Upgrading CPU in Future

Hey guys, I was just wondering, I do know my Protection Plan with Best Buy will not be expiring until July 2011 so I was wondering, does upgrading the CPU from a 1.83GHz on a P6860FX make a difference in gameplay (In frames per second, etc)? I am mainly a First Person Shooter player playing games such as CS:S, TF2, and Call of Duty: MW2. I will possibly upgrade in the future and it would help if someone showed me fps numbers (not 3d mark scores). I have read the threads but its really hard for me to gauge a performance increase. Please help!!....(and sorry for my horrible English, its almost midnight here and just came from work)

Also, can you tell me what should I upgrade to and will the processor run hotter or cooler than my current one when the time comes (please nothing to drastic and over the top)?

 

Owning a Gateway 2Ghz 9800MGTS I have to say absolutely yes

CS:S lagged in 30 player servers with 2Ghz 3 MB cache

Absolutely smooth with 3.06Ghz 6MB cache

TF2 also lags with 2Ghz or below

 

Understood however, do you mind telling me what you upgraded to?

I forgot just to add on, I am not looking forward to overclocking either.

 

I upgraded my 6860 to a t9300 and its runs MUCH better in source games. I am running all source games maxed or close to it smoothly compared to a lot of stutter before. (1.8ghz was getting killed). Out of all the upgrades you could do it would probably benefit you the most especially since you playing a lot of games on the source engine.

 

Come on even going from 2.53 ghz to 3.03 ghz (overclock) makes a huge difference if you play online games or shooter games .

 

Me no likey overclockey due to heatey lmao.

Thank you for your insights, anyone else want to give me more! I need A LOT of suggestions and recommendations! Btw I have some Arctic Silver 5 laying around in my house. How do you guys apply it to your notebook CPU? A dot like it says to do in their manual or thin coating?

 

why are you not looking to overclock? (ok i was typing this when you responded lol) the reason i ask this is because on your laptop the bios allows overclocking of the extreme series cpu (i got this info from a different thread) by increasing the multiplier (by far the easiest and safest way in my opinion)

you can get an x7900 for 229 free shipping or an x9000 for 379 free shipping. i dunno how much you would want to spend but those would be something to look at.

the heat output doesnt really change that much with increasing the multiplier but you can easily counter that with a slightt undervolt. (i would recommend undervolting with whatever processor you decide on)

 

I am a little wary of overclocking...I have messed 3 laptops due to it. Also undervolting doesn't like me either as I have damaged CPUs that way (which is weird). So I am trying to look for something that can give me a noticeable performance increase out of the box. Overclocking/Undervolting and me do not mix.

 

The most common upgrade for us P-6860FX owners was to the 2.5ghz T9300. I did it, and it gives a pretty appreciable speed upgrade to games and in overall general computing, too.

The other option was those x series, they will allow overclocking. But the under-load temps that people get with those when oc'd was not appealing to me. The cpu temp would go to over 70 or 80 degrees C.

I used arctic silver 5 on my T9300 when I swapped it out, and the highest it gets is mid-40's C when gaming. I do not dabble in undervolting, either, but those that have with the T9300 will tell you they get even lower temps.

I do oc my gpu, though. That will also make a hearty difference in games.

 

I have a Best Buy warranty too but I upgraded my CPU, I figure if I ever have a problem with the computer while it's still under warranty, I'll just swap out my CPU so that they can't say my warranty was voided because I upgraded my computer.

 

Now that you told me that u used Arctic Silver 5, how did you apply it, just a dot like it says in the instructions or a thin layer?

Just hope that the store you got the Service Plan (or as they call it now, Geek Squad Black Tie Protection) from does not open the casing of your notebook because I work for Best Buy and my store opens the inner casing and panels to see if any warranty stickers were severed. We have had a bunch of cases where the stickers were ripped, ripped and placed back, or just missing in general. If the store doesn't catch it, the service center we send it out to will...if they don't catch it, you are very lucky!

 

I don't recall the CPU having that kind of sticker on it.

 

I am very much an amateur when it comes to computer building/hardware, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Swapping out the CPU in my P6860FX was the very FIRST time I had ever seen a cpu chip by itself, lol, let alone installing it into a motherboard and applying thermal paste.

That said, I squeezed a pinch out onto the center, maybe around the size of a grain of rice, and then used the edge of a credit card to kinda flatten and spread it about, like buttering toast. I was following the steps from some old thread in this Gateway forum, which had great photos and was infinitely helpful. Look for the very long thread with the title of "upgrading cpu in 6860" or something to that effect.

Edit:I think it was this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=256839 ... but it looks like the photos are gone!

 

Hope this link helps anyone doing it for the first time.

 

Mate, you should use ICD7 it is way better than arctic silver 5, look at the ICD7 thread over the gateway subforums.

 

Esp for the chipset where you need a lot more than the normal amount, ICD7 thickness helps.

 

Should've been on the heastsink pipe. The sticker is somewhere along it and half was attached to mobo and another half was attached to HS pipe. If it was never to be seen, good

I can't seem to find ICD7. Can someone post me a link to a carrier that sells them so I can buy.

 

Try Microcenter
Could get it cheaper on petra tech shop website but they are OOS.

 

i order ic diamond from frozencpu so give them a look. heres a link to the ic diamond on that site.
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g8/...rials-Innovation_Cooling_Compounds-Page1.html

 

This actually works because I have a micro center in my state!

 

Westbury i guess. You at BB near Green Acres Mall?

 

Actually no, however I am out in Valley Stream but I work in the Best Buy in Lawrence ever since the Circuit City in Valley Stream closed.

Store: Best Buy in Lawrence #1069
Job title: Best Buy Part-time Appliances Specialist (I really am not supposed to be there)
Working Since: April 5, 2009

It's pretty cool over there. I personally got store and sales MVP in that store for Quarter 3 of the Fiscal Year 09. I do not want to be among the ranks of Valley Stream's Best Buy since many customers complain about their horrible customer service in that area.