Thinkpads Forum

I have a T61 with T7300. I am not really considering doing this but does anyone know if I could swap out the 7300 for a Penryn. The only reason I am thinking about it is battery life not performance.

GhostriderTx wrote:I have a T61 with T7300. I am not really considering doing this but does anyone know if I could swap out the 7300 for a Penryn. The only reason I am thinking about it is battery life not performance.

Yes. Just make sure you are running the latest BIOS before you attempt the upgrade.

Ghostrider...Yes, it will work. I have done a CPU swap, too, and it was purely for performance reasons...just wondering why you would do it solely for powering saving purposes? What about a 2nd battery? lol...I don't mean to sound smart, but seriously?? Which Penryn are you considering?

Actually, you've given me an idea.

Since Lenovo Canada isn't offering Penryns and don't know when those will start shipping, I may just as well order a system with a lower-end CPU (which will be plenty fast compared to my old system) thus saving a lot of cash on any current upgrade, and then in a year or so, when the prices on CPUs drop, purchase a higher-end Penryn (like a 2.8 ) and just slap that in - like a brand new system.

In basic testing, the mid-range Penryn vastly outperforms the current highest-end Merom, imagine what a high-end Penryn will do compared to a low-end Merom!


Thanks GhostRider!!

Hi everyone, I would like to upgrade my T61 (6460-7EU T7300) with a Penryn one. I'll do it when T9500 will be available here in France.

so whats the benefits of going to a penryn ?
does it consume less battery (if so by how much ?)
how much a Penryn CPU costs ?

honestly , i feel my 2.2Ghz is really fast. it need to be really good reason to do so unless it's not expensive

Dan

to all looking at upgrading to a penryn based processor, check my post in this thread http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 22f7e08612

icantux wrote: In basic testing, the mid-range Penryn vastly outperforms the current highest-end Merom, imagine what a high-end Penryn will do compared to a low-end Merom!


Thanks GhostRider!!

That's not true. The performance gains are negligible unless you're using programs that support SSE4 instructions, which few do atm. Unless you need it for something specific or demand that 5-10% battery life increase, it's a waste of time and money.

that is what i suspected. it's always the case when upgrading CPUs
or even the whole computer , unless you wait few years for a really jump in technology.

i always get disappointed from the gain in REAL life performance .
on spec newer PC always look very impressive though...

seyed wrote:Hi everyone, I would like to upgrade my T61 (6460-7EU T7300) with a Penryn one. I'll do it when T9500 will be available here in France.

Crunch wrote:Ghostrider...Yes, it will work. I have done a CPU swap, too, and it was purely for performance reasons...just wondering why you would do it solely for powering saving purposes? What about a 2nd battery? lol...I don't mean to sound smart, but seriously?? Which Penryn are you considering?

2nd Ultrabay accu:
Inconvenience because of missing optical. Battery (in my case) decreases to 55% of it's capacity in 30 cycles. Costs: ~$125

2nd primary accu:
Extra weight to carry around. Costs: ~$145 (6 cell)

bigger primary 9 cell accu:
extra weight, sticking out too much (considering he has a 14" wide)

New CPU
For example: T9300
More performance, longer batterylife, less heat, fan wil run more quiet. Costs: ~$320

Well, it's not the cheapest options, but exept costst it has no disadvantages.

Another 6-cell battery will give you around 3hrs, I'm estimating. An upgrade to Penryn probably won't give you more than 30 min.

Yes, but it's extra ballast to carry around.

Get the ultrabay battery. How often do you really use the disk drive on the go?

Although, for the price, I guess you could just upgrade to Penryn anyway.