CPU Upgrade Advice for T500

I'm currently looking at upgrading my processor to something faster to get some more years out of my trusty laptop. The only upgrade left that will benefit me when playing video games, running multiple applications, running Vmware virtual machines, and now recently as of last month working with the full Adobe CS6 Master Suite is a processor upgrade so I'd like a few opinions on the matter. I've been computing on it daily for the past 4 years and 5 months going strong, I'd like to keep using it and max out my investment.

My personal laptop is a Lenovo ThinkPad T500 2081CTO, and its main specifications are as follows:

- Intel Core 2 Duo processor T8600 (2.40GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2) (Starts to feel a bit taxed with Adobe CS6)
- 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM Memory Module 4 GB (2 x 4 GB) (Upgrade over original hardware.)
- ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 with 256MB.
- WUXGA 1920 x 1200 (Upgrade over original hardware.)
- Intel 520 Series Cherryville 240GB SATA III SSD (Upgrade over original hardware.)
- Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64 (Upgrade over original software - Vista!!!)

I've read a few forum threads mentioning the T9900 CPU as an option (Fastest available CPU) and was wondering if this would be the best option or would a T9600 be a better option due to the lower thermal requirements and ease in cooling? My only hesitation on the T9900 is will it be a problem to cool off, I currently run my T500 on a cooling pad every time I use it to keep it running cool and ventilated regardless if I'm using processor / graphics intensive applications or if I'm just browsing the web.

 

You may run into some heat issues with the T9900 if your ambient temp. is > 22C during intensive use. I know this for a fact as I had a T500 with T9900 chip along with the 3650 ATI GPU. You can get away with any heat issue if you use a decent laptop cooler such as something from zalman.

Personally, I would probably look into a T9800 as it is considerably cheaper than the T9900 and also runs a tad cooler. I would actually look into getting a new ivy-bridge/haswell based laptop.

 

I'm not too worried about the ambient temp, I think it's usually well under that mark. I hadn't considered the T9800 as I had only seen reports of T9600 and T9900 models out there. I noticed you had a few threads regarding your own T500 with the aforementioned T9900/ATI3650 combo so I'm grateful for the fast reply backed by first-hand knowledge and experience with the setup.

I have a cooler master laptop cooler which allows me to target the CPU / GPU directly by placing fans directly under them, the laptop runs significantly cooler with them after playing games then it did when I didn't have them; so it's all to it's benefit and longevity. I'll check the temperatures for good measure since I haven't actually done a benchmark of what my system's temperature ranges fall into with the cooler and without now that I think about it.

As for buying a new laptop, I'll see if I can hold out till they release a T550 model or higher. I haven't found the immediate need to upgrade to a completely new system yet - I rather enjoy being able to still compute on my current machine.

 

In theory the T9900 has the same TDP as all the other T9x00 CPUs... in practice, I'm not sure how much hotter it gets. I wouldn't get the T9900 either way just because it's a really poor value; the T9600 is almost 1/3 the price and 91% of the performance. If you're worried about heat, you could also consider the 25W P-Series stuff.

 

There's something wrong with your setup. I've owned numerous T500 and W500 machines and don't recall any of them being *that* hot in normal use. Time for re-pasting, maybe? New fan?

 

Yeah I don't feel like introducing heating & performance issues into my main all purpose laptop by putting in a chip that just runs way too hot, which is why I wanted to hear feedback on the possible T9900 option. I know from experience when I had a Pentium 4 Prescott CPU and then later upgraded that to a SL7CH Extreme Pentium 4 in my old desktop computer I got the speed improvements but at the added cost / work to keep them cool - reapplying thermal paste over and over again. (Didn't know that Arctic Silver 5 could actually burn off that fast from heat.) I would rather avoid having to do that operation on my laptop a few times a year by introducing a hotter faster CPU that requires maintenance, but at the same time I'd like to extend it's life by giving it a CPU upgrade never the less.

I noticed according to the T500 / W500 parts page there are only two listed coolers for these systems; the first cooler is for integrated graphics and then there's a second one for dedicated graphics. It seems they determined the coolers based solely upon the whether the system had a dedicated GPU or not, not taking the CPU into account. I suppose with the correct practical application the system could maintain a T9900 cool, however the general consensus here is to avoid the T9900.

System service parts - ThinkPad T500, W500

I use my laptop on my bed while watching TV, the elevated cooling pad allows the computer to breathe since it's not lying on the bed as the weight of the laptop sinks it down causing the air vents to get congested by the surrounding bed blanket / sheets - if you get the idea.

I see two options at this point, for my system - a T9600 or a T9800 CPU.

 

The T9900 would be the fastest upgrade but it would only be worth it if you can really get it for cheap. The T9800 is probably the best value especially given that you have already maximized your memory and harddrive upgrades.

 

My vote would go to T9600, given the price/performance ratio, as well as the fact that I've used a W500 with this CPU as my daily driver for quite some time. If you *really* need more CPU power than T9600 can produce, you'd be better served by a newer laptop altogether.

My $0.02 only...

 

That's why I asked for opinions, thank you. The cost of a new T530 / W530 with all the options I would want (to make it equal to my current T500 in functionality - screen resolution, bluetooth, equal memory, etc) is far and above in price to what I'd like to spend right now for any new computer hardware, that's why I'm going with a CPU upgrade for the time being.

 

Understood...but: prices of a well-kept, used, possibly still-under-warranty T/W 510/520 are not that high and might be worth considering as well.

Obviously, you know what you can or can't afford, I'm just throwing it in there as an option.

Good luck.