X9000 - is it worth it?

[thinkpadusert61p]

I used t9300 it's best for self cost/perfomance btw recently I purchased X7900 for 25 USD and waiting now for delivery. Hope cooling system will work with new cpu fine.

[Natakranta]

In Throttlestop, have you DISabled BD PROCHOT?
In BIOS/Config/CPU is Core-Multi-Processing ENabled?
I assume you are using a 90W charger and a working battery?

Hi, thanks for chiming in
BIOS/Config/CPU is Core-Multi-Processing ENabled
BIOS/Config/CPU is Virtualization ENabled
Throttlestop: BD PROCHOT DISabled
Very good long lasting original Lenovo battery and original Lenovo 90W charger
ThrottleStop screen shot
I can't set Multiplier above 14 and Voltage above 1.2
I can't un-tick "Disable Turbo"

[kfzhu1229]

Hi, thanks for chiming in
BIOS/Config/CPU is Core-Multi-Processing ENabled
BIOS/Config/CPU is Virtualization ENabled
Throttlestop: BD PROCHOT DISabled
Very good long lasting original Lenovo battery and original Lenovo 90W charger
ThrottleStop screen shot
I can't set Multiplier above 14 and Voltage above 1.2
I can't un-tick "Disable Turbo"

Click the UNLK button first, that will unlock the multiplier. And it's only then you are allowed to toggle those beyond multiplier 14!
Then before it truly applies, click the turn on button to turn throttlestop on!
Also, you really wanna enable the power saver checkbox. Without it, the CPU always runs at whatever max frequency (be it x16 or x17) you set it to and it generates unnecessary amounts of heat and burns down battery like as if the CPU utilisation is 100% the whole time!

I used t9300 it's best for self cost/perfomance btw recently I purchased X7900 for 25 USD and waiting now for delivery. Hope cooling system will work with new cpu fine.

I also got myself a T9300 CPU with a huge batch of Core 2 CPU upgrades such as the T7200, T8300, T9550.
Tbh I would only put T9300 or higher on a laptop that I or someone that I really care for (and I think the extra performance can come in handy). The T8300 is still by far a better option as far as getting those laptops to sell online.
However, while I was able to get T8300 CPU's for US$9 each, I was only able to get the T9300's for US$24, which is 2.66x the price for maybe 20% performance improvement...

[Natakranta]

Click the UNLK button first, that will unlock the multiplier. And it's only then you are allowed to toggle those beyond multiplier 14!
Then before it truly applies, click the turn on button to turn throttlestop on!
Also, you really wanna enable the power saver checkbox. Without it, the CPU always runs at whatever max frequency (be it x16 or x17) you set it to and it generates unnecessary amounts of heat and burns down battery like as if the CPU utilisation is 100% the whole time!

Thanks! That was it!
x16 at 1.2250V seems stable. Now playing with x17 and various voltages, mostly 1.250V worked for long time without blue screen. Gave me smooth 1080p60fps playback at YouTube. Surprisingly it can't handle Netflix on full screen, jittery AF. What I noticed is that YouTube is spiking CPU to max clock and temp (88-94) but at least plays nicely. Netflix on contrary is not spiking CPU at all (60's temps) and jittering awefully.
I did TS benchmark to stress it. At x17 it did 100,600 so just over 1:40minute

I have T500 fan+heatsink there, it is rather quiet. I wander if it is working on max speed. I need to refresh myself his to use TP Fan Control. Maybe I could keep it stable on higher clock on expense of noise.

[kfzhu1229]

Thanks! That was it!
x16 at 1.2250V seems stable. Now playing with x17 and various voltages, mostly 1.250V worked for long time without blue screen. Gave me smooth 1080p60fps playback at YouTube. Surprisingly it can't handle Netflix on full screen, jittery AF. What I noticed is that YouTube is spiking CPU to max clock and temp (88-94) but at least plays nicely. Netflix on contrary is not spiking CPU at all (60's temps) and jittering awefully.
I did TS benchmark to stress it. At x17 it did 100,600 so just over 1:40minute

I have T500 fan+heatsink there, it is rather quiet. I wander if it is working on max speed. I need to refresh myself his to use TP Fan Control. Maybe I could keep it stable on higher clock on expense of noise.

Glad I was able to help on this one.
Well I have the voltages that I use, I will share that to you once I find them.
EDIT: 16x: 1.2125V, 17x: 1.2750V, 14x (stock + undervolt): 1.1750V
By 1080p60 YouTube, I assume you are using complete software acceleration... It stresses the machine much harder than if it were 24, 25 or 30fps. I download enhanced h264ify and block 60fps from there.
Which graphics solution do you have? If you have the NVS 140M, unfortunately no ThinkPad ever comes with a NVS 140M that has 256MB of VRAM, and 128MB of VRAM is simply not cutting it for full screen anything above 720p if you use hardware decoding. Alas you don't have 720p for Netflix, it's either 480p or 1080p, and you can't use software decoding smoothly either because DRM algorithm takes up quite a bit of CPU power...
With 128MB of VRAM, anything 1080p fullscreen with output resolution above 1280x800 will run out of VRAM and you see really horrible stutters...
And wow 88-94C is actually horrible thermals and that might take a toll on this ridiculously expensive X9000 chip... When I do 17x on my Precision M4300, typically the max CPU temp doesn't even peak over 80C...

[Natakranta]

Glad I was able to help on this one.
Well I have the voltages that I use, I will share that to you once I find them.
EDIT: 16x: 1.2125V, 17x: 1.2750V, 14x (stock + undervolt): 1.1750V

Thanks for tips. I can't make x17 stable, with lower voltage like 1.2125 or 1.2500 it erroring out. With 1.2750 it goes crazy hot, to upper 90's till safety trips and shuts down laptop - I don't want to stress poor grandpa Frankie this way, Say no to cruelty to old ThinkPads
I am leaving it at x16 with 1.2125V, it successfully finished TS Benchmark with 102.911 score maxing temps at 79c. I forgot to mention, I installed TP Fan Control and leave it running on auto.
I tested YouTube 1080p at 60fps and it seemed smooth, smooth enough. 1080p at 30fps is perfectly fine to watch.
My impression is this T500 fan+heatsink I have in my Frank is quite quiet even on maximum speed, well at least comparing to my new Lenovo Legion i5 I bought a year ago - this one is a turbo vacuum cleaner when I'm playing Witcher 3 on it

[kfzhu1229]

Thanks for tips. I can't make x17 stable, with lower voltage like 1.2125 or 1.2500 it erroring out. With 1.2750 it goes crazy hot, to upper 90's till safety trips and shuts down laptop - I don't want to stress poor grandpa Frankie this way, Say no to cruelty to old ThinkPads
I am leaving it at x16 with 1.2125V, it successfully finished TS Benchmark with 102.911 score maxing temps at 79c. I forgot to mention, I installed TP Fan Control and leave it running on auto.
I tested YouTube 1080p at 60fps and it seemed smooth, smooth enough. 1080p at 30fps is perfectly fine to watch.
My impression is this T500 fan+heatsink I have in my Frank is quite quiet even on maximum speed, well at least comparing to my new Lenovo Legion i5 I bought a year ago - this one is a turbo vacuum cleaner when I'm playing Witcher 3 on it

Wow that's horrible thermals... On my M4300 it can do x17 at 1.275V perfectly fine and the CPU gets nowhere near as hot as that, but I can feel that the VRM on the laptop is being stretched to the limits, where even a tiny overclock on the Quadro FX 360M results in hard locking the laptop (the CAD approved version of NVS140M 256MB).
Again, do you have the one with the NVS140M 128MB?
With x17 at 1.275V, can you at least get the CPU to run cool if you use fan 7 in TPFancontrol? If not, can you do so with fan 64? I am really curious whether between that Dell and that ThinkPad, if there is any significant thermals difference