D630 Owners Thread

Same here, I thought all D630's with the Nvidia GPU were going to fail.

It doesn't really affect me because the most video intensive thing I do is watch youtube video's or DVD's that I have ripped to MP4 format. I might add one of those Broadcom HD decoder cards if there is a slot for it in this machine. If not, that's fine too.

 

I'm pretty sure there wasn't actually a revised motherboard... I've seen failed Nvidia D630 made from 2007 all the way through 2009. What they did do in some later revisions (typically after Penryns start showing up) is change the thermal pad over the dGPU, but it only helps mitigate the issue a little rather than solve it.

... like some people think there are also ThinkPad T61ps with a motherboard revision, but I'm pretty confident that's BS too.

 

I can't say for sure, but when I processed two RMAs in 2011, the ProSupport rep was fairly knowledgeable and he mentioned that the replacement motherboards would come with a revised GPU. When I got the replacements, I checked the number stamped on the GPU, and they were different from the original motherboards.

 

Actually it was fixed on Thinkpads with an 08/08 or later production date. There is a ton of info over on the Thinkpads.com forum or you just PM ajkula66 as he knows a lot about the T61 Nvidia issues. You can even find planar boards being sold on the marketplace there from time time to time that are known good boards from that later production run.

 

So I have been searching, but no one really complied a CPU compatibility matrix chart for these machines.

Here is the question: Can I use a P series CPU in my D630? If so, which ones?

 

You can't. In some 965 chipset implementations, you can get them to run at 800MHz FSB, but I've never seen it work on a D630.

 

Ok, I know I am limited to 800MHz FSB CPU's of the Socket P variety.

What I would like to know is if there are any P series CPU's that will work in my D630.

This machine does not have an Nvidia GPU and runs quite nicely. But for a few buck I know I can go to the T8300 or T9300 CPU and gain better cooling and some speed over my T7300.

This is more of a un upgrade along the lines of "because I can" than anything else.

The machine is my primary couch machine and runs Linux Mint 17 just fine. But I want to show the old gal some love. She's already got 4GB of RAM and a speedy 7200RPM 500GB HD that I pulled from a dead E6520. No plans on putting an SSD in it unless I find one with the same capacity for under $100 which isn't going to happen.

Otherwise I am very, very happy with my D630. Just trying to shoot for lower temps even though it runs pretty cool. Seems to idle in the mid 40's and peak around 70c or so.

Thanks in advance.

 

Thanks.

Started a different thread about this. Perhaps a mod could merge that thread into this one.

This is what happens when you post and are tired.

 

So... there are no P series CPUs that have an 800MHz FSB. Period.

What you can do, though, is get one of those T8300 or T9300 and undervolt it. If it undervolts well, you should be able to get close to the P series 25W TDP at load.

The difference between 25W and 35W isn't really that big unless you're always running at full load... the idle power consumption of T and P series CPUs is basically the same.

 

Yeah I figured that based on your previous response. No big deal, thanks though.

That being said the price differencce between the T8300 and the T9300 on e-bay is minimal. So I will go for the T9300 when cash flow permits. It should make for a nice bump over my T7300. I don't mind throwing a few bucks in this machine considering that I got it for free. Same with the 4GB of RAM and the HDD. So anything I spend will be equal to my total investment.

It does have Windows 7 installed, but I haven't booted into that OS in months on this computer. It runs Linux Mint 17 100% of the time and that is just the way I like it. These are great little linux computers (in terms of size).