core is the way to go. Don't know how much of a difference it'll actually make in gameplay, but it's somewhere between no difference and the difference a new system could make right? 

[meenmeen1103]

8 minutes ago, Mihnea Radu said:

The TDP of the i7-640m is the same as the i5 (35W). But the quad core i7-840qm is 45W. Would the 10W difference make a significant impact on temps ?

Also i'm quite curios why CPU-Z says that my cpu has max TDP of 25W when the intel website says 35W.

The 10W difference doesn't sound like a lot, but it's adding around 28% more heat that the cooler likely wasn't meant to dissipate. There's also the potential issue of power delivery to the CPU, the board itself may not like the 28% increase in load (current).

[Mihnea Radu]

The power delivery is actually the best reason not to buy the quad-core. Thanks for pointing that out. I have no ideea what the motherboard is capable of (no ideea where to find that out) and i wouldn't want to fry it. Although i've seen the same laptop with a i7 quad core from the factory (the 720qm-still 45W TDP). But maybe the dual core is better overall. Seeing as the quad is marginally better (like 10%) than the 640m and also risking higher temps and mobo power delivery i think i'll stick with the 640m.

[EquippedSword99]

2 minutes ago, Mihnea Radu said:

The power delivery is actually the best reason not to buy the quad-core. Thanks for pointing that out. I have no ideea what the motherboard is capable of (no ideea where to find that out) and i wouldn't want to fry it. Although i've seen the same laptop with a i7 quad core from the factory (the 720qm-still 45W TDP). But maybe the dual core is better overall. Seeing as the quad is marginally better (like 10%) than the 640m and also risking higher temps and mobo power delivery i think i'll stick with the 640m.

What laptop do you use?

[Mihnea Radu]

It's in the first post. Dell Inspiron n5010

[EquippedSword99]

1 minute ago, Mihnea Radu said:

It's in the first post. Dell Inspiron n5010

Oh yeah. Sorry for being ignorant. How much is the cpu going to cost?

[Mihnea Radu]

The prices are in a post above :))

50$ for the 640m. 70$ for the 840qm 

[EquippedSword99]

Are you going to upgrade ram?

[Mihnea Radu]

Sure. In the near future

[EquippedSword99]

Just now, Mihnea Radu said:

Sure. In the near future

Since you have 80 dollars left, why not go for the upgrade? Will help performance so why not