T61 Upgrade Processor, SSD or both? Benefits

Hello again Thinkpad gurus! I have gotten the Thinkpad bug and very recently got a T61 Type 7661 with a T7300 processor. I have done Middleton's BIOS mod and was wondering if it would be better to upgrade the processor to a T8x or T9x or to get an SSD? I have a 320gb 5400rpm Hitachi in there now. I also understand that I can put the 320gb drive in a ultrabay slim adapter. So I was wondering if I should do the processor,ssd or both? Sorry if this has been asked many times before. All opinions welcome.
Thanks in advance.

 

All depends on your usage and your budget. If you always use your CPU to 100% load in certain programs, the CPU upgrade may be more advantageous. Otherwise, an SSD upgrade will give you a far more noticeable performance boost, decreasing system boot and response times to make it feel more "snappy."

 

I was thinking of a 40 or 64gb ssd which are fairly reasonable for my OS and applications. Much larger tends to be a little expensive. So maybe around $250 for the whole upgrade process.

 

Here's a my T60p 8744-J2U running an Intel X25-m, 80GB generation 2. Keep in mind that this is a SATAI limited system (I can't speak to the T61's specs)

The SSD made the system feel very snappy. I think with 4 GB of RAM you'd have a nice machine. I was always limited by the 3 GB RAM ceiling on the T60p.

If money is no object and you wish to keep the T61 upgrading CPU and SSD would be the best decision. As far as bang for your buck the SSDs are great option. Keep us posted!

 

I got exactly the same system as you Drifter42, a T61 Type 7661 though I had the T7100 processor at the time. I upgraded the CPU to the T9300 (2.5GHz) and switched to SSD (Intel 80GB X25-M) and I have to say the SSD would be the most noticeable upgrade you can have for your system.

Capacity isn't much of a worry as I have a 500GB hard drive in the Ultrabay to compliment with the SSD, I just bought a cheap third party Fenvi caddy and it works pretty well.

Below are the results of my SSD on the T61 which is a bit worn by now...

 

Yes 4GB of Ram is also on my radar. I have 2GB in there now. I'm kinda leaning toward the SSD upgrade regardless. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit if that helps.

Wow Hearst555! That is pretty impressive. Yes I'm liking more and more the SSD upgrade and putting my 320gb drive in the ultrabay.

Is the Intel X25 my best bet or are there other brands that will do as well? I have never bought an SSD so I'm a little overwhelmed by the choices.

 

For your reference here's the WEI (Windows Experience Index) scores on my T61, I think you find the SSD would be the best component you can have in the system.

I heard the OCZ Vertex 2 with Sandforce controllers are very good in terms of performance and value, if i'm not mistaken they're even faster than the Intel drives.

 

That is quite a jump in performance my Hard drive score on the WEI is only 5.6

 

Your motherboard is unlikely to support the T8x00 or T9x00 CPUs.

 

Hello Zaz! I was thinking that the Middleton BIOS mod would correct the thermal sensing error. I could be wrong.

 

I don't know much about Middleton BIOS hack other than it removes the SATA limitation.

 

Middleton's BIOS hack allows certain T8xxx/T9xxx processors to be used on all T61 motherboards as it disables the Thermal Sensing Error. In other words you don't need a specific T61 motherboard plenar (usually the T61P) to use the Penryn Core 2 Duo's.

My T61 motherboard didn't support the Penryn processors officially but using the BIOS mod i'm able to use the T9300 just fine and temperature readings are all normal.

 

Thats the way I understood it. As much as I would love to upgrade the processor, I think a SSD would be the best benefit as of now. Not that I won't upgrade the processor though. One more question. Where would the best outlet be to purchase an ultra HD adapter? Is Ebay a good place to look?

 

I think you're right.

 

You probably should get the genuine part. Maybe lenovo still has it, or try to find it on some shopping search engine. Perhaps a few resellers still have a few in stock.

 

I bought my (Fenvi) Ultrabay Slim SATA-PATA adapter from eBay and it's well constructed given the price (costed me £11 including P&P from HK). It slides into the Ultrabay slot with no tugs or jams and has a green LED activity light which matches the rest of the T61 (I think the official caddy uses a Blue LED activity light).

If the official one is hard to find or just too pricey then the aftermarket Fenvi ones are worth a try.

 

Thanks Hearst I will look into that.