Thinkpads Forum

Hello everyone.
I'm thinking about upgrading the processor of my trusty t61p and I have been debating over whether to get a T9500 or a X9000. (Price Range $90-$150.)
I've been reading old forums posts both here and in the notebook review and I have come to the conclusion that there are mixed feelings and experiences over this upgrade.
On one side people report no temperature increase, on the other they either report it cooler or hotter.
Meanwhile the thinkpad wiki at http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_Cor ... 8Penryn%29 reports;

The Intel 2 Core is the successor of the Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom) processor. Unlike the Merom, Penryn uses the new 45 nm process which makes it cooler and uses less power.

In the end this is what it all boils down to.
X9000
Pros; Speed, Power, Easy OC.
Cons;Highly experimental(Non-thinkpad compliant), overheating, need for heatsink/fan upgrade
T9500
Pros;Speed, Power, will work with stock heatsink and fan
Cons;No OC.
Such is why I would like to learn of your experiences or thoughts about it.
Have you installed it before? Which one have you installed?
On either case did you upgraded the heatsink/fan to combat heat?
On average how hotter did your computer to get?
In the case of the x9000 I'm not thinking of OCing it, so lets disregard that.
Finally here is what I got to play with
42W7653 non-Penryn compliant motherboard (with Middleton Bios unlock.)
The community here is very knowledgeable, I can't wait to hear back from you all, or from whoever feels like responding. Heh. Thank you in advance.

My X9000 runs at below 50C in idle, with fan speed 1.. I think it is decent. So i regret nothing!

EDIT:

However, taken Price into consideration, the T9300 RBS mentioned would be the better choice.

I got my X9000 for -20$. I bought an old alienware, took the processor, swapped in a T9300 and sold it for a Little more than i actually gave for the alienware and the T9300... Thats why i can justify it economically

The T9300 (2.5GHz) would be my choice.
- $30 cheaper than the T9500
- $140 cheaper than the X9000
- only 0.1GHz slower than the T9500
- only 0.3GHz slower than the X9000
- same 45nm build
- same 6MB L2 cache

I've used T9300/9500 and X9000 in various FrankenPad builds.

Unless you're planning to overclock it, X9000 is good for bragging rights only. You won't feel the difference between T9300/9500 and X9000 in normal daily use.

T9300 is definitely a "most bang for the buck option" and would be my recommendation.

Nothing wrong with T9500 per se, if you can score it under the market price.

My X9000 does run warm under full load, but other than that I have no problems with it whatsoever. I put in my T61p with the nVidia chip, so the fan and heatsink are stock - I had no need to change those. The BIOS detects it properly too. I don't know if my motherboard is Penryn-compliant (I've been running Middleton BIOS for as long as I can remember), but it has been replaced on warranty due to failing graphics, so it may as well be.

One time I tried experimenting with overclocking, got it up to 3GHz, but it would overheat and hang the system when stress tested with Super PI. Either the stock long fan solution in my T61p wasn't able to cope with so much heat, or it had to do with the fact that my X9000 is an Engineering Sample (lots of those on the market). In any case, since I like a 100% sure and stable system, I reverted to stock speeds, and haven't had a single processor related problem during those couple of years I've been running an X9000.

So it generally boils down to what the other guys said - price/performance ratio wise the X9000 is hopelessly behind the T9xxx processors, on the other hand if you have the cash and want the absolute fastest plug and play processor for your T61p then by all means go for it.

X9000 user here, but I voted for T9500.

Honestly, the X9000 just makes a lot of heat when you are running it hard, which is the only time that you would see any real difference between it and the T9500. Forget overclocking the X9000, unless you have one of those laptop cooler things under yours. When I take the occasional Minecraft break (guilty pleasure lol), the corner of the laptop gets too hot to use comfortably on my lap. Even my wife complained about the hot air blowing onto her when she was on the couch next to me.

T9300

T9300 works for me!