Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I was wondering how much can I expect to gain in battery life and heat reduction going from a T7500 to a T8300 motherboard. I've searched the forum already and it seems like there is no direct answer to that question.

What are the typical idle temperatures? Power draw? Fan operating cycle? Mine are:

Power draw: about 13W with screen on maximum brightness and power management set to ".adaptable". (XP 32 bit)
Temperature / fan cycle: on a cold day like today 45 °C idle with the fan off. On a hot day the same with the fan on most of the time.

Thank you very much in advance for your comments...

At idle probably not too much difference. At load, I think it would be noticeable.

How much would that cost you?

The biggest drain on the battery is the screen, not the CPU. If you want more battery life, dimming the screen will likely yield better results than swapping the CPU.

Ivan: About $200, if you're interested PM me.

I'm simply doing it to get lower temperatures and fan cycle, performance doesn't matter that much. Battery life is always welcome considering I use the flush 4 cell battery.

I know for a fact that Penryn reduces power consumption, by about 10%. I just don't know how 10% translates into actual temperatures and battery life. On my T61 with T8300, it makes the machine very cool and the fan almost never turns on. That's what I'm targeting with the X61. However, X61 and T61 have very different cooling systems and screens, so direct comparison is pointless.

mikemex wrote:Ivan: About $200, if you're interested PM me.

I'm simply doing it to get lower temperatures and fan cycle, performance doesn't matter that much. Battery life is always welcome considering I use the flush 4 cell battery.

I know for a fact that Penryn reduces power consumption, by about 10%. I just don't know how 10% translates into actual temperatures and battery life. On my T61 with T8300, it makes the machine very cool and the fan almost never turns on. That's what I'm targeting with the X61. However, X61 and T61 have very different cooling systems and screens, so direct comparison is pointless.

It's totally not worth it then. If you could get it for free, it might be worth the bother to spend the time replacing the motherboard.

That's what the motherboard costs, but you can sell the old one and it will only cost you the difference between the two, I doubt more than $50 or so.

$200 buys you a lot of batteries!