Thinkpads Forum

I tested two different cards in the Advanced Dock with a T60p to see which would be faster, and compared to the built-in graphics chip with the panel display. I used PassMark Performance Test (does anyone know of something better to use?)

Test of FireGL V5200

Test of Lenovo X1300LE

Test of BFG Tech Nvidia GeForce 7600GS

The results are mixed - the built-in display is significantly faster on almost all the tests, except for the line-drawing test and the GUI test when it is only a tad faster. (I am driving two analog 24" external monitors, both at 1920x1200.)

I expected the BFG card to be faster than the Lenovo X1300LE (it's a full-size card, built for gaming, and is overclocked, while the Lenovo card is a special low-power edition made specially for the Advanced Dock), but it is only faster on some tests, and seems slower overall - that's a surprise.

I decided to go with the Lenovo X1300LE in my system (I was expecting to go with the BFG). Although it has a fan, and the BFG is passive-cooled with no fan, the fan on it is REALLY quiet. I can hardly hear it at all. I have disabled the two Advanced Dock fans and so basically my Advanced Dock is now noiseless, even with this card installed (and its fan running - that one fan should be sufficient). (When I did this with the BFG card installed, it got very hot - over 105 degrees. I didn't like that.)

The other big advantage for me is that it is officially supported in the Advanced Dock, and there doesn't seem to be any problem running the Thinkpad display alongside two external displays off the card at the same time - I couldn't do this with the BFG GeForce 6700 card, there was always a conflict and blue screens.

The same Catalyst interface works with both display drivers at the same time.

What are you going to be using the computer for? If it's for gaming, you definitely want to use 3dMark06 as benchmark. I'd be curious to see your results.

3dMark06 can be found here:
http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmark06/

Yeah ... I tested the same thing with 3DMark06 and got the same kind of results.

In a nutshell, I went with the X1300LE, because my attempt at the X1650XT failed (and it caused the advanced docking station to hard hang). I wanted to be able to ping Lenovo if something died and be able to say "here fix it" ...

On a positive note, I was able to reclaim 256MB of system memory since the V5200 chews up 256MB of system memory due to hypersuck .. err hypermemory.

pls look at this thread started by RonS(considerable read)

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

below is the last post of the 1st page
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Here are all of my benchmarks:

Thinkpad T60p V5200 (ATI X1600)
3DMark03: 5064
3DMark05: 3877
3DMark06: 1336

NVidia 7800GTX running on Dock's PCI-Express x16 slot, wired as x1
3DMark03: 9820
3DMark05: 4039
3DMark06: 2182

NVidia 7600GS running on Dock's PCI-Express x16 slot, wired as x1
3DMark03: 7394
3DMark05: 3351
3DMark06: 1848

This post has been edited to remove inaccurate 7600GS numbers that were a result of the card hitting against its core slowdown temp.
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***the 7800gt used external power from a separate power supply

Yeah the thread is a nice long one ....

I know he bootstrapped a PC's power supply onto the workstation. Do you know of any vendors which provide the ability to power the cards externally from their own chassis?

TIA,

not to my knowledge...
you would probably have to fab something up for yourself.

the only real solution for the dock imo is the x1300 series.
you can fit the 7600gs but it will give you noise problems...

What model of BFG did you use, I can pick up one of these for $90 but no return.
Amazon link

or this
http://www.amazon.com/XFX-GeForce-7600G ... f_rd_i=ybh

Would either of these work? I would prefer the bottom one though because of the HDMI but I reall wonder if it would fit.

Can I ask a newbie question here? I've used Thinkpads for quite a while, but I've never cared about docking systems. This thread sparks my interest. So, I can use another graphics card in the Advanced Dock? Would this be a regular card or one for notebooks? And do I need an external monitor to use the "external" card? What is the notebooks card while the other one is active?

Sorry for highjacking, noetus. No time for Google and getting a little excited here.

Jan_Hoho, abu_sme,
you should read through RonS's thread I quoted above, it has all the answers you need.

Ah, sweet. Everything in there, thanks for pointing.

I've gone through RonS post with a fine, it's just that there are no definative answers to my question. The reason I ask it in this thread is because the OP has successfully used a video card (albeit with limited performance success) that I am considering using in my rig.

I am sorry if I come across as shrill, but I am really trying to get to the bottom of this.