storm-chaser
Disabled
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2011
- Location
- Upstate NY
The legendary T61, we all know the classic design.. this laptop was released back in the Vista days, yet beyond that its still a decent machine with the proper upgrades and a little time investment.
First thing I did was go ahead and purchase some new ram, a Kingston Hyper-X 4GB kit running @ 667 MHz, with timings of 4-4-4-12. The stock memory runs at speeds of 6-6-6-15, so this is just a modest upgrade. One memory module is located under the keyboard, the other is accessible via an access panel on the bottom.
Second upgrade was Middleton's custom bios which really wakes this thing up. And the only reason I still haven't upgraded to a new laptop. The standard T61 BIOS is limits the data interface to SATA 1.5 speeds. Since the ICH8 chipset is actually SATA II capable, middleton has re-written the latest bios, v2.29 to include SATA II support. This custom bios also includes Dual IDA mode to allow what was essentially an early form of 'turbo' mode for some of the high end mobile core 2 duo processors. I am running the core 2 T9300 which has a standard clock speed of 2.5Ghz. With Dual IDA mode, I get 8% more, or 2.7GHz out of both cores. You must use ThrottleStop to enable the 13.5X multiplier. Here is a link to the thread and download site for middleton's custom bios:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443
Third upgrade, SSD, was critical for extra performance, and I had an extra OCZ Vertex II to take advantage of the SATA II speeds. I forgot to benchmark beforehand, but here are the results now using crystaldiskmark, and CPU Z screenshots after. The laptop is fairly speedy now! I almost forgot to say, with the added heat of running 2.7GHz, I used thinkpadfancontrol to manually set the fan speed to 3500rpm, so overheat issues are non-existent. You can also use Throttlestop to undervolt. I am currently stable @ 1.16v, stock is ~1.2. Just incase anyone else wants to breathe some life into their old T61
HWINFO
Crystal Disk Mark:
First thing I did was go ahead and purchase some new ram, a Kingston Hyper-X 4GB kit running @ 667 MHz, with timings of 4-4-4-12. The stock memory runs at speeds of 6-6-6-15, so this is just a modest upgrade. One memory module is located under the keyboard, the other is accessible via an access panel on the bottom.
Second upgrade was Middleton's custom bios which really wakes this thing up. And the only reason I still haven't upgraded to a new laptop. The standard T61 BIOS is limits the data interface to SATA 1.5 speeds. Since the ICH8 chipset is actually SATA II capable, middleton has re-written the latest bios, v2.29 to include SATA II support. This custom bios also includes Dual IDA mode to allow what was essentially an early form of 'turbo' mode for some of the high end mobile core 2 duo processors. I am running the core 2 T9300 which has a standard clock speed of 2.5Ghz. With Dual IDA mode, I get 8% more, or 2.7GHz out of both cores. You must use ThrottleStop to enable the 13.5X multiplier. Here is a link to the thread and download site for middleton's custom bios:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443
Third upgrade, SSD, was critical for extra performance, and I had an extra OCZ Vertex II to take advantage of the SATA II speeds. I forgot to benchmark beforehand, but here are the results now using crystaldiskmark, and CPU Z screenshots after. The laptop is fairly speedy now! I almost forgot to say, with the added heat of running 2.7GHz, I used thinkpadfancontrol to manually set the fan speed to 3500rpm, so overheat issues are non-existent. You can also use Throttlestop to undervolt. I am currently stable @ 1.16v, stock is ~1.2. Just incase anyone else wants to breathe some life into their old T61
HWINFO
Crystal Disk Mark: