CPU upgrade for Z61t.

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ymemuser · #1 Post by **ymemuser** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:14 pm

From Celeron M 420 to Core Duo T2300 on Z61T. Is it Upgradeable? Thanks

#2 Post by **underclocker** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:42 am

Has anyone done any Z61t processor upgrades?

I'd like to know if the Celeron-based units can successfully be upgraded to Core Duo's (it looks like it should work).

If so, which model Core Duo's work? Or Core Solo's for that matter?

Thanks.

#3 Post by **underclocker** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:56 pm

To help further the cause (and my hobby), I purchased the following;

--> Z61t Celeron-based model
--> Intel Core Duo T2300, 1.66GHz dual core cpu

I'll post the upgrade results when the CPU arrives, the Z61t is already here. Actually, the Celeron 1.6GHz CPU is amazingly fast.

ymemuser · #4 Post by **ymemuser** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:27 pm

underclocker wrote:To help further the cause (and my hobby), I purchased the following;

--> Z61t Celeron-based model
--> Intel Core Duo T2300, 1.66GHz dual core cpu

I'll post the upgrade results when the CPU arrives, the Z61t is already here. Actually, the Celeron 1.6GHz CPU is amazingly fast.

I have the same set (T2300 and Z61t wit current Celeron M) but I'm not sure I want exchange CPU now. I love this Celeron M very much.

#5 Post by **underclocker** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 4:01 pm

If it weren't for Celeron's lack of speed step, and thus causing reduced battery life, I'd leave the Celeron. But for the small upgrade cost a Core Solo or Core Duo seems to be worth the extra battery life, extra cache 2MB (vs. 1MB cache), and in some instances, extra speed via a 667MHz bus (vs. 533MHz of the Celeron).

thinger62 · #6 Post by **thinger62** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:53 am

Just yesterday I upgraded my M420 Celeron to a t5600 C2D (ebay, $100). Works great.

Super Pi (still don't know how good of a benchmark that is, but....) was 43s with M420 and 256mb, 42s with M420 and 512mb, and 31s with t5600 and 2gb. Considering my desktop (e6400, 2gb) was 26s, I think that's pretty good.

The upgrade was fairly easy. Palm rest, keyboard and fan all came out easily. The keyboard bezel, however, took me a long time. I got one side out, but could not get the left/cpu side to unsnap/let go. It's so flimsy I didn't want to break it. Finally, it let go though, not sure what i did to make it.

One positive, I discovered the sd card reader while I was working on it. I hadn't noticed it before (I've only had it a few days)

#7 Post by **underclocker** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:13 pm

thinger62 wrote:Just yesterday I upgraded my M420 Celeron to a t5600 C2D (ebay, $100). Works great.

Awesome! Welcome to the forum, too!

That is great to hear, it also looks like you selected a nice CPU for the upgrade. I'll post my results too, but there shouldn't be any issues. It's taking forever to get the CPU from the West Coast (to the East Coast) due to all the holidays.

Assuming you grabbed one of those $399 Z61t's from Lenovo, adding the CPU makes one super machine for a very good price. You can often find 1GB of PC2-5300 RAM (2 X 512MB) for $10 on eBay these days, too.

#8 Post by **underclocker** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:02 pm

Success! I upgraded a Celeron-based Z61t (9440-A4U) to a Core Duo without any issues at all. The new CPU was properly recognized by the BIOS and O.S., it works perfectly. I went from a Celeron 420 1.6GHz to a Core Duo T2300 1.66GHz ($50 eBay). I also picked up the correct Core Duo palmrest sticker on eBay for a couple of bucks.

The entire procedure took approx. 30 minutes. As mentioned above, the palmrest, keyboard, keyboard bezel, left speaker and CPU fan must be removed to get to the CPU. The keyboard bezel is very difficult to remove and I can not provide any more details on how it's done. You just have to keep wiggling and pulling until it releases. You also have to be very careful, it is formed from the thinnest plastic I have seen in a laptop. Working on T4x's are a breeze by comparison.

One note, there was a huge amount of thermal grease on the original CPU/cooler. The grease application was both very thick and large, about 100% larger than the CPU part that comes in contact with the copper cooler. I've never seen this much grease used. I wiped off all the old grease and used a tiny, thin layer of Arctic Silver 5.

The battery life is certainly improved. Performance is quite snappy with either CPU.

ymemuser · #9 Post by **ymemuser** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:09 pm

underclocker wrote:Success! I upgraded a Celeron-based Z61t (9440-A4U) to a Core Duo without any issues at all. The new CPU was properly recognized by the BIOS and O.S., it works perfectly. I went from a Celeron 420 1.6GHz to a Core Duo T2300 1.66GHz ($50 eBay). I also picked up the correct Core Duo palmrest sticker on eBay for a couple of bucks.

The entire procedure took approx. 30 minutes. As mentioned above, the palmrest, keyboard, keyboard bezel, left speaker and CPU fan must be removed to get to the CPU. The keyboard bezel is very difficult to remove and I can not provide any more details on how it's done. You just have to keep wiggling and pulling until it releases. You also have to be very careful, it is formed from the thinnest plastic I have seen in a laptop. Working on T4x's are a breeze by comparison.

One note, there was a huge amount of thermal grease on the original CPU/cooler. The grease application was both very thick and large, about 100% larger than the CPU part that comes in contact with the copper cooler. I've never seen this much grease used. I wiped off all the old grease and used a tiny, thin layer of Arctic Silver 5.

The battery life is certainly improved. Performance is quite snappy with either CPU.

Thank you UNDERLOCKER. One day I will do the same update for my Z61t too. I'm waiting the pack of arctic silver I ordered on line for $6. I was lucky to get new sealed t2300 for $23 shipped few weeks ago. I still have brand new R61 with Vista Home. What you think about switching copy of HD from z61t with XP PRO to R61 with adding some drivers from Lenovo web-site? I like use Casper HD-copy soft (free trial version from net). Thanks

#10 Post by **Harryc** » Tue May 27, 2008 9:17 pm

I'm hoping to add to this thread also. I'm attempting a Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz T7200 swap into a Z61T this week. Should be nice if it works, has 4Mb L2 cache. More to come.

#11 Post by **Harryc** » Sat May 31, 2008 7:42 am

Just finished the T7200 upgrade. It works perfectly, speedstep ok, runs cooler than the Celeron by about 7*C. I kept the stock fan too. The MIM mentions a high performance fan, but it is not required for this particular upgrade. It runs so cool that the fan never comes on while just surfing the web or doing light processing. Nice upgrade, recommended.

#12 Post by **underclocker** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:08 am

Great to hear. That's a really nice upgrade. Good to hear about the temps, too. With Speedstep this is expected, but your measurements confirm. Enjoy it. Z61t's are really nice.

BuddyWill · #13 Post by **BuddyWill** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:29 pm

Thank you all for posting your results. This is offering much needed inspiration to upgrade my own processor for my Z60m. Problem is, I''d feel more comfortable if the posted results were from the Z60m as I have.

I'm not a techie but I love my Thinkpad. Do you think it is possible to upgrade to one of the dual core processors for my Z60m? Thanks.

#14 Post by **ZaZ** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:40 am

It is not. The Pentium M and Core Duo use different sockets.

CPU upgrade for Z61t.

CPU upgrade for Z61t.

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