[T61] Anyone done the Core2Quad upgrade?

[devdeckardcain]

Hello everyone!

First time poster, just wanted to start off by saying: Awesome forum! I'm madly in love with my T61 and am really curious about the Core2Quad modification that some people have made to the T61(P) systems (discussed here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 30#p728624). It seems to me that this upgrade may not be as good as it sounds. You seem to be able to get a quad core in there, but you have to run software to keep the clock up and heating issues then become a big problem (I've got an NVS 140M system which was made just before 08/08 so I'm really weary of heat).

My question is, have you done the mod? Is it worth it? Have you noticed a significant improvement in performance?

Thanks in advance!

[theterminator93]

Apologies for not having done the exact mod - the quad mod - but I did do the 1066 FSB mod and installed the T9900, for which I'll provide a quick synopsis of my experience:

Yes - the upgrade was certainly worth it. Heat is actually improved from the regard that I used the undervolted/overclocked GPU BIOS and undervolted the CPU slightly. Noticeable performance improvement as well - video streaming used to be choppy and is now essentially seamless.

[devdeckardcain]

Awesome! I had done the upgrade to the T9500, thinking that anything above that might be too much, but since then I've read that the T9900 is a good chip to get so that was my choice should the Core2Quad mod not work. Thanks for the info! I've been eyeing the overvolt/overclock bios mod lately, I'll have to give that a shot!

[theterminator93]

One other tidbit - the T61 board I used (this is my T601 FrankenPad) was a mid-late 2007 production model with a GPU date code of (if I recall correctly) week 31 of 2007. Been running that machine as my work unit for over a year now, still going strong! Before the T9900 mod I had a T9300 in it.

[QWERTY Andreas]

I have done the Quadcore mod. With an aggressive fancurve, and heavy undervolting temps are totally under control.

Performance is double that of the Core2Extreme X9000 i had before

I also have the F570m (post 08/08) in my unit, also undervolted - but still the best performer of the bunch.

But i have ended up putting it for sale, since i don't use it as much as i would like. I don't need all the power

[PurpleMelbourne]

Were the instabilities of the QX9300 locking up and requiring a dual core chip to unlock ever solved?

I've got myself a QX9300 in hopes of this task, but still a long way off getting around to it. It was a year ago that I was looking into it and now the T61 is pretty old, the threads don't seem so heavily trafficked or maintained.

[el-sahef]

The only problem that I have is that the notebook sometimes resets itself on very rare occasions. I never required a dual core chip to unlock something.

Another problem that was discovered is that on units with the intel X3100 graphic the DVI output on docking stations does not work under windows because of the raised FSB. Therefore it is better to run the QX9300 at 800 MHz FSB, raise the multiplier in windows with throttlestop to achieve 2500 MHz (or 2600 MHz) and undervolt the cpu to the lowest voltage (1.050V) at maximum frequency (most QX9300 should be able to do that). This solves the problem with DVI, greatly improves stability and removes the need for messing around with the RAM. Under Linux you can use msr tools to raise the multiplier. Maybe I should write about that more in-depth in the quadcore thread.

To keep the FSB at 800 MHz with the QX9300 you have to isolate / remove this pin in addition to the other ones: http://abload.de/img/cimg2496fvklk.jpg (100 kB image link)

[SaskFellow]

That's what I plan on doing with my QX9300, unlocked multiplier for the win!

The other fun part is finding ram with unlocked SPD modules so you can play with the spd settings.

[el-sahef]

You don't need RAM with an unlocked SPD if you fix the FSB to 800 MHz with the pin insulation method because the RAM will run at default settings. Makes everything a lot more simple .

[Akimitsui]

Apologies for not having done the exact mod - the quad mod - but I did do the 1066 FSB mod and installed the T9900, for which I'll provide a quick synopsis of my experience:

Yes - the upgrade was certainly worth it. Heat is actually improved from the regard that I used the undervolted/overclocked GPU BIOS and undervolted the CPU slightly. Noticeable performance improvement as well - video streaming used to be choppy and is now essentially seamless.

Where did you get the undervolted/overclocked GPU bios? I have the NVS 140M in my system. Thanks!

[theterminator93]

I got it from the links posted up in the 1066FSB thread - http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=110620

I can't remember which voltage I used though.