Thinkpads Forum

600 users and upgraders may or may not be aware of this thread :-

http://www.wimsbios.com/phpBB2/viewtopi ... 0e&start=0

FSB MOD - All props to Sharedoc for this information!!!

Over at Wim's we've been pushing the TP600s to the limit. I have recently completed a very simple yet effective hardware mod to raise the TP600s FSB.

Its is worth bearing in mind this has only been attempted on TPs that have PIII CPUs installed. I have no idea what would happen if you tried this on a stock PII TP600.

The mod involves opening the TP600 and removing the CPU module. Then on the right of the socket you must solder a 1k ohm resistor to the board. When refitting the CPU ensure the resistor does not short against any part of the motherboard or MMC-2 module!!!

http://www.katch.dsl.pipex.com/fsbmod.jpg

After the resistor is in place the FSB of the TP increases to 108Mhz

Everyone that has attempted this mod that I am aware of has had success. It appears highly stable and offers a worth while increase in performance.

Some benchies (366 original CPU - 600 Cel PIII - 650 Cel PIII w/FSB Mod)

CPU Benchmark

366Mhz ==> 3
600MHz ==> 4.7
650MHz ==> 5.2

Sandra

CPU Arith

366 Dhry ==>1168
366 Whet ==>480

600 Dhry ==>1938
600 Whet ==>793

650 Dhry ==>2213
650 Whet ==>857

CPU MultiM

366 Int ==>2394
366 Float ==>891

600 Int ==>5147
600 Float ==>6122

650 Int ==>5313
650 Float ==>6690

Memory Bandwidth

366 Int ==>221
366 Float ==>226

600 Int ==>712
600 Float ==>419

650 Int ==>743
650 Float ==>629

Thank you Katch.

The FSB- mod. 100-108 MHz.
The SpeedStep-mod.
The thoughts of upgrading the CPU on the MMC-2.

Very interesting stuff, that kept me stucked to this TFT-screen for hours yesterday.

All information applies to the ThinkPad 770X/Z series too and the deep-diggin' spirit from Sharedoc has been worth the yearlong waiting.

*Clapping my hands in joy.mp3*

Thank you very much.

Kindest regards
Brian

Is it possible to desolder an xbox cpu (coppermine 733 mobile celeron) into a mmc-2 board? Thanks

There's some logic speculations going on, whether you could desolder and upgrade the CPU on a MMC-2 CPU-card..

Hard work yes, but done with precision and carefulness, it should be possible.

I guess, that with the later SpeedStep MMC-2 CPU-cards, it would be possible to use a P-III 1 GHz SpeedStep CPU.
I believe (guessing) that it's essential to remain in the same processor-family.
I don't think you can place a P-III 1 GHz CPU on a P-II MMC-2 or on the early P-III MMC-2 Non-SpeedStep.

The pinlayout still needs to be matched.
Some efforts has been made on the WIMbios forum and it looks somewhat okay.Pictures there shows a desoldered P-III MMC-2 CPU compared to a non-MMC-2 P-III CPU.
They do not match up entirely, but since the non-MMC-2 CPU is placed on a small PCB, the real pinlayout still needs to be cleared out.

Upgrading a MMC-2 CPU is not just a thing to do.
It's beyond the reach of the majority.
Upgrading with a Celeron from a X-BOX is not what I would recommend.
It's simply waste of time and a very risky operation.

It's probably better to take a late P-III SpeedStep MMC-2 and go all the way. Meaning: Try and see if a P-III 1 GHz CPU fits and works.

Lots of work. Lots of work. Perhaps a lot more than one can take.
Also...The succesrate is 0%+
It probably won't work, but there's a chance
And since no one have done it before, it's in my mind possible.
Until proven wrong of course

Kindest regards

Hmmm... I'm not going to try this with the 600E I'm sending overseas, but might get another. Looks like I can upgrade a 600E to nearly 600X status with the FSB and PIII mods. the only drawback seems to be a limit to 650MHz Celeron (or will it work with a 600-650 PIII?) because of no SpeedStep. Does that sound right? Or should I go ahead and spend the extra money on a 650MHz 600X? I don't minf the tinkering to get more out of the system, in fact I kind of like it! I can do the soldering and playing around, just have a hard time figuring it all out for myself!!

i'm more of a kit type person when it comes to electronics. I can foloow a schematic and instructions, but only sometimes figure out WHY it works and I'm using this pin on that gate or whatever...

I can't see why anyone wants to go with the Celeron.
It beats me.

Right now, I'm running the MMC-2 PIII-850 at 700 MHz.
Only the 127-booterror has been corrected in CMOS.

With the SpeedStep-mod, which lock the CPU at the high rate, I'm more than convinced, that it will run at 850 MHz.
With the FSB-mod and Vcore-mod it would run at 918 MHz. (In theory)

I guess the only thing that remains is true SpeedStep.
That is the thing that differs the 770X/Z and 600E from the ThinkPad 600X.
True SpeedStep is a 600X advantage and the PIII-850 would run smoothly.

Farna. If you want to try the CPU-mod, desoldering a MMC-2 CPU and put on a 1 GHz CPU, please go ahead.
A lot of folks would appreciate your efforts and be very grateful.

Kindest regards
Brian

What is the difference in 600X (vs 600E) that allows speedstep? they both use MMC2/AGP. is it just bios difference? or the south/northbridge is different in the motherboard? its so sad nobody can go faster than 500-650(celeron) on 600E and we hear stories of using speedstep going to 700mhz

I really do not know exactly why there is this difference or where it is located.

Both have the socalled Intel 440BX chipset.
The only difference I truly see, is within the Intel PIIX4-chip, where the 600X has a slightly different version (PIIX4M), than in the 600E, 770X/Z (PIIX4E).
The early 600X came with non-SpeedStep MMC-2 cards, but since they have the same PIIX4M as in the later model, I would bet a six-pack, that a SpeedStep MMC-2 would work without a glitch.

There is absolute not a thing, apart from the CPU-card, that differs from the early 600X model to the late 600X model.
At least, not what I can see in the Personal Systems Reference IBM ThinkPads 1992-2001...but hey...I can be wrong here.

I don't know if the PIIX4 has anything to do with SpeedStep.
But I can't see whereelse the SpeedStep-enabled feature is located.

Nevertheless. Even though the 600E or 770X/Z haven't got the SpeedStep feature, one still have the hardway-mods for forcing the juices out of a SpeedStep CPU-card.

Anyone got plans of swiching CPUs on a MMC-2 card ?

Kindest regards

DK6400Brian wrote: Nevertheless. Even though the 600E or 770X/Z haven't got the SpeedStep feature, one still have the hardway-mods for forcing the juices out of a SpeedStep CPU-card.

Anyone got plans of swiching CPUs on a MMC-2 card ?

Kindest regards

Please tell me whereto find the hardway mods to force speedstep on 600E
How to switch cpu on MMC-2 card? heat gun and desolder? Thanks

kocoman: You need to read through the sticky "The official 600 Upgrade and general information Topic" thread. It covers a LOT of upgrade info and more importantly documents all the problems you can expect to encounter and their solutions. Then read this topic:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7427

Go back and read through everything in the thread this is posted in as well. After an hour or two of all this reading you should have an understanding of what has been done and what you are capable of accomplishing yourself.

Tada

http://www.xabk.co.uk/

Kindest regards
Brian

DK6400Brian, kocoman:

I'm not about to try to desolder a large scale surface mount chip!

Speed Step is basically a software thing AFAICT. But the motherboard must have a pin to activate it on a Speed Step enabled processor. So there is either a pin on the MMC2 board that wasn't used on the earlier 600E and X or a pin added. The older motherboards don't have a connection to that pin so it can't be activated by a BIOS upgrade. I don't know enough to say if the pin would have power or supply a ground to let the chip know Speed Step should be enabled. It's a good theory anyway. Now I could have this all wrong, so if anyone knows different please correct me!

I am looking at the 800+ PIII and 100MHz FSB mods though. If I can get another 600E or 600X at a good price I think it would be perfect for my daughter to use in college. Since I've been using just my laptop lately I've been seriously thinking of canning my desktop, but there are a couple things it's a bit better for. Think I'll just stick to a LCD monitor and get a smaller tower or mini case.

I paid $202 for a PII/366 600E w/294MB of RAM, 6GB HD, CD-ROM, the external floppy, and a Selecta Dock 1 w/ the PCMCIA card addition. No OS, but everything worked great, just a few scratches and a missing connector cover. Had two batteries, but one was completely dead and the other lasts 40-45 minutes. I've since bought a 20GB HD, DVD, and new (aftermarket refurb) battery -- another $125 -- for a total of $327 in hardware. I need to find another deal like that or better! A $350 PIII/600 600X w/192MB (64 MB on board, 128MB added -- 320MB would be even better!) and the ext. floppy would be about right. I could probably find a 500MHz for that without the floppy easy enough.