Building T60p

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Wind · #1 Post by **Wind** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 5:36 am

I have not been here for some 2 years, at least, but just bought THINKPAD T60P 8741-C4M CORE 2 DUO T7600 2.33GHz 1GB WIFI BT 15" (no hdd, no caddy, no battery, no charger) and hope to build nice-fast machine. I have couple of X31-love them, T43 2Ghz, T60 SSD and 15" HP (2.53Ghz, 4GB RAM). I am going to sell HP laptop and use T60p instead - just love IBM/Lenovo !
My priority will be to make my T60p as fast as I can and so I have couple of questions-perhaps somebody can advice. My plan is to use Momentus XT500GB (from HP) as second hdd (for data) and system and software will be sitting on SSD. I know 3GB RAM limit so I will get 2GB more of RAM.
Questions:
-which 60GB-120GB SSD (do not want to spend more $ on bigger SSD) will make my T60p a "speed demon" ? Stability and longevity is also critical for me.
- I never tried to overclock any laptop-have zero knowledge about that. But I would love to make this my new toy working at about 2.5-2.8 GHz - can this laptop with this CPU (T7600 2.33Ghz) do that safely and is that very hard or reasonably easy thing to achieve ?
Thanks

Latios · #2 Post by **Latios** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 6:09 am

For the SSD, Intel, Crucial and Samsung are generally good names in my books. I'm not sure if the T60 is supported by the SATA II BIOS to make better use of the SSD though. But even without, it will speed things up quite nicely.
I don't think overclocking will be such a good idea. It's a laptop and overclocking a considerable number will amount to a lot of heat.

#3 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 6:57 am

You should perhaps look into a Frankenpad, i.e. put a 14.1" 4:3 T61 motherboard in a 15" T60 chassis.
Plenty of posts on the forum.
T60 is only SATA I, the above Frankenpad can run at SATA II speed with Middleton's BIOS (only for R61/T61/X61).

ThinkPadophile · #4 Post by **ThinkPadophile** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 7:59 am

- I never tried to overclock any laptop-have zero knowledge about that. But I would love to make this my new toy working at about 2.5-2.8 GHz - can this laptop with this CPU (T7600 2.33Ghz) do that safely and is that very hard or reasonably easy thing to achieve ?

The T7600 cannot be overclocked. You would have to replace it with a T7600g (chip ID SL9U5), and at least one member of this forum has reported speeds up to 3.0GHz with a T7600g on his T60p. Whether or not it's worth the expense is your call. Running the chip at that speed would aggrevate the problem of heat dissipation, so you would have to address that issue as well.

Wind · #5 Post by **Wind** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:56 am

Thanks for tips. I do not want to tinker that much with it, I will just give it fast SSD+Momentus XT that I have and 3GB RAM. If not happy with speed, will rather buy T400 or higher with 2.8Ghz

Wind · #6 Post by **Wind** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:17 pm

Just fired this new toy up for the first time (its 15.4 widescreen), 2.33Ghz but still no hdd.
Instantly after pressing power button I can hear some fan noise, pretty noisy. (My T60 SSD is very very quiet).
I am sure it is fan noise but is it CPU fan or some other fan ? (Dunno what to buy on Ebay).
Other question: my plan was to use Momentus XT from my HP laptop as second hdd in this T60p but I am not sure now, maybe I will buy normal 750GB hdd instead. Question is: does it make any sense to buy 7200rpm or 5400 is good enough as (perhaps) this configuration will not be able to use the speed of 7200 rpm hdd fitted in ultrabay ?

Wind · #7 Post by **Wind** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 6:02 am

OK, so let me update and also ask again.
I bought Intel 330 120GB SSD for this T60p. Also I got Hitachi 500GB 5400rpm brand new hdd (was very cheap). My dilemma: as I want to use 500GB hdd as second drive (in ultrabay instead of DVD) - does that make any sense to use 7200rpm Momentus XT for that purpose ? Or there will be no any real difference in general laptop performance no matter which of that two hdd I put into ultrabay ? (Seagate Momentus XT or Hitachi 5400 rpm. System and programs will be located on Intel SSD)
Fan noise: is that better to buy the whole assembly or the fan only ? Thank you

Neil · #8 Post by **Neil** » Mon Aug 20, 2012 7:14 am

In my opinion, it would not make sense to buy a 7200rpm data storage drive, compared to a 5400rpm model. But, if you already have one, it makes sense to me to use it. The 7200rpm drive should give faster response, but I'm not sure it would be enough to notice most of the time.

As for the CPU fan, I've replace both heatsink/fan combo and fan only. Replacing the whole unit is a little easier, but the fan only costs less and doesn't leave you with a perfectly good heat sink left over. Just a little extra effort involved.

Wind · #9 Post by **Wind** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:10 am

Fired up T60p with Intel 330 120GB SSD. Linux Peppermint so far and it works very well and very fast (1 GB RAM only-waiting for another 2GB).
I need new heatsink or fan - huge confusion and mess on Ebay, china has no idea what they sell. Can anybody tell me proper P/N for fan for 15.4" widescreen T60p ? I found heatsink but they are costly for this model. Thanks

#10 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 6:12 am

Get the HMM, it has all the info required: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-67980

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