Thinkpads Forum

I'm looking for a R60 X1400 GPU system board. Right now I've got the X1300, which is OK, but why not go for the gusto. I was thinking of doing the T60p board, but I don't think converting the V5200 into the X1600 is as easily done as I thought, unless someone cares to correct me.

There's two part numbers on Lenovo's website - 42W2583 and 42W7725. The second one says OA2, which I'm not sure what's the best one to get or if they're the same. I was hoping to pay between $100-125 for a board. I don't care if it new, used or refurbished, as long as it works. If you've got something laying around you'd like to get rid of, let me know. Thanks for looking.

Bump. If you've got something laying around let me know, even if it's more than my budget, I still may be interested. Worst I can do is say no. The cheapest I've seen it is about $250 on the net and it's not worth $250 for a modest bump when I've got a board that already works. Thanks for looking.

My T60 [2008-VKL] has an original X1400 mobo 42T5507/41W1368, maybe that is another option?
Seems to be the same board as in a T60p.

Thanks for the reply. Interestingly enough, someone here offered me a T60p board for my price as they had upgraded to the T61p board. From the pictures I could find, which is by no means definitive, it seems like it would fit. I'd love to have the V5200 if I can mod it into the X1600, but for the moment I haven't been able to figure how to do it. I think you'd need to flash the card's BIOS, but I've not done that before, but I can learn. The X1600 supports Blu-ray playback while the X1300 I have now does not. Consequently, CPU usage can get quite high during playback. Thanks again.

Fred, are you saying that the T60p board with the ATI 5200 part on it is the same board as the 'intel integrated graphics'?

In other words, the 'intel' board is simply missing the ATI chip?

If that is so, do you know if a T60p/ATI board can be run with the 5200 chip totally disabled, and video-out switched to the intel chipset?

I would LOVE to save all the power sucked by that ATI chip....and I never use '3D' functions at all.

thanks,

Richard

They're all made to fit in the same case I believe. The Intel card can drive a UXGA screen, but it wouldn't surprise me if Lenovo nixed it, though I have no firsthand knowledge. I think I saw somewhere here someone swapped a UXGA into a R60e.

FredGarvin wrote:They're all made to fit in the same case I believe. The Intel card can drive a UXGA screen, but it wouldn't surprise me if Lenovo nixed it, though I have no firsthand knowledge. I think I saw somewhere here someone swapped a UXGA into a R60e.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I understand that they fit physically.....and that the Intel-based board will likely drive a UXGA.

My question was whether an -ATI- based board can be used with the ATI chip completely disabled, i.e. powered off.

I wouldn't expect that the video-data outputs of the intel chipset were traced out to the vga-output circuitry....but I don't know.....so I asked.

I've been unhappy with my T60p's heat and power-draw, and I never use fancy 3D stuff....so I've been planning to either replace the laptop or the system board.

But if there's a way to make my existing ATI-based board use the built-in Intel graphics instead.....

I see. It's not like the T500 where you get both cards. I believe the best you can do is put it in low power mode.

FredGarvin wrote:I see. It's not like the T500 where you get both cards. I believe the best you can do is put it in low power mode.

There are cards in a T500?

I thought the video was right on the mainboard....like every other TP.

huh.

Well, 'low power' mode in the ATI Catalyst bloatware is pretty useless.....VERY limited scope....no direct control at all over clock-rate and Vcc....sigh...

thanks anyway

dozer wrote:My question was whether an -ATI- based board can be used with the ATI chip completely disabled, i.e. powered off.

T30s quite often have this problem. The internal LCD (read: digital part of the GPU) has conked out, but an external monitor (read: analog part of the GPU) will still work.
That would perhaps be an ideal low-power machine. I have such a beast...

hi RBS,

I'm not so sure a bad-lcd machine would make a good low-power setup. I don't think there'd be any (or not very much) power savings compared to a working display that's shut off...

My understanding is that when power-manager in windoze "shuts off" the display after X minutes, it shuts it OFF.....it's not just writing all pixels to black. It's actually shutting down the backlight-inverter and LCD.

Could be wrong about that of course...but that's what it appears like to me on the TP's I've played with so far.

ps; about your T60......you say yours has an intel integrated-graphics mainboard? I wasn't sure T60's were made that way....that's very interesting....

Did they ever ship an Intel-graphics machine like that with a 15" UXGA display?

If so, I'd be very interested in trading my T60p for one.....or at the least, getting ahold of that mainboard to swap into this T60p 2623DDU.

pps; you said you thought your board was the same as used in T60p, but I guess I've never heard of a 'p' that didn't have the power-hog ATI-5200 series graphics in it...

Richard

ps; Fred, hope this semi-hijack is appreciated as helping your search...via the free bumping...

Shutting off the LCD/inverter is one thing, but the GPU is still running! If part of that GPU is not working, it's probably not drawing power either, hence my observation.

OP is looking for an R60 mobo with X1400.
I said my T60 also has X1400 graphics, which is ATI (never mentioned Intel).

A Google with my mobo "ibm 41W1368" resulted in several mentions of T60/P, hence my (otherwise unfounded) supposition.

ahh....for some reason, I thought all those "X1xxx" systems were Intel integrated graphics models, and the ATI's were all "V5xxx" numbers....please pardon my ignorance.

In regards to the 'broken display' issue....the GPU is not shut off when using an external display. The same GPU is used for both 'analog' and 'digital to LCD' outputs. So even using only an external display still requires the GPU.

You are trying to skimp on as much power anywhich way.
A defective (digital) PART of a GPU probably draws less power than that same (digital) PART working.
If you only hook up your monitor once a week for a few minutes, I'm sure the analog PART of that GPU also uses less power during the rest of the week.

dozer wrote:ps; Fred, hope this semi-hijack is appreciated as helping your search...via the free bumping...

Not so far, which is why I'm bumping.