The FINAL Upgrade For My 10 Year Old Thinkpad T430

Today I finally go ahead and see if there's anymore performance I can squeeze out of our Thinkpad T430 by adding an external GPU with a special adapter.
Some of the following product links are affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
Make your own T430 Gamer setup (affiliate)
T430 - Ebay - ebay.us/YhSMHR
T430 - Amazon - amzn.to/3DE8sPk (insanely overpriced)
Express card to PCIE adaptor - ebay.us/FWOx0o
GTX 1650 - amzn.to/3YkRVIp
R9 280 - ebay.us/vuRmDU
Dell power adaptor - ebay.us/DsCqBQ
Sony A7s ii - ebay.us/SEfvwa
Godox SL-60w - amzn.to/3X6JX47
Canon 50mm F2.5 Macro - ebay.us/G8ouDi
Canon EF 28-70mm F2.8 - ebay.us/7UDmqQ

[@3lectr1c]

“Now remember, if the whole laptop boots up first try and everything works perfectly, you must have missed a screw somewhere. And if you aren’t missing a screw, something’s broken.” - This resonates with me so much. Every time! Great video, I subscribed.

[@brentw8365]

Or sometimes, breaking some clips. Worse, whole screw standoffs with the plastic they were attached to

[@3lectr1c]

@@brentw8365 This is working inside vintage laptops in a nutshell... 90s plastic is slowly turning into dust.

[@michaelrusso9809]

Did you check your BIOS settings to ensure the ExpressCard slot is actually putting out a Gen 2 PCI-E link, or is it defaulting to Gen 1? Apparently sometimes there are issues with that on these machines, depending on the quality of the cabling and setup as well. Do you have any alternatives besides the ExpressCard - for example, is there an NVMe or mPCI-E-capable slot available on the motherboard, such as the WAN slot, which might offer a better link?

[@funnifurrytechgirl]

Absolutely amazing setup you've got there, and your voice is really relaxing to listen to. I put your videos on loop when programming.

[@bryans8656]

Well, you ended up with a more powerful CPU and renewed thermal paste, both of which will improve this laptop's initial mission of being an excellent business machine. I suspect everything else was just for fun.

[@aChairLeg]

I was just hoping I could game with the glorious T430 keyboard :(

[@ZoeBios121]

@@aChairLeg It's not quite the old thinkpad keyboards but there's a niche mechanical keyboard that's based on the thinkpad keyboards: TEX Shinobi

[@DanStormVO]

Socketed CPU in laptops need to make a comeback. I updated my T440p from a dualcore i5-4300M to the quadcore i7-4700MQ. Not only did I instantly feel the performance difference with booting, loading programs and the general snappiness of the system, it also cleared up some weird freezing issues I was having. I'd assumed it was my OS install, but since I've not had many performance related issues since the new CPU I'd bet it was just the poor i5 struggling to manage a modern 64-bit OS. Despite not having the best thermals and the ageing battery taking even more of a hit, I've been pleasantly surprised at the i7's performance in emulation and light gaming!

[@funnifurrytechgirl]

I have an i5-2520m (T420) and I've not had any performance issues on Linux running GNOME

[@TehKaiser]

Could have been throttling. These machines are very overrated. Best for the businessmen they were intended for or similar workloads.

[@Matheus-LWZX]

​@@TehKaiserI disagree. They're amazing machines for CS students. Very durable and affordable. I never had an issue I couldn't fix myself, my t440p has been carrying me through my entire college while the only real issues I've had so far have been the short span battery and thermals. However I believe not everyone will get the most use of them because of the weight and appearance.

[@Wolferia]

I HAVE A THINKPAD T420S❤❤❤❤ 🎉🎉🎉

[@escapetherace1943]

@@Matheus-LWZX I think he's half right. the i7's are way overvalued and garbage. They run super hot, only offer marginally better performance and cost 5x as much an an i5 thinkpad from these older generations... May as well spend that money on a decent gaming PC

[@lokman02naza17]

Omg! I just repasted my t430 yesterday and you upload this 😄😄😄

[@beni6746]

I appreciate this channel.Very chill.

[@aperturedigitalmedia]

Much agreed

[@stridervanmeter8409]

i had a setup similar to this for a year or 2. quad core t530 with a 1080p screen, thinkpad dock and a gtx 1080ti hooked up through expresscard. youre right, disabling the built in display does make it run faster.

[@bearfm]

Gaming isn't really the first thing I think when I hear 3rd gen Intel

[@aChairLeg]

I had hopes lol

[@truthdoesnotexist]

it does really well if you use a desktop CPU, you can get 150 to 200 FPS with a 3060ti and a powerful 3rd or 4th gen intel cpu

[@baoquoc3710]

@@truthdoesnotexist That's really massive bottleneck for a 3rd gen cpu with a 3060 lol

[@truthdoesnotexist]

@@baoquoc3710 not on xeon

[@devisals]

I used to have the same laptop when I was younger. This was such a good laptop for the time!

[@monkmichael-munkmiikael-hy7842]

Thank you very much for doing this, this was just the information I needed. Now I know I should get a new fast laptop rather than upgrading Lenovo T430.

[@raginald7mars408]

bought a T 410 for 80 Euros last year excellent machine!

[@Dk4KOfficial]

That's so cool! I had T430s and it supported me during my 4 year IT degree! Absolute turstable laptop. I even gamed on it. Ended witcher 3, GTA 5 and Fall out 3/4.

[@sarajupp3728]

how did you get fallout 4/tw3 to run! that sounds like a real feat

[@Dk4KOfficial]

@@sarajupp3728 haha 😂 you just have to be patient enough to play those games at 720 and low quality. T430 could run these but at the lowest setting possible.

[@ZincLeadAlloy]

Yet another awesome video, Thanks for the inspiration!

[@aChairLeg]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed!

[@robsquared2]

I think the only followup for this would be to stream on twitch on this setup while at a coffee shop.

[@aChairLeg]

Haha that would be glorious

[@shantanurahut4005]

My new favorite tech channel ! Gone through so many ThinkPad videos on youtube before buying my own L390 few days back !! And I use your voice as a relaxing background noise while writing codes, so thank you !!!

[@aChairLeg]

Thank you!

[@asmitnandi3432]

Hey where did you buy the laptop from?

[@shantanurahut4005]

@@asmitnandi3432 ebay

[@asmitnandi3432]

@@shantanurahut4005 eBay India? Do you stay in India? Thanks for replying.

[@shantanurahut4005]

@@asmitnandi3432 no bro. I am from Bangladesh, I am staying in Europe for study purpose.

[@Lemagnes90]

My first computer at 30. It means a lot to me. Thanks for this video. Like and subscription. Blessings.

[@amirulaiman8673]

try plugging in a desktop ATX PSU to the Beast eGPU, it is generally much more recommended over the Dell Power Brick for better stability.

[@Facade866]

Loving these videos!! Keep up the amazing videos. (sorry to hear that you’re wife doesn’t let you get anymore gpus hope it changes for the better).

[@aChairLeg]

Thank you! I'm thinning the GPU herd as I expand it so it shouldn't be an issue haha

[@johnpaulbacon8320]

Nice upgrades.

[@AzadC]

Is it while running the graphics card in that external adaptor prone to static electricity? I have the adapter and a t430i model with PCIE EXPRESS SLOT on the right side of it. I am thinking of making a protective enclosure case to protect against drops spills static electricity either out of wood or cardboard

[@gregoryodell9276]

Ran this setup for about 6 months with a GTX 980 when I was at university and it was honestly daily driveable. Only cavieat was that I had to shut down the laptop to remove the GPU but for how jank I'd say it's pretty reasonable. Games worked a lot better.

[@retroree7705]

If you do another video on this laptop you should try one thing to upgrade the GPU performance: Use modded drivers, AMD GPUs benefit a lot from having modded drivers, specially older cards

[@aChairLeg]

I was hoping the older games wouldn't be affected as much by the lack of driver support. I'm picking up an rx 6600 soon, so I may throw it on there to see if it changes anything

[@eins_namelezz]

Nice video 👍

[@TommythePop-TartsSlayer-dp2dc]

i swapped 35 watt 2 core for 45 watt 4 core on my thinkpad W530 and I honestly don't like it that much. I now keep Turbo mode disabled to have cooler on quiet. Thinking on buying some used 2nd gend 4 core ryzen atm

[@AzadC]

Isnt there a way of making the apps games using only the gpu?

[@karlunabia6524]

Is a t480 still a good buy today?

[@hendra_joe_]

And yeah, mine just got one line on my screen. Idk why, when i have a plan to buy new one. Few days later, got a white line on my screen. Same with my samsung phone. Almost in one day 😂😂. Even though, it's not broken, it's just got too much heat when just streaming with dual screen. One screen for watching movie, and the other just on home screen. Or is it because i use docking station?

[@notchcraft360]

yeahhhhh i love thinkpad mods

[@johnpaulbacon8320]

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association - ( PCMCIA ). Later it got renamed to - PC Card. It was more used for portable systems but some home computers it as well. Sone Amiga personal computers had the interface and used it to a good extent.

[@TimothyCizadlo]

No, it stood for: People Can't reMember Computer Industry Acronyms (old joke).

[@johnpaulbacon8320]

@@TimothyCizadlo LoL :)

[@Itransform105]

A little off topic, could I get an ID on your watch? It looks like a Seiko 5 SNK807, with I think the strap that comes with it.

[@aChairLeg]

Nailed it! It's my budget Hamilton Khaki until I decide I want to drop $600 on a watch haha

[@Itransform105]

@@aChairLeg It's a lovely watch, I wish I didn't hate wearing watches while I type because I'd have more reason to wear one, but I spend all day at a desk. I wanted a Hamilton Khaki too, they've went from £520 to £700 so it'll be another while before I buy one haha. Though I've found I'm more of a quartz watch person, because the slight inaccuracies of automatics, even if only a few seconds, drives me nuts.

[@Born2Legit]

2:46 | Very accurate I agree 1000% XD

[@Born2Legit]

Also you know when you take apart something and put it back together to find out you have an extra screw? And it still works? That just means you built it better that the people who made it 🤣

[@junkyard4999]

i have a t470 6300 256 ssd 1 16 gb ram stick (gonna add 16 more) and want to be able to game a lil. could i do something similar to this on the 470? i paid 200 for my refurb. im new to this, havent built computers since like 2005

[@Bois948]

My dream laptop before bought ideapad slim 3

[@aChairLeg]

T430s are pretty cheap, can always hunt for a good deal and pick one up!

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

It’s definitely something with the PCI-E link. I have laptops with the same CPU and they get better performance(my thinkpad t530 with the NVS 5400m, and my ideapad Y580 with a GTX 660m)

[@gyaniadmi2347]

Is it worth buying used one now in 2023?

[@2DAnimax]

I am fear to buy T480 used one because of famous thunderbolt firmware issue.fear is end up with brick. What is your advice?

[@AngryJesus]

I'm wondering if windows is treating it as hybrid graphics with the intel card installed.

[@aChairLeg]

I was wondering the same, but I didn't see any iGPU usage the one time I checked.

[@polosandoval]

Make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy when working on these projects… your girlfriend will thank you for it. My wife did lol thanks for the fun video and project

[@syrebralelusive1618]

great video. the i7 363qm has 45w tdp , is it safe on the t430 ?

[@formanchristopher]

You can run it in the t430 but it’s better to buy the dual pipe heat sink and install it. Very simple and better heat dispersion.

[@machine211]

I hope there will be third party companies making custom motherboards for this

[@ashutoshjha9147]

I have seen videos of people getting way better results after connecting the egpu to the wan card slot from back panel.

[@VitalyZdanevich]

Link, please.

[@jasond2333]

this quad core matches my e15 with i3 10110u

[@thegames6391]

Why isn't Premier pro working? I can't understand. Someone please explain 🙏

[@BCSkylight-id5od]

I have a T420 I7 good thing

[@GoatZilla]

wonder if cache or ram speed became teh bootlnecc

[@AntiGrieferGames]

6:27 This is way better than my e7300 hd5450 4gb ram, holy hell. I only get 20-30 fps average highest

[@Normando_lopak1625]

Before and after,the transformation will be in after

[@GamerEnLinux]

use M.2 connector, if that thing have one. if not well....is bad xD my T495 have it

[@trashpanda502]

I didnt know gamers had girlfriends. Also I would love to see a review of one of those nucs/mini pcs.

[@aChairLeg]

I've seen some of those going for crazy low prices... for sure might look into it

[@davidabhishek]

i have a t420 and a 1650 feeling zesty

[@estalinayala4885]

I never uderstand why people try games with Thinkpads, specially with 3rd generation laptops, beats me! I have a Thinkpad 520 with a dual 10 inches side screen I adpated, 16 gigas Ram, 2 x usb 3.0 adapter for the express card, extra caddy for an 500 gigas extra storage disk, msata disk adapter and an SD 200 gigas for the main OS, thats all, runs like the wind, not gaming only games I have are Gran Theft Auto San Andreas, and some older games for when I am bored, the keyboard is magnificent, the screen is okay, and best of all...I use it for business task, like it was meant to be used...not gaming.

[@carltoncotter2614]

I have just upgraded the RAM from 8 to 16 on an i5 T430. Can anyone please tell me the best next steps? With Windows 10, the bootup is still painfully slow : ( Would an i7 upgrade or an SSD upgrade make the biggest difference? Or both?

[@Roedy_Coedy]

SSD all day every day. I booted up my T430 with the original mechanical to make sure it all worked and immediately ripped it out for an SSD. There is no reason to still be using a spinning disk in a laptop in 2023.

[@PantusiaGaming]

I Found Out That My 11 Year Old VAIO Laptop Supports Quad Core CPUs!

[@luceatlux]

I'm amazed the CPU isnt soldered

[@downey2294]

the good ol days

[@sakmaestro3852]

Sir is t430 compatible in processor i7 2600?

[@thisthingmint250]

Not fully "upgradeable" I got a laptop with dual mxm gpu slots lol it's a clevo p377sma with i7-4940mx, 32gb ram and SLI gtx 980m 8gb lol

[@kj-marslander]

lmao at 3:22

[@playgeekfrance]

I have a same pc

[@user-og2ct3dr6e]

how come the cpu wasnt fused?

[@someoneelse4811]

Older Thinkpads had sockets.

[@dezibeldani]

Oh... ho ho ho! I clicked the thumb-up-icon which counted 665 likes so far... now one more 😉

[@madcat4563]

I'm curious how this would go with my T480 and the GTX 1650 I have that doesn't have 6 pin power needs. The adapter thing probably needs power itself. Ok so based on this video once again AMD GPU for the win.

[@aChairLeg]

I do happen to have a T480 and 1650 currently, but no way to connect it to a T480. Might need to look into this, great idea!

[@madcat4563]

@@aChairLeg 😁

[@BroniranEnotBG]

Cheap Q9650 system will put this T430 on its nees. And you can add any gpu you want. Have you thought about that?

[@UCcdTp7XpCkVLkaRCsDcifFg]

4k editiing & heavy gaming old laptop

[@enermaxstephens1051]

No no you've got to upgrade the internal GPU somehow. Some way or another, you've got to get a decent GPU inside there. It's a laptop for cryin out loud, stay true to it's laptop..ness.

[@enermaxstephens1051]

Maybe not impossible... you could add material and thicken the case. Then use a single slot card so it's slim. @@daggers101

[@ygjt76v0-----]

Bro you like squidward 😂

[@chaosblend4312]

to use the 1650, you probably need to mod the bios to change the UEFI boot mod to legacy

[@mikehawk7307]

Got my T470 for $80.

[@yessuscristyt3578]

try again with more ram

[@wongkinchung9985]

GTX1650 only works with UEFI bios. That's why the T430 does not work with it

[@amirulaiman8673]

there's literally a video where someone has used a RTX 3060 with the T430. Also the T430 does use UEFI BIOS. power supply is most likely the issue as it's generally recommended to use a desktop PSU over the Dell power brick for better stability.

[@uriellopez6529]

​@@amirulaiman8673nope, I use a 1650 that doesn't need more power than the onboard and runs okay, just needs an Nvidia Patch and creation of memory in the drivers to allow for the GPU to be detected

[@MO4NIS100]

45W VS 35W DEATH LAPTOP

[@victormurori4367]

You can edit video...on windows photos video editor lmao

[@BigDrewski1000]

I just play emulators or games from that era on mine. I really wouldn't use it as anything but a an Internet browser or for basic computing otherwise. Just too old really.

[@MarcoDM1571]

I didn't know dudes had a vocal fry like valley girls

[@CA-JA]

$240 ! For 100 dollars more you can buy Asus tuf a15 gaming from best buy💀

[@bitopantalukdar9820]

to be frank all these hassle ain't worth it,just save money and either build a gaming pc or buy a gaming laptop laptop instead

[@wizzts]

I bought a T480 for nostalgia and a PC with 6800 XT and i5 12600k...What can I say, for basic stuff, i prefer the laptop. Can hold its own..

[@someoneelse4811]

If you have a desktop already and a spare GPU from an upgrade, you can save quite a bit by spending $50 for an eGPU dock instead of $700+ for a new gaming laptop.

[@jamesabestos2800]

Bulgaria

[@arabworld_gaming]

Test the gta v on it

[@t.a.p4554]

the only thing you should upgrade is your motherboard bro.. why you doin all this hassle.. just upgrade the mobo with the integrated " GPU" aka the NVS5400m.. the gpu can play Gta V 720p 35++ medium settings..

[@Atomic-toons00]

Gtx 1650 or higher not gonna work with intel hd 4000 and if you put two invidia its not gonna work you need sumthing less powerful like amd rx500😂 Im sorry i cant 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂pfffffff😂😂😂😂

[@B1GS0SA]

WOO IM FIRST!!

[@the_sjdo]

not even a cooler upgrade :(

[@aChairLeg]

From what I read online, a new cooler wasn't really needed until you stepped it up to an extreme edition. By the time I tested the thermals it was a bit too late to upgrade the cooler unfortunately... maybe one day if I tackle the t430 again

[@jan_harald]

premiere is stupid, anyway

[@mustafasyed-ms]

Try Linux

[@DanielPetre]

Thinkpads are the coolest

[@Americaforthemoney]

I have a x201 💀 try me