CPU questions about ThinkPad T43 2686 CPU Upgrade.

[kallisti5]

Good morning!

I recently purchased a ThinkPad T43 2686 (1.87Ghz, 1.5GB Memory, ATI) for ~ $180 USD

I would like to do a cpu upgrade on this baby as Pentium M processors are so cheap right now. I have heard the horror stories of BGA GPU's lifting and causing board/video failure. What would a safe processor be to upgrade to? I know the T43 will take all the way up to a 780, but I am afraid of maxing it out and aggravating the GPU via heat and causing a video failure to the higher heat.

Here are my options:
Pentium M 760 2.0Ghz ~$29
Pentium M 770 2.13Ghz ~$39
Pentium M 780 2.26Ghz ~$110 -- too expensive, not an option at this time

Any input would be appreciated, including the "not worth it" responses

Thanks!

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

Stay where you are, IMHO.

You won't notice much if any difference between PM 750 and PM 760.

You would notice a difference in performance between 750 and 780, but you'd also notice the rise in operating temperatures.

For most purposes, your CPU coupled with 2GB RAM and a fast hard drive is more than enough.

Spend your money on a nice 100GB/7200rpm IBM/Hitachi hard drive and call it a day.

My $0.02 only...

[killer]

I agree. If is working then leave it alone. Use an external HDD rather than change the existing one and live with the existing CPU unless it goes wonky.

[kallisti5]

First off I was wrong, it had the 1.7Ghz CPU.


Bah.. it was an ebay item.. got it in and there was a "misunderstanding" on the status of the laptop... that or it was damaged in shipping.

The LCD has a dim spot on the upper right side of screen.. fairly smoothly gets darker and then lighter again. About the size of a ping-pong ball. It's kind of annoying, but easily usable. I REALLY don't feel like raising a stink and having to ship it back,etc... especially as he threw in all kinds of extras for free at the last minute (2 batteries, hold about 89% charge each), three IBM AC laptop chargers, a internal floppy module, an external IBM floppy drive... the case is also in really great condition. (i prob got all the extras because he noticed the screen was a little dark in a spot at the last moment)

So.. looks like i'll be shelling out ~$70 for a new 15" LCD module some day (which will take priority over the CPU)... oh well the extras almost make up for the cost.

[Binh]

If you strongly want to upgrade the CPU then my recommendation is to buy a Dothan 735 1.7Ghz for less than 20 USD. With an easy mod this 400Mhz FSB CPU will work at 533Mhz FSB, i.e. at 2,26Ghz = Dothan 780. The chance of success is about 90-95%.
For instruction, search for "Dothan BSEL mod".