I have never, in my 23 years of owning computers, upgraded a CPU. Not even a plug-in accelerator card. Nada. There’s a first time for everything.
I want to upgrade to a Core 2 Duo E6700 without buying a whole new computer. This is my machine’s spec sheet. Wikipedia says the Intel 945G chipset may be compatible, but then mumbles something about different power consumption. But I see lots of systems for sale with that chipset and CPU combination.
How can I tell if my computer is compatible? Am I even looking at the right data? Is there some tool I can run that will give me more information that I can use to refine my search?
Update: PC Wizard report. What does it tell me?
Make sure you’re running the latest bios for your board and give it a try — if Google can’t find any reports from people who’ve done this there’s no other way to find out.
Comment by Thijs van der Vossen — Sunday, July 8, 2007 @ 1:23 pm
If I wasn’t 100% sure if the processor would work, I’d pay a little more to buy it from a local retailer with a decent return policy. Just my 2 cents.
Comment by Matt — Sunday, July 8, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
As your IBM doesn’t specifically state Core 2 Duo, it probably wont support it as IBM wouldn’t have included support in the BIOS. Worth trying it out though, its unlikely to blow up*.
*If it does blow up I accept no responsibility.
Comment by Weiran Zhang — Sunday, July 8, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
Lo! A BIOS upgrade dated January 4, 2007: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-60626
Comment by Mark — Sunday, July 8, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
Three or four years ago, main/motherboards often had jumpers for processor voltage. If the processor voltage is now in the BIOS the main/motherboard’s processor power supply circuit may not support the voltage of this processor. Later processors may have a higher peak current consumption than earlier ones.
Comment by Bobby — Sunday, July 8, 2007 @ 7:09 pm
It should work if you install that BIOS update. It supports the bus speed (1066FSB), it’s a reasonably new chipset and the BIOS update has to be for something like that if it’s dated as late as January 2007. The one thing that I can’t verify is which VRM version it supports. You need 11.0 for Core2, and some 945G chipsets only support 10.1. Do what Matt says and buy it from some place you can return it to.
Comment by P — Monday, July 9, 2007 @ 4:23 am
Hey, Mark –
The chipset *does* support C2D. However, Lenovo may or may not have enabled C2D support in BIOS (BIOS has to be able to recognize the CPU type to handle its voltages correctly — as P mentioned above, that means VRM 11). While the BIOS update change log mentions “support for 65nm processors”, that could also refer to Presler based Pentium D’s.
Here’s some hopeful news:
version 2EKT36A (released right before the C2D launch): “Incorporates some Intel microcode updates”
However, whether that includes C2D is unmentioned, anywhere. From the searching I’ve done, I don’t see any indication that it does, and the fact C2D is unmentioned in the board’s CPU support list is discouraging. Also, I imagine Lenovo would consider it beneficial to *not* support C2D in that motherboard, since it would force people to buy new Lenovo computers. ;)
If you have a Windows partition [unlikely, I suspect ;)], you might be able to glean more information via CPUz or PC Wizard (available from http://www.cpuid.com). The latter claims to be able to discern motherboard CPU support. I have, alas, not been able to find as comprehensive programs for Linux.
Your best bet is to email Lenovo tech support and see what they say. Alternatively, you can email Lenovo’s BIOS provider, which should be displayed on POST. It’s probably a Phoenix-based BIOS. Their site is here: http://www.phoenix.com/en/Home/default.htm
Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Comment by AnObfuscator — Monday, July 9, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
Mark, I noticed Newegg only has a 7 day return policy for that part. Did they offer any tips. You might want to try and find a local dealer who might almost cost as much and offer free install.
Comment by Dave — Monday, July 9, 2007 @ 2:32 pm
OK, I found my OEM Windows hard drive in the attic (seriously). Got through all the first-run crap and ran PC Wizard.
http://diveintomark.org/public/2007/07/pc-wizard-report.txt
What should I be looking for? Under “Mainboard Upgradeability” it says “Supported Voltage : 1.8V”. Is that the number you were looking for? I don’t see any other mentions of voltage, except the memory chips.
Comment by Mark — Monday, July 9, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
Oh boy, this stuff still makes me feel good about my move from self-built Linux boxes to a Mac as my main workstation a few years ago. :)
Comment by Thijs van der Vossen — Tuesday, July 10, 2007 @ 3:27 am
The Intel web-site is hopeless, but it appears the 900 series Pentium D has a voltage code on the chip (these are like jumpers of old motherboards, but the chip knows what voltage it needs) the voltage range of this V-ID is ~0.83V to 1.6V. The current is 100A peak.
The Core 2 Duo (is that 2 X 2?) E6700 has a range of 0.85V to 1.3525V. This processor is designed for the 965 chip-set, does the 945 chip-set support thermal management (run quiet stuff)?
Comment by Bobby — Tuesday, July 10, 2007 @ 8:06 am
Since you currently have a Pentium D processor, it seems most plausible that the chipset you have is the i945GZ which is described as:
Now I’m not sure about which socket you have on that motherboard, but most likely it’s Socket 775 aka LGA775. The reported 798 MHz frequency in your wizard report also confirms this. This socket should fit a Core 2 Duo processor. Abit LG-95Z is equipped with the same chipset and claims support for:
Abit doesn’t seem to agree with Intel on the naming convention, but I think they mean the same. Now when it comes to the voltage, this is something that should be adjustable in the BIOS. Check out the settings to see if you can increase or decrease it as you wish.
If you can’t, you should start looking for a BIOS firmware replacement, because then the IBM provided one isn’t good enough. The BIOS might do a good job of auto-configuring your new CPU of course, but if it doesn’t, another BIOS might help. If you don’t have a BIOS panic jumper, I would be very careful doing this, however, since it may leave your motherboard completely unusable afterwards.
Comment by Asbjørn Ulsberg — Tuesday, July 10, 2007 @ 8:19 am
Update: PC Wizard report. What does it tell me?
It tells your web server doesn’t report the correct charset for the report file ;)
Comment by glandium — Tuesday, July 10, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
> your web server doesn’t report the correct charset for the report
Fucking Windows software, assuming the world runs on cp-1252.
Comment by Mark — Tuesday, July 10, 2007 @ 2:24 pm
Reading through the report, I’d say the chance is very good that it will run. Even if it doesn’t support VRM 11, the CPU you’re using will run at a max of 1.337 V if Wikipedia knows what it’s talking about. That’s a voltage that Core 2s generally run very well at, even though they run slightly hotter (default voltage is 1.325). What it may not do is clock down to run cooler when idle.
If I were you, I’d upgrade the BIOS (to get 1066 FSB support) and order the CPU from somewhere with a decent return policy. If it won’t work, send it back or buy a new motherboard.
Comment by P — Thursday, July 12, 2007 @ 9:18 am
Get a Macintosh!
:)
Comment by Niklas — Friday, July 13, 2007 @ 8:14 pm
try to write them an e-mail..
e-mail: askibm[at]vnet.ibm.com
Comment by Peter — Saturday, July 14, 2007 @ 10:48 am
As others have pointed out, make sure you’ve flashed to the latest BIOS first.
I say buy the chip and just try it. At worst you’ll eat the newegg.com restocking fee.
I went through similar foibles with a work-provided HP PC desktop that I was upgrading on my own, secretly. I didn’t have much luck, so I ended up surreptitiously replacing the guts of the entire machine, power supply, motherboard, everything. This was done with my office door closed, naturally. :)
Thing is, upgrading the guts of the machine– the mobo/psu/memory/cpu combo– is actually not *that* expensive as long as you don’t have champagne taste. You could do it for $600 no problem.
Comment by Jeff Atwood — Sunday, July 15, 2007 @ 2:41 am