Upgrade AMD CPU Thinkpad Edge E545

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buyguy123

Junior Member
Apr 1, 2009
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Bought a Thinkpad E545 from the Lenovo Outlet for about $240 w/tax.

Here's the specs; AMD A6-5350M (dual core)/4gb/AMD 8450 graphics/320gb HDD.
I'm thinking about upgrading the memory 8gb to a total of 12 GB and adding a WD Dual drive (128SSD + 1TB HDD) to speed it up.

Is it worth it to upgrade the chip to an A10-5750m quad core? Will there be a huge difference from the A6? Will be using it for some gaming like Minecraft and Steam. Also does the fan have to be upgraded?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
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monstercameron

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2013
3,818
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buyguy123 said:
Hi All,

Just bought a Thinkpad E545 from the Lenovo Outlet for about $240 w/tax.
Here's the specs; AMD A6-5350M (dual core)/4gb/AMD 8450 graphics/320gb HDD.
I'm thinking about upgrading the memory 8gb to a total of 12 GB and adding a WD Dual drive (128SSD + 1TB HDD) to speed it up.

Is it worth it to upgrade the chip to an A10-5750m quad core? Will there be a huge difference from the A6? Will be using it for some gaming like Minecraft and Steam. Also do I need a more powerful fan?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

yeah the gpu core count is doubled, it should help in gaming.
 
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buyguy123

Junior Member
Apr 1, 2009
6
0
0
Thanks! All upgrades add another $200 to this laptop, but the E545 has some great reviews.
 
Burpo

Burpo

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2013
4,223
473
126
From your link..
"The 8650G has no dedicated graphics memory and shares the main memory with the CPU cores.

Radeon HD 8650G performs similar to a dedicated HD 7670M or NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M. Without fast dual-channel memory, however, performance drops dramatically."

Just saying there are better gaming laptops..
 
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monstercameron

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2013
3,818
1
0
Burpo said:
From your link..
"The 8650G has no dedicated graphics memory and shares the main memory with the CPU cores.

Radeon HD 8650G performs similar to a dedicated HD 7670M or NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M. Without fast dual-channel memory, however, performance drops dramatically."

Just saying there are better gaming laptops..
Click to expand...

ok, he can do a simple upgrade and get more performance without buying a new system.
 
Burpo

Burpo

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2013
4,223
473
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Why go to all that trouble & expense to end up @ mediocre? Makes no sense to me.. Buy a decent laptop instead.
 
P

ph2000

Member
May 23, 2012
77
0
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having 12GB and SSD should be worth it
although i would prefer single SSD + cdrom hdbay kit
unless of course you need more than 320GB
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,651
12,565
136
Before you buy more memory, are you sure the lappie can handle that memory configuration? It has a single 4gb SODIMM in there right now, with a max supported memory of 16gb. I don't know if that's 4x4gb or 2x8gb though. It would be worth it to open that sucker up and look at the SODIMM slots to see whether it can accommodate 2 or 4 SODIMMs.

Even if it can handle 4 SODIMMs, you will not be a happy camper with 3x4gb memory. You'll be stuck in single-channel mode again.

I would think getting the CPU upgrade and adding one more 4gb SODIMM for 8gb total would give you "enough" memory, improve the iGPU performance by increasing bandwidth, and improve your CPU performance as well. That's probably the safest bet. Oh yeah and the drive, but you get the idea.
 
DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,651
12,565
136
Correct. I don't think there are many laptops with 4 SODIMM slots. Maybe some DTR laptops . . . but a cheap ~$240 laptop? Probably not.

OP needs either one more 4gb SODIMM, or if he wants more, he'll have to buy 2x8gb and go with that.
 
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