Thinkpad R61 Upgrade to Cpu

Hello, I've been browsing the forums on cpu upgrades and reading alot, doing research and watching videos on upgrading processors. I want to put a duel-core 2ghz into my thinkpad r61 which you'd think would already have one but this model is different and they put in a celeron m 540 1.8ghz cpu. The gpu is intel x3100 which I run xp to reach its full power of 384mb of graphics that meets alot of games minum requerments like resident evil 4 and gta sa. Driver 3 asks for a 2ghz cpu, so I'm thinking 2ghz duel-core would push these games along much as I have good graphics for these games from around 2002 - 2008. Of course newer games wont run but thats fine. Anyways just wanted to know what my laptop could handle ? Its gm965 chipset, whats the limit ? Can I do 3ghz or qued core, or just duel-core? I did my research and found out celeron m 540 is socket P. I found alot of good processors for very cheap and need to know what it can handle and what FSB speed would be best for best performance. If anyone has some info please give replies, thank you.

 

Your R61 should be able to accept the T7300, T7500 or T7700. Depending on when it was made, it may work with the T8x00 or T9x00 CPUs as well, but a BIOS hack may be required to get it to boot.

 

Unless your machine shipped with a Penryn CPU, likely you'll need Middleton BIOS to get Penryn 45 nm chips.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...ata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution.html

See this thread here.

 

I really would like to put in Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile T3400 CPU SLB3P Socket P 2.16GHz 667MHz 1MB. It sounds good but theres a few others I have seen that does not cost alot of cash, INTEL CORE 2 DUO T5900 SLB6D 2.2GHZ 800MHZ 2MB SOCKET P....... Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile 2ghz SLGJN Laptop CPU Socket P 2.0GHz 800MHz 1MB..... Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile T2330 Laptop CPU SLA4K 1.6GHz 533 1M Socket P ........... Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4300 Laptop CPU SLGJM Socket P 2.1Ghz 800MHz 1MB .......

Thats T3400, T5900, T2330, and T4300. Does anyone know which would be best ?

 

There are great threads in TPF for the question you are asking. Here is a thread regarding a similar question.

Click

Thinkwiki also has some good information for ThinkPads.

If you do not have the HMM (Hardware Maintenance Manual) downloaded yet head over to the Lenovo support site and download your copy.

Happy TPadding

 

The T7300 is like $10 on eBay.

 

Ok thanks, I check all that out. I wasn't sure, I thought as long as I stayed in the T series and have socket P then I'd be okay.

 

I found my system board FRU number, Now on thinkpad forum that the link above stated a 42W7872 is Penryn and no bios mod is needed. My board number is 42W7825 and is gm965 chipset. Serial code was dated 07/09 in the that order. Which my model is 8935 a47. And L3-B9173. With this information can anyone make the statement that T7300 will work with just installing it and having no mods on the bios ?

 

I am pretty certain if you post a thread there with your question the multiple gurus at the site will answer your question easily. I recall seeing threads on TPF regarding CPU compatibility with all the different TPs- R61 included. I did not pay attention as I have never owned an R61. If you go to the forums search engine and enter appropriate keywords you may find a more definitive answer also. Good luck

 

Nope, you definitely can't use t9400, t9600, t9800 or t9900

If you do the BIOS mod you can use t9300 and t9500, otherwise stick to the lower numbers.

 

Yes I got help on thinkpad forums. They said I have a merom board so the T7300 which is intel core 2 duel 2ghz would work. I need something halfway decent to run games from 2002-2008, nothing newer. I wanted to know if the core 2 duel would be much better then the celeron m 540 1.8ghz single core I have now ? -- By the way, I patched my bios with the middleton bios so I'm good to go on that part--

 

Not sure if a CPU will help, really depends on your graphics card.

 

Iv ordered the T7300 and thermal paste on ebay. I plan to have them late this week to early next week, and plan to upload a video on youtube that shows how I will be installing the cpu. Also plan to upload another video on basic information about thinkpads, their specs, and what can be expected from certain models. Many people buy older thinkpads and not know what they can and can not do ( gaming, cpu intensive apps), I used to be one of them untill I learned a great deal more about graphics and cpu's. Hopefully I'll help some people out by doing this.

 

Thinkpad R61 Review, Basic Information, Install Of Intel Core 2 Duo. Pt.1 - YouTube

Part 1 of my video describes the specs of the r61 and some other thinkpads. Part 2 is next week and it will show the install of t7300.

 

Installed the t7300 core 2 duo, Used DOT method for thermal paste and put it all back together. It runs great and my games are running great too, they never drop below 25 fps. Which with the old cpu (celeron m 540 1.8ghz) It would drop down to 15 fps and sometimes 10 fps which wasn't very nice to play at all. I'm very happy and will continue to monitor cpu temps and performance

 

Tested the CPU temps, it stays around 80*F - 130*F which is great. Dot method worked great and thermal paste which didn't have a name but says ultracut thermal compound, high density non silicone and has PCviper.net on it does the trick. got it for 3.00$ on ebay, title said super cooling.
So thats it for that, thanks to those who helped me out with information. And I'll be around if anyone needs my help. Thanks