Thinkpads Forum

Fried W520 motherboard. Considering getting a W530 board and an i7-3632 to replace it (better GPU, CPU has lower TDP). Does anyone have any experience with this? Does it fit? What modifications are required? I know I'll have to flash the EC to get the keyboard to work properly and I know that the DisplayPort and eSATA+USB have been replaced with mini DP and just USB respectively.
moofish2842 on Reddit posted that they put a T530 board into a T520 and mentioned that the frame required a lot of modification but never elaborated. Their account is banned and I have no way of contacting them.

T520/W520 have the same chassis, as do the T530/W530.
So you'd run into the same problems as this Moofish.

From what I know, many of the standoffs are in the wrong places so you'll need to modify them and you'll have to live with most of the screws not put in.

Edit: the VGA connector is also different on the W530 compared to the W520