Thinkpads Forum

I'm about to dig into my T60 and swap MLB's.

Currently I have a T2700 Centrino 2Ghz Dual Core processor.

Would I gain any measurable performance improvement by upgrading to a T7600 2.33Ghz Core 2 Duo Mobile

Approx $150 worth of performance anyway?

p.s. what socket is used in the T60?

Yes, the T7600 will be noticeably faster; the clock speed will be higher, but more importantly, you'll double your cache. Honestly, I'd pay half as much and get a T7400 instead. You'll still boost clock speed, double your cache, and get x64 support.

For reference, it's a Socket M; you can install a T7600, T7400, T7200, or a few T5xxx models, as well. I wouldn't bother with anything less than a T7200, though, otherwise you'll lose VMX capability and not increase your cache. The T7600 goes for a significant premium due to being the fastest Socket M ever; its cost is disproportionate to performance (vs T7400/T7200)

Don't expect to see much improvement by going from your T2700 (it's not 2ghz) to a T7600 - actually they both run at the same clock speed, 2.33ghz. I went from a 2600 to a 7600 with a very modest speed increase and certainly was not worth $150 for the speed alone. (My T7600 was free). If you're going to do it, do it because you need to run a 64bit OS.

Put your $150 into maxing out your RAM and a SSD.

John

westsailor wrote:Would I gain any measurable performance improvement by upgrading to a T7600 2.33Ghz Core 2 Duo Mobile

Approx $150 worth of performance anyway?

If you run CPU intensive applications like coding video or crunching access database you'll see a modest bump in performance, but it's not worth $150 in my opinion. The reason to do it in my opinion would be if you want to run a 64 bit operating system, which a Core Duo cannot do. As was noted a good SSD is your best path to better performance.

What about jumping from a T7200 to a T9X00? The cache size jumps to but the FSB/QPI is limited to 667 so its moot right?

They are way pricier than I expected though at $200-300.

Btw, I'm using this chart to compare.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Pro ... 436.0.html

T60 = Socket M

T7200 = Socket M
T9x00 = Socket P

A T7600 is as far as you can go with a T60

Ah...I guess there's no point dreaming then.
The 7600 doesn't seem to provide much improvement unless the upgrade is free then.

I started out with a z61t which had a core duo t2400. From comparing benchmarks, I determined upgrading that to a core 2 duo t7200 would yield about a 25% performance increase across the board. Rather than do that, I just sold the z61t and bought a T61 off ebay. It came with the core 2 duo t7100, which is slower but has a faster fsb. It felt about the same as the t2400 performance wise. Considering that, I was glad I didn't buy the t7200. I have since upgraded to a core 2 duo t8300 which made a significant difference over the t7100. If you're willing to spend $150 on an upgrade, I would recommend selling what you have and getting something newer. You will have much better upgrade options in terms of cpu selection and maximum ram support.

techweenie wrote: If you're willing to spend $150 on an upgrade, I would recommend selling what you have and getting something newer. You will have much better upgrade options in terms of cpu selection and maximum ram support.

Do you think that still holds true if you have a t60p, and you upgrade from a T2500 to a T7200 ($52), bump the CPU/heatsink to a 41W6407 ($36), get a NMB keyboard ($20), an intel X-25M 40gig SSD ($100), and a ultrabase 2nd drive caddy ($45)? Thats what I'm doing, but my keyboard and my fan are going bad already so $56 of that is basically repairs that need to be made.

micah wrote:Do you think that still holds true if you have a t60p, and you upgrade from a T2500 to a T7200 ($52), bump the CPU/heatsink to a 41W6407 ($36), get a NMB keyboard ($20), an intel X-25M 40gig SSD ($100), and a ultrabase 2nd drive caddy ($45)? Thats what I'm doing, but my keyboard and my fan are going bad already so $56 of that is basically repairs that need to be made.

I'd suggest you consider getting the Intel X25-M (e.g. the cheapest version, being the 80 GB, and remember to get the 2nd generation, which support TRIM) rather than getting the scaled-down X25-V. There are reports claiming the X25-V being slower compared to the X25-M (Google!).

Also, I'd suggest to get the 2nd UltraBay caddy + the USB-box discussed in this post as it only cost USD 30,- incl. shipping. Read the post!

Johan