Confirmation of Middleton BIOS improvements

B

balanga

Apparently, if I apply the Middleton BIOS to my ThinkPad X61 I can expect this improvement:-


SATA II speed unlocked
Original BIOS limits drives to slower SATA I (1.5 Gb/s), but Middleton BIOS enables full SATA II (3.0 Gb/s), improving SSD performance.
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What is the best way of recording pre- and post- performance to see if I actually get any benefit?
 
I have done this on the X61, although I tested it with linux using hdparm to test performance, it definitely worked. And I remember also dmesg reports the 3 Gb/s interface when the drive is initialised, although that's not really a test. It's several years ago now, I don't remember all the details. The machine definitely ran freebsd fine with middleton bios installed, I used to run freebsd on that laptop. Middleton bios and a sata 2 SSD gave a nice speedup. I installed middleton using a genuine thinkpad usb cdrom drive, or possible the ultrabay drive in the docking station, can't remember now which one I used. I do remember it all worked and I didn't have any problems.
 
blackbird9 said:
I don't have any X61's left now. I switched over to X201 a few years ago, then X220.
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I'm a ThinkPad collecter, but most of my collection is back home and it includes an X201 and X220.

But I'm currently using 2 X61's a W520 and an X1 Gen1.

I would lke to install 8GB of ram in one of them since Middleton is supposed to allow that, but don't really know exactly what which SIMMS are suitable.
 
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