Vaio Z & Intel X9100 & Virtualization Info

It's me and my crazy mods again After fitting second SSD to my Vaio Z (instead of optical drive), i got hold of Intel's X9100 ES from E-Bay...

Stepping is QBDW - for those interested.

So, after a hour or so of fitting everything in (mostly spent on opening the Z) it was ready for testing.

First results? Not very nice - X9100 ES I got has lowest VID of 1.0V (, I should have asked the seller for this before) Also, 3.0 GHz VID is outrageously high (1.225V) - so, during the first tests it was shown that almost immediately the CPU resorts to throttling (temp. gets to 105C) - completely useless.

Okay... second try, I opened the Z again - this time armed with Arctic Silver 5 I basically re-enforced the cooling system (increased the tension that pushes the cooling system on CPU and GPU) and added a nice layer of AS5 on the CPU surface.

Then, I used CPUgenie to undervolt all voltages up to 2.66 GHz to minimum VID (it is stable @1.0V) - and, for the time being, disabled everything above 2.66 GHz.

This time, it was much better - the CPU can survive without resorting to throttling all the way up to 2.66 GHz (which is on the border, after 5-6 min of pure 100% load it gets to 92-93C) - however, anything above 2.66 GHz is just plain insane, and it is more than obvious that Vaio Z thermal design is not designed to handle anything above 35W TDP.

The processor is idling ~45 C with Intel graphics and to ~57 C with NVidia - quite a bit more than P8600 because of idiotic 1.0V minimum VID - I am quite sure if it was possible to go to, say, 0.925W that it would be much better.

One interesting thing, though, is that VT-X looks always enabled despite the fact that Insyde Bios is always locking it off, I managed to install Hyper V and also ran VMWare Processor Checker that reported that the computer is compatible with 64-bit guest OS-es... I guess this is only because of "ES" moniker, the retail X9100 will most likely not have this "bug".

So... conclusion? Stay away - I only use it because I got this CPU cheap, but I would always replace it with P9600.

 

I have always wondered if the Z would run cool enough with an X processor. I have the exact same setup with my SZ. Undervolting an X9000 with Artic Silver. I can max the chip at 2.83ghz temps top out at 78c. Most of the time it runs a 1.0v and 38-44c. Very impressed with the X9000-X9100. They run at low voltage and are very fast. Before undervolting the chip it would thermal throttle and top at 96c. The SZ is larger and allows for better cooling overall. Not to knock the Z. I like the way it looks even better than my SZ.

 

Great post psyq321! Thanks for sharing. +1 rep for you.

Just a little note about the Z cooling system: in addition to the 25W, SONY makes a 35W version of it that they sell with Intel T9600 and T9800 CPUs.

I posted pictures of both for comparison a while back, can't find it now.
You may have had better results with that cooling system and X9100.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4217463#post4217463

 

Wow, interesting info falang!

Do you know the part # of that 35W cooling system? I already purchased some parts for Z from a German service store (something I'm not really proud of - first time I was fitting the second SSD I managed to destroy the keyboard cable )

It would be great if it could be separately ordered - as the 25W one is really... how to say.... pettite

 

The 35W system consists of two parts: the part you see in the pictures I posted above (thank you bjornb for the link) and another part, an airduct sheet that improves air flow around the CPU. The airduct sheet is attached with adhesive tape to the bottom of heatsink. I am sorry I don't know the part numbers.

Originally SONY only sold models with the 35W cooling system (and T9600 CPU at the time) in Japan, but then they became available in China and more recently (with T9800) in the UK, France and other EU countries.

Even with the additional small heatsinks and an airduct sheet, 35W is pretty much the upper limit the Z can handle. For this reason, SONY puts out a "footnote" for notebooks with T series CPUs. For example, on Z boxes with such processors sold in the EU, SONY adds an asterisk with the line:"CPU speed will be reduced under certain operating conditions". They write "will", not "may be reduced".

So anybody trying to fit a 45W CPU into the Z should know that it just ain't going to work as intended. You can trust SONY: if they could put a faster processor in there and sell it to you, they would do it.

 

Hmm, there is an easy way out of 45W TDP for X9100

Basically that TDP figure is for stock voltages only, and Core 2 Duo CPUs are very good undervolters - with considerable undervolting this CPU can definitely be tamed - though, don't expect 25W TDP with 3 GHz.

Here is what I got with undervolting with CPUgenie - note that I'm using QS C0 X9100, which is VID-locked @1.00V (shame )

800 MHz - 1.00V (stock) - 1.00V (undervolting)
1600 MHz - 1.050V (stock) - 1.00V (undervolting)
2133 MHz - 1.125V (stock) - 1.00V (undervolting)
3066 MHz - 1.225V (!! stock) - 1.125V (undervolting)

In fact, 1.00V is stable VID all the way up to (and including) 2.66 GHz.

By simply limiting this CPU to 2933 MHz, it is stable at 1.050V (1.025V at 2800 MHz) - so TDP figure will be considerably lower than 45W - probably much lower than 35W, too.

I guess the OEM X9100 CPUs are even better, if they are not also VID-locked @1.00V - I guess E0 steppings of X9100 can run @3 GHz with lower voltages due to internal optimizations Intel did in E0 series.

@falang - yep I saw the airduct sheet in the Z (dis)assembly manual - I'm thinking of acutally enhancing the cooling system as DIY - by increasing the convection surface... I'm gonna thing about this over weekend, maybe it can save some degrees C.

 

Hey MxMoney,
I wanted to upgrade the processor in my Vaio SZ670 and I wanted to know how did you go about upgrading your processor? did you get a modified BIOS or something? or did you just switch out the processor?

 

It is plug and play, no mods necessary. CPU access panel is on the bottom of the SZ.