rPGA 989 socket best compatible processor upgrade?

Hi, I am a newbie and first-time poster here. I hope this note finds you well.

I had (still have) a Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5134 laptop with a fixed, non-removable AMD E-240 (very slow) budget processor. Because the processor was non-removable, I looked at eBay listings and bought for upgrading purposes a used, socketed, Intel rPGA 989 motherboard, PN: 1310A2423502, V000225140. It has two slots for DDR3 notebook RAM, and included with this motherboard was a SR07V, Intel Pentium B960, 2.20GHz CPU.

I do not know the chipset of the new motherboard; I only have pictures of the socket and the sticker part numbers listed above that can be seen here:

Picture of new motherboard: https://ibb.co/5r0SKrq
Picture of B960 included processor looking to upgrade: https://ibb.co/s6bDJWB

I also have not attempted to install the new socketed Intel rPGA 989 motherboard in the laptop yet and sort out boot/compatibility issues. Perhaps there is a way to know the chipset from the motherboard part number, or from looking visually at the board? I am unfamiliar with chipsets, but I understand they factor into processor compatibility.

So my CPU upgrade question is as follows: what is the best (fastest, good quality) compatible processor I can buy that would work with my new motherboard, assuming a successful install and replacement of the old AMD E-240 motherboard?

My research pointed to--and I am looking to buy--an Intel Core i7-2860QM CPU with 4 Cores 2.5-3.6GHz 8M, SR02X. Even though this looks like it would physically fit in the rPGA 989 socket, and blow away the included Pentium B960 CPU in terms of performance, would the Intel Core i7-2860QM be compatible with the rest of the motherboard? Or would you recommend another processor instead?

If you need any additional information, please let me know.

Thank you so much for your time and help! I really appreciate it!

 

The layout of the two motherboards, including the external ports, display and keyboard connectors are probably very different, so it's extremely unlikely that the new motherboard would even fit in the old case. Not to mention the need for a proper heatsink and fan setup. I'm sorry, but I think you threw good money after bad here.

 

Hi, and thanks for responding. This is a first time motherboard swap to a different spec motherboard for me. I have done exact replacements before, but not switching from an AMD to Intel board.

The new board came with its original heatsink and original fan, so I have those already, plus some newly ordered silver thermal compound to put on the processor. The thermal compound is Arctic Silver 5 AS5-3.5G Premium Thermal Compound 3.5G Grams.

The ports looked virtually identical to me--2 USB, 2 headphone jacks, 1 VGA connector on the side, 1 Ethernet hole, etc. The board dimensions look very similar from the pictures. I also bought brass screw standoffs in case I need to adjust for different mobo screw hole positions.

Worst comes to worst, I could look for a new shell. I have a spare 15.6"(?) laptop LCD that may be compatible. *shrug*

Any suggestions on a compatible processor?

 

Assuming that new MOBO fits into the chassis, there are some things to talk about.

1. I looked up the exact MOBO, and it is an rPGA 989 MOBO. This means it accepts Socket G1 (rPGA988A) and Socket G2 (rPGA 988B) chips. Therefore, you should be able to use 1st gen Intel mobile chips, although those are worse than the 2nd and 3rd gen chips.

1a. This is minor, but from all the pics I saw of that MOBO model, the CPU socket is white not black, nothing bad, just letting you know.

2. The Pentium B960 has a 35 watt TDP, the i7 2860QM has a 45 watt TDP. The i7 SHOULD be compatible. However, it uses 10 more watts of power, if your laptop has a single heat pipe, you may have a hard time cooling a 45 watt chip. If you have 2 heat pipes on the heat sink, a 45 watt chip should be fine.

2a. Socket G2 is compatible with mobile Ivy Bridge chips alongside mobile Sandy Bridge chips. It may be better to get an Ivy Bridge Chip due to their higher clocks and because they use the 22nm process instead of Sandy Bridge's 32nm process.

CPU Recommendations: If you go through with the upgrade, the best 35 watt chip is the Core i7 3632QM, with the 3612QM right under (3612QM is 100mhz lower.) This website will show you all of the Socket G2 CPU's. If you're on a budget, there are plenty of i5's that are pretty good and have a 35 watt TDP, but they are all dual-cores.

Website: https://www.cpu-world.com/Sockets/Socket G2 (rPGA988B).html

Note: I actually have no clue if the CPU upgrade will work, so I would probably test to make sure the Pentium works before you buy another CPU just to ensure the MOBO works.

 

Here's what I found there are two type of rPGA 989 sockets a G1, and G2 you need to know which one yours have.
G1 and CPU that fits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_G1
G2 and CPU that fits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_G2

As you can see G2 CPU are some what different so you need to find this out before changing CPU. From your listing that it was B960 Pent. it looks like it's a G2 socket as that listing has a B960 listed in it.
Processors
Intel "Sandy Bridge" (32 nm)
Core i7 Quad-Core
i7-2960XM, i7-2920XM,
i7-2860QM, i7-2820QM,
i7-2760QM, i7-2720QM,
i7-2710QE, i7-2670QM,
i7-2630QM
Core i7 Dual-Core
i7-2620M, i7-2640M
Core i5 Dual-Core
i5-2540M, i5-2520M,
i5-2510E,
i5-2450M, i5-2435M,
i5-2430M, i5-2415M,
i5-2410M
Core i3 Dual-Core
i3-2370M, i3-2350M,
i3-2348M,
i3-2332M, i3-2330M,
i3-2330E, i3-2328M,
i3-2312M, i3-2310M,
i3-2310E, i3-2308M
Pentium
B980, B970, B960(Yours), B950, B940

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't rPGA 989 support both G1 and G2 Sockets?

 

Thanks for clarifying this. Yes, I was also seeing that other listings for this board on eBay had a white Intel socket, but they were more expensive (starting at $75). I got what I think was a good deal on this board for $40 total with the included one-pipe heatsink, fan, B960 processor, and socket to upgrade the processor. In the picture of the black socket in my first post, it says rPGA 989 on the socket border. I guess this board could be a prototype or a revision of some sort, given the black socket.

Thanks much for this great info. I wanted to ask--I received what I think is a great $60 offer on that quad i7 2860QM. My board only has one heat pipe on the heatsink. If I purchase an external laptop cooling tray for the chassis to sit on with fans, powered by a wall outlet (not the laptop's USB ports), and I also use that Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound I ordered, do you think I can still go ahead with the 45 watt chip? Otherwise, I might take your suggestion of the 35 watt Core i7 3632QM Ivy Bridge chip. (Though I didn't see the i7 3632QM in StormJumper's G2 socket Sandy Bridge list above; I was looking originally at a similar list of Sandy Bridge chips--including the i7 2860QM--because the B960 was also in that category, and I thought it would have better compatibility.) Perhaps there is a way I can disable, say, 2 of the cores in the 2860QM (if necessary) and use a temperature monitoring program (e.g., Speed Fan) to check the CPU temperature?

Yes, I intend to do this soon when I have time, possibly this weekend or next week, and I will update here with my progress.

Thank you to everyone who replied so far for helping and sharing your input. I will continue to monitor the thread for updates!

 

With a cooling pad and decent thermal paste, you should be able to cool it somewhat decently. Though, don't plan to do any gaming or stressful tasks on the CPU. When idling, if the CPU hits over 70C, you should probably return it. I would personally say go ahead with the 2860QM, but just be prepared to return it and the cooling pad if temps are bad. I wouldn't say disabling 2 of the cores would be worth it, because then you're getting core i5ish performance.

If everything does work, then don't worry too much about NOT getting an Ivy Bridge chip. Sandy Bridge was one of the best micro-architectures Intel ever made in my opinion, and most i5's and i7 Sandy Bridge chips still kick ass even in gaming.

 

Noted! I am not intending to do a lot of gaming on this laptop, just internet and application software, and having a few windows open at a time. I got fed up with the built in AMD E-240 budget processor on the original mobo and the system crawling like a snail, even after upgrading from 2GB to 8GB of compatible DDR3 RAM. Windows Experience Index (Win 7) gives my old laptop a 2.5 score. The budget soldered processor kind of bottlenecks that score, even if you add other improvements like SSD and more RAM... Hence my mobo swap project. I will update with any improvement to this score after the swap.

Thanks again for the follow up, and I will keep you posted.

 

Alright man, no problem!

I am also very sorry that you had to use that E-240, it has a single core! No wonder it was slow, multitasking is nearly impossible nowadays with a single core.