Gateway P-7811fx Mod/Upgrade

How can a laptop be an HTPC and STILL be a laptop? Easy. Ok, so not that easy. I did some upgrading, swapped out the media drive for a Blu-Ray and did a little modding. I made a small hole in the case, laid in some wire, soldered a bypass for the power switch (yes, the power switch still functions properly) and spent a lot of patience all for the convenience of having the ability to turn the laptop on without opening the lid.

Where the headphone jack resides now used to be thermal spacing pads. I removed them and drilled my hole. I soldered and covered the terminals with heat shrink but ran into a snag. Due to the curvature of the case, I could not get the nut around the coupler. I also could not get a decent angle so the headphone jack did not prevent the cover from closing all the way. I took the drill, routed out a small portion of plastic, coated the coupler with some wacky glue and held it in place until it dried.



Frankly, I think it looks better anyhow. It's a nice, clean and even look. The next thing was to cut a portion of that thermal pad to create further separation and protection from interference between the two terminals. I stuffed it between the red and white terminals and hot glued it in place. Kinda messy but no one is gonna see it anyways.


Next was to route the wires. I decided to follow the motherboard line, behind the opening mechanism, behind the media drive and up to the I/O panel. You can see the wires here just below the heat pipe. I eventually placed electrical tape on the MB between the Dram chips, laid the wires on top of if, then secured it in place with regular tape. I did this to prevent heat and interference with the MB.


I did, however, have one flub in all this. I threw out the original fans after ordering the SAME MODEL fans (new), however, the new fans did not have the same connector. I purchased some used fans with the right connectors and swapped them out.


Next I had to create the mockup. Put all the parts loosely together and test the terminals on the power switch to bridge.


I had some frustration with the soldering so I did not think about taking a picture of the completed item. There are three solder marks on either side of the switch which cannot be abridged. You have to get the center mark on either side. Soldering the top or other two marks could cause a short (not sure, probably so, not risking it). After testing the mockup again with the complete circuit, it was time to put it back together. You can see the two wires just peeking out (short but manageable) above the keyboard.

The power button still works perfectly and the laptop is still completely portable. The mod allows me to turn the computer on when the lid is closed. I did not want to lose the functionality of the laptop in the least, otherwise, I would have simply removed the LCD.

I should note that the north bridge does NOT have the IC diamond on it, the best option was to leave the thermal pad intact. I should also note that I chose to upgrade the processor to the T9600 (SLG9F - E0) for a few reasons. The T9900 is a great processor however it clocks 3.2 where the FX MB has a limitation of 3ghz (so I've read) - the extra juice (.2 respectively) was not worth the price increase of $200 over the T9600. Also, the X9100 is a 45w processor and the (less than $200) chips have locked stepping AND the 45w runs a lot hotter than the 35w. Lastly, the FX MB does not have quad core support and OC of the T9600 is possible without causing a lot of heat increase.

I haven't crunched my benchmarks yet. I just completed the upgrade and mod so I want to give the computer a good week of normal use before stressing it. Otherwise, I would have my numbers posted. The one thing I'm curious about is the Mini PCIe slot. Does anyone know if there is mSATA support?

 

As far as is known the port does not support msata..............

 

Thanks, TAN. I didn't think it would but never hurts to ask......

 

Just a quick comment. Do NOT be mislead by the Max TDP 44W. TOTAL DISSIPATED POWER. The T9900 clocks at 3.06 Ghz same as the X9100 and dissipates the same power at the same clock. The T9600 is overclockable ?

 

Only with hardware modification to the motherboard and set FSB

 

Exactly my point since the multiplier is locked.

 

Thanks, I apparently didn't research hard enough, lol. Either way, I still think I'm coming out ahead. The T9600 only cost me $35 over an x91 for $100 more. It was my understanding that the T96 (E0) was overclockable... Learned something here, thanks guys.

 

I finally ran my benchmarks and this is what I came up with. There is still room to upgrade. Of course I'm still at the stock 4g ddr3 and there is no SSD

 

Closed some background programs and ran it again

 

With the new system I get 5739 in PCmark 7. I'll have to try it on the P97 later................

 

Only that on your Samsung? Seems like it should be higher based upon your specs..... I hope to upgrade the Boot drive to an SSD and max out my ram sometime. Been looking at the Gskill Phoenix drives

 

Yeah, that was it............

 

I closed down as many background programs as I could in the task bar and closed Rocketdock. I ran most of the tests and this is what I got. I'm fairly certain I should get about a 2-300 jump if I get a decent SSD and max the ram out.
View attachment 93291

 

Actually according to the review below my PC only got 3602 PCMark 7, so not too shabby and most likely it is the SSD making it skyrocket.

http://www.techreviewsource.com/Notebook-Computers/samsung-series-7-np700g7c-s01us#.UUPFxjDD-Uk

 

Link would not open for me *shrug*

 

web site disappeared, that stinks............

 

Were you trying to achive cold boot or just return from standby with the lid closed? I was just wondering if the "wake with mouse" funtion would work well enough for you? I use my ulv30 as an ad hock HTPC for music and movie server only. In the quest for cool running and lack of fan noise, gaming was not included.

Wife reclaimed the ul30vt; so now back to 3 year old WDTV, bugs and all, for music and movie server. Games and BR are on PS3 only for easy master audio thru receiver.

 

I'm a conserve power freak so the sleep mode was not an option for me. The "wake up" function can't do a boot so modded a removable external switch. I wanted FULL HTPC functionality without sacrificing anything from the portability/functionality of the laptop or gaming capabilities. It sits on a three fan laptop cooling pad in my entertainment center.

I have a 4tb NAS on a Mac limited access point for media storage, however, my FX has 1tb of space as well.

 

^^ LOL, my 52" LCD sucks up 180 watts all by itself as opposed to FX laptop drawing .5 watt in sleep mode via Kill-a-Watt. Yeah, if your gaming then that throws a wrench in the whole power conservation stuff, no?

I'm not sure what you mean by can't do a boot as the laptop IS booted during sleep/standby mode. My biggest problem was not bumping mouse or the dang thing wakes up; so I set the "sleep after 30 minutes" to cure that.

Cheers

 

I don't like anything "on" when I'm not using it. My 40" tv uses 90w in use, laptop uses a mere 60w in entertainment mode. Power is constantly pulled from the wall and delivered to the laptop, that never stops. Staying in sleep mode for 18 hrs pulls 45w, although minimal I'm not saving anything there. Booting up from a cold start takes that. I rarely use it for gaming anymore since the acquisition of my 360, however I still wanted the functionality and ability if something came out that sparked my interests. In fact, I use my xbox more than my laptop/HTPC. I turn the laptop on only about every few days.

(2.5w x 18hr)+(2.5w x 48hr) = 165w consumed vs 45w cold boot. Saved 120w there..

Boot = from complete shutdown
Wake up = ending sleep/standby mode

Then you have to consider waking the computer from standby either accidently or purposely which is about 20w and another 15w to suspend.

20w + 15w = 35w as opposed to a 45w cold boot.

120w previous calculation + 35w opposed method = 155w saved.

My 360 uses less power than than my laptop during gaming. 110w as opposed to 140w on the laptop.

 

Using your estimates:
(40w idle x .5hr) + 20w wakeup + 15w suspend = 55w for an "oopsie"

Then consider the sleep time of mine using your estimate on usage:
.5w x 66 = 33w

Let's assume an accidental bump occurs once every "use cycle"
(.5w x 18hr) + 55w oops + (.5w x 48hr) + 20w wakeup = 108w

Let's use my usage figure
(same formula, replace 2.5 for .5) = 240w