I only had one price guide posted previously??? Archive from 2019 March.
Prices here reflect USA prices for processors. I do have Worldwide shipping as an option, but there are probably a lot of sellers that don’t ship to my location in San Diego. With that said, I have four prices listed, one from China, Two from USA/Canada, & one from a random Europe country.
Most of this is pasted from the previous guide. However the price matches is all that matters? idk.
Understanding the Price guide
The list starts off with the ‘best’ dualcore i5 and i7, then followed by the quadcore and then the extreme quadcores are last. No soldered CPUs are in this list. Also there are some new socketed laptops, but they are mostly for gaming laptops, but those aren’t included.
The previous guide had used SOLD prices, now I just search for general low prices in active buy it now. CPUs are becoming much less abundant than laptops, and for the most part, people probably want to upgrade more faster than buying a machine. Uh so i stopped looking at sold listings & the lowest price, bc sometimes they aren’t even listed lol.
Feel free to use the google spreadsheet, there’s more in there, but since idk how make a scrolling table, a lot of blocks have been removed. Basically the high US/CA price, RAM limits, graphics, & benchmark to price numbers.
Also the other guide had Passmark V9 benchmarks, now we are up to PM V10… so the numbers are different if you see the old sheet/vs this one. Cross Platform can also be referenced by your smartphone or tablet… so maybe it’ll suck if its brand new. 🙂 oh yeah the previous guide had
- Base – Base clock speed for both cores, ofc it’ll be lowe when not pushed
- Max – Shortened for Turboboost, max clockspeed of ONE core (i see you imac scams)
- CPU – processor w/ ebay link
- # – how many available when researched
- CN – Average lowest China CPU prices, except those multi pick ones
- US – Low USA prices, Canadian prices are similar
- EU – Yurop prices, UK, Slovenia, Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine listings I see
- These are the CPUs that can ship to me, i cant see if im blocked 🙂
- Passmark – overall score with both cores – no link 🙁
- Solo – Single thread… for testing basic programs
- Cross plat – Passmark’s score that is also used with smartphones CPUs
- TDP – Thermal Design power, higher = hotter & more power
- Cache – I was going to link something but im over my head. more the better 🙂
- bechmark to price – solely based on USA low prices
1st Gen Core – Arrandale & Clarksfield
| Base | Max | CPU | # | CN BIN | USA Low | Yurop | Pass Mark | Solo | Cross Plat |
| 2.66 | 3.33 | i5-580m | 66 | $28 | $28 | $51 | 1927 | 1256 | 4027 |
| 2.80 | 3.46 | i7-640m | 74 | $45 | $48 | n/a | 2038 | 1379 | 4389 |
| 1.60 | 2.80 | i7-720qm | 100 | $22 | $16 | $26 | 1643 | 964 | 5431 |
| 1.73 | 2.93 | i7-740qm | 70 | $24 | $19 | $50 | 1756 | 988 | 5759 |
| 1.73 | 3.06 | i7-820qm | 48 | $35 | $35 | n/a | 1737 | 1003 | 5850 |
| 1.86 | 3.20 | i7-840qm | 56 | $39 | $38 | $59 | 1912 | 1136 | 6325 |
| 2.00 | 3.20 | i7-920xm | 53 | $55 | n/a | $40 | 1957 | 1010 | 6483 |
| 2.13 | 3.33 | i7-940xm | 36 | $90 | $105 | 2367 | 1268 | 8017 |
- Benchmark to Cost – i7-720qm on all, then i7-740qm
- More power – i7-920xm or i7-840qm (for heat), 940xm is way overpriced to be smashed by a i5-3320m
- This is the only time the top dualcore i5 and i7 have a higher single core passmark score against the XM CPUs and even have a better turbo boost.
- i7-640M is STILL expensive compared to other dualcores
- TDPs – 35W DC, 45W QC, 55W XM
- cache – 3MB i5 DC, 4MB i7 DC, 6MB i7-7xx, 8MB i7-8xx & i7-9xx
- Dualcore Single thread benchmarks! These beat their quadcores here!
- Quadcores unnofficially accept 32GB Ram, dualcores 8GB?
Note a ThinkPad T410, T510 & some W510 (i5 based, with only 2 RAM slots) cannot accept quadcore CPUs, something about the motherboard not accepting the CPU architecture of Clarksfield, something abou tthose CPUs not having deadicated graphics & the chip having a newer memory controller, which nullifies Arrandale’s usage of the northbridge on the motherboard. There are a few topics on the ThinkPad forums saying why it doesn’t work, & I did look this up on Latitudes, however it seems that the E6410 can accept quadcore as an upgrade & the same can be said the the HP Elitebook 8440p. Remember they will need dedicated graphics, bc the quadcores in this gen do not have integrated graphics. So yeah the T410 is shit, as I always felt it was, even against a T400 🙂
- HELP FOR BIOS MOD – T510, T410 quad core, possible?
- ThinkPad T410 + i7 quad = possible?
- Dell Latitude E6410 w/ i7-720qm Confirmed – Alex A
- Processor upgrade from i5 to i7 – HP Support Community
2nd Gen Core – Sandy Bridge
| Base | Max | CPU | # | CN | US | EU | Pass mark | Solo | Cross plat |
| 2.60 | 3.30 | i5-2540m | 66 | $32 | $20 | $44 | 2301 | 1388 | 4718 |
| 2.80 | 3.50 | i7-2640m | 28 | $61 | $54 | $101 | 2401 | 1473 | 5083 |
| 2.00 | 2.90 | i7-2630qm | 72 | $62 | $48 | $76 | 3532 | 1217 | 7835 |
| 2.20 | 3.10 | i7-2670qm | 72 | $63 | $48 | $69 | 3797 | 1341 | 8416 |
| 2.20 | 3.30 | i7-2720qm | 45 | $65 | $54 | $80 | 4068 | 1376 | 8729 |
| 2.40 | 3.50 | i7-2670qm | 51 | $71 | $65 | $87 | 4458 | 1566 | 9590 |
| 2.30 | 3.40 | i7-2820qm | 32 | $82 | $120 | 4349 | 1526 | 9725 | |
| 2.50 | 3.60 | i7-2860qm | 62 | $78 | $100 | $111 | 4552 | 1564 | 9986 |
| 2.50 | 3.50 | i7-2920xm | 41 | $94 | $88 | 4398 | 1520 | 9766 | |
| 2.70 | 3.70 | i7-2960xm | 35 | $142 | $139 | 4423 | 1491 | 10091 |
- Bench to cost – i5-2540m… i7-2670qm overall, i7-2720qm second & i7-2630qm third
- More power – i7-2920xm or i7-2670qm
- Max ram – 16GB on Dualcores, 32GB on quadcores except i7-2630m
- TDP –
- 35W – Dualcores
- 45W – Quadcore i7 (QM)
- 55W – Extreme QC i7 (XM)
- Cache
- 3MB – i5
- 4MB – i7 DC
- 6MB – i7-26xx & i7-27xx
- 8MB – i7-28xx & i7-29xx
If you’re looking to quadcore a T420, it’s recommended that you use an integrated graphics system, as the heatsink for the T420 was not design to handle that much power. 90W charger is also recommended, remember the W520 had a 130W charger thanks for their dGPU & QC systems. To note how hot these get, the Dell E6420 had a quadcore option at start but they had to recall some of the systems bc Dell put a single heatsink on the iGPU systems, while their dGPU systems had two/three heatpipes. Reminder that T420 is popular for coreboot & ivy bridge upgrades after additional bios mod.
3rd Gen Core – Ivy Bridge
| Base | Max | CPU | # | CN | US | EU | Pass mark | Solo | Cross plat |
| 2.90 | 3.60 | i5-3380m | 37 | $49 | $30 | 2977 | 1829 | 6187 | |
| 3.00 | 3.70 | i7-3540m | 53 | $72 | $59 | $114 | 2878 | 176 | 6109 |
| 2.30 | 3.30 | i7-3610qm | 50 | $72 | $60 | $74 | 5117 | 1659 | 11017 |
| 2.10 | 3.10 | i7-3612qm | 48 | $74 | $75 | $84 | 4499 | 1507 | 9829 |
| 2.40 | 3.40 | i7-3630qm | 99 | $77 | $70 | $74 | 5104 | 1692 | 11031 |
| 2.20 | 3.20 | i7-3632qm | 61 | $75 | $63 | 4572 | 1654 | 10111 | |
| 2.60 | 3.60 | i7-3720qm | 50 | $84 | $77 | $105 | 5602 | 1843 | 11946 |
| 2.70 | 3.70 | i7-3740qm | 55 | $85 | $75 | $120 | 5670 | 1875 | 11992 |
| 2.70 | 3.70 | i7-3820qm | 48 | $109 | $90 | 5790 | 1931 | 12774 | |
| 2.80 | 3.80 | i7-3840qm | 61 | $138 | $130 | 5969 | 1945 | 13121 | |
| 2.90 | 3.80 | i7-3920xm | 46 | $140 | $160 | $250 | 5767 | 1910 | 13006 |
| 3.00 | 3.90 | i7-3940xm | 61 | $145 | $159 | 5627 | 1907 | 12531 |
- Benchmark to cost – i5-3380m on all… & i7-3610qm in general & single thread.
- more power – i7-3840qm or i7-3820qm
- The last 4 CPUs are on the “top 9” for single thread
- but both i7-3920xm & i7-3940xm score lower on multi & crossthread
- the higher xm CPU has worse benchmarks vs its slower counterpart
- Max RAM
- 32GB – All 🙂
- TDP
- 35W – Dualcores, i7-3612qm & i7-3632qm
- 45W – the QM CPUs except the two above
- 55W – XM CPUs
- Cache
- 3MB – Dualcores
- 6MB – i7-36xx & i7-37xx
- 8MB – i7-38xx & i7-39xx
Go for broke! i7-3920xm for bragging rights of the i7-3840qm if you don’t want that heat… The i7-3940xm is whack as hell wtf, how can it score worse on benchmarks??? Ivybridge integrated graphics kicks most non-workstation dGPUs to which you were not missing much if you had an iGPU system. The exception is that there was a T430 was can be option with 2GB dRAM instead of 1GB, whilst a T530 did not & the W530 had the 2GB dRAM option, but was much more common. With all that said, you’re better off getting a Dell Precision M4700 for a removable MXM GPU & dual fans, or get a Elitebook 8570w if you want a big CPU fan w/ GPU upgrades too.
4th Gen Core – Haswell
| Base | Max | CPU | # | CN | US | EU | Pass mark | Solo | Cross plat |
| 2.60 | 3.30 | i5-4300m | 26 | $65 | $40 | $50 | 3012 | 1764 | 6107 |
| 2.90 | 3.60 | i7-4600m | 34 | $133 | $68 | $105 | 3258 | 1911 | 6756 |
| 2.40 | 3.20 | i7-4700mq | 77 | $121 | $75 | $66 | 5312 | 1768 | 11373 |
| 2.20 | 3.40 | i7-4702mq | 30 | $123 | $90 | $125 | 5092 | 1687 | 10853 |
| 2.50 | 3.50 | i7-4710mq | 63 | $110 | $73 | $120 | 5818 | 1901 | 12314 |
| 2.30 | 3.30 | i7-4712mq | 21 | $135 | $128 | 5152 | 1773 | 11150 | |
| 2.70 | 3.70 | i7-4800mq | 45 | $142 | $80 | $87 | 5832 | 1934 | 12274 |
| 2.80 | 3.80 | i7-4810mq | 45 | $136 | $90 | $120 | 6056 | 2014 | 12780 |
| 2.80 | 3.80 | i7-4900mq | 36 | $150 | $110 | $170 | 6024 | 1937 | 13473 |
| 2.90 | 3.90 | i7-4910mq | 40 | $144 | $140 | $270 | 6255 | 2028 | 13740 |
| 3.00 | 3.90 | i7-4930mx | 30 | $194 | $150 | 6753 | 2180 | 15228 | |
| 3.10 | 4.00 | i7-4940mx | 18 | $220 | $185 | 7047 | 2284 | 15677 |
- Intel changed their shit up, MQ instead of QM, fuck off.
- MX isntead of XM? Wow sounds like fucking terrestrial radio garbage.
- Benchmark to price – i7-4710mq, next is the i7-4800mq
- more power – i7-4900mq…. idk after that, anything above it depending on cost
T440p is flawed but it is the last thinkpad that can utilize socketed CPUs… oh yeah i guess W541, T540p & W540. Well I just want this post to be done, so here it is, finished. Off to eat some tacos. :3