PC Processors

[michaelk]

I am not a computer scientist. I am enthusiastic and capable.

Is it a straight swap?

I don't know the mother board.

If yes, what would be a good upgrade for my system?

And either instructions, guidelines or a link to how to do this properly.

Thank you for your time. I do have a small budget, say, €250.

[mcalin]

take a look at Original Amd Athlon Ii X4 651k 3 Ghz Quad-core (ad651kwnz43gx)

[mcalin]

Your current Processor is an APU which includes onboard graphics, you would need to add a GPU to compliment the new CPU.

for $250 pound you would be much better off getting a simple Ryzen 2200g and a cheap MOBO and some DDR4 2400mhz and you will play fornight at 720p at 50fps+

[mcalin]

Heck, i would even recommend the new Athlon 200G APU which has Vega 3 graphics built in, this will play Fortnight at 30+ FPS @ 720p

FOR $250 POUND you would go very close to building a brand new Athlon System, you may be able to keep all your computer parts except the Mobo, APU and Ram

One day you could drop in a 2700x CPU and GPU

if you have 250 pound dont waste your time upgrading your current system, you should be able to get a complete new system for that, i can build brand new Athlon system for $350 in Australian dollars

[elstaci]

Download a free program called SPECCY. This will tell you most Make & Models of your computer hardware plus software installed.

That way you can find out what Motherboard is installed.

Unfortunately, you can't just swap processors unless you know the Motherboard's BIOS will support it. I would contact Lenovo Support and asked them what processors are supported on your computer.

[rodrox]

Im with @mcalin on this one, if Im not wrong that APU you have is a notebook part, so almost 100% chance is soldered to the motherboard. Is it posible to change it? yes, can someone without the expertise and right tools do it? sadly no. Even though you could manage to swap CPU you are going to have a really hard time trying to cool it down, since the case your lenovo desktop have is pretty small and probably not standard which mean not many standard coolers will be able to fit in there to cool a standard CPU. Also your memory is probaby a so-dimm which is a smaller size of memory for notebooks.

Lets now say you wana swap motherboard, cpu and memory, Im not even sure you could fit the new components in your old case, so a cheap desktop case is a must, and you will need a power supply too, cause lenovos one is probably a non-standard one, and its cables and connectors could be propietary ones that will not work for a standard ATX-Micro-ATX or Mini-ATX motherboards.

In short, you should aim to at least a Ryzen 3 2200G (which has an integrated GPU), 8GB of RAM DDR4, a motherboard with a A320 or B450 chipset, a cheap case and a power supply (you could work for a while with one of those generic kits  Case+PSU). What you can get from your old Lenovo is the harddrive (HDD) wich you should be able to format and install a new copy of Windows on it.

From there, I will follow upgrading the PSU to something around 450~550 watts 80+ white/bronze (any corsair, evga, or any known brand should be way better than a generic power supply).

After that, if your budget allows it, I will upgrade my CPU again, to something like Ryzen 5 3400G, which should give you a good bump on games, compared to the 2200G.

TIP: If you build a new system, don't be cheap on the memory, specially if youre going with the Ryzen "G" which have integrated graphics (GPU). That integrated videocard will use your System Memory so the more and faster the better, for starters I would go with at least 8GB DDR4 - 2666MHz, if it is posible I would choose better 8GB DDR4 - 2933MHz.

For way better game experience I would recommend something around this:

- Motherboard with B450 chipset (Brand you like more, Asus, MSI, Asrock or Gigabyte)

- CPU: Ryzen 5 2600 or 3600 (2600 is really enough for today games at 1080p with a decent GPU, if you go for a 3xxx one make sure someone update your motherboard BIOS cause those B450 boards won't recognize this new CPU without that update)

- RAM: 16GB DDR4 2933/3200Mhz (make sure you check you motherboard web site and see if the memory you choose is supported on your motherboard - best to buy known brands, gskill, kingston, adata, crucial, etc You should find a chart like this: http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_b450m-ds3h_summit.pdf).

- Decent GPU (Video Card): GTX 1650 or GTX 1660 or RTX 2060 or whatever Radeon card you can get for similar price and performance (Im not an expert on AMD cards sorry).

- Massive Storage: at least a 250GB SSD (or bigger if its possible) + 1 TB HDD (you put your Windows + basic programs + the games you play the most on your SSD; the rest, documents, movies, music, and other games goes into the HDD).

- PSU: (Power Supply): In this case, if you pick the right one it can last you for 5 to 10 years, so I would go with at least a 650W semi or fully modular,  80+ gold (bronze is ok too). Examples, i already had EVGA page open for another reason: EVGA - Products - EVGA 650 BQ, 80+ BRONZE 650W, Semi Modular, 5 Year Warranty, Includes FREE Power O...  or EVGA - Products - EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GM, 80 Plus Gold 650W, Fully Modular, ECO Mode with DBB Fan, 7 ... ). PSU brands: Seasonic, EVGA, Corsair, etc, etc.

Good luck !

[elstaci]

Yeah, you are correct. That Processor is soldered to the motherboard. So, you would need to take it to a computer shop that specializes in replacing soldered Processors. Plus you would need to replace it with a compatible processor the motherboard will support. Either way it will cost you more than a new computer. 

I was assuming since it was a desktop that the processor wouldn't be soldered. Generally Laptop processors are soldered.

So you are pretty much stuck with that processor. For around 250 Euro it would be difficult to purchase and upgrade your computer. You can probably purchase an inexpensive laptop but it would not be very powerful.