Best power/performance CPU T400

[Buzon de voz]

Hi! Im new to the forum. Im from Argentina, if my english sounds weard this is why.
I recently recibed a T400 for free, and found a very good deal for a Advanced dock online ($33). Im trying to build a basic gaming PC but also i bought a new battery, so i dont want to sacrified battery life to get the best performance possible.
I want to upgrade the CPU (current one is p8600 2.4Ghz, 3Mb cache, 25w tdp) and i see 3 options right know:
P9600 (2.66Ghz, 6mb, 25w)
P9700 (2.8Ghz, 6mb, 28w)
T9900 (3.06Ghz, 6mb, 35w)
I dont know how much difference there is, because tdp changes a lot for a little better clocks. Is the jump whort it? I want to pair it with a 1030 and try to play new games at lower settings, 720p 30fps. Im happy with that

[kfzhu1229]

I recently recibed a T400 for free, and found a very good deal for a Advanced dock online ($33). Im trying to build a basic gaming PC but also i bought a new battery, so i dont want to sacrified battery life to get the best performance possible.
I want to upgrade the CPU (current one is p8600 2.4Ghz, 3Mb cache, 25w tdp) and i see 3 options right know:
P9600 (2.66Ghz, 6mb, 25w)
P9700 (2.8Ghz, 6mb, 28w)
T9900 (3.06Ghz, 6mb, 35w)
I dont know how much difference there is, because tdp changes a lot for a little better clocks. Is the jump whort it? I want to pair it with a 1030 and try to play new games at lower settings, 720p 30fps. Im happy with that

Well if you want it for gaming you most probably want the most powerful CPU you can get, and that would be the T9900. Pretty sure any of the P series of CPU's would severely bottleneck the 1030 that you would be better off with a GT 730.
But then, the price of a T9900 (assuming the one you get isn't a fake CPU) is so much off the roof that you are better off investing all the money onto a T420/T430.
For casual usage though, I would pick a T9600 (or a T9550 if you wanna step down). It is definitely more power hungry than the P series, but its balance of performance vs the cost of the CPU makes it a great choice if you don't have special routes of getting CPU's at a more reasonable price, such as importing one directly from Taobao or getting a hundred of these T400/T500 and Latitude E6400/E6500 machines and cherry pick a T9800 or T9900 out of it.

[Buzon de voz]

I recently recibed a T400 for free, and found a very good deal for a Advanced dock online ($33). Im trying to build a basic gaming PC but also i bought a new battery, so i dont want to sacrified battery life to get the best performance possible.
I want to upgrade the CPU (current one is p8600 2.4Ghz, 3Mb cache, 25w tdp) and i see 3 options right know:
P9600 (2.66Ghz, 6mb, 25w)
P9700 (2.8Ghz, 6mb, 28w)
T9900 (3.06Ghz, 6mb, 35w)
I dont know how much difference there is, because tdp changes a lot for a little better clocks. Is the jump whort it? I want to pair it with a 1030 and try to play new games at lower settings, 720p 30fps. Im happy with that

Well if you want it for gaming you most probably want the most powerful CPU you can get, and that would be the T9900. Pretty sure any of the P series of CPU's would severely bottleneck the 1030 that you would be better off with a GT 730.
But then, the price of a T9900 (assuming the one you get isn't a fake CPU) is so much off the roof that you are better off investing all the money onto a T420/T430.
For casual usage though, I would pick a T9600 (or a T9550 if you wanna step down). It is definitely more power hungry than the P series, but its balance of performance vs the cost of the CPU makes it a great choice if you don't have special routes of getting CPU's at a more reasonable price, such as importing one directly from Taobao or getting a hundred of these T400/T500 and Latitude E6400/E6500 machines and cherry pick a T9800 or T9900 out of it.

Sorry for my ignorance, but whats the difference between a t9600 and a p9700 other than the price and tpd? if both options perform the same, the lower tdp of the p9700 makes it a more apealing cpu, not only for the power consuption but also the heat.
i consider a T420 for the sandy bridge architecture, but there is no "elegant" solution for a eGPU, and also the T400 was for free!
a 1030 is my objective, but in this circunstances i will buy whatever is cheap at the time, like a r7 250 or a gt 730

[kfzhu1229]

Sorry for my ignorance, but whats the difference between a t9600 and a p9700 other than the price and tpd? if both options perform the same, the lower tdp of the p9700 makes it a more apealing cpu, not only for the power consuption but also the heat.
i consider a T420 for the sandy bridge architecture, but there is no "elegant" solution for a eGPU, and also the T400 was for free!
a 1030 is my objective, but in this circunstances i will buy whatever is cheap at the time, like a r7 250 or a gt 730

I think the big difference between them is more like price and power draw. On ebay the P9700 sells for over twice as much (at where I live) as the T9600, and with the added chance of you receiving a fake.
They are of the same performance though.
I personally don't think that price tag is worth it, but since you have battery life as a serious consideration your verdict can vary.
Also, from my experience with using nvs140m vs igpu, using the integrated graphics can save you lots of battery life

[Buzon de voz]

Sorry for my ignorance, but whats the difference between a t9600 and a p9700 other than the price and tpd? if both options perform the same, the lower tdp of the p9700 makes it a more apealing cpu, not only for the power consuption but also the heat.
i consider a T420 for the sandy bridge architecture, but there is no "elegant" solution for a eGPU, and also the T400 was for free!
a 1030 is my objective, but in this circunstances i will buy whatever is cheap at the time, like a r7 250 or a gt 730

I think the big difference between them is more like price and power draw. On ebay the P9700 sells for over twice as much (at where I live) as the T9600, and with the added chance of you receiving a fake.
They are of the same performance though.
I personally don't think that price tag is worth it, but since you have battery life as a serious consideration your verdict can vary.
Also, from my experience with using nvs140m vs igpu, using the integrated graphics can save you lots of battery life

It look at it on Aliexpress and youre right, its more than twice the cost for the same performance. But where i live buying tecnology stuff is very expensive, so international cost dont seem to unreasonable to me. I just have to wait like half a year to get one and there no sellers in my country that have any core2duo. Im willing to wait and pay more if it use less power, i want to use this thinkpad as many years as posible and having less heat i think will encrase the lifespam of the device.

[ripvoid]

Gaming on a T400 is going to be rough for anything other than pre-2010 games, even with an upgraded CPU. It might be worth trying some games with what you currently have before buying a CPU upgrade - the cost might not be worth the expense.

Where did you find an advanced dock (2503) for $33? The ones I've seen on Ebay are usually $150 or more.