Windows 7: Upgrading Laptop CPU

Ginmardo · 15 Feb 2011

Hi guys,

I know that you can add memory to a laptop but what about a CPU upgrade. Are there special mobile CPU's? In particular the Asus gaming republic laptops.

A friend of mine asked to check some Intel C2Q CPU's for him. He is currently running a fairly old gaming laptop. As far as I know: Intel C2D, 3GB ram memory, GTX260 GPU.
If the price is right, he might replace the C2D with the C2Q.

But before browsing around for one, I wanted to check first if there are any specifications, differences or requirements when planning on replacing a laptop CPU.

Thanks ahead.

Maguscreed · 15 Feb 2011

Back in the days of socket 478 there were some proprietary sockets for laptops floating around. I think today for the most part they are using sockets typical to their chipset.
Upgrading is just as dependent on bios support for other cpu's as it is for the physical socket itself though. More specific information would probably be forthcoming from the community here if we had exact make and model information on the laptop.

Ginmardo · 15 Feb 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by Maguscreed

Back in the days of socket 478 there were some proprietary sockets for laptops floating around. I think today for the most part they are using sockets typical to their chipset.
Upgrading is just as dependent on bios support for other cpu's as it is for the physical socket itself though. More specific information would probably be forthcoming from the community here if we had exact make and model information on the laptop.

The Asus is a G50VX gaming powerhouse. Funny thing, I could not find the product on Asus USA website, so I Googled it. It should be listed on one of the other Asus country's website.

For the specs, Google provided me with a link Asus G50VX Gaming Laptop 15.6" 480GB 4GB nVidia 9800M GS Core 2 Duo HDMI [Archive] - TribalWar Forums at which someone else has a similar Asus gaming notebook as my friends'.

Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Class: Core 2 Duo
Processor Type: Dual-Core
Processor Speed: 2.13GHz

These socket types are the Socket 775, no specifics if they are mobile adjusted or something like that.
So my initial thought would be "Yes, you can upgrade the CPU"??
I'm not sure, what do you think?

Maguscreed · 15 Feb 2011

yup tons of info on the G51 model but not much on the G50

I did manage to track down a couple of threads where people discuss upgrading it though.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Forum- Asus G50V and Intel Q9100

Unfortunately I understand spoken japanese from years of watching anime, but I never learned to read it, so most the others are pretty useless.
It seems the model sold primarily in japan.
According to the above linked thread the g51vx information and bios is very close.

Anyhow the chipset supports the upgrade. I just can't verify that the bios does.

Ginmardo · 15 Feb 2011

Quote: Originally Posted by Maguscreed

yup tons of info on the G51 model but not much on the G50

I did manage to track down a couple of threads where people discuss upgrading it though.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Forum- Asus G50V and Intel Q9100

Unfortunately I understand spoken japanese from years of watching anime, but I never learned to read it, so most the others are pretty useless.
It seems the model sold primarily in japan.
According to the above linked thread the g51vx information and bios is very close.

Anyhow the chipset supports the upgrade. I just can't verify that the bios does.

Kudos: you're the second Japanese speaking person who learned the language from anime. The second one is a colleague who I work with and we reside nowhere in/close to Asia LOL.

Most of the things discussed on the forum [the link you forwarded me] sound plausible. A 50-50 possibility that the BIOS might recognize the quad cpu with or without flashing the BIOS with the G51VX BIOS update.
But I guess the truth lies in practical application. If it was my engine, I had rip it open already then asked questions here LOL. But this really is my friends' gaming notebook, so I should run it by him.