ThinkPad T61P (How To Make Your Quadro A GeForce)

This thread is here for archival purposes ONLY!

Please see the following thread for the latest thread regarding this topic:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=209796

 

I am sure many T61p users will find this useful.

 

Thanks! I appreciate it.

 

This is a great post, and I certainly intend to use it... However, the title of the thread is misleading, and could cause real problems for some. Modifying the INF so the driver will install does NOT make your 570 a GeForce. The two cards have different BIOS codes. The Geforce is optimized for gaming demands (textures/ smoothing) and the 570 is optimized for integer math (3d CAD). Nvidia does not include the 570 in the INF file because the driver has some incompatibilities with the card BIOS. You may or may not run into these incompatibilities - most will not. If you do, it may or may not be a disaster for your device. Newbs should at least be aware of the potential trade-offs in this mod. I am not worried about it for my expensive toy, however, and appreciate the info.

 

I'll edit the first post to include this warning, I wrote this guide at 6 AM shortly before crashing because a member of these forums requested it.

Thanks

 

I used these drivers and I was able to run Crysis at a higher resolution . I dont remember know what the FPS was, but I did experience slowdowns around the last level....

 

Excellent work!

 

Excellent post! much better than a link to laptopvideo2go's homepage. I have been having driver problems and have been forced to revert back to the stock drivers in order to have a stable experience. Mainly, I just notice an overall "choppy" feel to everything, including the mouse movement on the desktop. I get a higher 3dmark score and a higher avg fps rating in most games, but its so choppy that I can't stand it and I revert back to the stock drivers which eliminate the whole "choppiness" issue.

I know this guide isn't geared towards driver issues, but heck, I might as well share my experiences up until this point.

I'll do a clean driver update according to this guide and post my update later on. Again, thanks for the simple but clear guide.

 

Anyone have any benchmark before and after tests numbers?

 

What I'd really like to know is how to make an X3100 into a Geforce

 

Now that would be something

 

Hackez, thank you for info! I once could overclocked my T61p's 570M using ATI tools under WinXP, but after a few driver updates I couldn't get overclocking working again (performance became even worse than non-overclocked before). Now getting 570M recognized as Geforce helped me to get back the right performance and the overclocking working again!

 

So I installed the drivers and am still getting "choppy" performance with a high fps reading. I'm lost on what could be causing this.

 

Please be more specific, what OS are you running? What games are you having trouble with specifically?

My first advice would be to do a clean install by using one of the guides on here and not to install any ThinkVantage utilities. What are your exact machine specs.

More than likely its a software problem, but the motherboard could be defective.

 

Xp professional. Already have done a clean install of XP w/o any thinkvantage utilities.

centriono duo 2.0 ghz
2 gigs of ram
120 gb 5400 rpm HD

everything else is pretty much stock/normal for t61p systems customized online (no turbo memory or anything like that)

To use a game as an example: UT2k4 (which does fine on stock drivers anyway...but just an example) seems a lot "choppier" as if the screen refresh or something is slower than it was with the previous drivers. I'm not going to go all out and say that's the problem, but I'm just taking a guess since I am getting higher 3Dmark scores with these and noticing the same sluggishness while I watch the the 3Dmark test take place. UT3 also has this issue.

Problem has gone away after several reinstalls of the stock drivers and drivers available via windows update (though I received lower benchmarks).

So basically, I'm hoping that my shot in the dark of "it may be a slower refresh rate" helps to pinpoint the issue.

 

@ Hackez & Rolypoly2,

I have had the same problem, the 'choppie' screen, after installing the Windows XP driver with the driver modified by Hackez.
Even when I moved my mouse it sort of stutterd.. And as Rolypoly2 said, my 3DMark06 score was like 100 to 150 points higher.

After uninstalling this driver, the problem was directly 'solved', even with the 'Default VGA-driver' of Windows XP. The original drivers from Lenovo and Windows-update are working fine. After trying the latest driver from laptopvideo2go, I noticed that the problem is not directly related to the INF modification but to the latest driver.

When I booted to Windows Vista (I have a dualboot XP/Vista using a bootmanager), I uninstalled the default lenovo driver and installed the Vista version using the instructions of Hackez. In Windows Vista, I have no stuttering/slomotion.

3DMark06 gave me a score of 5040 after overclocking my videocard to 642 (GPU) / 840 (Memory) using Rivatuner 2.06. I forgot to make a screenshot of the results but I did export them to a file. The test I ran after this test scored 5021 where I did make a screenshot of.

I hope this helps Rolypoly2 or anybody else..

 

cool guide man

 

is this for both 14 inch and 15 inch t61ps.. or more specifically 128meg and 256meg fx 570's?

 

I'm not really getting the stuttering, but rather some flickering. So does anyone have a solution to this?

 

Both, since the driver that will be installed is exactly the same. The size of memory is not driver related as far as I know.

To be more specific about my system:
Lenovo Thinkpad T61p
Intel Core 2 Duo - T7700 (2.4 GHz)
15,4" screen @ WUXGA (1920x1200)
Nvidia Quadro 570M with 256MB DDR3
Memory: 1x 2GB - 667 MHz (DDR2)

Can you tell us what which Windows version you are using (XP / Vista) and what you understand with 'flickering'. Does it occur a lot?

 

Hi, would it be possible to make a modified inf for the T61? More specifically the nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140? Thanks!

 

Hackez,

Many thanks for this great thread.

I see from my UPS tracking info that I will probably get my new T61p today and wanted to ask you if you would change your recommendations at all based on any recent driver/INF evaluations? I see some positive feedback on the 169.21 for example.

Gaming is a major interest of mine so I am looking for your latest recommendation.....if it has changed.

Many thanks.

Alacrity

 

Hackez,

Ok, I have my T61p and it is working great. And, I have incorporated your upgrade.

Still have my question, though. Do you or others recommend the 169.21 or any other further improvement from your upgrade ingredients?

Thanks,

alacrity

 

hi, just one quick issue:
i originally installed the 156.83 drivers using the modded .inf directly from laptopvideo2go.com, and recently upgraded to 169.04 using the process you outlined in this thread. however, when i look at the adapter details in both cases (Display->Settings tab->Advanced->Adapter, the memory size is listed as 512mb. I'm running on a t61p with a 256mb quadro fx 570m, and was wondering why the driver thinks i have 512mb of video ram, and whether this could be a potential problem.

thanks in advance!

 

There is no problem. I have a 128MB video card listed as 512MB. It's shared memory.

 

Hi, guys, i just downloaded the driver as post told ,unfortunately ,two drivers are for XP/2000, why? is there some mistake i made?

 

Is there any way to modify these for future drivers? As in, is there an easy trick or do these take a long time? Would like to try with 169.29.

 

so, what's the benefit of running geforce instead of quadro???

 

GeForce is made for gaming. Quadro is made for CAD and engineering type applications. Quadro is a workstation card.

 

but even you can emulate to look like geforce, the quadro chip is still quadro, no?

 

Still Quadro but....

I just used this thread driver/INF combo and then tested in 3DMark06 with ATI Tools (600/760 oc) and TPFC (0.30) and got a score of 5079.

Then went to my oldtime favorte multiplayer game....HL2 Deathmatch and got the smoothest play, highest fps, highest texture game ever.

Great thread.

 

thanks for this guide !

very comprehensive!

 

Quadro and Geforce have the same GPU - different BIOS - different optimizations for 3d/CAD (integer math) versus gaming (basically texture manipulations, antialiasing). Seem to support all the same function calls, or else people modding would be crashing all over the place. Quadro drivers come out much less frequently, but are supposedly more stable for 'business' users... whatever

 

is there anyway to upgrade a x61 to Geforce? too much for the little guy?

 

To my knowledge, GPUs are unchangeable, so you're stuck with what you got.

 

I'm checking it out now! I have had gaming/driver issues for a while(so much that lenovo has replaced my mobo) Hopefully this helps!

 

Sorry, I don't understand why people with Vista 64 can't do this
Can someone please explain it to me?
Thanks

 

I have x64 and I did it just fine.
Anyway, I don't think this has anything to do with giving Quadros GeForce functionality. I think I read on LaptopVideo2Go that the drivers that nVidia puts out will work for all of their cards, but they intentionally lock out some mobile cards using the inf because they would rather you get the driver from your manufacturer.

 

Can you provide me a link to the drivers that you are using?

Why does it say in the first post that he will not provide the drivers to do this for Vista 64?

I'm deciding whether or not to get Vista 64, and if I can download drivers that make the Quadro function like a GeForce card then I'll install Vista 64..

 

Check out the forum here

 

Thanks for the link, but where can I find the moded inf drivers for Vista 64 so upon hardware detection, Windows thinks the Quadro is a GeForce?

 

When you click on one of the threads, you'll see at the top a download link for the driver, then the modded inf, then the quickstart guide.
Also, the inf file is basically a list of graphics cards that the driver checks before it installs. The modded inf merely adds the Quadro FX570M, and many other cards, to the list. It's doesn't make the driver think that it's a GeForce.

 

Thanks for the replies
Sorry, I don't know much about drivers
This info is very helpful

 

To answer some questions now that I am back...(I will attempt to answer all questions, if anyone has more questions please visit the new thread with the revised guide and modded infs)

Amoeba, Rolypoly2 and t61p_user: The choppiness and other graphic anomalies you have reported are caused by two seperate issues. Either incorrect installation of the drivers or because the game you are attempting to play simply doesn't fully support the Quadro hardware wise. (Basically it was poorly coded, because most games will never exhibit this issue or notice the difference between a GeForce and a Quadro if coded properly) The unreal gaming engine is infamous for this.

Romi80: Yes, this modification is for ALL T61P's, as long as you have a Quadro GeForce FX 570.

Azetab: Due to my insanely busy schedule with college atm, doing this modification outside of the T61P is pretty much impossible. I simply don't have the free time.

MNguyen: If there was an easy way to future proof this modification I assure you I would have implemented it quite some time ago. Unfortunately with the ongoing modded inf work at laptopvideo2go combined with the steady changes from nvidia this modification has to be completely redone with each new driver release.

Tak.japan: The benefit is exactly what was stated in the guide with this modification you get better compatibility, performance and stability with DirectX games and applications.

Myzzdeedee: No, except for a few exceptions generally graphic cards are never upgradeable in laptops.

AceOfSpades: In this thread I didn't have the time to make the 64-Bit modded infs, please see my new thread with an updated guide. (This includes 64-Bit modded infs!)

PocketAces21: Please read the guide more in depth next time, this entire guide is based on giving a Quadro a GeForce's functionality. The inf is specifically modified so that your operating system recognizes your graphics card as a GeForce, thus improving compatibility, performance and stability with DirectX games and applications. Laptopvideo2go modded infs simply allow you to install the latest drivers on your operating system, I make the modifications so your Quadro functions like a GeForce.

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I sincerely apologize for all those whom have had questions. I have been extremely busy as of late and when I left for real life issues this guide didn't have any replies whatsoever.

I have noticed that it seems to be teeming with life now, so I will be requesting a mod to lock this thread. I will be making a brand new one with a more comprehensive guide and the latest drivers! (With of course the latest modded INF for Windows XP & Vista for both 32-Bit AND 64-Bit)

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This thread is here for archival purposes ONLY!

Please see the following thread for the latest thread regarding this topic:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=209796