Gateway FX laptop Series Thread *mods and upgrades*

This thread is dedicated to all gateway FX series laptop owners for support and also a few tips and tricks as we get them.

Base Specs:

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (32-bit or 64-bit)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor (PM965 chipset = socket P @ 667mhz or 800mhz) and (PM45 chipset = Socket P with 800mhz or 1066mhz)
3072 or 4096MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM or 4096MB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
250GB/320GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive w/ 8MB cache2
17.0" Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix (1440 x 900 - 1920 x 1200 max. resolution)
FX Design with Copper Core Accent
Intel® PM965 Chipset and NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 8800GTS with 512MB of GDDR3 discrete video memory or PM45 Chipset with NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTS with 1024MB of GDDR3
8x Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW with DVD-RAM featuring Labelflashâ„¢ Technology3
Integrated 1.3 Megapixel Web Cam

MSRP: $1250 - $2999 (Prices may differ from stores and online retailers)

Reviews:

Review 1

Drivers:

P-6831

P-6860 - Also used for P-6831 64-bit drivers

P-171S FX

P-171X FX

P-172XL FX

P-7811 FX

Video Card Drivers

32-Bit

64-Bit

Tips & Tricks:

Reassigning the Hot-Keys



Overclocking the GPU:

Use Nvidia System tools to overclock

OR

Use Ntune to overclock


Overclocking the CPU:

Not possible unless you have a Intel Extreme Chip

BIOS Update - From Gateway support themselves

"Please follow the below steps for performing BIOS update.<br>1.MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE INSERTED A BLANK FLOPPY DISK OR CD / DVD INTO YOUR DRIVE.}<br>2.Download the self-extracting file and save it to your desktop.}<br>3.Once the download completes, double-Click on the file name, and follow the instructions to extract all the files to a floppy disk or cd / dvd. <br>4.Copy all the extracted files to floppy or cd / dvd. <br>5.Leave the floppy disk or cd / dvd in the drive, and reboot your computer. <br>6.The system will boot to the floppy or cd / dvd and short flash utility will take place--DO NOT INTERRUPT THIS PROCESS <br>7.When the update process is finished you will see an A:> prompt at the bottom of the screen. It is very important to wait until the process completes. <br>8.Please eject the floppy disk or cd / dvd and then restart your system by pressing the power button. <br>9.At this point you have successfully flashed your systems BIOS.<br><br><br>"

Bios update file

Upgrade guide

Guide 1

Guide 2

Gateway User guides

COMPLETE DISASSEMBLY GUIDE for all 17" FX notebooks:

PDF file download


Dissasemble Videos


CPU replacement

Guide


Hardware Upgrade options:

CPU option: Any socket P mobile cpu will work. (Will list all members setup to the bottom)

Ram options: Any DDR2 667mhz will work. I recommend getting a second 2GB stick.

Hard Drive option: Going raid with the OEM hard drive you will need something like the stock Western Digital ( Serial ATA 150 8MB cache) . For the best performance I recommend 2 x 200GB 7200rpm 16mb Serial ATA 300 drives.

Performance per drive

Single 250GB 5400rpm Drive

Single 200GB 7200rpm Drive

Dual 250GB 5400rpm Drives in Raid0

Dual 320GB 7200rpm Drives in Raid0

Members Setups:

1.) Johnksss: Gateway P-6860 FX / 1 x 320GB + 1 x 160GB / 4GB 667mhz ram / Intel C2D X9000 @ 3ghz / 8800m GTS / Vista X86 - 3Dmark06 = 11017

2.) cHIEFM: Gateway P-7811FX / 1 x 320GB 5400rpm / 4GB 1066mhz DDR3 ram / Intel C2D X9100 @ 3.06ghz / 9800m GTS / Vista X64 - 3Dmark06 = 10575

3.) ANTEC: Gateway P-6860FX / 2 x 320GB 7200rpm Raid0 / 4GB 667mhz DDR2 / Intel C2D T9300 @ 2.53ghz / Geforce 8800m GTS / Vista X64 - 3Dmark06 = 10033

4.) Shifty22123: Gateway P-6831FX/ 400GB 7200rpm Raid0/ 2 x 2GB 667mhz ram/ Intel C2D X7800 @ 3ghz/ 8800m GTS 512 @ (618/920) / Vista X64 - 3Dmark06 = 9896

5.) SnowSurfer: Gateway P-6831FX/ 500GB 5400rpm Raid0/ 2x 2GB 667mhz ram/ Intel C2D T9300 @ 2.5ghz/ 8800m GTS 512 @ (620/920) / Vista X86 - 3Dmark06 = 9810

6.) Emmanuel: Gateway P-6860 / 200GB Seagate Momentus / 2 x 2GB 667mhz ram / Intel C2D T9300 @ 2.5ghz / Geforce 8800m GTS 512 @ (600/900) / Vista X86 - 3Dmark06 = 96465.) stevegel: Gateway P-6860 FX / 320GB 5400 RPM Raid 0 / 4GB 667mhz ram / T7700 @ 2.4ghz / 8800m GTS / Vista X64 3Dmark - 8688

7.) Burrbit: Gateway P-6831FX / 250GB 5400rpm / 3GB 667mhz DDR2 / Intel C2D T9300 @ 2.53ghz / Geforce 8800m GTS / Vista X86 - 3Dmark06 = 8092

8.) BxAlbo1: Gateway P-6831FX/ 250GB 5400rpm/ 3GB 667mhz ram/ T5450 @ 1.66ghz/ 8800m GTS/ Vista X86 - 3Dmark06 = 7288

.) A-E-I-Owned-You: Gateway P-7805u/ 320GB 7200rpm HDD/ 4GB DDR3 1066mhz/ Intel P8400 @ 2.26ghz/ Geforce 9800m GTS 1GB/ Vista X64

.) Xecuter2: Gateway P-6831FX/ 500GB 5400rpm Raid0/2 x 2GB 667mhz ram/ T9300 @ 2.5ghz/ 8800m GTS/ Vista X64

.) FallenFaux: Gateway P-171X FX / 240GB 7200rpm Raid0/ 2 x 2GB 667mhz ram/ T8300 @ 2.4ghz/ 8800m GTS/ Vista X64

.) Cometman: Gateway P-6831FX / 250GB 5400rpm/ 3GB 667mhz ram/ T5550 @ 1.86ghz/ 8800m GTS / Vista X86

.) cchalogamer: Gateway P-6860 FX / 2 x 320GB 5400 RPM Raid 0 / 4GB 667mhz ram / T9300 @ 2.5 / 8800m GTS / Vista X64
Edited by shifty22123 - 5/1/10 at 2:09pm

Hope this will help a few people out. If you have this laptop. Post your specs and I'll add it to the thread

Will do..Just ran 3Dmark 06 and got 9500

May be. It's one of the latest motherboards released by Intel and has 800mhz fsb support. I just read about it on another forum where a crucial rep made the comment about the bios update

The raid is Intel Matrix raid which is a hardware rad with both Raid 0 and 1

When I upgraded to 4GB my vista rating went from 4.6 to 5.0 in Vista X86