ThinkPad T61P (How To Make Your Quadro A GeForce Driver Side)

I have now created a guide on how to do this so that everyone, not just T61P owners can take advantage of this great tweak! See the thread below for further information:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=253667

==========

*****WARNING*****

This alteration does not make your Quadro a GeForce, due to different physical hardware and BIOS between the GeForce and the Quadro series of graphic cards this is impossible. However, this does make your Quadro a GeForce on the driver side, which has various benefits explained below. This modification is completely safe, 98% of users should encounter no problems with this modification. If you do encounter problems, booting into safe mode and uninstalling the driver should solve your problem. Then just reinstall the drivers with laptopvideo2go's stock modded inf instead of mine!

Please note that this guide and the included modded infs are only intended for ThinkPad T61P users with a Quadro FX 570M. If you experience any stability issues just roll back to the stock modded inf, however I have tried this on two different ThinkPad T61P's and have not experienced any issues!

In addition, the modded infs included herein are for 169.28/174.16 only. Special thanks to the laptopvideo2go team for all their hard work that they have put into their modded infs.

Thanks!

*****WARNING*****

==========

Well, this is a relatively simple modification I thought I would share with NBR since I do it on a regular basis now.

What I have done is altered the device detection so that your Quadro is detected as a GeForce upon driver installation.

Therefore, the sole intent of this modification is to increase the performance of your Quadro in DirectX applications and games. Users have reported both performance increases and stability increases when using DirectX with this particular modification.

I do not recommend this modification for the small member base that use business/workstation applications on a regular basis, which is what the Quadro was essentially designed for. By using this modification you are effectively removing the support for those programs. But only a very miniscule member base on these forums utilize such programs. (I'm sure its under 1%)

Step 1:

Grab the latest stable drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com

Note: You HAVE to use the modded inf with the 169.28/174.16 drivers specifically from laptopvideo2go.com or you will run into issues. Do not use the 169.28/174.16 drivers from Nvidia or any other source other than laptopvideo2go.

Nvidia 169.28 Windows XP 32-Bit:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16682

Nvidia 169.28 Windows XP 64-Bit:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16683

Nvidia 169.28 Windows Vista 32-Bit:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16679

Nvidia 169.28 Windows Vista 64-Bit:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16680

-----

Nvidia 174.16 Windows XP 32-Bit:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17608

Nvidia 174.16 Windows XP 64-Bit:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17611

Nvidia 174.16 Windows Vista 32-Bit:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17609

Nvidia 174.16 Windows Vista 64-Bit:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17610


Step 2:

Grab the modded inf attached to this post or the post below for your specific operating system and driver version


Step 3:

Unzip the driver you downloaded from laptopvideo2go


Step 4:

Unzip the modded inf you downloaded from this post and move it into your laptopvideo2go driver folder. It should prompt you to overwrite the current file, hit accept


Step 5:

WARNING: Before proceeding with any driver upgrade, including this one ensure your previous drivers are properly uninstalled. See the guide in the second post of this thread for more information.

Start installation as normal, accept any prompts and reboot when prompted.

DONE!

 

Question: Why take the time to properly uninstall your Nvidia drivers?

Answer: Properly uninstalling your Nvidia drivers ensures that all excess registry entries, files and DLL's that normally remain during an uninstall are permanently removed.

Benefits: If you don't properly uninstall your current drivers, traces are left over which can interfere with the new drivers you just finished installing. This can cause artifacts, glitching, crashes and so many more problems.

=====

What You Will Need:


1. Guru3D Driver Sweeper

http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=driversweeper

2. CCleaner

http://www.ccleaner.com/download

=====

Process:


1. Uninstall your current drivers:

Windows > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Nvidia > Uninstall

2. Once the uninstall is complete, reboot as prompted. Hit F8 when your computer first starts and enter safe mode.

3. Once in safe mode open Driver Sweeper, select NVIDIA Display and run it.

4. Once Driver Sweeper has finished close it and open CCleaner.

5. Run the file cleaner and registry cleaner.

6. Reboot back into normal mode and install your new drivers.

DONE!

 

You my friend are a God
+++Rep for you
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

 

I apologize for misunderstanding in the previous thread. Do you have some hard numbers on the performance increase (such as 3DMark scores)? I might wait for a bit of feedback before I try this out.

 

3DMark scores don't reflect performance increases as it is just a benchmarking program rather than actual game benchmarks.

Nonetheless with this tweak installed most users experience higher 3DMark scores and most importantly from a gamer perspective improved fps in games.

I actually learned this tweak from a fellow NBR who regularly uses this tweak on laptops he reviews on this website. (Thus not only have I seen the increase in performance, but he has and has been using this modification on every laptop he uses and/or reviews)

I don't have any before/after screenshots if thats what your looking for, but its not like those can't be photoshopped. This modification is zero risk, so theres no reason for you to not do it and then post the numbers yourself. (If you want to that is)

I think the biggest proof this tweak actually works is under Nvidia Control Panel:

- Without this tweak applied the 3D Application Settings are for workstation applications which is thus useless to most people.

- After this tweak is applied the 3D Application Settings are for DirectX applications and thus very valuable. (And modifying these settings actually works, its not just showing up because of the modification)

Hope that helps,

Michael "Hackez"

 

Well that's all the proof I need. I'm sold. I'll try it right now.
Also, how does 3DMark not reflect performance? It renders visuals the same way games do. I'd think that a higher score 3DMark would correlate to better performance in 3D games.

 

The guide on how to uninstall your Nvidia drivers correctly is now complete and up!

3DMark gives a good baseline of your hardware capabilities but just because you have a high 3DMark score doesn't mean you won't run into fps issues in games. I prefer to use actual game benchmarks, the standard used to be FEAR but I'm sure by now its Crysis.

I guess I'm just a 3DMark hater when it comes to people comparing scores like they mean anything. Show me some real world game benchmark comparisons such as Crysis and then you have my interest. (Didn't mean to offend you or anything)

 

Nah, no offense taken, but I guess I can see your point. Anyway, I finished installing the mod.

Before:
169.21 with LV2G inf
1st run - 3909
2nd run - 3914

After:
169.28 with GeForce inf
1st run - 3911
2nd run - 3918

These are done with stock speeds, so no OC for me (although I've done so in the past, and it easily adds 1000 more to the score). Anyway, as you can see, 3DMark score show no improvements from this mod. I'll start a few games to see about the stability.
EDIT: I just played Bioshock for a while, and it seems just as stable as the LV2G drivers w/ their infs. So far, I'm not seeing any marked improvements, but I don't have any complaints either. For further driver updates, would we have to come to you for modded infs?

Also, I uninstalled the previous driver just the way you described, except I actually installed the driver while in safe mode. I did this because I read that some anti-virus programs can interfere with driver installation.

 

Hackez is a genius.

And, PocketAaces21, I look forward to hearing more about your practical confirmation from actual gaming!

Alacrity

 

Will this mod for the graphics card make me able to view blu-ray movies when the new panasonic 9.5mm bd drive comes out? The reason I say that is I have the 570m with 256mb and when I ran the cyberlink BD advisor, it said I could not run bd movies on this graphics card? There was a list of geoforce cards that can run bd movies.

Just curious as this may have another use other than just gaming?

Thanks

Jim

 

I just checked and the Quadro FX 570 supports blu-ray by default according to Nvidia. My first assumption would be the advisor is incorrect.

 

Just bumping this thread up so everyone can get use out of it.

 

To response to your reply from the old thread: this issue did not happen when gaming.. But the mouse stutterd in Vista after installing the driver... The driver for XP worked fine and did not have this issue.

I'm sure it was not because of an incorrect installation because it happened to a clean installation of vista, even as the original with removed (the right way) drivers.

Anyway.. Did not try the new INF so it might be solved with this new inf / driver..

Thanks for your help/support/submit to the community.

 

Hi,

This information is EXACTLY what I've spend the past few DAYS looking for on the internet, but.... I need this same solution for my Quadro FX 5600 that I'm stuck with, and hoping to turn it into a driver-side GeForce 8800 series, for the exact same gaming profile reason as this thread describes.

Any ideas on how I might accomplish this goal? Is there someone here that can hold my hand through modding the Quadro FX 5600 INF to say its a GeForce 8800 (sounds intimidating).

PLEASE don't get upset for my post being non-laptop related, but I'm desperate...

Thank you!!!!

 

This should be a sticky.

 

My goal has been accomplished...

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=253499&highlight=quadro

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=253664&highlight=quadro

...I wonder if this simple trick works on Laptops??

 

Q: Will the XP 32bit drivers allow the DirectX 10 effects on games such as Bios? Isn't DirectX 10 a Vista OS only effect?



Nice work.

 

awesome thread.

 

I did this mod without any problems so far.

Thanks for the info.


Here is a screen shot of Bioshock with 1650x1050 RES with everrthing on minus the Direct X 10 option(doesn't allow it for XP Operating System).





Game play is great.

I didn't expect the graphics to be so good. I am very pleased with the FX570m, 256mb DDR3.


I'm going to benchmark this with Aquamark 3 and post results (Downloading right now).

 

Here is the Aquamark 3 result.





This is much better than my desktop with an Intel E6600 and an NVIDIA 7800 GS AGP8x card.

I'm very impressed!!!!

 

I'm not a big gamer, but how does this compare to a GeForce card of comparable build?

 

It's a great card.


This thread is about the new Gateway P-6831FX(FX for short) which sports the NVIDIA 8800m GTS with 512 mb of built in DDR3.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1267727

In the thread the FX was benchmarked with a number of different benchmark applicaitons.

The FX received an Aquamark 3 score of 86,673.

The results of my TP61p with the T9300 CPU, FX 570m with 256mb of DDR3 and the drivers posted in this thread scored an Aquamark 3 score of 112,316



So the results of this benchmark do favor the T61p by quite a ways over the NVIDIA GeForce 8800m GTS as configured in a base model HP "FX".

I will keep looking for 8800m GTX results.

My guess is that the FX570m in the T61p is on par with a 8800m GTX Geforce series GPU.

 

cool......did you attempt this benchmark w/ the original quadro driver?

 

As posted above in my thread the answer is no.

I used the drivers posted in this thread, hence that is why I posted the results in this thread.

I started a Aquamark 3 benchmark score thread in the gaming forum:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=222888

 

The 570M is a great card no doubt BUT in no way shape or form is it on par with the 8800M GTX. It's not even on par with the 8800M GTS.

This is one reason why synthetic benchmarks can really skew results. Aquamark has a cpu component...and depending on how it assigns weight to the cpu scores it can heavily favor faster cpus. But games don't assign synthetic weights to come up with a FPS number.

The FX runs on a T5450 @1.67Ghz vs the Penryn [email protected]. I'd be willing to bet if the FX was upgraded to the T9300, it'll beat the Penryn T61 handily in that test, not even close. But then again its synthetic and doesn't reflect real world performance which is what matters.

That's one main reason why I take synthetic benchmarks with a grain of salt. They're fine for giving a quick general impression of a machines performance but they come up short for comparison purposes unless the machines are similar in every way with only the GPU differing.

 

thx for the sweet reply......i just assumed that anyone making such a mod would want to test the before and after, rather than continue halfheartedly....i'll tame my assumptions from now on.

 

I should have done that but based on the information posted in this thread and others posted on other message boards I jumped right into the mod.



I should have tested with the stock drivers first.


During an install of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl this message popped up:



So that possibly answers the question as to which GeForce series video card is most similiar to the FX 570m.

 

It should beat the T61p if it had a T9300 because the FX does have a 8800m GTS with 512mb of dedicated DDR3 RAM.


However in this configuartion the T61p with the moddedFX 570m (GeForce 8600m SPEC Drivers) did score a higher Aquamark 3 benchmark score.

 

Exactly which is due in large part to the better cpu running a benchmark that is heavily cpu favored. So in reality the results show how much better the T9300 is over the T5450 and not so much how fast the 570M is.

Besides Aquamark3 is very outdated. Its 5 years old, is out of development and uses an engine that is outdated. When it was used 3Dmark03 was the other main benchmark. Its not a good indicator of current video card tech because it doesn't utilize their best capabilities.

Its good for ppl who overclock and want to gauge their system's before and after performance. Or for benching NFL Madden 03 or UT2003 .

A better benchmark would be 3dmark06 and its a FREE download and that still has a cpu component but at least its current with todays tech.

 

Aquamark 3 does provide a CPU score and a GPU score and an overall score.



If you can, pleast post a link to the free 3dmark06 download. One that works please. I have found it online but every host is super slow and unstable.




Check out the updates in my other thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=222888&page=2

There is a user here that goes by Snowsurfer who posted an Aquamark 3 score of 137,582.

I think the specs of his machine are :

Gateway P-16831FX, T9300, 8800GTS, 4gb RAM, 400gb HD 2x200gb in RAID 0@ 7200rpm

So that seems about right to me.

I feel it safe to say that the FX 570m with the GeForce moded 8600m drivers bump the FX 570m to 8800m GTS realms.

Now somebody needs to make a 8800m Geforce driver tweak for the FX 570m.

 

Can anyone tell me if this works on the NVS quadro cards? Or if there is something similar for those? I just ordered a ThinkPad with the NVS 140m 128mb, which is essentially an 8400gs. Not the highest end card, I know, but if it helps in games that'd be nice.

 

http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmark06/

well you can believe want you want ....based on a flawed benchmark. Sorry but I don't mean to be harsh and I'm a 570M card owner also and I want to believe its in the same class as the 8800M GTS but it isn't. 64 unified shaders, 256bit interface tells me. The 570M is equivalent to the 8600M GT. Not even the 8700M GT. Even if some 5 year old synthetic benchmark shows them within 20% in scores, they're not that close in reality.

Run and compare some game benchmarks and it will show. 3dM06 will show a bigger difference and bigger still with in game benchmarks.

I know ppl sometimes like to justify their purchase for whatever reason, but if you wanted a machine that games with the best and I mean the best, you picked the wrong machine. Sorry to say :/.

The T61p with 570M s still a great machine don't get me wrong. It's well designed, durable, runs decent , cool m quiet and all that in 15.4" form factor. A closer comparison would be with the Dell XPS M1530 ( which is a great machine in its own right) with the 8600M GT card. Both it and the T61p should have very similar performance...but I'd take the T61p anyday .

 

Stop right there.

I'm not trying to justify my purchase. I'm totally satisfied with the T61p. It is more machine than what I expected (This is my first IBM/Lenovo computer).

Also the link that you provided has many downloads but they are all super slow.

Can you find a fast down load for 3DMark06? If so please post the direct link. I myself have not been able to find a fast and stable host to download 3dMark06 from.


I'm just having fun with my T61p.
For a notebook that is specifically designed to play games it does very well.

It's a new machine with the new T9300 and IMO these type of threads will help answer questions for people who are considering buying a T61p and want their notebook to be able to play a decent game every now and then.

Again I'm not justifying my purchase I am just having fun. This thread is also geared towards the GeoForce game drivers side too.

 

I apologize then for my presumption
And you're right it helps answers questions for ppl but at the same time one has to be careful not to give ppl unrealistic expectations...say someone choosing a T61p thinking it will have better or equal gaming performance to an 8800M equiped machine then finding out otherwise.

 

You can try one of the mirrors here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1297

 

Ok... that took a long time but I downloaded it. This is the results from my first test. System is not overclocked.

My score: 4317


Lenovo T61p Specs



Screenshot from test




Results




How does it compare with other systems running GeForce 8600m GT powered systems?

As of right now this score beats out the top Windows XP (Apple Mac Book Pro running XP) 3DMark06 score of 4208 that is registered at the Futuremark WEB site:





The top ranked 8600m GT score is 8149!!! The score was accomplished on an overclocked Toshiba-Lab X200-21P running Windows Vista. Here is the link to the score:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4870530


My system is not registered with Futuremark but if it was, right now my system would be ranked #11 for all time high scores testing with a 8600m GT.


As of right now there is only one 8800m GTS score registered with 3DMark06 online. The score is 7150 and was acheived with a Gateway P-6831FX.

Score info:
http://service.futuremark.com/resultComparison.action?compareResultId=5210311&compareResultType=14



This information should help determine the gaming potential of a T61p.

 

First and foremost: While I appreciate all the positive feedback I'm currently a full time college student, part time computer technician and on top of all that working towards my computer certifications. In short I simply do not have time to write special INFs for those who need them, I only provide these because I have to make them for myself when I perform preventative maintenance on computers I repair/my own personal computers.

Also, thanks to all of you who posted benchmarks. I use this ThinkPad for primarily work and study related activities, I only use this modification for those times when I'm bored and can fit in a gaming session. (Hence the sheer lack of benchmarks from me personally)

-----

t61p_user: Alright, I apologize for misinterpreting your post. There is a relatively good chance that you are correct in your assumption though, that it was just that particular driver causing the stuttering. (I don't use Vista for many reasons...and this is a prime example of one)

blogthis: Unfortunately simply adding gaming profiles like suggested in the post you linked is not what I have done. I have modded the INF so that the hardware is detected as a GeForce and not a Quadro driver side. There is an enormous difference between the two.

sonDa5: Unfortunately no amount of small tweaking can be done to Windows XP to allow it to run DirectX 10. Is it possible technically? Yes, but it would take an enormous amount of coding. (We're talking a major project)

pillBOXhat: See my explanation posted below.

-----

Alright, I'm going to clear up a few issues/debates going on in this thread:

The Quadro FX 570M 256MB DDR3 is on par with the GeForce 8600M GT DDR3.

Note: The DDR3 versions of the GeForce 8600M GT are only seen in select high end notebooks, such as Asus gaming notebooks. The Quadro FX 570M outperforms the GeForce 8600M GT DDR2 version by roughly 15% according to benchmarks. The 8600M GT DDR2 version is what 90% of notebooks have unless specifically stated otherwise.

-----

Coming Soon: 174.16 modded INF's for those lucky Quadro FX 570M users. For those not aware this is the latest WHQL certified driver straight from NVIDIA. I just got done with a ten hour straight testing session so I'm a little bit too mentally exhausted to whip it up right now but look for them within the next twenty-four hours!

 

Bring it on!

 

I installed the 169.38 driver and whenever I leave my laptop for a while Ill come back and the screen is shut off and wont turn back on, i have to goto sleep for it to come on again, is anyone else having this problem?

 

No problems for me at all.

Maby you installed them wrong?


It's the 169.28 drivers from the link in this thread only.

Also you have to totally remove stock drivers and delete all traces of them.


All the info for the mod was posted at the begining of this thread.

No problems at all for me.

 

Yes, I followed the instructions exactly, I know how these kinds of things can mess up if you don't. When I tried to download the 169.28 driver it wasnt available, but now it is so I guess Ill just try it again.

edit: I installed 169.28, and now I realize that It seems like just the backlight is shutting off because i can vaguely see it, and when I hit fn+home the backlight will turn back on. Is there maybe some kind of setting that i could change to prevent the backlight from turning off?

 

Man, i have this same exact problem... i have no idea why it happens. Also, ever since i downloaded the 169.28 drivers my games (bioshock, cod4, bf2142) crash after like 30 min of play requiring a hard reboot. Its really annoying... i think im gonna roll back my graphics drivers to stock.

 

I havn't had any problems at all.

 

To those above who are experiencing issues with the latest drivers, I'm unsure as to what the culprit could be I'm sorry to say. (I have never experienced such an issue before)

On the bright side I just updated the first and second posts to reflect my release of 174.16 with the modded infs. These are the latest drivers straight from Nvidia and have gotten extremely good feedback from the community.

Edit: A small note with you guys having issues with your computer locking up after approximately thirty minutes. I encountered this issue on an old ThinkPad T61P with a defective motherboard. I have since had it swapped out for a brand new T61P and the issue has vanished. I wouldn't jump to that specific conclusion yet however. I'm about to perform some controlled tests to see if I can narrow down the issue with games such as BioShock locking up after a certain amount of time.

 

Nice work! But where are the modded inf files for the new drivers?

 

Page 1, 2nd post.

I'm going to try it out right now.

 

Hmmmmm, I went backwards in performance.

GeForce 174.16 w/mod Driver: 1984 3DMark06 Score

Nvidia 6.14.11.5685 12/10/2007 Driver: 4105 3DMark06 Score

Odd that different PCs with similar specs give different performance levels under 3DMark06.

With other laptopvideo2go.com drivers like 169.04, performance was >4000 which was acceptable.

All tests were with the T61p shown in the signature.

Alacrity

 

Unfortunately the best I can offer you guys is to release the latest drivers Nvidia has made available so that you can see what version works the best for you.

I haven't had a chance to test 174.16 because I've been swamped with work and school. (I haven't even booted up a video game in propably a month)

Any comparative benchmarks between the two are appreciated so that other forum members can decide which driver they will use. (Or perhaps even test both and choose which one works best for them)

Thanks,

Hackez

 

Running the 174.16 tweaked 9600GT for 8600m GT GeForceware FX570m.

Benchmark increased and all the games I have tested are more playable and smoother. I will keep this one awhile to see how stable it is.


New 3dMark06 score increase from 4317 to 4374







Ran the Lost Coast HL3 Video test and scored almost 64fps.

 

Just to make you guys aware, it seems my replacement T61P didn't resolve the hard locking. After a certain extent of time when using graphic intensive applications (approximately fifteen to thirty minutes) it completely locks up and the sound skips.

The only way to resolve this issue is to of course completely turn the computer off manually and turn it back on and the problem always pops back up. It doesn't matter what driver version either, its always there. I am filing a complaint with Lenovo right now to see if I can get this issue resolved or a refund for my laptop. (I'm almost positive this is a hardware defect since I know quite a few T61P users with no issues)