Thinkpad T40 cpu upgrade

[mr.blitz]

I am new to this forum, but have been reading avidly for the last few days. I know there are many topics on this question, but none seem to answer my question exactly.

I have just bought a Thinkpad T40 and want to upgrade the cpu.

It currently has a 1.5ghz pentium-m 400mhz fsb.

I have two main options, either a 1.8ghz 2mb or a 2.0ghz 512kb

Which cpu will give me better performance bearing in mind i mainly use propellorheads reason, and djing software.

Will a faster cpu or more cache be better?

The age old question.

Thanks so much in advance.

[mr.blitz]

One more question based on the same topic...

Will i need to change my heatsink and fan or will the current setup cool the faster cpus?

Thanks again!

[mr.blitz]

here i go again...

does anyone know if the t40 takes sata hdd? or ide?

can i put a 200gb drive in it? or 160gb if not?

many thanks.

[Harryc]

There is no Pentium M processor with 512KB of L2 cache....1MB (Banias) or 2MB (Dothan) only. The T40 has an IDE interface.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_In ... processors

[mr.blitz]

is this cpu not a pentium-m?

or not compatible with the t40?

[Harryc]

What exactly is printed on the top of the CPU?

[mr.blitz]

sorry...

http://processorfinder.intel.com/detail ... Spec=SL6V9

[Harryc]

That's a Pentium 4 M, you need a Pentium M. See the link I posted for CPU's that will work in your machine.

[mr.blitz]

thanks for the help.

If i get a SL7EN 1.8ghz 2mb 400 fsb will i need a new heatsink and fan?

I can get a SL7EN for about £35 including postage, which is quite good i reckon.

but £20 on a new heatsink and fan bumps the price up somewhat.

thanks again.

[Harryc]

That CPU runs fairly cool. I think you'll be fine with the fan you have. Just use good quality thermal paste.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=56126

[poshgeordie]

Hi Mr B and welcome to the forums.

You may also want to look at this thread which lists the orignal and lower performance Banias CPU's and their faster Dothan equivalents.

As has been said, the original fan assembly's fine, but you should update your bios to the latest version which is available from the list of drivers here with instructions on how to do it from within Windows.

Also you may want to upgrade your memory to PC2700 up to a maximum of 2GB. The full memory spec is DDR PC2700 333MHz 200pin SODIMM

With the upgrade to a Dothan processor, the performance improvement is noticeable.

Regarding the largest hard drive, this question is often asked here and a typical thread is here - they are IDE.

It's worth using the search feature since most of these topics have been discussed before and you may be able to get your answers more quickly this way.

[devanshoom]

i wouldnt bother...i replced my 1.3 CPU on my T40 with 1.7 cpu from a T42....worst thing i ever did and afterwrds I couldnt pick the computer up or even slide it round on table without getting dead screen, it almost resembled the GPU syndrome. Soon s I put the old one bck it ws working fine gain.

Im no expert...but to me a computer is best left unopened unless you REALLY hve to open it up and start messing.

[fasterbybike]

Im no expert...but to me a computer is best left unopened unless you REALLY hve to open it up and start messing.

Just as well most posters on this forum have a different attitude

But seriously, I've upgraded about 6 T4* thinkpads and never had a problem.

[ajkula66]

devanshoom wrote:

Im no expert...

Your post makes that patently obvious, which is fine since no one was born an expert...

However, many people on this forum have been swapping CPUs since the dawn of computing so there's nothing wrong with admitting a possible mistake during the swap and asking for help instead of discouraging others from upgrading their machines...