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    Gateway MT3705 CPU Upgrade?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by bmtabd, Mar 24, 2007.

  1. bmtabd

    bmtabd Newbie

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    Greetings to all,

    I have a Gateway MT3705 14.1" laptop that has an Intel Core Duo T2060. I understand that this new processor has 1 meg of L2 cache instead of the usual L2 cache of 2 megs for the other Duo Cores. Would anyone know for certain if the MT3705 has the ability to upgrade the CPU? The way I figure it, if the CPU is upgradeable, I might consider upgrading to a core 2 duo or a more powerful core duo in the future. I already plan to switch hard drives, from the 4200 rpm 100 gig that came with the MT3705 to my 5400 rpm 100 gig that was removed from my DOA Dell, and to install 2 gigs of RAM.

    Finally, will there a big difference in performance between a CPU containing 1 meg of L2 cache and the same processor having 2 megs of L2 cache?

    Thanks in advance.
     
  2. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

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    As long as u can reach the cpu, and it's not soldered on, then yes u can upgrade it to any cd or c2d cpus, tho the latter might require a BIOS update.
     
  3. bmtabd

    bmtabd Newbie

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    Thanks for the reply, but would anyone know for certain if the CPU on the Gateway MT3705 is soldered or not?
     
  4. Redline

    Redline Notebook Prophet NBR Reviewer

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    I doubt it. The only laptops I know of with soldered on CPUs are the ones with ULV/LV CPUs (which this doesn't, its a regular CoreDuo) and Apples (which this isn't).

    Yes there will be a performance increase, but I'm not sure how big. It will reduce the SuperPi scores by more than 50% though, something like 40+ seconds.
     
  5. ajfink

    ajfink Notebook Deity

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    It might be worth it if you do lots of CPU-intensive tasks. The RAM and hard drive upgrade would generally make your system feel more responsive.
     
  6. Zero

    Zero The Random Guy

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    The upgrade will only affect processor dependant applications and tasks, such as encoding or video editing. Other, less processor intensive tasks, like surfing the Internet and word processsing will recieve not be affect froman upgrade of the processor.

    Upgrading will also void your warranty, and it does take some effort and confidence. Cache generally has little effect on most applications, and it only helps out to a certain degree, mostly when large transfers of data take place, or in processor dependant tasks. As ajfink has said, an upgrade of the RAM is a batter idea at the moment.