Josetann

From my experience with desktops where you can make adjustments to voltage, bus speed, and sometimes multiplier, that's only true if you can undervolt the cpu in question. A lower-binned cpu may or may not be as good as a higher-binned one. Basically, if the production run is of high quality, there's too many "good" processors. They'll test X number at the highest specs, once they get that, the rest are sold as lower end (of course there's more grades than just "high" and "low", but you get the idea). Anyway, to bring it back to the topic at hand, a (maxed out) cpu running at 2.1GHz and a TDP of 35w would draw less power than a cpu running at 2.7GHz and a TDP of 45w. Now, if you restrict the 2.7GHz cpu to 2.1GHz and 35w, they should be neck and neck. The 2.7GHz cpu might, however, be able to run at 2.1GHz at an even lower voltage. If the motherboard supports it, you'd keep lowering the voltage in tiny increments until it becomes unstable, then up it a notch or two. 2.1GHz at 30w would surely use less power. Also, perhaps you got a gem of a cpu and it'll run at 2.7GHz at 35w. As far as I know, there's no way to change the voltage and/or multiplier in the bios. Perhaps it's possible to adjust the voltage after the OS has booted (used to have a Windows program that could do that if the chipset supported it, haven't tried it in a while). It'd be interesting to see if you could indeed lower the voltage. Curious how much hotter the i7-3740QM would run. The i7-3612QM is already running a bit warm. Cores are between 54-61C at low load. Might just need the thermal paste redone, had the motherboard replaced once and it just has whatever the tech put on it. Well, depends what you're doing. If you're using the laptop in a manner HP supports, all should be good. If you're doing something non-standard, then ? When I get a "new" laptop, I check if a large number of people have problems with the newest bios. If not, I flash it and setup everything the way I want. Then I leave it alone. I'm guessing if someone has a complicated setup, they wouldn't go flashing a new bios willy-nilly unless it was to solve a specific problem they had.

Have some newbie questions again, sorry. Just read that the i7-37xxQM CPUs are more power efficient than the i7-36xxQM CPUs. How is that? I have an i7-3612QM with a TDP of 35w. The others have a TDP of 45w, correct? If I can pop in an i7-3740QM with lower power usage (and hopefully lower temps), I'd be tempted to do so. Anyone find a way to reliably adjust the fan speed? I've messed with various Windows and Linux programs, none really work that well. In Windows I've had limited success, but nothing that will use the max fan speed (and after a while it seems to stop working, i.e. goes back to default settings). Linux doesn't even see the fan controller. I'd like to set the fan to run a step or two higher than it currently does. Is there anything remotely comparable to the HP 2570p? I'll need an upgrade eventually, but it seems the closest I can find is a Lenovo W530 which is more expensive, bigger, heavier, and hotter (so, not close at all). Gotta have quad core, at least 16GB if not 32GB max ram, and two hard drives (one could be mSATA).

Just got a 3612qm installed. Some quick questions while we're talking fans and temps. According to Core Temp, idle temps are hovering around 48-52C. That seems a bit high to me. Perhaps I applied the thermal compound too thinly? Core 0 will occasionally jump from 48 to 55 and then back down. Cores 1-3 don't do this. For now I'll assume it's normal. On the other hand, running TS-1024M had max temps in the 80s (84C to be precise). It was running at 2793.66MHz virtually the entire time. That's full turbo. Room temp is probably 22-25C. Sounds pretty reasonable to me? I bought some 20x20 shims, measured everything, was sure it'd work. I didn't take into account that the 4 core had a larger surface area than the 2 core. Doh! The 20mm shim would fit, just barely. Problem is, as soon as I put the heatsink on, it'd move the shim ever so slightly. I could pile on the thermal compound and that would help it stick, but I think that less is more when it comes to thermal compound. I dunno, any time I take off a heatsink, I see globs of thermal compound all over it. I'm putting an extremely thin layer on the cpu and heatsink (apply, scrap off with card, then dab a bit all over cpu using tip of applicator). Maybe I really should put more on? Any particular benchmarks or tests I should be running? Edit: After letting it sit for several hours, it's now jumping between 43-48C. Core Temp claims the lowest was 38; I'm guessing it registered that for a nano-second. Still a bit higher than I'd prefer, but not too bad. I'll see if it settles in some more by tomorrow. Edit 2: After being impatient and re-applying the thermal compound, it's back at 48-52C. I really should learn to leave well enough alone. While I'm still in the testing mood, anything you guys want me to check out on this HP 2570p running Windows 10 Pro 64bit?

Your plan sounds good to me. Though personally I'd get a usb/sata adapter. The cheap ones are, well, cheap. I wouldn't bother cloning the drive unless you have an OS on it. If in doubt, just keep the original 500GB around as a backup until you're sure the new drive works for you.

Ok, with Windows 10 build 10158 released, I've spent all day getting this laptop set up. A lot of things I've done were absolutely not necessary, but I'll outline some of them anyway. First, I had updated the original Windows 7 install to the point it started bugging me to reserve my copy of Windows 10. I did so, backed up the activation info, then took out the drive for safekeeping. From my other laptop (Dell 14z, model N411Z) I prepped a usb drive using Rufus for: Windows 10 10158 64bit (select the iso first, then change the Partition Scheme to GPT and filesystem to FAT32) Windows 7 Pro 64bit (same as above) Clonezilla (must use the regular bios version, so choose MBR and FAT32) Two quick notes, currently there are no ISOs for Windows 10 10158, so I let my laptop download the upgrade, found the ESD, and converted that. Second, for most people there'd be no need to install Windows 10 first, then 7, and back to 10 (and backing up/restoring partitions). I just want Windows 10 to remember it was upgraded from Windows 7, and also to be as close to a true clean install as possible. Next, I installed the SSD from the Dell into the HP. Changed the bios setting to full UEFI. Fired up the Windows 10 install, before doing anything else I Shift-F10, used diskpart to convert to gpt. Then I let it install with all the defaults selected. For the heck of it, I then booted up Clonezilla to backup the first three partitions (the fourth was the Windows install). I had to change the bios from UEFI to Legacy. I have yet to re-back them up and restore the original, I'll report back if something bad happens (again, doing this to get back to a clean install state, but keeping the activation info). Once that was done, I went back into the bios and changed to Hybrid UEFI (Windows 7 won't install with full UEFI). Then I installed Windows 7, formatting (not deleting) the main partition and then installing to it. Once Windows 7 Pro SP1 was installed, I let it go through one round of updates (oh, first I had to go to another laptop and download the Intel Gigabit Lan driver, Win7 did not recognize the wired or wireless adapters). Then I restored the activation info so Windows 7 knew it was activated. Then I started the Windows 10 upgrade from inside Windows 7. I skipped inputting a key (the one currently given only works for the prior build), when asked what I'd like to keep I selected "Nothing". I babysat it until it rebooted, then immediately went into the bios to change it back to full UEFI. The end result is a system that recognizes it was upgraded from Windows 7 (Windows 10 is activated, even though I didn't enter a key) and is virtually the same as a clean install (just delete Windows.old). There are three drivers that aren't automatically installed in Windows 10. Here's the info given in Device Manager, and the corresponding Windows 8.1 driver I downloaded from HP's site: VEN_197B&DEV_2392&SUBSYS_17DF103C: JMicron Media Card Reader Driver VEN_HPQ&DEV_6001: HP Wireless Button Driver (American, International) VEN_HPQ&DEV_6000: HP 3D DriveGuard 5 I didn't install the exe. Rather I fired up Winrar, extracted the three packages to their own directory in Downloads, then pointed Windows to the Downloads directory (including subfolders, of course) to find the drivers. Worked like a charm. Oh, I should also point out that the Edge browser did a superb job of downloading Firefox.

Did not know about the long-life battery (I should have, since it was offered with the last HP I bought (the HDX18t, also known as the exact opposite of portable). I'll look into it. How much longer does it hold the capacity? Just thinking that if it's still at, say, 90% capacity after two years and the 100Wh is at 50% that's about the same at that point (plus the higher capacity in the beginning). But if we're talking many many years of use, I might go that route. Knowing my battery is going to last for the next 5+ years is definitely worth something. Those cells do look ideal, and around the price I was looking for (around $5-$8 per cell). I'll search some more to see if anyone's already replaced the cells in the same/similar battery. I really don't want to wire the batteries in parallel unless I have to (if the BMS kills itself after 0V, then you have no choice but to temporarily wire them in parallel, or at least find some way to keep the volts from dropping too low). If you attempt this, both packs need to be at the same (or as close as possible) voltage. If you have a nearly dead pack and the voltage difference is too much, I wouldn't risk it. A voltage differential means that one pack is charging the other once connected. Having a Li-Ion battery charge in an uncontrolled manner is not the best idea. Ok, let's see if I can contribute something worthwhile. Can a bios backup performed via fpt be restored on a different laptop as long as it's the same model? If so, would anyone be interested in a backup of F.34? I backed up just before installing F.61. My idea of cloning the Win7 install to my SSD and upgrading that to Win10 hit a snag. The current Win7 install is MBR and I want to end up with a Win10 install with GPT (using UEFI). Yeah, I can probably do it, but I'm just going to update Win7 so it's ready for a Win10 upgrade, then shelve that hard drive until 29 July. I'll do a clean install on my SSD, probably the current Win10 build using GPT. I'll pop the old drive in when Win10 hits RTM so I can claim my free upgrade, and go from there. I know that once you've taken the free upgrade, you can subsequently do a clean install and the license is still recognized. I'll report back once I've installed Win10, in case anyone's interested.

I would edit my previous post, but it's not showing up yet, so hopefully a new one will be ok. Replacement batteries. Here's what I've found out: Info for the OEM 6-cell (which I currently have): Part number 632016-542, replacement number 632421-001 Specs: 11.1V 5225mAh 62Wh Here's the info I've found for the official HP 9-cell battery: Part number (replacement) 632423-001 Specs: 11.25V 8850mAh 100Wh When buying a replacement, the important part is the mAh or the Wh number. I can get a replacement 6-cell on eBay for $48AUD/$37USD ($40AUD/$31 from a seller not specializing in batteries) and a 9-cell for $53AUD/$41USD, but not only are they generic, the actual capacity is lower. The 6-cell is 4400mAh 49Wh and the 9-cell is 6600mAh 73Wh. So when you search, pay more attention to the mAH and/or the Wh. Just because it's 9 cells doesn't mean it's much/any better than an OEM 6 cell. That said, anyone find a good 9 cell battery replacement? So far the best I've found is $55USD, don't know if links are allowed but searching for the model # (and ignoring Amazon) should show you the way. I certainly don't mind third-party if the quality is there. A reconditioned 9-cell HP battery with higher capacity mAh cells (quality cells, not the knockoff 500mAh cells labelled as 5000mAh) would be awesome. And just in case I'm extremely bored and reckless, anyone know if the BMS chip in the battery is the type that needs to see constant voltage, and if the voltage ever hits zero it shuts down and will never allow a charge again? I wouldn't want to wire replacement cells in parallel if I don't have to. Finding quality replacement cells with a bit higher mAh rating than the original could allow me to gain the capacity of a third-party 9-cell battery with the footprint (and BMS) of an OEM 6-cell.

I searched for at least a half dozen different cpus, nothing was anywhere close to that price (talking $300, $500, and higher). I obviously didn't search for the i7-3610QM, there it is for $160. Will have to look into that, thanks! I vaguely remember making a note that I'd rather not rely on software to lower a 45w cpu to 35w. I don't remember what my reasoning was. I should really use a better system for my notes (such as, actually writing them down). Been reading for the past week or so. Have a game plan, just have to make some big (to me) decisions. Like MBR or UEFI (ok, it's MBR or GPT which enables UEFI, but you know what I mean). I'd like to go MBR just because I understand it, but I'd want some assurance that once Windows has booted there's virtually no difference between UEFI and non. I thought there wouldn't be, but since eGPU works a bit different with or without UEFI...well, I just need to make a decision instead of stalling. Also read a few posts where people with my drive had issues with GPT (Samsung 840 250GB, not the EVO version). Doesn't make sense. I'll try using grub2 to enable ASPM. Should be able to re-use Windows's EFI partition if I go that route. Not sure if that'd be any safer than having its own. Definitely going to chain-load, on my Dell I have it setup to completely boot into linux, run the commands to modify some settings, then reboot into Windows. Makes for some LOOOOONG boot times. Doing everything from grub is brilliant (straight from MBR is even more so, but I don't think I'm at that level). Have the bios backed up, now to decide which version I want to flash. Many thanks for your posts, I have quite a few of them bookmarked.

Newbie here, please be patient with me . Just received my HP 2570p, read quite a bit of this thread. Did a few searches too, but I don't see a way to filter by date (search results for Windows 10 dating from 2013 would obviously be useless, but I digress). Has anyone tried Windows 10? Any major issues? I'm a bit impatient and was planning on cloning the drive to an SSD I have, then upgrading that to the next Windows 10 build (been running it since last year on an old Dell 14z), doing a reset, then see if that upgrades to RTM and recognizes it upgraded from Win7 (if not, then just pop the original drive in, let it upgrade, and that should tie the license to the laptop). If there are some serious issues with Windows 10 then I'll hold off and just enjoy Windows 7. I wouldn't mind a cpu upgrade, but my head is spinning with all the options. I "think" I'd like a 4-core 35watt that's fairly inexpensive (maybe $150 or so). Quick googling/amazoning/ebaying shows this may not be possible. Should I expand my search to include 45watt cpus (heat issues? if so, can they run at a lower speed at 35w?)? I have an sata drive adapter for the cd-rom bay ordered, should get to me within the next month or so (coming from Hong Kong or China or who knows). I've never swapped faceplates before, any tips? Or just don't worry about it and have some super glue handy? Oh, pricing, got it for $325 shipped. That's AUD, with our crappy exchange that's about $250 USD.