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    Upgrade T61 CPU, Memory and HDD

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by mmcintosh, Dec 14, 2010.

  1. mmcintosh

    mmcintosh Newbie

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    Hello all, I am new to this forum and after reading the multiple threads on CPU upgrades and the T61 I am somewhat sure that I can upgrade my CPU but I am not sure how far I should go?

    Here is my system board specifics from the Lenovo parts list:

    My exact model is Type 7659 12U

    In the parts list the system planar assembly is listed as 42W7866 which is the integrated graphics Intel X3100 with the GM965 chipset. I searched for a reference to this assembly in the forum was unable to locate it. Would it be feasible for me to upgrade the CPU to a T9300 or better? I am currently running Windows 7 x64 Enterprise, the Microsoft standard development OS these days. Currently I have 2 GB of memory and I am going to upgrade it to 4GB by purchasing 2 2GB SODIMMs. The current memory is DDR2-667 but if the system board can support 800Mhz FSB memory then I would rather upgrade the memory appropriately as well.

    Of course the REAL performance hit is the 80GB SATA drive. I am considering moving to an SSD to increase my throughput there. There is a utility on the Lenovo site that has an ISO boot image to check for the presence of an SSD drive and determine if the BIOS has to be updated but I am pretty sure the system should be able to use it.

    Any help/advice offered from board members would be greatly appreciated!

    Scott McIntosh
    SDE3 - Microsoft
    Microsoft Online Services
     
    mmcintosh, Dec 14, 2010
    #1
  2. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

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    the T61 can take a max of 8 gigs. The motherboard don't support 800 mhz speed, but you can use these ram in it, if you are having problem finding the 667 mhz version.

    T9300 can be used in your motherboard, your 42W7866 motherboard natively supports T8xxx and T9xxx Penryn CPU. There is no point getting anything better than the T9300 CPU, due to the fact that the performance improvement over the base T9300 is not enough to justify the extra cost.

    forum.thinkpads.com • View topic - T61 Motherboard needed

    If you need to use the latest SSD, then it is advisable to do the middleton bios upgrade, which unlocks the SATA2 mode for you.

    Also, welcome to the forum.
     
    lead_org, Dec 14, 2010
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