Hi,
I own a gateway performance 1400 (P4, 1.4 GHZ) at the time the 1.5 GHZ was top of the line, but of course all that changes the moment you make the purchase.
Anyway, at one point I had done some research on upgrading my CPU and as far as I knew I could go from a 1.4 to 1.8 GHZ. I believe the bus is a 400/533mhz, but the voltage matters too from what I know. So as far as I know the board is a Monterray brand one. I’ve got no other information, but I was hoping that based on what my computer is currently using (1.4 Ghz P4) someone could tell me what’s the highest up I can go with my processor. Thanks ahead of time.
I feel the need to warn you that level of upgrade is not going to give you a large jump in perceivable performance. You should really look at a motherboard and CPU replacement if you are going to go to the effort. If you get say, an older Athlon 2600 or a Pentium IV 2.6 ghz, you can get some good deals and the motherboard to support it shouldn’t be all that much either. You can go newer than that too but I was trying to maximize economy. You could probably pull off a swap on both for $150 or so.
unfortunetly, unless i’m missing something, i can’t tell you anything about upgrading without knowing more about the board… an exact board name/number would be helpful, but to be honest, i’ve had terrible luck with gateway motherboards… but thats anecdotal, with a total of about 2-3 experiences. Sorry.
I actually bought the same machine about 5 years ago when I was working for gateway. Without going into any crazy depth, the easiest answer for you is really to buy a new motherboard, processor, and memory. Really, if you shop around you can get an athlon 64 3500 with memory and processor for only $250. Thats lightyears beyond what you’re use to, and you’ll really like it.
You might get a bigger bang out of adding RAM or investing in a faster hard drive: Most CPUs are more than fast enough for average tasks (gaming being the biggest CPU hog most people indulge in), but their speed at those jobs is limited by how much they can shove into the (relatively) fast-access RAM and/or how quickly they can read data off the hard drive.
Beware that you might not be able to add new components (CPU included) to an old motherboard. Buying a new mobo could be in the cards for you, regardless of what you decide to upgrade.
I would recommend installing and running SiSoft Sandra to identify the motherboard model and revision number, then visit the manufacturer’s website to ascertain what processors it will support.
As others have said, upgrading the processor won’t necessarily result in the best or most noticeable increase in performance; more RAM usually does (assuming you have space and are not already at the limit - SiSoft Sandra will help you work this out too); upgrading the graphics card might also help a bit, especially if your system has a fast AGP slot, but is currently using graphics capabilities integrated to the motherboard.
Upgrading the motherboard and processor can be done without a reinstall of Windows (XP), but it isn’t recommended. Upgrading just the processor should be OK though (except, as we said, it might not actually make much difference).
For anyone recommending a processor and motherboard upgrade, are there any proprietary issues with older Gateway motherboard form factors, etc.?
I know older Dell’s used to use something proprietary… (power supply connector to motherboard connector?). I just remember reading at the time that you couldn’t just swap out the motherboard from something you pick up at Fry’s or order from Newegg. You had to order the replacement from Dell. I know this has changed since then. Just wondering if a 5 year old Gateway PC might have the same issues?