THERMAL PASTE/GREASE????????? Ready for T7600...............

[Crunch]

Hi all,

I have a Core Duo 15" T2500 Thinkpad T60p. I already upgraded the RAM to 2GB, and the hard drive to a 200GB 7,200rpm.

I'd like to install a Core 2 Duo CPU, maybe a T7700, as well as replace my abg integrated wireless to one that includes the upcoming 802.11n standard. Finally, I have an 15" SXGA+ screen. I would LOVE to have a UXGA screen again, so would I be able to pull that off by buying a 15" UXGA screen and replacing the current one? I have an ATI FireGL V5200 with 256MB dedicated video memory. I haven't looked it up yet, but it's a pretty high-end card, which I'm sure will support UXGA, or is that not how it works?

Basically, I guess I want to upgrade my T60p to a T61p.

Thanks all!

[SHoTTa35]

might as well you sell it and buy the T61p like you said. The screen alone will probably cost $400. The new CPU will probably be $200 or something too... i'd say just sell it

[Pocket Aces]

The CPU is part of the Santa Rosa platform, so it's not compatible with your motherboard. Upgrade options in any laptop are sparse, so just stick with RAM and hard drives.

[asianboyztn]

yup, the T7700 not gonna work with your current sysbd, as well as the N wireless card due to the N wireless card had three connector not two like the ABG model.

[Crunch]

Ok thanks guys...gotta watch ebay then...

[Troels]

i'd say just sell it

And achieve what? Then he would have to live with an inferior screen either way.

Crunch,
Wait a little about the C2D cpu upgrade, not because the T7700 is compatible, but because this and the T7700 is quite new, and will drop in price. When these drop, so will the last generation of CPUs.

Unless you have a use for N-wireless, it's a waste of money. You will also need a new antenna, and need to rewire it throughout the LCD screen cover assy. Do-able? certainly.

Flexviews can be found on ebay for about $300-$400 or thereabouts, and would be the only upgrade i'd do if i were you. You will also need a T60p UXGA lcd cable, which can be found for $10-$20 maybe, if the LCD doesn't come with it already.

[Crunch]

i'd say just sell it

And achieve what? Then he would have to live with an inferior screen either way.

Crunch,
Wait a little about the C2D cpu upgrade, not because the T7700 is compatible, but because this and the T7700 is quite new, and will drop in price. When these drop, so will the last generation of CPUs.

Unless you have a use for N-wireless, it's a waste of money. You will also need a new antenna, and need to rewire it throughout the LCD screen cover assy. Do-able? certainly.

Flexviews can be found on ebay for about $300-$400 or thereabouts, and would be the only upgrade i'd do if i were you. You will also need a T60p UXGA lcd cable, which can be found for $10-$20 maybe, if the LCD doesn't come with it already.

Cool. Thanks for your positive attitude. Primarily, I am concerned with the LCD. Wireless-N, and the CPU are secondary. I have a 15" SXGA+ LCD, and I just read a couple of reviews on the T61p's, which stated that they only come in 14.1" and 15.4" WUXGA, so would a 4:3 ratio even be possible? Or are there 15" T61's with UXGA I could use?

When do you think wireless-N will become interesting? If need-be, I can always get a PCMCIA, or Express card for it.

[erik]

you can get the UXGA panel online for around $300.   the cable is also needed.   FRU numbers and "instructions" can be found in the T60/p hardware maintenance manual.

unless you're doing a lot of network file transfers wirelessly, N is a waste of time.   and, if you're doing that much transfer then you should use a hard network cable anyway.   N will not make your internet connection any faster so i have to agree with Troels' comment above -- it's a waste of money.

if you have a revision-3 or newer system board then you can upgrade to a T7600 but not a T7700.   however, unless you absolutely need something that a C2D offers (besides speed) then it's also a waste of money in my opinion.   my current T61p (2.4Ghz T7700) doesn't seem much faster than the T42p (2.1GHz 765M) it replaces.   save your money and put it toward a T61p if you want a new processor.

[caseyse]

I have a Core Duo 15" T2500 Thinkpad T60p. I already upgraded the RAM to 2GB, and the hard drive to a 200GB 7,200rpm.

Humm, somebody enjoys hacking. The T7600 will work well with your T60p, and is about $600 at Newegg. An IPS screen, new, will run you $300 on eBay. You can also get an Atheros (IBM) N card on eBay for about $80, but you do need a 3rd antenna to use draft-N. If you have the WWAN antenna on the side of your screen, you can use one of its antennas (the line easily reaches) as your third antenna.

The T7600 makes the former gen T60p as fast as the newer T61p, and will give you the option to run a 64-bit OS. The only shortfall is the 3GB RAM limitation of the T60p, but most would agree this isn't an issue. And on the graphics front, you will see about half the performance of the T61p (but faster than the T61), but for most, this also isn't an issue, unless you live for games.

Is it worth it, I think so. The 15" 4:3 IPS screen is awesome. Processor speed, the latest networking, and the beautiful 15" 4:3 IPS screen, a perfect machine for some. given the current offerings.

[Crunch]

snipped

You guys awe AWESOME. And yes, someone likes hacking. A lot.

Alright, let's forget about wireless-N, although I do have a Seirra WWAN card for Verizon. Quick question about that. I have AT&T. Is there any way to swap that out for an AT&T HSDPA WWAN card?

I don't think I'll notice the difference between T7600 and T7700? What is the difference, by the way? They're both Core 2 Duo's right? And yes, I want to run 64-bit. So I don't need a new system board for the T7600, but I would for a T7700? Is it easy to replace? The T7600 CPU I mean. And how do I tell if I have a revision-3 system board?

As for the 15" UXGA, duh me, of course, I can just get a T60p one. I hear it's hit and miss with getting an LG vs. Samsung LCD when ordering a new laptop from Lenovo. Are LG's really that much better? I recently had a T43p with UXGA, and I was STUNNED. Every picture looked like I was IN the picture. It was so crystal clear, and no annoying dead pixels at ALL.

And I agree, the IPS screens are awesome! Are you saying the T61/p's do not offer IPS screens anymore? I think I read that somewhere in another forum, or I might have read it wrong.

My 200GB 7,200rpm is still on order, btw, so I am still running a 100GB 5,400rpm. What benefits, besides double the space obviously, am I looking to gain? I can also get a 2GB chip to go up to 3GB of RAM. Weird that the limitation is 3GB's. Can't just put in two 2GB sticks, huh?

According to my IT buddies, C2D is mostly useful because it supports 64-bit, and the apps I run are all, except one, 64-bit capable. How much of an increase am I looking at before I order all this stuff?

[erik]

what apps are you looking to use under 64-bit?   while many apps will run under x64 OSes, there are very few apps right now which run natively under 64-bit -- 'natively' being the key.   unless your apps works natively with x64 architecture and not just "capable" (which is usually under a 32-bit emulation mode by the OS), you'd be wasting your time.   since your system is physically limited to 3GB system memory, there is absolutely no benefit for you to use an x64 OS unless you are 100% certain that your apps will be running natively in 64-bit.

there are no LG or samsung UXGA panels.   they are either IDTech or BOE-Hydis.   the BOE screens are marginally better according to anecdotal evidence.

regarding the whole LG/samsung debate on the T61p, i've used UXGA and IPS UXGA panels since IBM released them in 2000 for testing and 2001 to the public.   i currently have a samsung WUXGA panel on my T61p and am perfectly happy with it and honestly wouldn't want to go back to the 4:3 UXGA size.   and, fwiw, i have zero dead pixels.   new panels are in the works (LED and OLED) which will soon make IPS displays look like complete crap, so for now it's just a matter of being patient.

the T7600 and T7700 are very close in terms of speed.   the main difference is the 3GB and 4GB respective limit in addressable system memory.

you can install 4GB physical memory in your T60 but absolutely will not be able to use the last 1GB no matter what you do, period.   this would be an absolute waste of money.

the 7K200 drives are markedly faster than the 5Kxxx series.   this upgrade alone will be more cost-effective than a processor in terms of making your system faster.   hard disk speed is the biggest bottleneck in any system.

i don't know about the WWAN cards.   you can check the HMM linked above to see if there are any physical differences in antennae or anything else.   if not then a simple card swap should be suffice.   you'll want to do a search or ask specifically in the forum for more info on this before proceeding.

[Troels]

Erik has a very good point about the processor, i didn' t leave much thought either. Mine is rarely operating at the maximum speed either, doing normal tasks, so the benefits of C2D is nill.

For 3D, the limiting factor is the GFX (and will always be in a laptop).
I had a T42 before too, and i don't really notice the PM vs. CD improvements, except in a few apps which actually utilises multi-threading.
I don't think there is any panel development going on that will compete with image quality of IPS, or better it. The LED backlit screens closes a gap, but their light homogenity is anything but acceptable - See the notebookcheck review of the mbp.
OLED sounds very promising, but it's only progressing slowly. Maybe the demand is too low, a lot of people only care about how cheap the laptop can be bought to get the latest C2D and nvidia sli card.

[Crunch]

Alright gang, thanks a lot! I looked up why I could replace a T2500 with only a T7600. Bus speed. These run at 667MHz, and the T7700 at 800MHz. So you think I shouldn't even bother with replacing the CPU either? The biggest deal to me out of the 4 items I had wanted was the LCD. UXGA baby.

So finally, my ATI FireGL V5200 should support UXGA. Is it difficult to replace the LCD? And what about the CPU? Hard to do, or just take out old, pop new in?

Thanks, my fellow Thinkpad enthusiasts.

[caseyse]

I recently purchased two T60p UXGA machines, and have upgraded to the T7600, 7K200, 3GB, and Draft-N (at the same time). Swapping the CPU was easy. I understand that clock-for-clock, the C2D is as much as 15 percent faster than the CD. I (and my wife) use 64-bit Gentoo (Linux), and so all of my applications are 64-bit Except for a few Windows applications that are run under Wine.

[erik]

So finally, my ATI FireGL V5200 should support UXGA. Is it difficult to replace the LCD? And what about the CPU? Hard to do, or just take out old, pop new in?

the original A21p with UXGA only had 16MB of vram so i can guarantee that your ATI V5200 will have it covered.

the processor is as easy as a 1:1 swap but you'll have to properly and carefully use thermal compound on top of the processor and GPU.   it's no different than desktop chips with a clip-on heat sink.

[Crunch]

I recently purchased two T60p UXGA machines, and have upgraded to the T7600, 7K200, 3GB, and Draft-N (at the same time). Swapping the CPU was easy. I understand that clock-for-clock, the C2D is as much as 15 percent faster than the CD. I (and my wife) use 64-bit Gentoo (Linux), and so all of my applications are 64-bit Except for a few Windows applications that are run under Wine.

Hi again, fellow Angeleno. Well, I would get Vista 64-bit, so the entire OS will be fast as hell with the 7,200 drive, no?

How hard would it be to replace the screen in your opinion? I see them on ebay all the time. I've given up on the idea of wireless-N. I usually replace my Thinkpads once a year, and I just got this one for an insane price.

Going from 2GB to 3GB, will it really make that much of a difference? I mainly run Firefox with about 20 tabs open, MS Word, AIM, avast virus scanner, and I watch movies using the VLAN player all the time.

Would the movies come up clearer with the higher resolution? Sorry, this might be a dumb question. Do you work in IT, by the way?

Thanks dude!

[caseyse]

Based on the apps you use, I don't think you would benefit from moving to 3GB. If you're mechanically inclined, I'm sure it would be fairly easy to replace the screen, although I haven't done this myself. I didn't purchase an extended warranty on my machines, but I did purchase an extra BOE Hydis display from eBay, as a backup.

[erik]

Well, I would get Vista 64-bit, so the entire OS will be fast as hell with the 7,200 drive, no?

(snip)

Going from 2GB to 3GB, will it really make that much of a difference? I mainly run Firefox with about 20 tabs open, MS Word, AIM, avast virus scanner, and I watch movies using the VLAN player all the time.

ok, i gotta ask...   why do you need 3GB and a 64-bit OS to run apps like word, firefox, instant messaging, and watching movies?

[Crunch]

Well, I probably do not. It's more of a want, and learning how to deal with laptops under the hood.

I did need the larger and faster 200GB hard drive, and I needed to upgrade to 2GB from 1GB of RAM, but that's done. What I really would LOVE to have is UXGA again, though. I gave up my fully loaded T43p Pentium M 2.13GHz for the T60p, because it had the Core Duo, and I got a crazy deal on it. So now I have two 2GHz CPU's, which are likely more than sufficient. I also didn't need the fingerprint reader and the WWAN that came with it, but my machine was just loaded up with virtually every feature.

So when do you guys think a Core 2 Duo, 64-bit, or even more RAM would be of any benefit to me? I like my SXGA+ screen, too. I have had many XGA machines in the past, but after my first SXGA+, there was NOOO going back to XGA. Now I feel the same way with UXGA. I checked and my video card is compatible, so what do I need? Is it a very invasive, risky procedure? I'm a fast learner.

[erik]

So when do you guys think a Core 2 Duo, 64-bit, or even more RAM would be of any benefit to me?

stick with your current processor and OS until you have a specific need to upgrade.   ie; autocad 2008 64-bit would be a good reason to upgrade where office 2007 would not.   if you want to play around with vista then stick with 32-bit as it has a lot better driver/app support than 64-bit.

if you currently have 2GB of RAM then upgrading to 3GB probably won't make much difference.   the best way to know is to open all of your everyday apps then open the task manager (start > run > type "taskmgmt.msc" and click 'OK' > click 'performance' tab) and see how much physical memory is being used.   if it's nowhere near the full 2GB then upgrading is unnecessary.

[Crunch]

So when do you guys think a Core 2 Duo, 64-bit, or even more RAM would be of any benefit to me?

stick with your current processor and OS until you have a specific need to upgrade. ie; autocad 2008 64-bit would be a good reason to upgrade where office 2007 would not. if you want to play around with vista then stick with 32-bit as it has a lot better driver/app support than 64-bit.

if you currently have 2GB of RAM then upgrading to 3GB probably won't make much difference. the best way to know is to open all of your everyday apps then open the task manager (start > run > type "taskmgmt.msc" and click 'OK' > click 'performance' tab) and see how much physical memory is being used. if it's nowhere near the full 2GB then upgrading is unnecessary.

Agreed on all counts. I had done the Task Manager test, if you will, many times, and CPU as well as memory usage has never gone anything that would warrant an upgrade. Should I disable or reduce the paging file? I've never seen my RAM go above 1.4GB's, so well under 2GB's.

So now on to what would benefit me NOW, and I really WANT it NOW, is the UXGA LCD. I checked my video card, and it is, as I thought, fully compatible with UXGA. Are the antennas behind the screen attached to the actual screen, or rather behind the screen, attached to the inside of the cover? Would you recommend I do this? You successfully talked me out of 3 of the 4 things I had wanted, and once again, I agree, 64-bit is premature for what I use my Thinkpad for, wireless-N is currently useless, and upgrading the CPU is as well. There are other upgrades made for this unit that are unnecessary. The Sierra WWAN card (a $250 option I didn't have to pay for , as well as the fingerprint reader, although as of late, I do use it constantly, but it isn't necessary.

Just let me have my beloved 1600x1200 resolution. lol...pretty please with sugar on top. The pre-req's are there (video card), so what would be the best option for this?

Thanks everybody very much!

[Crunch]

So I have the darn T7600 now. I printed out the instructions for the initial disassembly, installation and re-assembly. I found out I was missing the thermal paste/grease...I want to get this done. Where do I get it? How much, what can I screw up?

Thank you!

Edit: Is the T7600 bigger in physical size than the T2600?

Edit2: Can someone please respond?

[Peak2Peak]

Most popular thermal compound is Artic Silver 5 which can be found on ebay

[Crunch]

Most popular thermal compound is Artic Silver 5 which can be found on ebay

Hey Peak2Peak, thanks for responding and the detailed email. You rock!

Quick OT question: Your location says London...I'd like to buy my dad a new Thinkpad from lenovo.com. Would you happen to know if the VAT is ADDED to the invoice, or if it's INCLUDED??

I was hoping to get this done today, so is there any way I can buy this in a hardware store or something? And the anti-static stuff you were talking about (ESD I believe), where would I get that? I didn't bother with anything when installing the RAM chips, and in past upgrades, the same is true for hard drive upgrades, and also RAM upgrades. I never had any problems. lol...Was I lucky, or is the CPU THAT much MORE sensitive?

Thanks again!

P.S. Do you need/want any parts? I'll be in the UK next month. Your frequent help has not gone unnoticed!

[Peak2Peak]

Usually a UK purchase invoice is made up of: Unit price (ThinkPad) + Postage/delivery + VAT (17.5% in UK) = Final price.

If buying in the US and posting to the UK, VAT is payable on the US ($) value of the item at the current (£) exchange rate (and no customs duty is incurred if for PC products. - you need to clarify) - If buying in the EU no UK VAT is payable as long as you pay the VAT in the EU country of origin and no customs charge is incurred for PC products.

My suggestion would be to buy the ThinkPad with an IWS and bring it over as your own and pass on to your father - that way it's a win-win situation.

Members of the forum - when I changed over my CPU I took full ESD precautions and have recommended this to Crunch too - Please advise Crunch what you recommend and your thoughts on the matter - thanks.

Many thanks Crunch for your kind offer of parts etc - nothing required at the moment

[aaa]

Yes, definitely be very careful of static when handling CPUs. They are the one thing I've personally seen ruined by it, versus ram and such.

You can pick up the thermal paste and and an anti-static wrist strap at a computer store that sells CPUs. Not sure which you have in your area, but I'll throw out some names: Micro Center, CompUSA, Fry's. Maybe even Radio Shack.

[efrant]

[snip] I found out I was missing the thermal paste/grease...I want to get this done. Where do I get it? How much, what can I screw up? [snip]

AS5 is great (it's what I used), but maybe check this compound out as well: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1265/o ... index.html

Edit: Is the T7600 bigger in physical size than the T2600?

No, it's the same size.