Gateway ML3109 supports 667mhz FSB

I came here looking to find out if anybody knew what FSB speeds (and therefore, what processors) are supported by the Gateway ML3109, but I couldn't find the answer.

Just about all of the Gateway notebooks (including the ML3109) that use the 4006148R motherboard, are sold with processors that run at a 533mhz FSB.

I looked up the chipset (an ATI RC415MD), which according to the AMD/ATI website is a RADEON XPRESS 200 for Intel processors.

http://ati.amd.com/products/radeonxp...tel/specs.html

According to ATI, this chipset supports Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors... if you look at the specs on the intel website for the entire line of P4 Extreme Edition processors, you'll see that none of them runs below 800mhz FSB.

Armed with this info, I decided to try installing a Core 2 Duo 2ghz 667fsb mobile processor (T7200) in the Gateway.

It worked, BIOS & Vista correctly recognized and installed the new configuration... I am writing this post on the Gateway.

So anyway, because it was such a hassle to find this info I thought I'd pass it along in case anybody else comes here looking for info about this notebook, motherboard, or chipset.

-Al

No adverse effects I can see...

Another thing I'd like to mention...

I ran SiSoft Sandra Lite on the laptop prior to any upgrades, to try and figure out exactly what I was dealing with...

In a few different places, Sandra was identifying the chipset as an "INTEL AGTL+", this still has me a bit confused, as Sandra supposedly has support for the ATI Intel motherboard chipsets. I Googled "Intel AGTL+", and came up with a load of info, but I couldn't rely upon it, because I didn't know if Sandra was mis-identifying the chipset, which I KNOW is an ATI RC415MD.

As a side note, and this should be obvious, but anyway: Considering that AMD now owns ATI, it is quite doubtful that anyone could expect anything more than perfunctory support for their Intel supported ATI chipsets, at least from AMD, 'nuff said!

Another user here (Syrtus) that I have had a few emails with, revealed that his ML3109 recognized more than the [advertised] max of 2gb RAM (but less than the 4gb he installed). Indeed, the ATI specs claim a max RAM of 4gb! So where is the truth???

I have not had a chance to check this out myself, so I am speculating here... however: The ML3109 reserves a portion of UMA for video. So the BIOS reports RAM remaining after allocations for UMA... I have heard from a few places, that the limiting factor in this low-end laptop is the video. So if the BIOS is set to "AUTO" for video UMA; then maybe 4gb are recognized, but are reported as less in the POST due to UMA allocations? Again, I am speculating, but according to Syrtus more than 2gb but less than 4gb is recognized by this laptop.

Now to throw everything completely out the window...

In terms of real-world-usage...

I upgraded the processor in my Gateway ML3109 from the stock Pentium Celeron-M 1.6 SL9WT mobile 533mhz FSB 1mb cache processor to a Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo T7200 SL9SF 667mhz FSB with 4mb cache.

I paid $195.00 for the processor (used), the old processor may fetch $10-$30 on Ebay... worst case; I paid $185 for the upgrade. However the laptop was a buy at under $400 some time ago at BestBuy... A laptop with a T7200 processor, even now, is usually priced over the $1k mark, as the processor alone still commands a price over $250.

But again, getting back to REAL WORLD experiences... is it worth your time and effort to do this upgrade? First, let me say that computers are my hobby... not my job... The amount of time and effort spent researching components and drivers and bios settings, cannot be compensated... I have a great job with a 6-figure salary, and the time I spend doing this crap is strictly recreational... Realistically, the amount of time I spent on this upgrade, would have garnered me several thousand dollars at work!

In the end, I have to ask myself the question... am I doing this because I NEED TO, or because I WANT TO??

Now I expect that the audience here is mostly guys... so all I would ask is that before you undertake any project, consider the value of your time.

When I pass away, and I am given the opportunity to view the entirety of my life in a few flickering seconds, I hope that I can say that the bulk of my life was not spent staring at a computer screen!

Updated Note: I am no longer uploading the file, sorry.