Custom BIOS for Penryn Unlocked CPU Multipliers

[thealphaoverseer]

Hi everyone,
Does anyone know of a custom bios for the Penryn C2D TPs? I.e. xx00 models. I saw some old Notebook Review threads about overclocking the T9600 (as high as 4.5 GHz!!) in the old Alienware flagships (I think M18x), so it seems that they do have an unlocked multiplier. I've heard of 1vyrain for xx30 Thinkpads; is there somethiong similar?

On the same forum, there was another thread by a user with a T500 who had similar ideas, but never got to CPU overclock part: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads ... st-4604800
I'm not sure if they were joking or not when they said, "Now let's overclock that T9600!"

[kfzhu1229]

I believe for the ThinkPad T/R61, you need Middleton's BIOS to guarntee Penryn CPU support in the first place. Some of those BIOS also enables the use of quad cores if physical moddings are done.
And then you just use Throttlestop to overclock the CPU within Windows. I am rocking a X9000 on a Latitude D830 at 3.4Ghz with a voltage of 1.275V using throttlestop. On the Latitudes no custom BIOS is required. the BIOS revision A17 contains all the microcodes required for T9300, T9500 and X9000 already. All good except it will bootloop if I restart (have to shut down and then press the power button).

[thealphaoverseer]

That's nice. Although I was looking for something compatible with my SL410, since it was in the xx00 generation, but Middleton's BIOS only supports the X300 from that era.

[thealphaoverseer]

For me, Throttlestop caps the multiplier at 11, so 2.8 GHz. It does allow undervolting, though.

[RealBlackStuff]

The L410/SL410/L510/SL510 was never very popular...
AFAIK they only ever removed the BIOS wifi-whitelist and added Slic: https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread- ... val-Solved

[thealphaoverseer]

Thanks! What's Slic?

[RealBlackStuff]

A Vista/W7 addition in BIOS so you can use Lenovo Vista/W7 Recovery sets.

[atagunov]

I've actually seen rather curious threads on https://bios-mods.com/forum/ and in other places. Apparently it goes like this

- the requester dumps BIOS using a hardware programmer to a file
- the requester makes that file available online somehow, he states what machine it is from and what changes he wants to be made, say "whitelist removal, extended menues"
- somebody on the forum updates the BIOS and makes the modded file available to the requester

I understand it is often free though sometimes some money is paid. I've seen this for T440p for example. What is it?.. Have people learnt some dark art of Thinkpad BIOS modding?

Will this work with SL410?
Will the extended menu contain the desired options to unlock multiplier?

[Screamer]

I saw some old Notebook Review threads about overclocking the T9600 (as high as 4.5 GHz!!) in the old Alienware flagships (I think M18x), so it seems that they do have an unlocked multiplier.

The old Core 2 Alienware machines had a BIOS setting called 'FSB Frequency', which allowed them to change their front-side bus speed to increase the processor's speed as a beneficial side-effect. That is how they reached such a speed on a multiplier-locked processor.

The M18x is a Sandy Bridge machine, not a Penryn/Wolfdale machine. You might be referring to the M17x or the M15x, as those are Penryn/Wolfdale machines.

I've heard of 1vyrain for xx30 Thinkpads; is there somethiong similar?

1vyrain's provided UEFI image does not magically unlock your processor's multiplier. It must be unlocked in the first place, otherwise it will never be unlocked.

All that it does is to remove a bit that prevents you from overclocking your processor, seriously.

For me, Throttlestop caps the multiplier at 11, so 2.8 GHz. It does allow undervolting, though.

Once again, the Core 2 Duo T9600 is a processor with a locked multiplier. Its multiplier is not unlocked.

Will the extended menu contain the desired options to unlock multiplier?

The BIOS or UEFI cannot magically unlock a multiplier that has been locked from the factory, as it is fused-off to never reach a certain multiplier value. Unlocking a multiplier in most processors requires unrealistic precision and specialized machines to modify the die on the spot, and that is assuming that it does not damage the processor's die beyond repair either.

[atagunov]

The BIOS or UEFI cannot magically unlock a multiplier that has been locked from the factory

Sure. I misread the OP's question. I thought OP had an Extreme Edition Penryn processor.
For an SL410 that probably means X9000 only.

So isn't it true that no stock Thinkpad BIOS will allow you to use unlocked multiplier on Extreme edition processors?
Does such option become available in Extended menus on modded BIOS-es?
Are extended menus generally available on modded T61 BIOS-es?

I'm focused more on BIOS-es than on Throttlestop here, mainly because Throttlestop is a Windows app.

[Screamer]

For an SL410 that probably means X9000 only.

Not quite, the Core 2 Extreme X9100 is also a viable option as the 82PM45 supports its front-side bus speed.

So isn't it true that no stock Thinkpad BIOS will allow you to use unlocked multiplier on Extreme edition processors?

Partially true. I had an R61i with a Core 2 Extreme X7800 running with its original factory BIOS, and I was able to change its multiplier without having to resort to BIOS modifications. The same could be said with my L512, but instead of a Core 2 Extreme X7800, it was an early Arrandale engineering sample that had its multiplier unlocked for an unknown reason (not all engineering samples from that particular era had their multiplier left unlocked).

From the Sandy Bridge era and after, most of the ThinkPads' UEFI images were restricted from overclocking any processor with an unlocked multiplier. This is what I had noticed on the Intel side, but I could be wrong when it comes to AMD's platforms however.

Does such option become available in Extended menus on modded BIOS-es?

That would heavily depend on the person who modified the BIOS, as not a lot of them would go for the extra mile to add a menu.

Are extended menus generally available on modded T61 BIOS-es?

As far as I know, no. Nobody tried to surgically graft or shoehorn an extended menu into the T61's BIOS.

I'm focused more on BIOS-es than on Throttlestop here, mainly because Throttlestop is a Windows app.

If that's so, msr-tools would be your friend in the future.

[thealphaoverseer]

Aha! Thanks. Basically, my laptop is just too old and there's no point trying to get more out of it. The CPU was great back in the day and so were Alienwares, but they don't age well.

[kfzhu1229]

Aha! Thanks. Basically, my laptop is just too old and there's no point trying to get more out of it. The CPU was great back in the day and so were Alienwares, but they don't age well.

Well you could try to get a T9900 or a X9100 on one of these things. However though, both of them cost extreme amounts of money (only made worse by this Coronavirus pandemic) for the relatively to price speaking, little amounts of performance gain you can get out of them. And if you buy those on eBay you might bump into fakes.
perhaps see if SetFSB is going to work with these machines (my answer to that is not likely, unfortunately).

[thealphaoverseer]

I tried, but it seems it only supports specific mobos and the only TP I saw was the T42. Oh well.

[atagunov]

I've still got that QX9300 from TaoBao but haven't found time to play with it..

[kfzhu1229]

I've still got that QX9300 from TaoBao but haven't found time to play with it..

You do know that for ThinkPads, only a heavily modded T/R61 or a ThinkPad W7xx can take the heat of such a processor right?
And well that thing is at like the peak of the resale value right now thanks to Coronavirus pandemic raising the demand, just so you know.

[atagunov]

only a heavily modded T/R61 or a ThinkPad W7xx can take the heat of such a processor right?

Didn't know about W7xx but they aren't my cup of tea anyway..

And well that thing is at like the peak of the resale value right now thanks to Coronavirus pandemic raising the demand, just so you know.

I just hope it works, still untested