Gateway P-6831FX Review

well thats good to know, i really appreciate that info. I just had to deal with a foreign fellow on xbox warranty repair a few weeks back and I couldnt understand him at all. Seems like you hear nothing but folks complaining about Gateway tech support and ive always wondered why? I just assumed it was becuase of foreign outsourcing or something along those lines. Thanks again, this'll help in my decision making for a new laptop.
 
NIVO said:
a question here for gateway owners. When you have ever needed tech support, do they speak english in a manner you could understand? Or is it outsourced to somewhere that you have no idea what they are saying to you?
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Gateway features all USA based tech support.
 
Anyone have any idea or know if the X7900 or X9000 will become available retail or oem....seriously considering buying one of the engineering samples available on Ebay...perhaps I have more $$ than sense but how long am I going to have to wait...any ideas

Have raid running with the identical WD hd that was included and runs quite well....

http://www.pcpitstop.com/techexpress.asp?id=N6RVSWSCSTGS6BHG

Performed another run (unsaved) and came in at 52MB/s....almost identical to one of my best single drive 7200rpm desktops
 
T.E.K. said:
Anyone have any idea or know if the X7900 or X9000 will become available retail or oem....seriously considering buying one of the engineering samples available on Ebay...perhaps I have more $$ than sense but how long am I going to have to wait...any ideas

Have raid running with the identical WD hd that was included and runs quite well....

http://www.pcpitstop.com/techexpress.asp?id=N6RVSWSCSTGS6BHG

Performed another run (unsaved) and came in at 52MB/s....almost identical to one of my best single drive 7200rpm desktops
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I believe they are a limited manufactured OEM, sold only to system builders like Dell, HP, etc. The only place I've seen them for sale, is on eBay.

Why not go for the T7800 or T9500 processors instead?

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Makes sense Hack and your right...I may end up settling for the T7800 or T9500 though may end up just going with the 9300 as the premium on the 9500 just isn't worth it to me. The reason for the Extreme was the oc feature but not that big a deal for only an xtra 200Mhz I guess....limited by the bios I've read on the oc capability to only that amount...use to oc'ing the desktops as this is my first portable and very pleased with it I gotta say as it is. Wanted the xtra power for the F@H project as I'm running it on the Gateway...figured I spent the money on the extended warranty and am going to get my use out of it. Thanks for the reply...:)

Running this machine 24/7 at 100% cpu load yields temps no higher than 60C with an ambient air temp of 65F according to "Core Temp" .....just though some may find beneficial to know.
 
T.E.K. said:
Makes sense Hack and your right...I may end up settling for the T7800 or T9500 though may end up just going with the 9300 as the premium on the 9500 just isn't worth it to me. The reason for the Extreme was the oc feature but not that big a deal for only an xtra 200Mhz I guess....limited by the bios I've read on the oc capability to only that amount...use to oc'ing the desktops as this is my first portable and very pleased with it I gotta say as it is. Wanted the xtra power for the F@H project as I'm running it on the Gateway...figured I spent the money on the extended warranty and am going to get my use out of it. Thanks for the reply...:)

Running this machine 24/7 at 100% cpu load yields temps no higher than 60C with an ambient air temp of 65F according to "Core Temp" .....just though some may find beneficial to know.
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I plan on getting a T9300 myself, hopefully in the very near future.

I've been running Einstein at Home 100% on my FX, 24/7. The cpu temperatures, at the moment, are running 53 C for both cores. I don't have an ambient room temperature. I do have a laptop cooler running, which helps.

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Wow, great temps at 100% load Hack, I need to pick up a cooler and get some more airflow underneath. What cooler are you running on it?? As I said this is my first portable and a bit inexperienced with all the ins and outs so to speak. 60C doesn't alarm me in the least bit but would be nice to relieve 7C of unnecessary heat stress I am fairly certain...
 
Does anyone know how this P-683 stacks up against the P-171 that Gateway has on their website besides the fact it is cheaper?

I would suppose the P-171 also has the video soddered to the board?
Wondering what changes they have made to it since the P-6831FX?
 
T.E.K. said:
Wow, great temps at 100% load Hack, I need to pick up a cooler and get some more airflow underneath. What cooler are you running on it?? As I said this is my first portable and a bit inexperienced with all the ins and outs so to speak. 60C doesn't alarm me in the least bit but would be nice to relieve 7C of unnecessary heat stress I am fairly certain...
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I'm using the one from my 15" laptop, an Antec. I'm using some small memory card cases to raise the FX up a 1/4" or so, which seems to work.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/anteccooler/

I have to find one for a 17" laptop. There doesn't appear to be any that I can find, yet. They appear to mostly for 15" models.

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TheDigs said:
Does anyone know how this P-683 stacks up against the P-171 that Gateway has on their website besides the fact it is cheaper?


I would suppose the P-171 also has the video soddered to the board?
Wondering what changes they have made to it since the P-6831FX?
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For the base model P-171S FX vs. the P-6831 FX, they are the same, except for a fingerprint reader, and a faster cpu, a T7250 vs. a T5450. The cpu is real easy to upgrade, and supports up to the new T9xxx series.

The P-6831 FX just came out. The P-171x FX series are available for order now, w/shipments beginning in March.

Again for those that are interested in the P-6831 FX, the talk is, it's going on sale at BB for $1199.99, tomorrow January 17th. Start checking the BB website after the Pacific time store closings tonight, for tomorrows sale.

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Interesting...back down to 1349.00 at the time of this post....no evidence of a 1199.00 price nor free game as some have posted on at least one other forum I'm aware of. The weekly ad does not to appear to have been updated as of yet though....at least for my area.
 
T.E.K. said:
Interesting...back down to 1349.00 at the time of this post....no evidence of a 1199.00 price nor free game as some have posted on at least one other forum I'm aware of.
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That's certainly better than the $1699.99 that BB had it marked up. ;)

The weekly sale hasn't been posted yet as of this message.

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That's an amazing price on such a computer....can't understand the pricing structure they implemented over the past couple weeks but get the idea they felt some ire from those paying 1699.00 and ya know there were at least a few....it's a no brainer purchase at this point if sitting on the fence imo...:)
 
Yeah,,,,my local BB has it for 1199 with one left in stock.

I pulled the trigger on the P-171X FX when the Gateway rep pulled the price down to 1599 but I have to wait until mid March to get it delivered.
 
Rat B@stards!

That's a better price than it was, and the price match on laptops is ony 14 days. And I happen to be at 15 Days. :mad:

Maybe I'll have to go in and see what I can get from them.
 
I pulled the trigger on this today. I was at Best Buy and they had a few in stock. I debated a bit because while I do have a gaming system that is adequate to play all games out there I am in need of a portable system for an upcoming surgery that will lay me up a while.
So far so good. It took me a while to get all the pre-installed shit out of the system.
Also picked up Age of Empires III gold as my free game.

Overall I am happy with purchase. Only thing that could have been better is if I had won the damn thing instead of buying it :D
 
T.E.K. said:
That's an amazing price on such a computer....can't understand the pricing structure they implemented over the past couple weeks but get the idea they felt some ire from those paying 1699.00 and ya know there were at least a few....it's a no brainer purchase at this point if sitting on the fence imo...:)
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They did that to stop people from buying them, is what I was told. Stores got some of them early, but they changed plans. The 1250 sale was unadvertised, and I think just preliminary to test what the response would be in preparation for the upcoming president's day sale. The response was so good, they went ahead with the advertised special this week for $1199. That's what I heard anyways.
 
im on mine right now. so far im loving it. cant find a sweeter deal then this. hard to find a laptop with these specs for the price. this is my first laptop. ill post more impressions after ive had it a week and i got my own internet hooked up.
 
I've had mine for about a week and I love it. I did get tired of Vista last night and threw XP on it. It was a pain to find the drivers, but I finally did manage.

The only thing I've noticed that might be a problem is my ac adapter has that electric sizzle sound when powered into the wall, and gets slightly louder when plugged into my laptop. I checked the demo adapter at the store I bought it from, and the floor model adapter was doing the same thing.
 
jbailey said:
I've had mine for about a week and I love it. I did get tired of Vista last night and threw XP on it. It was a pain to find the drivers, but I finally did manage.

The only thing I've noticed that might be a problem is my ac adapter has that electric sizzle sound when powered into the wall, and gets slightly louder when plugged into my laptop. I checked the demo adapter at the store I bought it from, and the floor model adapter was doing the same thing.
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Yeah, they all do the same thing. it will get even louder if you OC the 8800. One solution is to get a 180W unit from an Alienware laptop.
 
I ordered, and hope to have, an Intel 2.5 GHz T9300 tomorrow. I'll post some pictures, as well as benchmarks this weekend on it.

I'm also sending my two 60 gb Hitachi HD's back and getting a second WD 250 gb Scorpio HD, which I'll install w/the original one, and run them RAID 0. I'll post some pictures of it, as well as some benchmarks of it.

Finally, I've also got an Intel Turbo Memory card coming next week. I'll also post pictures of it, together w/some benchmarks. For $25, I figured what the heck, for the price, to give it a try.

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http://www.pcpitstop.com/techexpress.asp?id=Q81LSWSCSTGS3DTG

X9000 ES (engineering sample)

Compare to my stock score in a post on page 5 I believe...this thing is blistering fast running @ 2.8 with the capibility of 3.0 per bios though the temps at 100% load are a bit warm...running close to 80C on each of the two cores. May reseat the heatsink though I thought I took xtra care in the process the first time. Original running @ 1.67 @ 100% load yielded a consistant temp around 60C on each core so not sure. Didn't assume it would run @ the same temps though a bit suprised at the 20C increase at this point.

Post some benches this evening or whithin the next day for those interested...

****Perhaps core temp isn't reading these temps accurately??***** Just a thought as I believe i have read this elewhere involving the 45Nm or perhaps it was just the ES versions though seems quite possible that these temps could be fairly accurate.

Think I may go ahead and purhase a copy of Everest just to verify and get some numbers...
 
Alright...temps are settling down quite a bit with the curing of the Arctic Silver and temps during gamplay not exceeding 70C....frame rates during UT3 a steady 60-61 frames all settings maxed out and I mean all...lol. UT04 frames no lower than 160 during heavy battle and ALOT of the time above 250+ fps and that's being conservative....very often seeing 300+.....all happening @2.8

Again, post some benches a bit later.
 
T.E.K. when you installed your X9000, did the overclocking feature show up in the BIOS?

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Yes it does Hack...never showed up before but "magically" appeared once the Extreme was installed. And again, only up to 3.0 with the current bios...I haven't ran it there yet just letting the Silver settle down and will go from there...
 
I've been contemplating getting a new laptop and this thread has me itching to run down to Best Buy and pick one of these up.

From reading the thread it sounds like you guys are all happy with your purchase?
 
Yes, I can say I am completely happy with my purchase and was when it first came out of the box....stock it is a fine/capable machine and with the upgrade options available including Raid and cpu upgrade potential just made it more appealing to me. I did purchase a protection plan just because I run the F@H project 24/7 @ 100% load and wanted the peace of mind.

If I were to "nitpick" the machine I would mention the screen....take a look at it first in the store as you may decide you want to order directly from Gateway for the upgraded screen. Perhaps I'm somewhat spoiled as I'm use to the Gateway 24" 1080P I use with my other machines. Again, I would consider what you demand in a screen and take a look at one if possible before ya buy. No complaints otherwise and that's not really a complaint just something to consider.
 
I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

Has anyone been able to get HDMI audio to work with XP on this laptop? If so, how?
 
Another happy user here.
Got it for $1250 plus free game.

I'm wondering if I can AS5 the 8800M GTS:D
But seems it's a pain to take it all apart since 8800 is hidden deep inside the chassis.
 
Richteralan said:
Another happy user here.
Got it for $1250 plus free game.

I'm wondering if I can AS5 the 8800M GTS:D
But seems it's a pain to take it all apart since 8800 is hidden deep inside the chassis.
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lol...and considering it seems to stay pretty cool your right....not worth the hassle...on the otherhand I have this X9000 running at about 70C full load for the past 6 or so hrs. since I installed it...think I may open her back up and make sure all is good...funny thing is when idle I'm doing around 35-40C and the drop is very quick so not sure but probably gonna end up reseating it and see if it cools a bit. GPU running at around the same idle...43C
 
T.E.K. said:
lol...and considering it seems to stay pretty cool your right....not worth the hassle...on the otherhand I have this X9000 running at about 70C full load for the past 6 or so hrs. since I installed it...think I may open her back up and make sure all is good...funny thing is when idle I'm doing around 35-40C and the drop is very quick so not sure but probably gonna end up reseating it and see if it cools a bit. GPU running at around the same idle...43C
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I just installed my T9300, using Arctic Silver 5 (AS5) as a thermal compound (T/C), and it is presently running 40C, for Core 0, and 35C, for Core 1, unloaded.

I do have to say, Gateway did a good job w/their installation of the original T5450, in that they used what appeared to be a Silver T/C on it, as well as it having a good complete coating. Some manufacturers tend to not put a sufficient coating of T/C on, much less even use silver, but rather the white silicon stuff. The standard white silicon T/C works, don't get me wrong, but silver has a much better heat transfer than silicon does.

The installation of the T9300 was very easy. I do recommend using a Philip's head jeweler's screw driver, for removing the heat sink screws, as well as for the case cover screws, which can be purchased at Radio Shack (RS), as well as a small straight edge screw driver, for unlocking the cpu from it's socket, which too can be purchased at RS. Of course you'll need the AS5, or if you can't find it, regular white silicon T/C from Radio Shake will do. Before disassembling, take a small magnet and run the Philip's head screwdriver that you will be using, across it a few times, enough to put a small magnet force on it. If you don't have a magnet, look around for some speakers. Reason, the screws on the heat sink are very small, as well as there being a couple of small springs on it too, that can all fall very easily off, and into the case. Rubbing Alcohol and a Q-Tip will be helpful for cleaning the T/C off of the heat sink, as well as a tooth pick for applying the T/C. Take the tooth pick and apply a "very" small coating of T/C on the CPU surface. Lay the heat sink down onto it and press it down lightly w/your finger, then take it off to inspect the heat sink surface for a complete transfer of the T/C. If it wasn't complete, add just a little more to the areas that didn't get transfered, repeat the above, and reinspect. If OK, then assemble, tightening the screws according to the marked number sequence on the heat sink. Total install was maybe a half hour in my case, because of my dropping a couple of the screws into the case :mad:, requiring me to look around myself, for a magnet for my screw driver. Other than that, it was a piece of cake. The system booted up and saw the T9300. :D

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Thanks for the update Hack....reseated my own proc. and running full load temps between 60-65 now at 3.0Ghz rather than 70C at 2.8....lol.... I cleaned up my original install and applied more 5 to it and took a bit more care..seemed to take care of it fine. Running idle temps much the same as yours. How you like it so far??
 
T.E.K. said:
Thanks for the update Hack....reseated my own proc. and running full load temps between 60-65 now at 3.0Ghz rather than 70C at 2.8....lol.... I cleaned up my original install and applied more 5 to it and took a bit more care..seemed to take care of it fine. Running idle temps much the same as yours. How you like it so far??
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Under full load, running Einstein at Home, both cores are running 53C.

As for liking the T9300, it's faster. :D

I have to reload Oblivian and Crysis because I also installed two (2) 250 gb WD Scorpio HD's, set up as a RAID 0, instead of the Hitachi's that I had, and try those games out.

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OpStar said:
Went to buy one this evening and my local Best Buys were all sold out.
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You should of figured that would happen w/an item like this. :rolleyes:

BB is notorious for either having very little of the sale items in stock, on the day of the sale, to none at all. Your best bet is to be the first at the store when they open the doors, on the day of the sale.

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bbs inventory system is rather crappy. i checked on a thursday and he said there were not any. i went back a couple days later to a different bb and he had two. so its hit or miss. salesmen also said if you call make them do a visible check on the item. computer might say they dont have any but have two on the shelf or computer might say they have two and none on the shelf.
 
Hack....PLEASE let me know how it runs Crysis...I wanna pick up the game but not if I cant't run some decent frame rates on this machine...thanks and if you would give your impressions of the gameplay of Crysis on this machine thanks....just itching to head over to WalMart and pick that game up.
 
knothead34 said:
bbs inventory system is rather crappy. i checked on a thursday and he said there were not any. i went back a couple days later to a different bb and he had two. so its hit or miss. salesmen also said if you call make them do a visible check on the item. computer might say they dont have any but have two on the shelf or computer might say they have two and none on the shelf.
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They do get 3 or 4 product trucks in a week...
 
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