Looking to Upgrading P03-640 With New CPU, what are the limitations for 12th Gen Intel i7?

I've had my P03-640 since 2022 and generally have had good experiences with it, but the Intel i5-12400F that it came with is the biggest bottleneck with it. I've already in the process of upgrading other parts including the RAM and the main SSD, but the bit I don't know what to do with is the CPU. I have read (but don't know for sure) that I can only upgrade within the generation, so I'm looking for an Intel i7, 12th generation. Beyond that I have no idea what limits there are to what I can get, because the manual does not cover changing the CPU at all - assuming it's even possible. The manual also has plenty of spelling mistakes and other errors, which isn't a good look.

Anyway, I'd really appreciate it if someone could give some pointers for what to look for and what to avoid.

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Sharanji

@Doomotron

You may need to upgrade the PSU. Here's the article with information you need for upgrading your PO3-640 with new CPU.

CPU Upgrade PO3-640

Which CPU will fit my motherboard

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/721881/upgrading-p03-640-with-new-cpu

The two cpu’s used by Acer on the PO3-640 desktop that were used were the i7-12700 or the i7-12700F, which are listed in the PO3-640 desktops Acer service guide, your model must have been a special spec model that used the Intel i5-12400F cpu.

The differences between these two i7 cpu’s are as follows:

Advantages of Intel Core i7 12700K - Unlocked multiplier and 2% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.9 GHz vs 4.8 GHz)
The Intel Core i7 12700K runs hotter at TDP is 125W while the i7-12700 TDP is 65W, the base frequency of the i7-12700K is 3.6 GHz and its turbo boost is 4.9 GHz, which is higher than the i7-12700 cpu, so with the i7-1200K you will need to upgrade the cpu cooler to a Noctual NHU12S chromax.black type cpu cooler or the smaller NHU9S chromax. black for ectra cooling.

Make sure that you also have installed the last PO3-640 bios version R01-B1 if you are going to upgrade to the i7-12700K cpu, I've also included the memory upgrade specs and modules for your information. Good luck and hope this helps you out further with your upgrade.

PO3-640 Acer service guide listed cpu's

Memory type modules used by Acer with this desktop

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

Doomotron

Hi, thanks for the comments, and sorry for the late-ish reply. I've had a look at what you've said and what was said on the other threads that were linked to. I have already increased the amount of RAM to 32GB, and now I'm replacing the RAM that came with the computer to ones that are identical to the ones I fitted later on. This should increase the RAM speed to the maximum of 3200MT/s, compared to the bottlenecked 2133 which I currently have.

However, through testing I am 99% sure that the CPU is the biggest bottleneck my PC has. Based on what was said in one of the other threads I am going to try to go for the i7-12700F. Unfortunately this CPU is long out of production and not even CEX has one in stock at the moment. I will stay on the lookout though. My area of expertise when it comes to computers is in software more than hardware, so I am a bit of a noob when it comes to PC upgrades.

On Intel's website I did a comparison between the two CPUs and exported the results. When it comes to power, both start at 65W, which is good. The maximum turbo power is 180W for the i7 compared to 117W for the i5. According to the product page for this computer, the maximum wattage from the PSU is 500W which my friend tells me is much lower than expected. If I moved to the i7, would the CPU throttle itself to use less power, or would I need to manually prevent it from overloading the PSU? That's assuming that the PSU's maximum wattage is so limited that it's an issue in this instance.

One thing that is an issue even with the i5 is the cooling. The CPU occasionally reaches 100 degrees unless I use PredatorSense to force the fans into their high power mode. I know I could use MSI Afterburner to create custom fan profiles to prevent this, but I don't know how it would interact with PredatorSense. Luckily it only reaches 100 degrees when I'm doing particularly intense tasks, so when I'm playing games it'll hover around 90. It isn't ideal though. If I went with the i7-12700F, would I be right in guessing that it would need an upgraded cooling system, even if I was aiming for it to run at the same temperatures as I get now?

At this point I am considering just starting from scratch and having a completely new PC built for me, but I do want to get the most out of the money I spent on this computer three years ago.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1332072#Comment_1332072

The P03-640 desktops 500W Acer PSU is what they use for all the cpu's like the i5 or the i7 in the PO3-640 desktop, so the 500W PSU should not be an issue, as this PSUs are a proprietary Acer PSU and can't be upgraded and that is what the PO3-640 desktop is designed around and unless they are not faulty should work perfectly with all the 12Th gen cpu's especially the higher end i7-12700 or the i7-12700K cpu's.

With the cpu cooling, most community member that own a PO3-640 desktop have used either the Noctua NH-U9S chromax.black or the NH-U12S chromax.black type cpu coolers as these two cooler are the best dry cpu coolers on the market and have a very quiet fan(s) too and work very well with this desktop to cool the cpu very efficiently.

PO3-640 Acer PSUs fitted to this desktop

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

Doomotron

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1332100#Comment_1332100

Thank you for the help. I'll have a look with my friend at the cooling system to see how easy it would be to change.

Doomotron

And one more thing to go with that, how would upgraded cooling interact with PredatorSense?

billsey

The upgraded cooling (use the NH-U9S on a PO3 design, the 12 is too tight of a fit) is transparent to the software. Also be aware that though the instruction for installing the Noctua says you have to remove the motherboard to remove the backplate, it's not actually needed. Just use the stock backplate with four M3x10mm screws. As for power, since Acer shipped the PO3-640 with both i5 and i7 CPUs, we can say you won't need a different PSU to drive the i7. The first power limitation you will see is trying a GPU upgrade, where it needs more amperage off the 12V rail.

BTW. you will find that searching on any of Acer's sites for P03-640 will fail. That's because the model is PO3 (Predator Orion) not P03 (Predator Zero) and their search is just too darn literal. :)

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