Acer Aspire 8943g upgrade i5 430m -> i7 940xm

NulleDulle · December 2018

Hi Acer Communiy.

Can i upgrade my i5 430m to i7 940xm?

i checked my current CPU socket which is Socket 989 rPGA which should be compatible with the rPGA 988 socket.

if it has to be known, my motherboard model is SM83-CP.

and if the CPU is compatible, how would temperatures affect? as it uses 20 watts more than the i5 430m.

i7 940xm - 55 watt TDP, socket rPGA 988.

i5 430m - 35 watt TDP, socket rPGA 989.

Thanks for helping.

brummyfan2 · December 2018

Hi,
You can safely go for a i7-620m or a i7-720qm, some have succeeded installing i7-740qm but very difficult to give you a firm answer as this model came with different motherboards, i7-940xm will not work at all, so avoid wasting time on that, I have compared these CPUs and go for the cheaper option. You will have a slight increase in temps and the battery life will be reduced when you upgrade to a i7 CPU.
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Core_i5_Mobile/i5-430M_(PGA988).html
https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Acer-Aspire-8943G/1491
https://ark.intel.com/compare/43537,43122,43127,49024

NulleDulle · December 2018

For which reason will i7 940xm not work as the socket type is the same? - is it the power consumption?

about battery life, it won't matter that much as my battery is dead and forged to have charger plugged in it at any times.

Thanks for your answer btw.

danithebest91 · August 2019

Hi, i'm running I7 940XM for3 years at now, use artic mx4 termal compound and clean the fan every 6 months about, never had problems (16gb Ram and 500gb ssd+1TB normal hdd) i occasionally overclock if needed with "intel extreme tuning utility", but if you want power you need to buy a powerful power adapter (i use 320W becouse the original was running too hot during gaming sessions), i hope this info will be usefull to others, i belive in upgrading laptops, my 8943G have about 6 years of service at now, and belive me i have very rarely switched off it

... only one issue with the DVB-T miniPCIe slot (i want install other card for USB3, but the bios only recognize the DVB-T card for some reason, i have try wifi card too, but no response

BrutalRacoon · November 2021

danithebest91 said:

Hi, i'm running I7 940XM for3 years at now, use artic mx4 termal compound and clean the fan every 6 months about, never had problems (16gb Ram and 500gb ssd+1TB normal hdd) i occasionally overclock if needed with "intel extreme tuning utility", but if you want power you need to buy a powerful power adapter (i use 320W becouse the original was running too hot during gaming sessions), i hope this info will be usefull to others, i belive in upgrading laptops, my 8943G have about 6 years of service at now, and belive me i have very rarely switched off it ... only one issue with the DVB-T miniPCIe slot (i want install other card for USB3, but the bios only recognize the DVB-T card for some reason, i have try wifi card too, but no response

Hey man I need your help. I have been trying to upgrade my acer aspire 8943g from an i5 460m to an i7-720qm. The problem is that the pc will not start
and will only work with the old CPU. Did you do anything specific to make your cpu work ?
The pc just briefly turns on before shutting down again. The fan powers on for a millisecond.
I tried resetting the CMOS but it didnt work.
I have not tried updating the bios. I have not tried getting a bigger PSU either.
I thought that the power protection might be the issue becuase my new cpu consumes 10 more W (from 35 to 45).
Any help apprecitaed thanks.

billsey · November 2021

Processors supported in your Aspire 8943G are i3-330M/i3-350M, i5-430M/i5-520M/i5-540M, i7-620M and i7-820QM. I don't see any obvious reason yours wouldn't work with the i7-720QM unless perhaps the CPU itself is bad.