Thinkpads Forum

Hi all.
is it possible to upgrade the cpu on a T60P from T2600 to a T7600?

I ask this because i made a purchase on ebay from thinkpadworld and they listed the machine as having a t7600 but a later check on ibm's Personal computing support - an archive with descriptions of all realesed products shows the same machine as having a T2600.

Thanks

yes, it's definitely possible.   whether or not thinkpadworld upgraded the machine is another question.

I upgraded my T60p T2600 to a T7600. It can definitely be done.

Did you need to get a new/different fan/heat-sink? I understand that the T7600 is bigger than the T2600.

Thanks

DAH wrote:Did you need to get a new/different fan/heat-sink? I understand that the T7600 is bigger than the T2600.

I added a T7600 to my T60p a few weeks ago. The fit was fine, and it has been working without any problems.

the max power consumption for merom is 3 watts higher than a yonah (34 vs 31watts) the dye size for a merom is bigger due to the bigger l2 cache (4 vs 2mb) but is small enough to fit in the 478pin pentium m socket that has been used since the banias core.

DAH wrote:Did you need to get a new/different fan/heat-sink? I understand that the T7600 is bigger than the T2600.

Thanks

Nope - it's the same physical size. Remove the old one, and plug in the new one.

But beforce be shure your Bios Version is 2.xx

cu

I believe you will need a rev.03 mainboard if you want to upgrade to Core 2 Duo.
I recently just upgraded the CPU of my T60 from T2500 to T7400 (I have a rev. 03 mainboard), it works fine. Although the new CPU runs a bit warmer.

dickeywang wrote:I believe you will need a rev.03 mainboard if you want to upgrade to Core 2 Duo.
I recently just upgraded the CPU of my T60 from T2500 to T7400 (I have a rev. 03 mainboard), it works fine. Although the new CPU runs a bit warmer.

Hey dickeywang, how can you tell which rev your mainboard is?
DenTP4rm

Download CPU-Z

cu

Here is the lowdown for CPU upgrades on a T60(p):

1) Motherboard revision 3.0 or HIGHER is REQUIRED (1.0 and 2.0 will not accept Core 2 Duo CPUs b/c there is a circuitry issue) - good news is that only the very first T60s that came out use this motherboard. Download CPU-Z and run it, then check on of the tabs (think it is computer info) and you can get the MB revision.

2) To clarify, the socket for Core 2 Duo T7x00 CPUs is the same as Pentium M CPUs, but they are NOT interchangeable. There was a pin layout change - so while they are physically compatible, they are NOT electrically compatible. Confusing to some, I know, but that is how the ball bounces.

3) Heat - the T7600 puts out SIGNIFICANTLY more heat than the T7200. To the point where, IMHO, you are pushing the thermal limits of the heatsink in the T60. It will work, yes, but the temps on the CPU will be high and the bottom of the laptop will be PIPING hot on full load. There is NOT a different fan that you can swap out to improve this. There is a Rev. B fan, but that fan simply has better noise characteristics, not better cooling characteristics. The ONE THING I have found that will improve heat, is to use a program like Notebook Hardware Control to undervolt the CPU when it is at full load. PLEASE NOTE: this process REQUIRES you to test the CPU at EVERY single voltage step with a stress program like Prime95 (multicore version) to verify that the chip is stable at the new voltage setting. Considering you need to test at every voltage step AND at every multiplier, be prepared to spend an entire afternoon doing stability testing. Also, EVERY chip is unique in these regards, so don't expect you buddies settings to help you much. It's a lot of work, but in the end it is worth it. Plus, you will get a little bit better battery life as well.

Cheers - BP

To the OP: Take it from the master! Brent's advice is as good as it gets about this topic.

Oh man, I've been away WAY too long.

Gator - when did they make you a Mod? Things must have really gone down hill.

I was thinking about doing the same thing. I have a T2500. How much of a difference would a Core 2 Duo vs. a Core Duo really be?

CrunchDude2 wrote:I was thinking about doing the same thing. I have a T2500. How much of a difference would a Core 2 Duo vs. a Core Duo really be?

There is a good review article on anandtech.com that compares C2D and CD.
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/ ... spx?i=2808

Basically you will see 10-20% performance difference depending on the actually application. For regular use like MS Office or web browsing, I don't think you will notice any difference, but if you doing a lot of media coding/decoding work, then you can certainly feel the difference. Plus, the C2D support 64bit OS.

brentpresley wrote: The ONE THING I have found that will improve heat, is to use a program like Notebook Hardware Control to undervolt the CPU when it is at full load.

i thought it wasnt possible to down volt those Core 2 Duo .
on my NHC i cannot change any voltage ....?


another question for the T60 guys that did this upgrade , how did it effect performance ?

thanks Danny

How did upgrading my T60p improve performance?

There was a speed boost, but not too much. It definitly would not have been worth the price of the upgrade (about $620 at the time) except that I need to develop and test 64-bit software, with requires the C2D.

Otherwise, I don't think it was worth upgrading. For most people the system bottlenecks will be the hard drive and video, not the CPU. You're probably better off spending the time you would have spent upgrading by cleaning out unnecessary programs and services in your system to get a performance boost.

yes i thought so. CPU is always kind of waste . when i'm buying new machine i never buy the top of the line. even now with new T61 i'm not sure if the 2.2 was necessary for me . i bet 2Ghz run almost identical .

i always get a bit disappointed after buying new PCs since i started buying them. they always look on the paper and spec much faster then your current. then comes real life .....

danny_isr wrote:

brentpresley wrote: The ONE THING I have found that will improve heat, is to use a program like Notebook Hardware Control to undervolt the CPU when it is at full load.

i thought it wasnt possible to down volt those Core 2 Duo .
on my NHC i cannot change any voltage ....?


another question for the T60 guys that did this upgrade , how did it effect performance ?

thanks Danny

Not true. You CAN undervolt C2D w/ NHC.

i just re installed NHC and same thing , in Voltage menu the multiplier and set voltage field are blank.i cannot change a thing.

not to mention that by NHC my CPU is 2.195Mhz ALL THE TIME.

any ideas ?

thanks Danny