My experience with Gateway

[BirdDad]

If you care about your gaming don't buy a Gateway laptop.
It has no option in the BIOS to disable the cpu throttling which results in games(even low resolution games) playing choppy.
According to CPU-Z my CPU is jumping from 997MHz to 1998MHz and back even with power options turned to always on and other power settings.
I have owned many laptops and all of them had an option in the BIOS to disable speedstep.This was my first and will be my last Gateway as the support techs have been giving me the run around and for five months they still have not addressed this problem.

my laptop is a core duo with a geforce 7800 and came with 1 GB RAM

 

[corkyg]

Very few laptops are designed for gamers. They are business tools primarily.

 

[AmigaMan]

Notebook Hardware Control should fix that cpu throttling issue right up. And I play several games on my two laptops. Sure, I may not be able to play the latest and greatest at the highest resolution, but then again, I bought my laptop for other reasons.

 

[Brainonska511]

Usually disabling speedstep in the BIOS locks the processor to the lowest multiplier. Use NHC as AmigaMan suggested to lock it into the highest clock speed of the processor. Or, you can go into the power settings in Windows and set your laptop's power scheme to "Always On." It should have the same effect.

 

[BirdDad]

my point being that other manufacterers include this option in the bios
changing power settings in windows does not disable the throttling,I am using speedswitch with it set not to promote/demote this has made my games playable but this really is a crappy way of doing this as there should have been an option in the BIOS

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: BirdDad
my point being that other manufacterers include this option in the bios
changing power settings in windows does not disable the throttling,I am using speedswitch with it set not to promote/demote this has made my games playable but this really is a crappy way of doing this as there should have been an option in the BIOS

Sure, other manufacturers include turning off speedstep in the BIOS, but I know with Dell laptops, disabling speedstep locks the processor at 800MHz. The only way to lock it into full speed is to use NHC or SpeedStepXP. Sometimes, setting the power setting to Always On also does the trick.

 

[fishmonger12]

my dell latitude clocks up whenever i run i game... I think...

It runs BF2 just fine, that's all i care about.

 

[BirdDad]

I have 2 dell laptops one rated for 1GHz /700MHz the other @1.3GHz disabling speedstep in the bios does not place them in the lower clock speed
setting it to always on does not disable the throttling it still jumps back and forth from 997MHz to 1997MHz Speed switch has taken care of this but I think that it is pretty crappy that you have to use a 3rd party software to get the machine to run at the speed it's rated for

 

[corkyg]

I had a Gateway Slo - big screen - and the Speedstep was an Intel program that was installed. SImilarly, it can be uninstalled.

 

[BirdDad]

Speedstep is a processor feature for pentium 3 cpus
now they have the same thing except it is no longer called speedstep.
It is part of the processor it can't be removed but it can be turned off in the BIOS unless you have a Gateway

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Your attitude of predetermination and bad faith leads me to believe you were exceptionally unpleasant with the support techs.

They do have a large file that lists your call history, behaviour, etc. If you're habitually a dick, you get flagged and treated as such.

Cheers! :beer:

- M4H

 

[BirdDad]

Hey I was always nice with them they all told me that the issue would be forwarded to the advanced tech team and I would recieve a response,I checked back from time to time because I never got a response it's been over six months and still no response from them,I think I have been patient,I cannnot recomend GW in fact I advise advanced users to avoid it.

 

[Scouzer]

i advise gateway not to bother with uninformed customers such as yourself.

 

[dripgoss]

But seriously, I considering one of the NX860XL's and you guys are saying that NHC will thwart any throttling? I read an H review that did state their gaming experience was less satisfactory than a comparable E1710. It originally sounded like bloatware/processes were the culprit, but maybe it's this CPU throttle-ma-jiggy?

 

[brett1]

BirdDad,

May I ask whether or not the AC adapter was plugged in while you were gaming?

Also, can anyone else confirm that NHC fixes this supposed CPU throttling issue?

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: fishmonger12
my dell latitude clocks up whenever i run i game... I think...

It runs BF2 just fine, that's all i care about.

I've never had a problem either. If it's plugged in (power savings is off then) and I need the CPU cycles I think it gives them to me. I've never monitored it, but I've never noticed a slow down.

Perhaps it's getting too hot, and slowing down?