4x30s CPU Upgrade path

appleiscool · Jun 25, 2013

Update

philip_petev said:
philip_petev said:

There is one major difference between the OEM/Retail and the ES/QS 2nd generation Sandy Bridge CPUs - their product code. OEM/Retail CPUs have product code like SRxxxx and ES/QS CPUs have product code like Qxxxxx. You can see the product code at the top of the CPU, near the crystal.

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appleiscool said:

Just to clarify, which socket type do we look for? g2 or bga? thanks

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RehabMan said:

CPU-Z on Windows shows Socket 988B rPGA.
And according to this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_G2, 988 rPGA is another name for Socket G2.

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willpower101 said:

This has been covered more times than I can count.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i7_microprocessors

Click for large view - Uploaded with Skitch

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philip_petev said:
i7-26xxQM and i7-27xxQM should work without any problem, I personally have i7-2720QM in my laptop (ProBook 4330s), which I've purchased from eBay and it works fine. I've readed in some forums that i7-28xxQM works as well.

According to intel the second generation core series includes the following.

Intel® Core™ i7-2600 Mobile Processor Series - http://ark.intel.com/products/series/53249
Intel® Core™ i7-2700 Mobile Processor Series - http://ark.intel.com/products/series/53251
Intel® Core™ i7-2800 Mobile Processor Series - http://ark.intel.com/products/series/53252

Hopefully, SL and ML is still as usable it is today, after the next two versions from 10.9, prob 10.10? 10.11? in case anything after 10.8 is a flop like 10.7

I guess at this point in time and moving on, there is probably a higher probability of finding a i7-26xx or i7-27xx, my search for i7-28xx comes up with very limited results. mostly overpriced, or just engineering samples.

E.G. Snapshot showing (ES) in the specification field (asking price was about $300usd - too much!)
View attachment 59776

If you have upgraded your cpu, and it works with your os x 10.6x or 10.8x, please reply to this post and fill in the following - thanks!

CPU - upgraded:

CPU - original:

Probook BIOS version:

OS X version(s):

Remarks:
(Cost? Tips? Buyer beware? anything else? etc.)

k_roy · Jun 25, 2013

There is a bunch of a risk buying Engineering Samples.

First off, as I understand it, they are alway stolen property. So by buying them you are supporting thieves.

Next off, because they are pre-release, they may be missing everything from instruction sets, caches and other key processor features. There could also be bugs in them. This means you may end up with a severely handicapped processor. This means you could lose data or even have a totally non-functional computer.

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-030747.htm

Personally, I dropped a retail 2720qm into my 4530s, upgrading the stock i3 to a quad-core i7. I picked it up for around $200 from a reputable eBay seller about 3-4 months ago. A quick eBay search reveals a nice selection at that price point. The one I know works is 2.2 ghz. I THINK there are 3.3 ghz ones, but I think that is just the "Turbo Boost" speed of the 2.2 ghz. The big thing to make sure is that they are socket PGA988/G2

It's been rock solid and I'm running 35 celsius doing standard web browsing. It upgraded my 64 bit Geekbench from 4000-4500 to 10100.

appleiscool · Jun 27, 2013

thanks i am keeping away from those e/s chips and thanks for the info about them.

looking forward to quicker HD video editing with an i7.

k_roy said:
There is a bunch of a risk buying Engineering Samples.

First off, as I understand it, they are alway stolen property. So by buying them you are supporting thieves.

Next off, because they are pre-release, they may be missing everything from instruction sets, caches and other key processor features. There could also be bugs in them. This means you may end up with a severely handicapped processor. This means you could lose data or even have a totally non-functional computer.

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-030747.htm

Personally, I dropped a retail 2720qm into my 4530s, upgrading the stock i3 to a quad-core i7. I picked it up for around $200 from a reputable eBay seller about 3-4 months ago. A quick eBay search reveals a nice selection at that price point. The one I know works is 2.2 ghz. I THINK there are 3.3 ghz ones, but I think that is just the "Turbo Boost" speed of the 2.2 ghz. The big thing to make sure is that they are socket PGA988/G2

It's been rock solid and I'm running 35 celsius doing standard web browsing. It upgraded my 64 bit Geekbench from 4000-4500 to 10100.

hackbookosx · Jun 27, 2013

I upgrade my 4730s from i5 to and i7 (2670qm) it is faster so I guess is a good option if you really going to do some stuff with it. I think I will get an ssd drive and see if the laptop performance increase. Well good luck....I'm new to all this hackintosh, but I like it!!!!

broupe · Jun 28, 2013

Hi
I upgraded all I can think of,
use the 4330s mostly for music production, Cubase etc
- fantastic machine!

CPU - upgraded: 2670qm i7

CPU - original: 2.30 GHz Intel Core i3

Probook BIOS version: f20

OS X version(s): 10.8.4

Remarks:
(Cost? Tips? Buyer beware? anything else? etc.)
€114 eBay - from Asus laptop

philip_petev · Jun 28, 2013

Guys, you should buy any of these by their product numbers. The engineering/qualification samples have product codes of type "Qxxx" or "Qxxxx" and the final production samples (OEM/Retail) have product codes of type "SRxxx"

hackbookosx · Jul 6, 2013

I know this is not about the post but I with like to know if the pro book 4730s will support 16Gb of ram? I hope somebody let me know. thanks for your time and have a great day

appleiscool · Jul 7, 2013

hackbookosx said:
I know this is not about the post but I with like to know if the pro book 4730s will support 16Gb of ram? I hope somebody let me know. thanks for your time and have a great day

Please use the search, you can also see this post #2 if in doubt, you can give it a try and let us know. I personally don't have access to a 4730s, so you can help?

gargamel778 · Aug 12, 2013

This is my souped up ProBook 4330s LY465EA -

CPU - upgraded: Core i7-2860QM

CPU - original: Core i3-2350M (been using an i7-2620M for several months before deciding on 2nd upgrade)

Probook BIOS version: F.40

OS X version(s): 10.8.4

Remarks:

The machine is also equipped with the following -
2x Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3-1600 (CMSX8GX3M1A1600C10) for a total of 16GB RAM,
Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB SSD (CSSD-N240GBGTX-BK)
1TB Segate HDD in a caddy, replacing the ODD (ST1000LM024)

I insisted on finding a non Engineering Sample/Qualification Sample CPU, which took a long time. Luckily, I found one on eBay and managed to snag it at a bargain price of $265!

The overall cost invested in the upgrades to this ProBook are quite extraordinary. Most probably, I could've bought a real MB for that price, minus some of these upgrades.

Nevertheless I absolutely love this machine. I don't get MacBook-like battery life but its performance is awesome. GB score with the i7-2860QM is around ~10400, whereas with the i7-2620M it scored around ~7600.

My wet dream is a higher resolution screen but seems that's absolutely impossible.

appleiscool · Aug 13, 2013

gargamel778 said:
This is my souped up ProBook 4330s LY465EA -

CPU - upgraded: Core i7-2860QM

CPU - original: Core i3-2350M (been using an i7-2620M for several months before deciding on 2nd upgrade)

Probook BIOS version: F.40

OS X version(s): 10.8.4

Remarks:

The machine is also equipped with the following -
2x Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3-1600 (CMSX8GX3M1A1600C10) for a total of 16GB RAM,
Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB SSD (CSSD-N240GBGTX-BK)
1TB Segate HDD in a caddy, replacing the ODD (ST1000LM024)

I insisted on finding a non Engineering Sample/Qualification Sample CPU, which took a long time. Luckily, I found one on eBay and managed to snag it at a bargain price of $265!

The overall cost invested in the upgrades to this ProBook are quite extraordinary. Most probably, I could've bought a real MB for that price, minus some of these upgrades.

Nevertheless I absolutely love this machine. I don't get MacBook-like battery life but its performance is awesome. GB score with the i7-2860QM is around ~10400, whereas with the i7-2620M it scored around ~7600.

My wet dream is a higher resolution screen but seems that's absolutely impossible.

That's great. I'll add the i7 -2860QM to my search list. just to confirm QE/CI works?

I'd love to put a matte non glossy retina screen in the 4230s , i did try to hunt down some and it lead me to very hi-res ips 12.1 screens for lenovo, took a lot of time, unfortunately i don't know if the connectors line up on either left or right side of then panel, and if the replacement ips panel would fit and work 100%.

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