May build Frankenpad... Tips?

[Medessec]

I've been doing my reading up and searching to find out some much needed details on proceeding with this, but I just wanted to make sure there's nothing else I missed before I give myself the go-ahead.

If I sell some more T43s, I might end up selling my rabid T60p and high-spec G41(if anyone's interested) so I can give building a Frankie a try.

I've read up and I understand how you go about doing this is taking the planar from a 4:3 14" T61/p, and then placing it in a 15" T60/p chassis. I'm also aware about the NVIDIA chip dilemma, and from what I've read, 08/08 is the magic date designation. Are the later ones completely free of the risk, or are they just far-less prone to failure? Is the NVS 140M much less prone to failure than the FX 570M? And I was planning on using a T9500 if I can track one down for a good price, but are there any other options in terms of CPUs? I've also found possibilities that the X9000 will POST on a T61 board... if it's true, will there be cooling issues?

I'm mostly planning to use my Frankie for school, carrying back and forth between classes, put into standby and opened up 10-30 min later in another class. At home it *might* be used for gaming on occasion, but only if a friend needs a spare gaming machine, or for demonstrative purposes. So I'm hoping I can build one with the FX 570. As for the screen, I'm deciding between the UXGA IPS or the QXGA if that shows up... but leaning more towards the UXGA.

Is there anything else I should probably be aware of before proceeding? I may or may not actually proceed with this depending on the situation, but I'd just like to be properly prepared and have a good idea of what to do before I start.

[DaKKS]

I would avoid the x9000 if i were you. I used one first on a dell xps and later on a heavily modified zepto (compal fl90/91). They both choked on it, although the latter could handle it decently when undervolted.

I know thinkpads have excellent cooling, but i wouldnt risk it. There i a reason my zepto was nicknamed "the nuke", it was hotter than a nuclear powerplant....

[ajkula66]

Caveat #1: there are NO post 08/08 nvidia 4:3 boards

Caveat #2: if you find a good board - which is possible - using the machine as a laptop while constantly switching it on and off is a VERY bad idea in my book. Excessive thermal cycling WILL eventually kill the chip.

If you're going to carry it around, use an Intel board. For a desktop replacement, you're fine with a properly tested, preferably native-Penryn nVidia planar.

As for X9000, it will work but unless you need it for gaming and/or bragging rights, you're likely better off with a T9300/9500.

My $0.02 only...

[Medessec]

I'm probably going to give this a bit more time, to see if a properly sourced nvidia board pops up, but it sounds like if I'm going to be using it for school, I'm going to have to settle on Intel graphics.

Also seems like an X9000 is out of the question, I'll probably just play it safe and stick with the T9500. But if I get an Intel board, I may just settle on a T9300, since they're still dramatically more powerful than the Meroms, but significantly cheaper.

[DaKKS]

Yeah, you're better off with a T9300/9500. Even if you can get the temps under control, the laptop will be extremely warm. And while this is my own opinion, there is nothing worse than a too warm laptop. IMHO, its useless unless you can have it in your lap without frying any chance of ever reproducing....

[Medessec]

I'm not sure if the CPU's temps directly affect the GPU, but it sounds like if this is even remotely true, an FX 570M and an X9000 would be a rather poor combination.

I rarely actually use the laptop in my lap... only time I do is in my Comms(speech) class, which is in the theater. Other than that, the classrooms have desks and I have my desk at home.

I do agree that I don't want a laptop that naturally runs hot... in the rare occasion I do use my laptop on my lap, it can be annoying. I always use my X60T on my lap(for sketching) which suffers from the hot Wi-Fi card issue.

[Cigarguy]

A warm CPU will affect the temp of the GPU. Airflow and heat buildup in a laptop is always a concern in a laptop. IMO, a T9300 is good value for the money. A T9500 is almost double the price with only marginal speed benefit that you'll probably never use anyways. For bragging rights a T9500 sounds better......at a price.

[Medessec]

a T9300 is good value for the money. A T9500 is almost double the price with only marginal speed benefit that you'll probably never use anyways.

Pretty much what I was thinking, especially since I'd probably go for an Intel board or NVS 140M.

[DaKKS]

By todays standards, both the 140m and the FX570 are crap. You won't be running any games on any of those boards anyway so you might as well go with Intel. At least it wont fail you.

[Medessec]

True... well, on the basis of gaming that I'd probably do on it, it would work just fine on my current T60p. And I believe the latest ATI V5250 on the T60p actually can outpace the NVS 140M in some cases.

Well, if I do build one, it may just make the most sense in my case to do an Intel-based one. It'll run way cooler than my current T60p and the extra power may come in handy for video editing and Photoshop.

[DaKKS]

Last bench i saw, the 140m was on par with Intel HD GMA (HD1000) and the V5250 was around 30% faster than the intel. So despite its age, its a pretty decent chip.

Still, all three a badly beaten by the Intel HD4000, which is currently the mainstream budget chip on the market. Its a [censored] good IGP, but still the modern equivalent of the X3100.

With proper drivers the X3100 can accelerate Photoshop decently, which actually surprised me when I installed CS6 on my R61. I still remember when i bought my Zepto 3215w (and coming from GMA915) was amazed by the sheer power of the darn thing. The modding community has done a pretty good job keeping it alive too.

[Medessec]

Yeah... I've always had issues with my friend's laptops that have the Intel HD gfx on the first-gen i-series Core processors, but I'm really surprised how far it's come. The shared memory is still an issue for some bits of gaming that I do.

I'm not going to doubt for a second the X3100 on an Intel board wouldn't be anything terrible. My X60T is able to do all sorts of old 3D games and even Minecraft mysteriously well, despite it having a GMA 950. I just strongly prefer discrete graphics where possible, the extra power just makes the computer that much more pleasant to use.

[ajkula66]

Last bench i saw, the 140m was on par with Intel HD GMA (HD1000) and the V5250 was around 30% faster than the intel. So despite its age, its a pretty decent chip.

Here's what I know...

a) My T43p's V3200 beats the living daylight out of X3100 in any OS, whether you want to run a somewhat serious benchmark such as Freestone, or a joke like WEI.

b) NVS140M beats the aforementioned V3200 using the same (imperfect) tests.

Those are the reasons why I went with NVS140M for my two most memorable T601 FrankenPads so far.

While I like V5250 a lot, it runs hot and limits the environment to 3GB RAM which is really not such a big improvement over my current V3200/2GB setup.

Now, while they are based on the same chip - and hence prone to the same bug - 140 and 570 are two very different cards. The latter is more of a CAD-approved, business-class GPU while the NVS can be a gamer's card, especially when overclocked.

An Intel-based machine is a good one for office use, as well as for peace of mind, which is priceless on many occasions.

However, if one is interested in performance that mirrors or exceeds ATi hi-enders seen in *60 series, nVidia is the way to go.

I might just build a machine based on 570 and X9000, just for the heck of it. That's about the only option I haven't explored so far...yes, it's most likely going to be a hottie, but I had a 2.6 P4M in A31p more than once, and I doubt that it will be worse than that...

[Cigarguy]

^^ Interesting insight. Thanks. Always wondered in general terms the speed differences. Not so easy to benchmark and compare laptop GPU due to the many extra variables such as bus speed, chipset, ram, CPU, etc.

[Medessec]

I had a 2.6 P4M in A31p more than once, and I doubt that it will be worse than that...

Whoa. That must've ran hot!

I might just build a machine based on 570 and X9000, just for the heck of it.

That'd be a case of "You Only Live Once". I was kind of thinking of doing it too, just to blast around with it and parade it around until the GPU popped, but one reason why I've always liked the Thinkpads that I use is that they're not the pearly, plasticy expendable shells of silicon gubbins made nowadays that pass as laptops, they last. Building a hot-running Frankie that goes like nothing else but kills itself would be absolutely insane and really awesome, but... I dunno. Feels like it'd be short-lived fun. Although I'd imagine you'd do a better job of properly caring for it.

Does sound kinda poetic though.

[ajkula66]

Whoa. That must've ran hot!

Yep. Imagine me coming downstairs on Saturday morning and asking my kids whether they'd like their waffles prepared on CPU or GPU...

That'd be a case of "You Only Live Once". I was kind of thinking of doing it too, just to blast around with it and parade it around until the GPU popped, but one reason why I've always liked the Thinkpads that I use is that they're not the pearly, plasticy expendable shells of silicon gubbins made nowadays that pass as laptops, they last. Building a hot-running Frankie that goes like nothing else but kills itself would be absolutely insane and really awesome, but... I dunno. Feels like it'd be short-lived fun. Although I'd imagine you'd do a better job of properly caring for it.

Does sound kinda poetic though.

Well, yeah. It would be a good way of me waving the final "goodbye" to ThinkPads after more than a decade, which is about to take place in a few months anyway...

[Cigarguy]

Dude you only live once. Go for it. For some of us, me included, it can be a lot of fun.

[ajkula66]

Dude you only live once. Go for it. For some of us, me included, it can be a lot of fun.

If you were referring to silly old me, I'm about to...within the next week or so if everything turns out as planned...

[Cigarguy]

^^^ Was referring to you and Medessec. That is going to be one nice hot rod. Keep us posted.

[Raceboy]

FX570M in 14.1 4:3 form factor is not much hotter at all than 140M, I've had both and can tell it from 1st hand experience.

I ran it with overclocked T8300 and in normal use and slight CPU undervolting the CPU temp was between 49-54C with the fan off and GPU was ~55-58C.

The GPU never exceeded 66-67C under gaming with CPU in max speed.

[TuuS]

An Intel-based machine is a good one for office use, as well as for peace of mind, which is priceless on many occasions.

However, if one is interested in performance that mirrors or exceeds ATi hi-enders seen in *60 series, nVidia is the way to go.

i can't agree more, the Intel graphics is cool and stable and even supports hardware accelleration, but it's no match for the nVidia graphics.

I might just build a machine based on 570 and X9000, just for the heck of it.

I actually do have one of these. After over two years of looking I found an NOS (new old stock) board that came from a corporate IT dept, it was a NEW (not refurbished) replacement board made with a gpu chip from the last week of 2008 so it's definitely a good gpu, however it cost me an obscene amount of money, so much so that I'm embarrassed to admit, but if you must know send me a PM and I'll confess lol and I also paid a small fortune for the X9000 simply because I wanted to know if it would work. The system works great, and is running an NOS Uxga boe hydis display (thanks RBS) and intel 320 series SSD with 8gb ram, so it's about as ultimate as a frankenpad can get... but I don't use it often, I have another that has nvs140m and T9300 with a nice sxga+ screen and there isn't a huge difference between them and I was lucky enough to find a lenovo warranty board with a 2011 date gpu installed on it which also cost me a small fortune, but as a side note, I just got another brand new NOS board with native penryn support and nvs 140m nVidia graphics, it's a genuine IBM part in original box and it's listed in the marketplace now and this brand new board is selling for less then I paid for my refurbished board. At the moment I have only one of these available, but hopefully I'll have more in a week or two, so the days of worrying about nVidia failure on a frankenpad may be over!!!

[Medessec]

That's absolutely awesome you're getting these boards... I may have to consider it. Having a Frankenpad is a very appealing thought :/

[TuuS]

That's absolutely awesome you're getting these boards... I may have to consider it. Having a Frankenpad is a very appealing thought :/

I agree, and to build one from a Brand new genuine IBM discrete board is about as good as it gets. I'm hoping to have several of these to offer in the coming weeks...

*photos*

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/5371/74708383.jpg

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/6181/11446686.jpg

[Medessec]

Wow... that's the real deal. Documents and everything.

I really would like to go all out though if I get a Frankie. I don't want a Frankie that's only marginally better than my king T60p... but that means putting a lot of money into it... and that + me being college student = no bueno.