Thinkpads Forum

Hello!

I am a happy owner of Frankenpad T60 and soon the T61p. I do have few general queries about the laptops and their modifications.

1. Would that be possible to change the internal battery cells within the laptop battery for the same type of cells, but with greater capacitance?


It would be possible to get same voltage, higher capacitance and that would result in longer battery life. Question is how the charging electronics of battery would react. Anyone knows the answer, suspects one?

2. X9000 vs T9500

I am wondering what would be the best CPU to install in that laptop. I am rather looking for performance, but battery life is still a second priority.

3. Any alternatives to this embedded processor?

https://www.broadcom.com/products/featu ... tal_hd.php
https://www.broadcom.com/products/Consu ... s/BCM70015

What it does is decoding the videos - lower power consumption and less CPU usage. I wonder if there are any newer versions of it from different brands.

4. Changing the screen type to one with LED lights and greater viewing angles. If not these two, at least the LED lights. Is it possible?

5. Do you have any ideas about small watercooling loop inside that laptop(t61p)? I wonder if it is possible...

Basically I am not sure if such small pumps, tubes and liquid reservoirs exists... If you could post any links to the smallest known, it would be great

6. Changing the fingerpring reader to something newer. Just a basic, but newer device. I like using it, but sometimes it gets tricky with registering new fingerprints. Too slow, too fast... Too much!

7. Difference between 4GB and 8GB RAM on Win8/Win10. With the time is it worth investing in the 8GB kit?


8. Are there any other embedded MPCIE processors that could help with audio/network processing or anything similiar? They woke up my interests after all.

9. Reasonably undervolting BIOS for Nvidia GPU in T61p. Is 1 volt safe to not leave me with the useless motherboard? Or should I aim lower?

10. Undervolting the CPU (x9000 at the moment) on T61p? What software should I use - ThrottleStop?

11. Where on motherboard is the power supply I could use to power LED lights inside the laptop that would be installed by me? They are supposed to work on battery power only too. Also, I would not mind if they could be turned on/off by software control

These are all my ideas for the upcoming laptop. I would like to improve it!

1. Yes, but you need to be careful not to trip a switch or sensor that disables the batteries.

2. Performance is nearly identical, but the X9000 generates quite a bit more heat and needs more power. It is also much more expensive compared to the T9500. I believe you can do a pin mod to put a T9900 in, or even a quad core, with a bit more work.

4. CCFL to LED? Yes. If you want better viewing angles, you need an IPS display, which were options only on T60 15" models.

Battery life on the T61p? I never bothered, and haven't figured out why anyone would try.

Even at maximum power savings, with a CPU such as the T9500 and the power hungry nVidia GPU will only give you 25-30 minutes of runtime per battery cell. At full load, it will draw about 60 watts (I measured draw off the battery in mine once and was astonished). If you want mobile runtime, look for a 9 cell battery to go with the 3 cell ultrabay battery. You'd get 5, maybe 6 hours off one full charge with light use with this configuration.

I'm not an expert on rebuilding Li batteries, but I don't believe battery capacitance vs. density has improved that much in the last 8 years - enhanced battery life has come about recently with advances in lower power components. I'll leave this topic for the more well-versed. Replacing cells is much more user-friendly in Ni-MH batteries than in Li batteries. Plus - playing with raw Li cells is something I think is best left for a controlled environment. Too much heat and... BOOM!

The T9500 is - IMHO - thermally at the sweet spot for the T61p. At full fan (overdrive mode) AND with an undervolted CPU, core temps will still hover near 75C. Without undervolting and without using fan control software, it'd be easy for that CPU to soar into the upper 80s or even low 90s. With the infamous nVidia defect, mid 70s is plenty hot for me (unless you've confirmed your GPU is post-defect). This is all with the T9500's TDP of 35W; stick an X9000 in there with a TDP of 44W and IMHO you're just asking for trouble unless you manage your fan speeds and undervolt it.

IIRC it is possible to upgrade to an LED backlit display - but I have no specifics. RealBlackStuff seems to be the expert on this process.

That's about all I have to comment on at the moment...

I do think that believe that at least 6 of those will fit it:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6x-3-7V-6000M ... 46368627d2

I did not check for their voltage drop when discharged and maximum rated current, but supposedly I will gain at least twice the capacity of my currrent battery for T60 - 7000mAh. To be honest I hope for much more...

Only thing I am afraid of is the explosion. Not while carrying the soldiering, but when using. I will install fuse inside for sure, there is electronics in the batteries as well, but after all this is quite trial and error method. It could explode.

Regarding the mentioned temperatures: currently I do have the X9000 CPU with NVS140M. With fan turned off and youtube videos being played at 1080p it has 55-56 degrees for both the GPU and CPU. It is with Arctic thermal compound and thermal pads connecting the heatsink and... Keyboard. It gets significantly warmer, but it does not disturb me.

I am also planning to get W500 ATI cooler, so hopefully: the temperatures should not be a problem. I am just wondering between the CPUs as 9W in power consumption is a lot. On second hand I could have underclocked each. Any experiences to compare for that?

http://ark.intel.com/pl/products/33918/ ... 00-MHz-FSB
http://ark.intel.com/pl/products/34443/ ... 00-MHz-FSB

Coming back to the idea of wider viewing angles... I wanted to somehow use different screen, for an example one of Samsung's(any brand actually). I have heard it was possible once. Something like that, but with higher resolution:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-15-4-1280 ... 5672634360

Quad Core CPU? If I would underclock it somehow to meet the design of 35W... Also this must be reliable and robust solution. From what I have been reading so far, it is not.

TDP isn't power consumption of the CPU - it's is the maximum amount of heat generated by the CPU that the cooling system is required to dissipate (e.g. 35W TDP = heat sink must be able to dissipate 35W of heat). I'd be curious to know what your temps end up at with Prime95 with two treads in the in-place FFT test-mode at maximum frequency...

75 on CPU to 63 on GPU with that. Small FFT test for maximum heat. However it only lasts 10 minutes now.

And in the matter of fact even playing the Hearthstone I never seen such temperatures. I assume it is most demanding task this laptop faces.

I am simply afraid about cooling solution and maximum power consumption with the 4 core CPU. Also I want to avoid situations such as random restarts, swapping CPU in order to be able to boot from time to time... It is not something for me I may think about T9900 as it is cooler, of similiar performance and presumably will have lower power consumption than X9000/X9100. However if the plan with battery will go well, there will be nothing to worry about except the temperatures.

Temperature is jumping between (CPU/GPU) 75/65 to 65/62 and this is how it stays. Not bad. However keyboard at WSAD is warm. The nice way, but not many people may like it.