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    Gateway MX-6421 incorrect cpu speed

    Discussion in 'Gateway and eMachines' started by kaotik, Sep 30, 2006.

  1. kaotik

    kaotik Newbie

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    Hi,
    My system properties general tab shows MX6421 AMD Turion 64 Mobile ML-32 but the cpu speed seems to vary, sometimes it's 787mhz, other times it's 1.58ghz. Does the cpu fluctuate speed to save power?

    Also I have the same stick of ram, 512mb but it only shows 448mb of ram, where did the rest go? Would adding a 1gb stick for 150.00 be adventageous for performance?
     
    kaotik, Sep 30, 2006
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  2. Bamboo One

    Bamboo One Notebook Consultant

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    Probably yes. The AMD processors generally come with a property that I believe they call "Power Now" (can't remember who calls what... that may be the ATI name). It will very your processor speed depending on the need at the time (theoretically). If you choose "always on" as your power option it wil probably not use the power saving mode. At least that is the way that I think that they generally work. Make sure you have the latest driver from Gateway's website.

    As for the RAM I don't really know. I can tell you that mine says 1.00 GB of Ram when we are all going to guess that it is really 1024 (512 x 2). Maybe that is just the way that Windows reports it. That is just one possible explanation.
     
    Bamboo One, Oct 1, 2006
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  3. Jimmyray

    Jimmyray Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have the same computer MX6421 it has AMD Powernow Technology which decreses the Processor Speed From 700Mhz to 1500MhZ to 1800Mhz Accourding to what you are doing but if you wanna turn this off just go to power options and click Always On and will keep it clocked at 1800Mhz which will eat up battery power and the Ram is being Shared with Video Memory 64-512Mb Suggest you to get 1GB of ram to get 984Mb somewere around there
     
    Jimmyray, Oct 1, 2006
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  4. wellpreserved50

    wellpreserved50 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have or had the same MX6421 machine you should have an ATI 200 or 300 graphics card with 64 mg. The GPU actully takes the 64 megs from your total 512. 512-64 =448 which is what you really have to work with. My machine went dead about 1 month before the end of the manufactures warranty. Gave it to the geeks at Best Buy to send back to Gateway haven't heard back for about 2 weeks. Suspect mobo or graphics card failure I will sell the machine after it gets repaired. One other thing I noticed with mine is after I bought another 512 sodimm (PNY) I never could get the available memory numbers to read right. I bought an Alienware m5550 to replace my Gateway.
     
    wellpreserved50, Dec 12, 2006
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