X30 max battery endurance build... guidance suggestions?

[bobcardone]

Hi all,
I just got an X30 from forum member miketoro (excellent transaction, I'm very satisfied!) and my plan is to rebuild it optimized for maximum battery life.

Here's the current specs:
Thinkpad X30 2672-4bu
PIII-M 1.2G 512M cache CPU
1G Crucial PC2700 (2 x 512) sdram
80G 5400 rpm Samsung HD
Intel 82830M integrated GPU
Atheros AR5212 a/b/g Wifi adapter
6 cell standard battery in the green (225 cycles, first used 01-2007, 51.83WH design capacity 47.47WH current capacity)
TinyXP rev09 with all updates
NHC newest version

Currently it shows 12.5W power consumption with CPU set fixed at 800MHZ, display at 5 and Wifi enabled. (3.76 hours runtime starting with 100% charge). I've got standby and hibernation set up with standby in 5 min or lid close and hibernation in 15 min.
What I'd like to do is make this machine into a real power miser. I've perused this forum at great length and found an astounding amount of great info posted by some really sharp Thinkpad experts. Unfortunately, the good info seemed to be spread out over many threads. What I'd like to do is get all the good info in one place and post my progress in this quest.
This is a real world build, as I'm a returning college student (55 years old, who says an old dog can't learn new tricks!) and will use it on a daily basis for homework, eclasses etc. As of now with the above settings applied the machine is very usable for casual web surfing, schoolwork and office apps. I'd really like to avoid using any larger or additional batteries as that compromises the size/ weight features of the X30 platform.
From what I can determine, there are really only two ways I can improve runtime. First is to undervolt the CPU and second is to convert to some sort of SSD mass storage.
As far as undervolting, NHC doesn't seem to have that option available on this machine (on my other thinkpads it's available). Is this machine too old to support voltage control, or am I missing something?

As far as SSDs, it looks like there is a crapload of different ways to set things up.
IDE SSDs- expensive but fast
IDE to CF adapters- cheaper, but unless you get fast CFs there is a performance hit
PCMCIA to CF adapters- same as above, does the PCMCIA slot support fast data transfer rates?
CF slot- I understand this is somewhat bandwidth limited even with a fast CF. Is this correct?

I'm on a college student budget (bring on the ramen noodles!) so I'm looking for the price/ performance sweet spot. I'm thinking this might be a good config:
8-16GB IDE fast SSD for the primary drive
multiple cheaper CF cards either in a PCMCIA adapter or the native CF slot for mass data storage, etc.
If I can use the native CF slot I'd rather do that. I'd like to reserve the PCMCIA for other purposes.
So, any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks, this forum is great (but HUGE!).
BobC

[sjthinkpader]

The X30 is one of the lowest power X series other than a few X40 with ULV CPUs. Here are some discussions:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 8&start=30

I would take out the Atheros abg card and replace with an intel 2200bg. I like Atheros cards but they are not low power, especially those with 11a. Set the Power Manager to Adaptive or Lowest CPU settings.

There are a lot of SSD/CF info on the forum and you can start here.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 1&start=60

[bobcardone]

Thanks for the links!
I'll get an Intel 2200bg and try it. Is there any way to monitor/ adjust output wattage on either the Atheros or Intel module?

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, in Access Connections, Wireless Advanced Configurations, there are power settings. I usually set it to highest power or best performance. But you can experiment with low power settings.

[bobcardone]

Hi all,
Phew! Nothing is ever easy....
I tried installing AC and it didn't see the Wifi adapter. After digging around the forum I found out I needed the X31 Thinkpad Wifi drivers instead of the drivers that XP automagically installed.
Did that, lo and behold! AC saw the adapter and connected with my home network fine.
Only... can't seem to find any way to measure/ adjust output wattage...
Will keep digging.
As far as undervolting, I have found that this CPU is not voltage adjustable.
Any workarounds or ways to vary CPU voltage?

Latest results from one battery recondition cycle...
4:16 runtime from 100% charge using Wifi, CPU at lowest (800Mhz), screen at 5
after a full charge I have:
48.42WH available
48.62WH capacity
226 cycles/ batt in green

CPU temps seem a little high (52C) so I'm going to open it up, clean out the dust bunnies and apply some arctic silver on the CPU.

Reading here on the forum about SSD options, I'm leaning towards a 32G Trancend from Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820208445
as a primary drive and some CF cards in the native slot for mass storage.

Thanks!

[sjthinkpader]

...
Did that, lo and behold! AC saw the adapter and connected with my home network fine.
Only... can't seem to find any way to measure/ adjust output wattage...
...

Open AC
Click the Manage tab.
Create or Edit a profile.
Click the Wireless tab
Click the Advanced configuration button

Power settings are here.

[bobcardone]

Some updates...
I decided battery runtime is not a real good indicator to benchmark to.
Wattage may be better, at least I can see the result of any changes I make "on the fly".

Since I can't change the voltage or underclock on an X30, my only choices to reduce power draw are Wifi and mass storage.

I was able to reduce the Atheros transmit wattage to 50% using AC (thanx, sjthinkpader!), resulting in a power drop from 12.5w to 10.9w. (wifi on, display on 5 and CPU lowest speed)
I've ordered an Intel 2200bg, when it gets here I'll toss it in and see how it does.
Gotta say tho, even at 50% power the Atheros works great! Good card.

Still researching the SSD situation, this field is moving very fast and prices and specs are all over the place!

Just ordered an extended battery in the green from TTA (thanks, Jim!) and in combo with my good internal battery and a good power draw regime I hope to get some really amazing endurance figures.
(I can also do some freelance welding on the side )