Taking the old and forgotten 4:3 aspect ratio to new limits...times two...

This thread is meant only for those amongst you still bemoaning the loss of 4:3 aspect ratio on business-grade notebooks...

I've had the intention of building this particular FrankenPad for quite some time now, but I've finally come to the point of having all the parts required as well as time to spare to actually do it...



The configuration is as follows:


FrankenPad T601PFQ

Lenovo 15” ThinkPad T60 shell
Intel X9000 CPU (2.8 GHz Core 2 Extreme, 6MB L2 cache)
8GB DDR2 RAM (Elpida, with heatsinks)
512 GB Crucial M4 SSD
15in 2048x1536 (QXGA) IPS FlexView LCD
*ultra rare* 42W7874 native Penryn “p” board
128MB nVidia Quadro FX570M GPU
CDRW/DVDRW
Atheros abgn wireless
Bluetooth
No modem
1Gb Ethernet
UltraNav
Secure chip
Fingerprint reader
Middleton's modded BIOS


Now, while I might have taken the "conventional" T601 FrankenPad platform to its limits with the machine shown above, the folks on the Chinese 51nb forum have *by far* outdone anything I could ever dream of accomplishing...by creating a brand new motherboard for T4x series ThinkPads. I've recently had an unique opportunity to review the only known example of such a machine in the U.S.

Read all about it here:

forum.thinkpads.com • View topic - My T50 review with MANY LARGE pictures

 

Very nice review! I'd heard about the new motherboards for the T43, but hadn't read a review of one. That's an impressive piece of work, even with the glitches. Do you know how they went about getting the custom motherboard? Did they design it from scratch and get it built by a local manufacturer, or base it off of an existing board for a newer laptop? I'm curious what sort of effort was required to get this project up and running.

The 601 is pretty nice, to. That's a T61-model Santa Rosa motherboard in a T60 Yonah case with the Penryn processor? That's be a pretty screaming setup for the T61, let alone with the 2048x1536 screen.

There's still at least one 4:3 monitor (or maybe even 5:4?) in one of the conference rooms where I work. Probably because a widescreen would be impractical on its table. I'd probably trade my 1920x1080 external monitor for a 1600x1200 one. Definitely for a 2048x1536, assuming reasonable pixel density. Vertical pixels are underrated.

 

Thank you. Much appreciated

Yes.

Exactly. With a wireless card from a MacBook......kid you not

Truer words have not been spoken.

 

I think you are one step away from "ultimate" status: An E0 stepping X9100.

 

Which requires a pinmod. No, thanks.

One of my main requirements for any machine is to be *dead stable*. And this one is.

With that said, you're more than welcome to try and replicate this build using a X9100. I'll be the first one to tip off my hat to you.

 

You seem to go to great lengths in every other regard, why not the processor?

That has nothing to do with a pin mod.

Look, don't take offense. I have followed a lot of your threads on the thinkpad forums. I admire your work and dedication to this project, but it is wrong to say that it is ultimate or taken to its limits. You still have some headroom.

 

Is it generally possible to run X9100s with the E0 stepping on Santa Rosa motherboards without pin mods? Or just ThinkPad T61's? Either one would be news to me.

 

No and no.

There's a thread on such a mod on TPF:

forum.thinkpads.com • View topic - Install a 1066MHz FSB CPU on T61 (including Core 2 Quad)

Now, while I understand where Qing Dao is coming from - and am not taking offense to his evaluation of my idea in the least - nVidia-based T61/p is a fragile enough platform as it is. I'm simply in no mood to play with a rarity that a healthy Penryn "p" board is...

 

This. I'm using it for an year and a half and I don't see any stability issues. You have to make sure that the wire doesn't touch any other pin and you're golden. Piece of Kapton tape is very helpful. Also if it shorts, it wont boot, or if it shorts while running, it would blue screen. That's it, nothing scary. This was my initial experience while experimenting. Rock solid ever since.

It's up to you in the end.

AWESOME work, and awesome machine, hands down!

 

Nice work on the machine.

I agree, I would not pin mod it either. It's fast and stable. Leave well enough alone.

 

Haha, wow. So apparently a T61 can accept a QX9300. Amazing.

Anyway, how do you like the QXGA display? How is the image quality? I really don't like 16x9, but the screens available in 16x10 and 4x3 generally leave a lot to be desired. Both my girlfriend's T400 and my T500 have the better panels available for them, but the colors really aren't very good at all.

I priced out a decent setup along the same vein as yours:
T60: $100
T61p discreet or T61 integrated motherboard: $75 or $50
QXGA screen: $100
8GB DDR2: $100
Q9200 ES: $62
T61p heatsink: $15
Total: $452 or $427

That wouldn't be a bad setup at all. I would probably go with the integrated graphics. I don't see the NVS 570M being of any use outside of playing some older games, plus it would reduce battery life and heat would be a limiting issue with the quad core in there. It would be a fun project.

 

This is my fourth QXGA...:hi2:

What am I to say? It's a FlexView. Very pleasant screen to look at. Lacks brightness when compared to today's LED panels, but still a joy to use, and this is coming from someone whose eyesight leaves a lot to be desired.

Good Lord. Can I order a box of 10 from you for $200 a piece delivered?

The lovelyhoods of living in China. That's roughly 1/3 of what I have in this machine.

While I agree that it would make for an interesting setup, my doubts about X3100 lagging with this panel are there...

Happy FrankenPadding...:thumbsup:

 

I've just checked this link. Damn, so my theory was right! I even got QX9200 QAVR last summer, but never got to the soldering I gave up because of the unbalanced system that would have been. I wanted to get a DX11 GPU running and then the Quad. Well the GPU won't be (tried to modify GT 240m to GT 550m and HD4650 to HD8850) and I sold the CPU recently. Anyways, kudos to those ThinkPad fellas!!!

 

This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I can't believe my old TP got thrown out now :/

 

excuse my language but this is spectacular. Great work.

 

Thank you.

The QXGA monster will be going up for sale soon.

 

Gotta love the Old Skool ThinkPads, it's nice to see these machines being pushed far beyond what the manufacturer thought was possible at the time.

 

always but my fiance would leave me if I brought any more laptops in. I'm probaby at 25+ at the house, 15 at the office and a few in my other office. Oh and still looking for the perfect laptop, luckily I'm not too much into cars or I'd be in real trouble.

Maybe I can contract someone to make a quad core i7, 32gb-64gb ram, 14 inch footprint, similar to my t61, 3 hard drive options (msata ok), matte touchscreen, old school ibm keyboard with 3 dedicated buttons, under 4lbs

 

That would be a nice machine. But with a Quad i7 it had better have some good cooling.

 

I'm sure you could find some modern motherboard that you would be able to shoe-horn into an old Lenovo chassis.

 

Now that the middleton BIOS is available is there a significant difference between T61 motherboards, other than Intel/nVidia and the nVidia bug?

Are the nVidia GPUs used significantly different from one another?

Thanks, -Paul

 

All that Middleton's BIOS does in the respect of CPU handling is kill the thermal warning when a Penryn CPU is installed in a Merom board. Those boards will still not "read" the CPU properly as a native one would, but that's not a big deal for most people.

FX570M is more powerful than the NVS140M. Both are quite antiquated by today's standards, though.

 

I know that the Penryn has more advanced thermal monitoring and I can live without fancy stuff, but will a Merom board be able to tell if a Penryn is overheating?

Photo editing and HD video are the most graphics intensive stuff I do, so I am sure the FX570M would be fine. I assume that if you don't do hardcore gaming or advanced graphics, there is no advantage to 256m VRAM, am I correct? Thanks, -Paul

 

Well, I don't know what you're intent on doing but I've never had one of these CPUs overheat. Third party software such as ThinkPad Fan Control takes good care of stuff like this.

Having said that, the failure rate of native Penryn boards - talking about the nVidia models only - is significantly lower in my experience when compared to Merom ones.

You have to remember that FX570M came in two guises: 128MB on a 14" (4:3) T61p and 256MB on 15.4" T61p systems. The latter packs a lot more ooomph comparatively.

For your intended usage, it's quite likely that you could get away with an Intel board and a Penryn CPU.

 

Building a 15.4” 61 that will stave off obsolescence as long as possible. I like the user interface and I will probably never own a sturdier laptop. My R61e got unnervingly hot while Arctic Silver was baking in. Works great after baking in so I will use it again, but I will want to keep an eye on the temps till it does.

So you are saying a Merom board won't be able to report anthing about a Penryn's temperature, but I can just crank up the fan and forget about it?

Is that because a Meronm board is more likely to have been made before 08/08 or is there more to it than that?

Will an Intel board drive 1920x1200 at a high color bit number? Thanks, -Paul

 

No. What I am saying is that readings might be improper, but TPFC reads the CPU directly and will act accordingly. Cranking up the fan is not really necessary.

Merom boards were discontinued in January of 2008. By February Lenovo was already installing *some* revised chips along with the defective ones.

Yes, as long as you're not running anything graphic-intensive it will be just fine.