Future CPU Upgrade for P-6860FX

So, after my Dell Inspiron 9400 died yesterday, I was in the market for a new laptop. I was originally thinking of getting a Gateway P-7801u laptop, but I feared of what would happen AFTER I bought it. If something were to fail in it, it seem like it would be a major hassle to get it fixed. Blech...

So, I decided to window-shop some more and finally purchased a Gateway P-6860FX from TigerDirect Canada for ~$1300 ($1000 for the laptop, $200 for a 1 year TDC warranty and taxes). While it won't have anywhere near the same power as a P-7801u laptop, it still looks like a good laptop for gaming with 4GB RAM and an 8800M GTS.

But, after reading reviews regarding the 6860, they all say the same thing: Weak CPU. A Core 2 Duo T5550 1.87GHz, while probably MUCH more powerful than the T2600 I've been using these past few years, does seem to show a possible bottleneck in the future. What I'd like to know is, after some time has passed and the bottleneck starts to become apparent with newer games released, what should I look towards in terms of upgrading this CPU? Also, if anyone can point me to a guide on how to perform such an upgrade on this laptop, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance to those who provide the proper information.

 

as a general rule any to reduce the chance of a cpu bottleneck in gaming, you should aim for at least a 2ghz C2D, 2.2ghz to be safe. Some games can even take more advantage of the cpu's power, for example GTA IV, so maybe you should aim for as high as pssible without breaking the bank.
See if you can get any good deals on ebay for the cpus below
Considering you have a PM965 chipset, I'd probably recommend any of the following CPUs:
T8100
T8300
T9500
T9300
Although the following are old-gen they are still very powerful
T7500
T7700
T7800
T5900

go for the one's in red if you want to ensure your cpu doesn't become a bottleneck for at least a few years

for price/performance, i'd recommend the t8300.

 

You can even use the fancy X9000, X7900, or X7800 chips if you swing that way, but they're expensive with little added benefit. I think the best choice would be one of the aforementioned T9x00 chips.

 

man i can't wait to get my 7805u but i have to wait till i sell off my desktops and lil lappy's

 

The t8300 and t9300 are the best price for power chips and both run ice cold in the 6860.

If you want more power and dont care as much about temps then the x7800 and the x9000 can both be clocked to 3.0gHz (though in most cases the x7800 stops at 2.8 due to over heating)

I have the x9000 in my 6860 and i love it, but i also upgraded my power block to a 220watt block and i have a home made cooling system I specifically designed to cool the 6860 (well any FX computer really)

Most people though get the t9300 and are prefectly content. Its pretty much the sweet spot for the 68XX series of FX computers.

 

Alright, those are some good suggestions to keep in mind for the future. Thanks.

 

Reviving the thread for another thought that came up.

Say I decide to go with either a T8300 or T9300 CPU to upgrade with. Will either of those CPUs require me to get a new power supply for the 6860 overall? By the looks of online data, all three require 35W to work, so it would seem there would be no need for a new power supply...

 

You won't need it. I'm pretty sure the 6860 adapter would have enough juice to run even the 45W mobile quad-cores.

 

That's sort of what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure since Kamin Majere above said he needed one, but he also got the much more powerful X9000 CPU.

Now the only problem is the price. Right now, Tigerdirect.ca has 3 Mobile CPUs for sale, the T8100 ($292.99), the T8300 ($350.99) and the T9300 ($454.99). Need to watch and see when they go down in price...

 

We run pretty close to the upper limit of the 120 brick we get stock. And with them being questionable quality (and making dying bird noises even with a stock CPU) i didn't want to risk it. Plus the upgraded power block runs nice and cool even if used for weeks straight.

I have ran my system on the stock power block, and it does fine... but you could cook a turkey on it. And 40 dollars for the new brick was an easy choice for me.

As to your CPU. Try ebay. I got my x9000 for 380 shipped. No reason to pay almost 100 more than that just for a t9300. You could get one for around 200 on ebay pretty easy.

 

Yeah, I've looked on eBay, but nothing except actual auctions with a large number of bidders after them. I'll keep an eye out and wait for the right time...

 

I just checked for you there are quite a few on ebay right now running 220-260 dollar range with buy it now options still open. So half the price of most retail stores. Just type t9300 and look for computer components and they should pop right out to you

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Core2-Duo...yZ147129QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem