R50e Upgrades

[Vivecus]

Hi there,

Fairly new to this forum and just about to receive my first ThinkPad (an R50e) and was just wondering what the maximum upgrades are for this machine (Max ram, best cpu, etc.) as I've bought a fairly under-powered one for the moment. I also intend to install Linux (Ubuntu MATE) on it.

[Screamer]

The maximum amount of RAM that you can install is 2GB (two 1GB RAM modules), and it doesn't matter if it is DDR266, or DDR333, or DDR400. They will all work, provided that the RAM module is from a well-known brand or from a reliable manufacturer. Some examples include: Crucial, Samsung, SK-Hynix, Micron, Qimonda, Elpida, Infineon, Mosel Vitelic, etc.

If money is not a problem, the Pentium M 765 (SL7V3) should be the best processor available for your R50e. Keep in mind that it runs somewhat hot, which might mean that your R50e's fan would be always active.

Assuming that your R50e has a MiniPCI slot (some models did not have them), you should be able to install an Atheros AR9220-based wireless adapter. The Atheros AR9220 is the best MiniPCI wireless adapter that I have found so far, since it supports the a, b, g, and n band.

I am not exactly sure about this, but I believe that an R50e should be capable of detecting a Bluetooth controller in its CDC slot (modem daughter card slot). If I am not wrong, this means that you should be able to swap the standard modem card for a BMDC200 card. It might be near useless though, since the BMDC200's Bluetooth controller was only compliant to the Bluetooth 1.1 standard.

If you are interested in getting a faster hard drive for your R50e, you could get a Samsung Spinpoint M5 HM160HC/HM320HC, or a Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD3200BEVE. These are some of the fastest IDE/PATA hard drives that I am aware of, but they might be costly. IDE/PATA solid state drives are much worse in that sense, at least in when it comes to cost-per-GB.

[Vivecus]

Thank you so much! Brilliant info my man. Much appreciated!

[Vivecus]

Are you also sure that these parts (especially the wireless adapter) would be compatible on a Linux system?

[ajkula66]

Are you also sure that these parts (especially the wireless adapter) would be compatible on a Linux system?

Yes. Linux distros prefer Atheros-chipped cards to Intel ones, generally speaking.

[ViBE]

maybe i'm a bit late but i have a R50e now and i try to upgrade it. i'm a bit confused cause i'm not sure is the Pentium M 765 is an optimal choice if i want to replace the CPU. does it really work with this machine?

[RealBlackStuff]

Pick your choice:
Model Number sSpec Nr. Frequency
Pentium M 710 SL7V5 (B1) 1400 MHz
Pentium M 715 SL7GL (B1) 1500 MHz
Pentium M 725 SL7EG (B1) 1600 MHz
Pentium M 735 SL7EP (B1) 1700 MHz
Pentium M 745 SL7EN (B1) 1800 MHz
Pentium M 755 SL7EM (B1) 2000 MHz
Pentium M 765 SL7V3 (B1) 2100 MHz

[ViBE]

thanks. so all above should work? Screamer said that 765 cause much more heat but on Intel's official site I see that this processor has 7.5W TDP. I'm not sure that i clearly understand this well but this means lower temps than the original Celeron M 360 which has 21W. am i right or this is not how it works?

[RealBlackStuff]

No idea how accurate or reliable those Intel figures are.
AFAIK at least the Pentium M 745/755/765 are all 21W, not Intel's fantasy 7.5W.
And if screamer says the 765 runs hot, I believe him.

[ViBE]

and that's not the only thing what is not clear. my goal is to run Windows 8.1 on this cutie. but Intel's site says that 765 supports NX while thinkpadwiki says not. several tech sites mentions yes or no too. it's a disaster. i can live without NX but Windows not. patching is an option too but it's a plan B if there is no way to get a compatible CPU with NX. are there any clear, reliable infos about the 765 NX capability?

[RealBlackStuff]

This has some more PAE/NX info: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=127287

[ViBE]

oh boy does this mean that basically all of these CPU's are capable for NX bit but it depends on the BIOS/motherboard and the CPU? cause meanwhile i found this reference on Intel's site which is an another sign(?) of it.

bit stuck with this whole thing. my R50e came with a Celeron M 360 (SL8ML). i started to test it with several systems to figure out how the machine operates under different systems. i didn't even thought that may some of them requires PAE and NX and gave a shot for Windows 8.1. this one operates pretty well even with this 360. but 1.4 Ghz is not too much horsepower so tried to figure out what would be better than this. i don't understand why Intel is so dirtbag but this limitations on Pentium M series killing me. Celeron M 380 (or maybe 390?!) maybe a good choice because of the PAE & NX, but it is still too slow i guess for modern usage and no SpeedStep. on the other hand there are fast Pentium M 755 (which i got meanwhile and it has no official sign of NX capability) and 765 but no NX by default or what... this is a mess.

[ajkula66]

this is a mess.

It doesn't have to be. A couple of things here:

a) The info on Intel's site is incorrect. This has been discussed many a times over the past few years.

b) R50e will have problem running XP3 without major lag, let alone W8. The platform is more than 15 years old and no amount of hardware upgrades will resolve that problem.

Install a light XP or run Linux on it and call it a day. That's what I would do anyway.

Good luck.

[kfzhu1229]

and that's not the only thing what is not clear. my goal is to run Windows 8.1 on this cutie. but Intel's site says that 765 supports NX while thinkpadwiki says not. several tech sites mentions yes or no too. it's a disaster. i can live without NX but Windows not. patching is an option too but it's a plan B if there is no way to get a compatible CPU with NX. are there any clear, reliable infos about the 765 NX capability?

So first I am pretty sure the Pentium M 765 does not support NX, and even if it does, the fact that the motherboard doesn't support having that feature enabled means it won't work anyway. I have personally tested this with plugging in a Pentium M 750 inside a T42 and Windows 10 still fails to boot. Plugging in a Pentium M 745 in my T43 also results in Win10 failing to boot, so it's both ways.
Also, the next roadblock even when you get around the NX/PAE stuff is the graphics. Intel Extreme graphics does not have DirectX 9 support and without it, you are never going to have a working video driver under Windows 8 and up.
So you are stuck with Windows 7 and without Windows Aero. Get a R52 or T43 with discrete ATI graphics if you want Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 up to 1607

[MikeHatz]

I am very glad to see other ppl still have and use the r50e like me.
I bought mine in 2007 and upgraded in 2012

My two cents to the viewers who like to upgrade:
Hardware - wise: Get an SSD, yes there is an IDE SSD for real and besides the bottleneck of PATA it still works as a champ. This is the best HW upgrade there is.
Software - wise: Get a linux light distro. Linux Mint Xfce (32bit) is the best choice for my.

(a bit more than my 2 cents)
I see a lot of you try to upgrade the hardware only to loose all that power by using newer and heavier windows editions. In my opinion to be able to use an old computer you should also use a much lighter OS. This way you gain both ways and an old laptop as the r50e can handle a lot of work quite well.

So to make it worth it:
An IDE-SSD 32GB 25-30$
A cpu 1,8 - 2,0 GHs 10-15$
A couple 1GHz memory 10-15$
Total 50-60$
If you need windows take a second hand core2 thinkpad 64bit with 100$

Hope I helped!