T60P Motherboard into a R60?(Pic)

[ZaZ]

I have a R60 with IPS screen and a Blu-ray drive. Blu-rays look great, but unfortunately while playing back Blu-rays the CPU runs between 80-95% because it's getting no help from the GPU to decode the Blu-rays. I got to thinking, yes I know a troubling development, the T60p has the V5200 GPU, which I think can be soft modded into the X1600. The X1600 can help decode Blu-rays and I wouldn't mind having some extra graphical oomph. I was looking at some pics of each and it looks like the port layout is pretty close. The R60 is a bit thicker, which may present some problems. I'd lose out on the S-Video, which I don't care about. I'd have to figure out a way get the hard drive in there because the R60 has a pop off panel on the bottom while T60 has a slide out drive, but I don't think that'll be a big issue. Maybe I'd need some different parts, like a different fan. I guess my question would be does my plan have any hope of working or have completely lost it? I got to figure out which is the best board to try and get one. Thanks for any help.

[Brad]

Its too bad they don't have a Blu-ray for the T60.

Brad

[ZaZ]

I think there was a few years back a Panasonic PATA 9.5mm Blu-ray drive on Engadet. It was the only time I ever saw it. I wish I could stick the Intel X4500 in this thing.

[ZaZ]

I think of you look at the port setup of the R60 and T60, they look very similar. I did notice while watching the support and training videos, the T60 uses 10 screws while the R60 uses eight to attach the motherboard to the support frame.

[chazz]

Fred
Iam was thinking of the same thing! a T60p into a R60 body..
The both Motherboard looks very close from the manuals..
Iam also eyeing a r60 + a Blu-ray drive..+ QXGA on top of it all...
(but now wondering if an external USB plug and play Ble-ray drive ((Uj-220?)) that can also burn at 2X ...would be EZier...instead of going through all this..)

do u know if the BR drive u got will fit/play B-R in a R50P (QXGA with the highest CPU from a T42P)? ..I know this is a long shot..
I have uploaded the WINDVD9 B-R software to see the R50P would be capable for B-R..
the graphix and CPU looks like to be an issue..(long shot i said ..)

anyway-- Please keep us updated on your progress ...to see if this is a reasonable feat.

[ZaZ]

The QXGA, while I'm sure it's a fine screen, is probably too small for me. I'm just happy to have a quality screen again after my 14" R60.

I believe that the drive I have(FRU 39T2853) would work in a R50 as far as burning and reading discs is concerned. I think the ultrabay enhanced combo drives and DVD burners from the R60 and R50 are interchangeable. My guess would be that that if the video part works, it won't be very good. Much like X1300 GPU on my R60, the GPU in the R50 won't help much if any to decode Blu-rays, which means it will fall to the CPU to decode Blu-rays. The Pentium M is a weaker CPU than either a Core Duo or a Core 2 Duo. My Core Duo runs between 80-95% during playback.

The other problem is the drives are expensive and you can't use an off the shelf drive because of the connector issue. I got lucky and happened on one at a very reasonable price, but I've been looking since last summer. The might keep falling as there's not a huge market for the drives. It used to be you couldn't get one for less than $500, but now they're about $300. An external is a cheaper option, but it's not as portable as having it inside the machine.

This is why I want to try the T60p board in the R60. The T60p has the V5200, which I think can be soft-modded into the X1600. The X1600 does help with Blu-ray decoding, while the X1300 or X1400 does not. One thing I did notice after was the firewire port, which is on the R60, but not the T60. I don't know if you can add it to the T60p board. I've got a couple other irons in the fire right now. I'm not in a hurry.

[sjthinkpader]

I have a R60 with IPS screen and a Blu-ray drive. Blu-rays look great, but unfortunately while playing back Blu-rays the CPU runs between 80-95% because it's getting no help from the GPU to decode the Blu-rays....

Does it matter whether the CPU or GPU is doing the decoding? If the GPU is doing the decode job, what are you having the Core Dual CPU do?

[ZaZ]

There are some occasional quirks during playback sometimes as the load gets to be too much the system. Plus I think it would help keep a lid on heat and fan noise. I have a AMD based HTPC with a slower CPU, but a junky ATI 3450, which can help decode Blu-rays. PowerDVD rarely goes above 20% of system usage during playback.

[sjthinkpader]

GPUs are generally not as well designed as the CPU in many respects, chip packaging and system cooling. When had you even seen a CPU failed because it got worked too hard? We had many GPU failures in comparison. I like WinDVD best after trying several player programs.

It just seemed this is a solution without real needs.

[chazz]

i know this may be the wrong place to ask..but sjthinkader..do u think is worth it upgrading my T60p to a C2D t7600 2.33 GHZ?
i downloaded all 3 DVD/BR playback sample softwares: windvd9,powerdvd9, TMT3...
WinDVD9 with "All2HD" is the best for my system..
it makes regular DVD looks pretty darn good ..not BR quality, but surpizingly good, better than a regular DVD movie..but the CPU performance on the T60p is running between 85%-95%...Total Media gets 100% and choppy....so i gave up
the R50P was so choppy..that is not even worth tweeking (now iam pretty sure BR will NOT work on a R50P)
so iam wondering if improving to a ,more powerful CPU would give me better performance on the HD-ish movie play back on the T60P

i did more research into many BR form sits like (Blu-ray.com,CD freak,afterdawn) after reading many posts..
My conclusion: Theres just SSSo many issues out there with BR in notebooks now.. software issue, HD issue, the different formats just on BR alone..(it seems its not one stander yet--by all) My personal guess is that BR is still not mature for notebooks (yet)6-2009...
to be effective on an enjoyment level without the hassels and the need of 3 different softwares to play the different BR codes movies

so i think iam going the "HD using software" route for now..

just wondering if a CPU upgrade is needed..thanks again. all

[ZaZ]

It just seemed this is a solution without real needs.

I would respectfully disagree. There are some playback quirks with Blu-ray on my R60, which I think are a result of the PowerDVD needing so much of the CPU power during playback. If it can offload some the decoding onto the GPU, I think it would help smooth things out. As I said my weaker AMD HTPC has no such issues with Blu-ray and PowerDVD only runs at 20% or less during playback, but the 3450 card in it does take on some of the decoding.