What can I do with Gateway P-172S FX

Hello. I just purchased a Gateway P-172S FX.

Processor Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor2 T5750 (2.00GHz, 667MHz, 2MB L2 cache)
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (32-bit) SP1
Memory 3072MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (1-1024MB & 1-2048 MB module)
Hard Drive 160GB 7200rpm Serial ATA hard drive w/ 8MB cache5
Optical Drive 8x Multi-Format Dual Layer Slot Load DVD-RW w/ DVD-RAM
Video NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTS with 512MB of GDDR3 discrete video memory
Chassis Intel® PM965 Chipset
Display 17.0" WXGA+ Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix (1440 x 900 max. resolution)

What processors can I actually stick in this thing to upgrade? I know it is Socket P but I can do any socket p? Also what type of thermal paste should I use?

 

yes you can throw in any CPU with socket P, the faster one I've seen so far is X9000. AS5 would be a great thermal paste.

 

X9000 is the fastest non-overclocked CPU.

If you want to overclock, it's more cost effective to get a X7800 or X7900 as they are cheaper and Gateway limits it to a 3.0 Ghz overclock.

 

Alright! How much I could I over clock a t9300? Or should I wait for the new montevina series?

 

The T9300 is not free to overclock. Only the X series is. However, you can work around that through a software overclock for certain machines. As far as I know, the FX series isn't free to do so yet.

 

I found a X7800 for 250 on Ebay... What could I over click this too?

 

I really would not recommend overclocking your system, it is just not a good idea. You are forcing more current to flow through the same parts and eventually something is going to fail.
I would stick with a T8300 or T9300 for a processor.

K-TRON

 

I tend to agree with K-Tron on this. But would like to know what you will be using this for to get an idea if overclocking would even serve a purpose. The TDP of the X7800 is 44w T5750 is 35w T8300, T9300 and even T9500 are 35w. The $200+ price difference between T9300 and T9500 rules out the T9500 for me.

My main suggestion for you overall is if anything start with HDD. For example when the 320GB @7200 HDD's come out get one. CPU? Maybe when the 1 year warranty ends T8300 or T9300. But I must say for most people your 2Ghz would be enough.

 

A buddy of mine was looking at this (or maybe just a similar) system at our local BestBuy. I think it was a pretty decent price considering all you get (A 8800GTS is a damn decent card). That I was odd that they put such a "low end" (it is still a good CPU, but everything else is decked out on the laptop, why skimp on the cpu?) cpu in there. I think the one we were looking at was the T5650?

Anyways, if I was to get that laptop, I would keep it in the back of my that one day I would upgrade the CPU, and probably just upgrade it to a T9300. It is a blazing fast CPU, the price point is good, and it runs cool. What more could you want?

 

Guys,

If I were to upgrade the cpu on the P-172S FX Gateway, would I have to upgrade the ram as well? It comes with 667mhz ram. Thanks.

 

667's all you're going to get.

The X7800 has been overclocked to 3.0 Ghz without issue by some users.