Thinkpads Forum

Hello there,

I need some assistance in deciding which cpu chip I can upgrade to. I presently have a Thinkpad T60 2623-D6U with a Intel Core Duo processor T2400 (1.83GHz) chip and ATI Radeon x1300 on motherboard. Here is my question: What is the fastest Intel chip that I can update my system to?

Will the Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 work with on my system?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Edit: Right now, I'm maxed out at 3 GB of RAM. If I upgrade to T7200, will I be able to install more RAM now that it's 64-bit? or does it depend on my motherboard?

the ram is set at 3 gigs regardless of CPU.

The T7200, T7400, T7600 are all compatible.

Two notes;

1) 4GB will be faster than 3GB by about 5%, since T60's use dual channel memory architecture --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-chan ... chitecture

The BIOS and some OS's will report 4GB, but as mentioned, only 3GB will be usable.

2) I've completed many T7200, T7400 and T7600 CPU upgrades. All are worthwhile upgrades from lower speed Core Duo processors. However, unless you are doing something truly CPU intensive, the performance between the three is basically indistinguishable. This is especially true if you add a SSD to the mix. A T7600 is perfect for "maxed out" bragging rights, but it's not really worth the current upgrade cost at more than double a T7200.

(In case you haven't already upgraded to an SSD, that should be your first upgrade, it will result in a greater performance increase than the other two combined.)

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll plan on upgrading to SSD and T7200. I do wish I could install more RAM though.

I went from a T2300 to a T7400 on my R60. Just doing normal stuff, I couldn't tell a difference. UC is quite correct that a SSD upgrade is much more likely to make a noticeable difference than doing the CPU.

So it is worthwhile to upgrade from a Core Duo to a Core 2 Duo, irrespective of the three C2Duo models? I have a T60P 2623 DDU.

Is it a simple swap, or do you have to do a BIOS update?

Just swap.
Make sure to apply Arctic Silver 5 (AS5) properly.

RealBlackStuff wrote:Just swap.
Make sure to apply Arctic Silver 5 (AS5) properly.

Worth the upgrade, RBS?

Simba wrote:I presently have a Thinkpad T60 2623-D6U with a Intel Core Duo processor T2400 (1.83GHz) chip and ATI Radeon x1300 on motherboard. Here is my question: What is the fastest Intel chip that I can update my system to?

Will the Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7200 work with on my system?

I believe that you will need a Revision 3 motherboard to upgrade from your present Core Duo CPU to a Core 2 Duo CPU... see e.g. the threads Upgrade T60 Processor? (Pic) or Upgrade processor to Core 2 Duo or T60 Core Duo CPU Upgrade Question or T60 CPU upgrade - currently a T2300 CD, can a T5200 C2D work.

As to what actual real-life speed increase you may expect from upgrading from the T2400 to e.g. a T7200, see e.g. this post.

I will absolutely recommend upgrading your present slow mechanical HDD to a superfast SSD; see e.g. the thread Windows 7, 32-bit ATI X1400 driver - and especially this post - for a user report about the speed increase when upgrading to a SSD.

Johan

If you need to go 64-bit, then a T5500 or T5600 is already enough, otherwise the T7200. Any higher is not worth the money.

While I generally agree with the idea of a SSD upgrade, I'd also advise caution in the respect of backing your data more often than you'd do with a mechanical hard drive, and storing these backups *elsewhere*...

SSDs still have a significantly higher failure rate than conventional rotational drives.

I replaced a T2400 with a T5600 tonight.

Nice and easy - always nice to have a clean boot first time!

I doubt I will see much improvement, but I am sending this machine to the accountant for the mission group I help support in Honduras. I had the T5600 lying around and I wanted to ensure the CPU paste was in good shape before sending it out, so the swap just made sense.

Good luck!

Daniel

if you have a 64bit operating system, then you can upgrade to 4gigs of RAM. Or at least Windows will recognize that you have 4 gigs in there.

Now as to performance boost you might see, that has already been explained and I just wanted to point it out that if you are running a 32 bit OS, then a 4GIG ram upgrade isn't going to do you any good as Windows will not see that extra memory, but a 64bit OS will (I learned from experience on that one).

Don't start telling FUD please, this has already been discussed to death!
T60/R60/X60/Z61 can ONLY use between 3GB and ~3.25GB RAM out of 4GB, regardless of OS!

ajkula66 wrote:...SSDs still have a significantly higher failure rate than conventional rotational drives.

Is there some hard evidence of that? I'm still using a conventional drive...a 500GB Scorpio Black, which is a great drive.

Everything I have read seems to indicate that SSDs are at least as reliable as traditional disks. It is still a good idea to backup whatever you are using

ajkula66 wrote:While I generally agree with the idea of a SSD upgrade, I'd also advise caution in the respect of backing your data more often than you'd do with a mechanical hard drive, and storing these backups *elsewhere*...

SSDs still have a significantly higher failure rate than conventional rotational drives.

Apropos of what you said, George:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/ssds- ... rives/1483

Here's the way I look at SSD vs. HDD personally...

Do I own SSDs ? Yes.

Do I store anything valuable on them ? Absolutely not.

That being said, I'd encourage anyone looking into getting a SSD to do a *ton* of research on particular drive that they're interested in...

In most reviews that I've read, Intel was top-rated reliability-wise....

As always, YMMV.

My $0.02 only...

I see SSD as good for boot drives. My desktops have small 40GB SSDs as boot drives. My X220i has the mSATA and my R60e uses only a SSD, but that's mainly an internet machine. They're too expensive unless you've a specific need for them. Platter based drives are good for storage where speed isn't as necessary. It's like Rich said, always have good back up. That's the key.

richk wrote:It is still a good idea to backup whatever you are using.

Amen.

FYI, Intel has supposedly upped the reliabilty of their third generation (320 Series) drives. They have also upped the warranty to 5 years on all 320 Series drives, even those that sold when only a 3 year warranty was included. Whether it's marketing or not, at least your expensive SSD will be replaced for 5 years if it fails.

Direct from the Intel Newsroom wrote:Confident in the enhanced reliability features of its recently introduced third-generation solid-state drive (SSD), Intel announced it has extended its limited warranty for the Intel® SSD 320 Series from three years to five years. The extended warranty term will apply to all Intel SSD 320 Series drives, including those already purchased. Additional limitations apply to enterprise usage levels. See full warranty for details.

Hi there
Just did a similar upgrade from a t2500 to a t7200 and from a HDD to an SDD and from win xp to win 7.

I described my ventures here:
http://turbohjelm.blogspot.com/2011/10/ ... grade.html

I must say going from 3½ minutes startup to ½ minute startup is very nice!
I recommend it (if you know what you're doing)