I have a Gateway G6-400 with a TABOR II motherboard. The gateway part
number is 4000434 . I am wondering if I can upgrade the processor and
if so what kind of processor could I upgrade to? Also what type of
processor does this motherboard use?

Hi there,

According to Gateway and Intel the answer to your questions are that
you can upgrade the processor, but not much. As it's a motherboard
that only supports Pentium II processors, the best you could hope for
may be a Pentium II 450mhz with a 100mhz front side bus and a 512k
cache. Currently your machine contains a Pentium II 400mhz processor.

For your reference, the link to your motherboard on gateway's website
with a picture of the part available for viewing can be found at

http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/JABIL/m00434/m0043401.shtml

Specs for the chipset are viewable at 

http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/intel/M00264/m0026406.shtml

The processor upgrades available for your motherboard are listed at

http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/INTEL/m00264/M0026403.shtml

To paraphrase from the above page:

"Processor Support
Part number 4000264,4000321,4000418,4000432,4000434,4000502 

This motherboard supports Pentium II processors with a 100- or
66-megahertz (MHz) front side bus (FSB).

Processors with a 100-MHz FSB should only be used with 100-MHz random
access memory (RAM). Processors with a 66-MHz FSB can be used with
100- or 66-MHz RAM.

The motherboard can be upgraded with Pentium II processors that run at
higher speeds by using the configure mode in the BIOS Setup Utility."

After checking on what Pentium II CPUs Intel manufactured (A list of
all of them is available at
http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=47&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&PkgType=ALL
), I discovered that the fastest models of Pentium II processor run at
450mhz with a FSB of 100mhz and a 512k cache.

The specs for these models are available at the following URLs:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sSpec=SL2U7&ProcFam=47&PkgType=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&CorSpd=ALL
http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sSpec=SL2WB&ProcFam=47&PkgType=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&CorSpd=ALL
http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sSpec=SL358&ProcFam=47&PkgType=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&CorSpd=ALL
http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sSpec=SL37H&ProcFam=47&PkgType=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&CorSpd=ALL

You will note that none of them are still shipping so you're going to
have to shop around for one, you might want to consider online dealers
in second hand parts or auctions to locate this item.

More information on possible (read: "attempt at your own risk")
upgrade options to get your machine running a processor over 450mhz,
including a discussion of the socket adapater mentioned in the comment
below is viewable at http://www.duhvoodooman.com/powrleap/PLintro.htm
. It does appear that
this solution may work, from the two reported tests that have been
done using it on your model of machine (see
https://www.quickbase.com/db/6v74ue7a?act=QuickSearch&srchtxt=Gateway+G6-400
). I notice, however, that both installations mention minor problems
(misidentification of CPU and fan noise).

If you'd like further clarification, or don't feel this answer
adequately satisfies your query, please feel free to let me know and I
can do some more digging.
 
Thank you for using Google Answers. 

-dakur-ga

Good info

You can get upgrade to a processor over 1GHz using this product:
http://www.powerleap.com/Products/iP3T.htm

which is compatible with your motherboard:
https://www.quickbase.com/db/6v74ue7a?a=dr&r=evu&z=viab&rl=4ba&rx=v

I have a similar system from Gateway with a Tabor-II motherboard (not
exactly the same, it has a different part number).  You don't specify
whether you have a PII or PIII processor currently, but mine came with
a PIII-500.  Even though this was designed as a PII motherboard,
Gateway obviously shipped some early PIII systems with it.  It should
work with just about any Slot-1 processor, including PIIIs up to 1 or
1.2 GHz.  These processors come in two packages, FC-PGA and Slot-1.  A
Slot-1 1GHz PIII can be bought for around $130.

About a month ago, I upgraded mine with the PL-iP3/T from PowerLeap. 
This is essentially an adapter that allows you to put FC-PGA2 Tualatin
chips in a Slot-1 motherboard.  The Tualatin-type processors (most
high-speed Intel Celerons use the Tualatin core) require a different
power supply than the old motherboards can provide, but the PL-iP3/T
adapters remedy this.  PowerLeap sells the adapter alone for something
like $50.  I bought the whole package that comes with a Celeron 1.4
GHz processor, heatsink, fan and Slot-1 adapter for about $170 from
their site.  You might save some buying the processor and adapter
seperately and putting them together.

The unit works great - a huge improvement over my old 500 MHz and a
fair amount better than a 1 GHz PIII.  The speed is very noticeable in
games, but even in things like web page rendering you'll appreciate
it.

Usually they recommend upgrading the BIOS before processor upgrades
but I didn't find this necessary.  My BIOS recognizes it as a Pentium
Pro 700 MHz, but the OS recognizes it exactly right, a Celeron 1400
MHz.

The only difficulty in installing it was removing the old processor. 
Gateway used to put a bracket on either end of the slot that would
help hold the processor down.  These brackets have to be removed to
make room for the PL-iP3/T - each has one screw and one plastic tab
that must come out.  Other than that, it was as simple as can be.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the info. Im going to buy a 1.4ghz from Powerleap :)