[seanshaffer23]

I own a Gateway MX6440. It is less than a month old and I purchased it with graduation money. Instead of paying more later, I just wanted to upgrade this one if it is possible. The specs can be found here. The support page can be found here.

My question is this: Would it be possible to upgrade the processor? I have heard that this laptop has heat issues and I am afraid that if I upgrade the processor it will melt

Buying another laptop or returning this one is not an option.

I thought maybe I could upgrade the processor safely if I used some really good thermal compound, compared to the crap they use at the factory. I just don't know what to get. I am also looking into upgrading from 1GB of memory to 2GB, but I don't know what brand to get, or what type of memory.

I am just confused because I have no idea if it is even physically possible (although I bet it is). I don't know how to go about doing it, what thermal paste to use, what processor would get me the best bang for the buck, and what the best memory would be. So, if anyone out there could help me out, I'd be ecstatic

Thank you for reading my linguistic masterpiece.

sean

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The easiest upgrade to do is to increase the ram to the maximum capacity of 2 gigs. You can run Belarc Advisor or Everest Home to find out the manufacturer and model of motherboard you have, then check about possible cpu upgrades at the motherboard manufacturer's site. Another possiblity is to run powerleaps upgrade configurator on the computer. Go to http://www.powerleap.com/PL-iP3T.jsp

The ram upgrade is a simple and effective upgrade to do. A processor upgrade is more difficult and has an greater element of risk. Unless you will achieve a substantial gain in performance without a corresponding increase in heat or power consumption (you said heat is an issue already) I advise caution. And remember, Murphy's law is out there and could bite you.

[austin_o]

The easiest upgrade to do is to increase the ram to the maximum capacity of 2 gigs. You can run Belarc Advisor or Everest Home to find out the manufacturer and model of motherboard you have, then check about possible cpu upgrades at the motherboard manufacturer's site. Another possiblity is to run powerleaps upgrade configurator on the computer. Go to http://www.powerleap.com/PL-iP3T.jsp

The ram upgrade is a simple and effective upgrade to do. A processor upgrade is more difficult and has an greater element of risk. Unless you will achieve a substantial gain in performance without a corresponding increase in heat or power consumption (you said heat is an issue already) I advise caution. And remember, Murphy's law is out there and could bite you.

[gerryf]

fwiw, the ML Turion in your laptop is the reason for the heat, it consumes 35 watts of power and of course runs hotter than the MT Turions.

Gateway does not make it's own laptops. I am reasonably certain your laptop is made by Arima, a taiwanese manufacturer. What Gateway does is drop in memory and a CPU (they may also make a few other modifications)

http://www.arima.com.tw/

In theory, you should be able to go all the way up to an ml-44 Turion.

Also, in theory, if BIOS supports it, you could drop in a MT, since they are pin compatible.

BUT

It does not look like they are BIOS compatible since Arima makes a clear distinction between their laptop lines. I have heard more than one person dropping in an MT with no issues, but I would probably not risk it. (since the MT use only 25 watts, they run cooler and consume less battery life)

Also, since Gateway has opted for ML-32 Turions, my guess is that they do not feel comfortable with going any higher, probably because the cooling system is inadequate for much more than that. They want to avoid headaches, complaints, so they low-end the CPU to ensure stability.

[seanshaffer23]

Ok well I opened my laptop this morning and found out where the processor and memory is located. I have decided to give up upgrading the processor based on your input (thank you!)

I looked at the sticker on the memory and found this:
"DDR-333MHz
CL2.5
PC2700S-25331"

It did not say how many pins the sticks are, but I did a search on Newegg.com and found a list here.

I used the search parameters "speed : DDR 333 (PC 2700) > capacity : 1GB - 2GB > capacity : 1GB > cas latency : 2.5"

If I did this correctly and those memory sticks are compatible, then all I need to know now is what brand to get.
I want to make sure it runs as cool as possible. I found out yesterday that I can't leave it on with the screen flipped down because the heat gets trapped between the screen and keyboard :S

So there we go! Thanks for answering my question before

sean

[gerryf]

laptops are picky little buggers

download everst from here:

http://www.geekstogo...tion=show&id=13

run it and see if it can identify the brand and also the voltage, which is often key when it comes to a laptop

I bought 5 different pairs of ram before I could find one that worked in mine and got shelled in restocking fees/shipping

[seanshaffer23]

Ok let me work on generating the report and I'll get back to you. Thank you!