R51 CPU Upgrade, is it possible from "Celeron M 1.3ghz&

[Thinkpadfan06]

I've upgraded RAM from inexcusable 128 to 512, which was like night and day (WIN XP Hm sp2), and am fairly "light" app user (surfing, Voip-softphone, radio-stream listener, recorder). Just would like to eliminate the "rationing" of CPU resource usage that is required to alleviate the "100%" usage slowdown.......besides 1.3 is pretty small now-a-days? Is this upgrage "sodder-proof"...possible.....are there alternatives (HDD upgrade, etc?)
thx all.

P.S. This is my first laptop, I've had it a year and thoroughly feel there is NO OTHER to compare.

[rossk7]

I can tell you i just tried my 1.3GHz to a Celeron M 1600 and it didn't like it. I researched it thoroughly and thought it would take. I just installed a 120Gb HDD and 2Gb memory, that should give you plenty of headroom on XP. I am trying to upgrade the processor to run vista. She's holding steady, just takes a few to boot. The cpu is removeable. The other memory dimm is underneath the kb, same as cpu. It's pretty easy to disassemble, just take your time and mark the location of the screws

[underclocker]

Many threads running on this one - yes you can upgrade the CPU...

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=41332

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=32613

Pretty much any ATA (non-SATA) 2.5" drive will work, too.

[rossk7]

well it was a no go on the celeron M or Pentium upgrades. If anyone can find me the processor that worked for them and post the link, I would certainly appreciate it.

Thinkpad R51
2883-2Zu
Celeron M 320(Banias)
1300Mhz, 400MHZ FSB

upgrades that didnt' work
SL5Z7 Pentium M 1.7
SL6J2 Celeron M 1.6

[ms5133]

Any of the processors in this link should work..just look for your machine type.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... GR-53115#4

Again if you are going to do an upgrade..why look for a celeron processor?

Try a pentium M processor with a 400FSB..the model nbrs should be M7x5...where the X determines the CPU Speed.

Good luck

[rossk7]

I was already on that link, the problem is there's no 2ZU after the 2883. I did try the Pentium M.
I will live with it running the 1.3, the 2Gb and 120Gb was good enough to take vista...thanks anyways for the help and research

[underclocker]

well it was a no go on the celeron M or Pentium upgrades. If anyone can find me the processor that worked for them and post the link, I would certainly appreciate it.

Thinkpad R51
2883-2Zu
Celeron M 320(Banias)
1300Mhz, 400MHZ FSB

upgrades that didnt' work
SL5Z7 Pentium M 1.7
SL6J2 Celeron M 1.6

Um...YOU ARE USING CPU'S FROM THE WRONG FAMILY!!!

Those two are for Pentium 4M based machines! You have a Pentium M based machine. You're lucky you didn't fry the system board and/or CPU. The two families may be pin-compatible, but they are not operationally compatible at all. Yikes.

If you want a cheap option, I can sell you a Pentium M 1.3, 1.4 or 1.5 for $10, $15 or $20, respectively. However, if I were you, I'd spring for a 1.6GHz, Banias or Dothan will work. A Banias 1.6 can be as little as $25 on eBay. Faster will work, too, but they need to be Pentium M with a 400MHz bus speed.

Cache size is a dead giveaway, Celeron M's should have 512KB or 1MB cache, Pentium M's should have 1MB or 2MB. The CPU's you tried had 512KB (Pentium) and 256KB (Celeron), big tip off. They probably even have the cache size printed on them.

Good luck.

[rossk7]

underclocker, I got those both from a seller off ebay, i did some research and thought they did as well. They were supposed to be Celeron & Pentium M not P4M.
I found this one on ebay.........
SL89T INTEL PENTIUM M 1.6GHZ LAPTOP CPU DOTHAN 725A
so hopefully it will work this time . I'm a desktop system builder so I did my best in trying to research this correctly. The original seller assured me it would work....thanks for your help. In your other reply, different post, you said the 725A worked in the R51 but not the T40, is that correct?

[underclocker]

In your other reply, different post, you said the 725A worked in the R51 but not the T40, is that correct?

That is exactly correct, I used the SL89T, which is a Dothan model. My model is the 2887-45U, a very basic Celeron model. I just made sure the BIOS and EC versions were up to date. The speed and battery life differences were noticeable and worth the $50 back then. The same chip should be around $35 today.

Let us know how your 3rd upgrade turns out!

[rossk7]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!
Thanks for the help!!
OEM Specs
Celeron 1.3M(Banias)/1Gb DDR333/30Gb HDD

Upgraded Specs
Thinkpad R51 2883-2ZU
Pentium M 1.6M(DOTHAN 725A)
2Gb DDR333
120Gb HDD
Vista Ultimate
4Gb Corsair Voyager GT(readyboost)

[Fusion]

4Gb Corsair Voyager GT(readyboost)

May I ask what the "readyboost" means? I'm planning on buying one of those 4GB Corsairs.

Oh, and good job on the upgrade

[rossk7]

Thanks, it wasn't pretty at first. If you are doing major component upgrades, contact underclocker, he knows his stuff. The ReadyBoost is supposed to act like a cache boost when you launch programs or apps. The 2gb memory definitely helped and the ready boost is somewhat noticeable. I wish there was a way to increase the shared memory on the video, but otherwise she's running sweet.
here is the link for the ready boost info

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/produc ... boost.mspx

[Sweeetdaddy]

Would there be any implications if I were to try and upgrade my Celeron M 330 1.4 MHZ, to a Pentium M 765 2.1 MHz?

From what I read and understand, since they are from the same family and both have 400 MHz FSU, theoritically it is possible if I can update my BIOS to support it.

Currently my BIOS only supports up to the Pentium M 735. Does anyone know how I could update my BIOS to support the 765, assuming that the upgrade is possible.

Thanks,

[underclocker]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!
Thanks for the help!!
OEM Specs
Celeron 1.3M(Banias)/1Gb DDR333/30Gb HDD

Upgraded Specs
Thinkpad R51 2883-2ZU
Pentium M 1.6M(DOTHAN 725A)
2Gb DDR333
120Gb HDD
Vista Ultimate
4Gb Corsair Voyager GT(readyboost)

Congrats! That CPU upgrade took some persistence, but it is worth it. From the rest of your new specs, it looks like you have a super R51 now. Very nice.

[underclocker]

Would there be any implications if I were to try and upgrade my Celeron M 330 1.4 MHZ, to a Pentium M 765 2.1 MHz?

From what I read and understand, since they are from the same family and both have 400 MHz FSU, theoritically it is possible if I can update my BIOS to support it.

Currently my BIOS only supports up to the Pentium M 735. Does anyone know how I could update my BIOS to support the 765, assuming that the upgrade is possible.

Thanks,

I would agree that this should work, but I suppose it's possible that it won't. For instance, I tried the 1.6GHz Dothan Pentium M 725A CPU in my T40 and it wasn't properly recognized. It worked at a slower speed. The upshot of that was that the T40 BIOS and EC weren't able to properly set up that CPU - which was a newer version of the 725 CPU. However, we do know that a 2.1GHz Pentium M works just fine in a T40.

It may be a trial and error situation, perhaps someone else that's done an R51 upgrade can comment.

P.S. With R5x's going for $250 and up now on eBay, they are great candidates for modding.

[CFoo]

I know this is an old thread but I am thinking of upgrading my R51 to give it new life as well. I have a R51 with a 340 celeron 1.4GHz and was thinking of doing the same thing as Sweeetdaddy and upgrading to a P M 765 2.1GHz SL7V3 CPU. Does anyone know if Sweeetdaddy was successful? I see he hasn't been online since 2007. I don't want to spend the dollars to find out a SL7V3 does not work. Thanks.

[schen]

I know this is an old thread but I am thinking of upgrading my R51 to give it new life as well. I have a R51 with a 340 celeron 1.4GHz and was thinking of doing the same thing as Sweeetdaddy and upgrading to a P M 765 2.1GHz SL7V3 CPU. Does anyone know if Sweeetdaddy was successful? I see he hasn't been online since 2007. I don't want to spend the dollars to find out a SL7V3 does not work. Thanks.

In all probability you can do it, but the question would be why? At issue is that the cost of that particular processor is such that it's value would be half of the machine in total! Right now, the 735/1.7 and 745/1.8 CPUs can typically be had for well less than half of what you'd have to pay for the 765 and even the 755. For basic tasks, the performance difference would be all but undetectable. It's your money after all, but for the differential, you could buy a new 250Gb or 320Gb/5400rpm HDD and max out your RAM to 2Gb. Which would end up giving you a machine that's not only faster, but more viable for the next couple of years as well.

[Harryc]

The other potential issue with a 2.1 Ghz Dothan upgrade in a R5X machine is heat..the cooling in those machines was made to handle up to a 1.7Ghz Pentium M. The only R5X CPU upgrade that ever made sense to me was to a 1.7Ghz Dothan

[CFoo]

Great thanks guys. I think I will go for the 1.7GHz and look at getting a faster harddrive. I already max the ram to 2G and notice a slight difference. Funny. I'm buying the wife a new high-end laptop and settling for the old one...*sigh*.

[underclocker]

A Dothan 1.7Ghz is a great choice, certainly the right price point.

If you want a really fast drive and if 32GB is enough space, then try a sub-$100 IDE SSD, they are really fast, silent and prolong battery life. I am testing one of these now --> http://www.provantage.com/transcend-ts3 ... RSD09T.htm (Transcend TS32GSSD25-M)

[Tony Chan]

underclocker: can you keep us post on how the ssd test goes please? This sounds like a great idea for my light duty T40p.

Thanks

[CFoo]

Well, I upgraded to a Dothan 1.7GHz CPU and notice a slight difference. I will have to do some real work and see if there is a noticable difference especially coming from a 1.4GHz Celeron. Should of did a bench mark before I upgraded.

Next is to upgrade the harddrive but thats not a priority. If I see a one for a good price I will get it. Anyone know what the maximum size hd the R51 will support? I'm thinking of 160gb HD.

[ZaZ]

The hard drive, unless you're doing CPU intensive stuff, is almost always a better upgrade. Most things don't push the CPU enough to where you'd notice a difference.

[schen]

Well, I upgraded to a Dothan 1.7GHz CPU and notice a slight difference. I will have to do some real work and see if there is a noticable difference especially coming from a 1.4GHz Celeron. Should of did a bench mark before I upgraded.

Next is to upgrade the harddrive but thats not a priority. If I see a one for a good price I will get it. Anyone know what the maximum size hd the R51 will support? I'm thinking of 160gb HD.

The maximum size of HDD on that machine is whatever the largest PATA drive is available. I've recently done 2 with the Western Digital 250Gb/5400rpm drives and they both run great. I just used a Seagate 160Gb/5400rpm drive in another machine and it was running very well too. The 250s seem to be in the $80 range, the 320s seem to be in the $95 range and the 160 that I just bought from Newegg was $65. Which clearly shows the more "bang for the buck" as the capacity goes up.

As you've already noticed, the change in CPU isn't a big deal on the daily task front, but more so when running applications. The RAM is going to be more noticeable in the headroom area and when you want to have multiple apps open and it not bog you machine down. Our R60 at work was purchased an idiot with 512Mb of RAM, so would bog down badly or even lockup when they were running more than one piece of software...especially when WMP was one of them! I did an "unauthorized" upgrade almost immediately with another stick of 512Mb RAM and the difference is like night and day. Mine is one of the few in our building that doesn't crash on a regular basis. With loading software, you'll see a huge difference in upgrading from the old 4200rpm HDD, and even though you can't get the 7200rpm drives any more, most folks report that their "feel" in everyday use is that the new 5400rpm drives are every bit as fast as the 7200rpm ones. One of the contributing factors is that most of the newer drives are of far larger capacity and thus have a much higher areal density than the old one. Plus they all have the 8Mb Cache on board as well.