Thinkpads Forum

Just bought one of these for myself, £25 +£5 post, there are 2 left - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221840835766

Being new NOS I thought it was worth a punt...

What is currently the best graphics card that will fit in the slot?

precip9 wrote:What is currently the best graphics card that will fit in the slot?

The AMD Radeon HD7750 or R7 250 (same card, different name). About 12000 in 3Dmark 06. If you want to pay alot more (for almost nothing), you can get the eyefinity edition with 2 GB of vRAM.

Thank you.

A recommendation for an Nvidia card would also be appreciated. Supposedly, W7 allows mixing of brands.

precip9 wrote:Thank you.

A recommendation for an Nvidia card would also be appreciated. Supposedly, W7 allows mixing of brands.

With windows 8 and 10 i can use dual GPU, both nVidia and AMD.

The fastest nVidia card that can be used in the dock is the GT730 (some lbetter like the GT740 will fit, but have a too high TDP). The 7750 is much, much faster...

I believe that. But CUDA cores are used by many design programs.

QWERTY Andreas wrote:

precip9 wrote:What is currently the best graphics card that will fit in the slot?

The AMD Radeon HD7750 or R7 250 (same card, different name). About 12000 in 3Dmark 06. If you want to pay alot more (for almost nothing), you can get the eyefinity edition with 2 GB of vRAM.

The R7 250 consumes 65 Watt and the 2503 can only deliver 50 Watt. So is it then compatible or not?
You're referring to the Club 3D Radeon R7 250 I presume? As pictured here: http://content.hwigroup.net/images/prod ... lp-1gb.jpg ?

coolcat37 wrote: The R7 250 consumes 65 Watt and the 2503 can only deliver 50 Watt. So is it then compatible or not?
You're referring to the Club 3D Radeon R7 250 I presume? As pictured here: http://content.hwigroup.net/images/prod ... lp-1gb.jpg ?

There are two different kinds of R7 250:
- The real deal
- A 7750 with a new label.

Both Club 3D and Sapphire make a card that fits. But either way, i am using a Club 3D AMD Radeon HD7750 which is infact _the same card_ as the R7 250 - just a new label. And it works just fine (except for some minor cooling issues with the dockingstation, requiring some work)

A link to my card: http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/produc ... ofile.html
A link to the R7 250: http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/produc ... ofile.html

As you see, exactly the same card, except for the cooler (i think the cooler is better in the R7 250...)

Here it peaks at 43W: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Club ... le/26.html

However, the eyefinity edition migth have some power problems due to the higher amount of vRAM - but i dont know

precip9 wrote:I believe that. But CUDA cores are used by many design programs.

Which design programs are intending to run?

Btw, thank you Andreas for your response

QWERTY Andreas wrote:

precip9 wrote:What is currently the best graphics card that will fit in the slot?

The AMD Radeon HD7750 or R7 250 (same card, different name). About 12000 in 3Dmark 06..

Do you think this card would work if the fan assembly was removed? The heat sink looks as if it's only 1 card width, covers all the important bits and I'm thinking perhaps the built in 2503 dock cooling just might suffice?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7750/3.html

Headrush wrote:Do you think this card would work if the fan assembly was removed? The heat sink looks as if it's only 1 card width, covers all the important bits and I'm thinking perhaps the built in 2503 dock cooling just might suffice?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7750/3.html

I migth think the heatsink is higher. On the other hand, you migth be able to get a cheap singleslot card with a sufficient cooler to mount

But even if it fits, don't count on the docks cooler. When using my HD7750 with a cooler, it can hit as high as 95C (peak). Thats with the docking fan, and the cards fan on. With the docking fan off, the temps rise with around 5C

Thanks QWERTY Andreas that's useful info regarding your temps. I don't plan to play 3D games on my T61, I just want to use it to stream movie files upto 1080p and play music, a basic HTPC. Is there any older low power cards with HDMI I could consider that will fit and run quiet? These 7750s are not that cheap even 2nd hand but I'll get one if I have to..

Headrush wrote:Thanks QWERTY Andreas that's useful info regarding your temps. I don't plan to play 3D games on my T61, I just want to use it to stream movie files upto 1080p and play music, a basic HTPC. Is there any older low power cards with HDMI I could consider that will fit and run quiet? These 7750s are not that cheap even 2nd hand but I'll get one if I have to..

I don't think you would need an expensive dock + GPU for just streaming. And you don't really want to have that disturbing fan on, when listening to music You cannot hear the fan of the GPU, simply because of the docks fan.
I would rather go with an active VGA => HDMI adapter.

QWERTY Andreas wrote:
I don't think you would need an expensive dock + GPU for just streaming. And you don't really want to have that disturbing fan on, when listening to music...

I hear you on that one, I was quite surprised at the fan noise. My problem is audio digital output, I need full hdmi for the DTS/DD surround amp and a spdif for the stereo dac. I'm currently using my main PC for all of this atm and use sleep mode to save power when I'm not. The T61 chugs away 24/7 doing torrent duties, I thought if I could get it doing AV duty as well I could leave the PC asleep more often and save energy. But what the hell, it's only electric and spending money on stuff I don't really need could be spent paying the bills.

Maybe I will try the 2504 with spdif for music duties and stick with the PC for movies. Thanks for the input

Headrush wrote:

QWERTY Andreas wrote:
I don't think you would need an expensive dock + GPU for just streaming. And you don't really want to have that disturbing fan on, when listening to music...

I hear you on that one, I was quite surprised at the fan noise. My problem is audio digital output, I need full hdmi for the DTS/DD surround amp and a spdif for the stereo dac. I'm currently using my main PC for all of this atm and use sleep mode to save power when I'm not. The T61 chugs away 24/7 doing torrent duties, I thought if I could get it doing AV duty as well I could leave the PC asleep more often and save energy. But what the hell, it's only electric and spending money on stuff I don't really need could be spent paying the bills.

Maybe I will try the 2504 with spdif for music duties and stick with the PC for movies. Thanks for the input

Can you tell me what brand is on the advanced dock you ordered of eBay? Is it IBM or Lenovo?

coolcat37 wrote: Can you tell me what brand is on the advanced dock you ordered of eBay? Is it IBM or Lenovo?

Both the IBM and Lenovo ones should be identical. The Lenovo ones have the potential for less wear since the IBM ones will be older.

QWERTY Andreas wrote: I don't think you would need an expensive dock + GPU for just streaming. And you don't really want to have that disturbing fan on, when listening to music You cannot hear the fan of the GPU, simply because of the docks fan.
I would rather go with an active VGA => HDMI adapter.

It shouldn't be too hard to replace the fan with a quieter / higher quality one.

micrex22 wrote:

coolcat37 wrote: Can you tell me what brand is on the advanced dock you ordered of eBay? Is it IBM or Lenovo?

Both the IBM and Lenovo ones should be identical. The Lenovo ones have the potential for less wear since the IBM ones will be older.

Not true. Folks claim the IBM is way louder.

It just says ThinkPad on the dock but the instructions for loading/unloading the laptop (a sticker on the mounting plate below the laptop) says Lenovo.

I might look into replacing the fan as suggested... Oh hang on, it's not that easy apparently, sod that

coolcat37 wrote: Not true. Folks claim the IBM is way louder.

Exactly, the IBM ones will be louder as they're older and theoretically sporting more worn out fans. Replacing the fan will probably require some soldering and cutting, but shouldn't be too difficult if you do that kind of stuff.

But other than that, they'll be identical.

Headrush wrote:Just bought one of these for myself, £25 +£5 post, there are 2 left - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221840835766

Being new NOS I thought it was worth a punt...

So how is the NOS 2503 treating you, Headrush?