Gateway's Phenom Powered Desktop
Thursday February 7, 2008
Image Courtesy Gateway
Even though the AMD Phenom processor has been out for some time now, it has not been very widely used by the industry. Gateway is one of the first companies to offer the processor in its latest lineup of desktop computer systems, including the GM5664. This model actually incorporates the "AMD Live" feature sets to build a multimedia oriented desktop platform. Find out more in my review
Comments
In an overview of the GM5664 system on the Gateway website, featues include High Definition Audio, 8-channel 7:1.
My understanding is that this would support 7.1 surround audio plus additional audio options.
It supports the Intel HDA audio processor specifications. This specification does not require that the system have a coax or optical connector for carrying the Dolby Digital or DTS audio signal to a home theater processor. That is what I was referring to in my review. The GM 5664 does not have either of these connectors. It only has the standard mini-jack audio connectors.
What do you need to connect this PC with Direct TV?
I bought this model a couple of weeks ago and really like it. The only disappointment was that it wouldn’t recognize the monitor using the included cable. I went back to the store, bought a DVI cable and it was happy.
I use a cable mondem from Comcast. Can I use a coax splitter to connect to the cable modem and the computer to get TV?
There are many issues currently with trying to use a desktop PC with a digital cable or satellite feed. Cable is a bit better than satellite, but not by much.
Cable provisions require that cable providers provide something called CableCard. This is a mini cable decoder that can be plugged into compatible TV sets without the need of the external receiver. ATI does produce a home theater unit that can be attached to a PC and use the CableCard for digital cable. The problem is that this is not readily available to consumers due to Cable Lab certifications. Thus most consumers are out of luck.
Satellite at this point has no method for use with a PC. Essentially the external Satellite receiver must be used and then its video out would be routed through the PC TV Tuner input card to receiver the signal. This means all tuning features are done through the satellite receiver and the computer only really acts like a monitor.
I’m researching PC Audio cards that have been designed to work with VISTA, to address my connection to A/V Receiver issue with this PC.
My next question is whether the Blu-Ray player is Profile 1.1 complient or not, and what features would that provide the viewer with?
The profile of a Blu-ray player is related to the software used to play back the movies and not the hardware itself. As a result, it would depend on if the software player included with the Gateway is Blu-ray 1.1 compatible. I can’t answer this question as I no longer have the unit that I evaluated. Other owners might be able to answer this.
I will note that since it is software based, even if the software is not 1.1 profile compatible, it should be possible to upgrade the software.
My home theatre DVD recorder went dead. I’m thinking of moving up to a HTPC but the wife does not want a PC in the living room. Is it possible to buy the GM5664, buy a nice horizontal HT computer case and then put the MG5664 into the new case. I guess that depends on the motherboard but do not know which motherboard the GM5664 uses or if there are any other issues.
Andy:
The only PC setups that I have seen in a horizontal case cost quite a bit more than the Gateway. I guess you could try buying an empty horizontal case and try putting all the components in it.
As far as the audio is concerned I have this hooked up via HDMI to my receiver and it works great. I never could get the S/PDIF outs to work with my receiver. I also added another Analog/Digital tuner card so I can record two shows at once.
It handles both Blu-ray and HD DVD with no issues. It has PowerDVD built in and there is a cool plug-in for Vista that you can get to drop out of Media Center and play your HDM and back to Media Center when you stop the disc. The plug-in can be found at Our Media Center.
i bought this pc gateway gm5664 i dont understand a few things and hope someone could help me! this pc has two dvi outputs and 1 s video output.how am i suppose to hook this pc to my new hdtv with the hdmi input on the tv?is there a special cable. and why does it have 2 dvi outputs .also i want to make this computer wireless .where do i put the linsys adapter.do i have to take out the modem pci and replace with the adapter? how do i hook up to cable box?so i could watch cable tv on my pc.i bought this pc from buy.com and have to send it back for exchange because it came with a wired keyboard and mouse instead of the wireless it was suppose to come with .and it had no remote for the media center.it came with no paper instructions.i plan on hooking it up to a gateway 24in hd lcd monitor when the replacement pc shows up.if you can help please email me jimmycasbuda@hotmail.com thank you!!
I just purchased one last Monday and I have received the Blue Screen of Death at least 20 times. Took it back to BestBuy yesterday and they reformatted it, said that should stop the blue screens…well it didn’t. When I set it up again, the monitor started going black and the computer restarted on its on several times. Lets not forget receiving the blue screen three times. I am just taking it back. I really wanted this computer. I am sure it is awesome…I just got the defective one.
Has the quality of Gateway improved enough to take a chance with this or similar Gateway units? How does Gateway (currently) compare with HP desktops on a scale of 1 to 10 with HP being 10 (just for comparison)?
I don’t know if anyone is still visiting this page, but I just purchased this pc from buy.com and cannot get the blue-ray player to play blue-ray disks (plays regular DVD’s fine). I have it hooked up to a Westinghouse HDTV via a hdmi cable and the enclosed dongle.
I don’t know if the issue is that I need to download additional drivers, or if it is the software (CyberLink Ultra PowerDVD).
Cyberlink comes up after I put a disk in, but when I push play, the following error message appears:
“A critical component of the player requires periodic updates. New movies could fail to play if the critical component is not updated promptly. Would you like to update now?”
I say YES, then another message appears:
“There is a problem with the internet connection, the update did not complete. Please check the internet connection and try again.”
My internet connection is fine. I’ve contacted Gateway and their suggestion is to reinstall vista. I would think that there’s an easier solution.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
This is to Robert Grisham. I wish I had a solution for you. I think them telling you to reinstall Vista is a load of crap. And it sounds like their tone was very cavalier..like this is an easy undertaking. I am getting the same message. I purchased Best Buy’s upgraded home support so if you would like stay in touch via email, feel free. I’m going to try to get them to either help me over the phone or at my place this weekend and will be happy to share with you what I find out. Steve sebashchun@charter.net
i just got this pc, its great! I also got a panasonic lcd to use as my pc monitor/tv. my question is, ive used a hdmi-vgi cable to get the pc on the screen, how can i connect the audio to get sound from the pc out the tv???
Since a VGA cable is not designed to handle any audio signal, there will not be any means to get the audio to the TV set unless the video input that uses the VGA connector also has auxiliary audio connectors. If this is the case, then a standard mini-jack to RCA will be the method for getting the audio to the TV.
Grisham go to http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/updates_1_ENU.html and search for your version of the player.I received these errors also at first.You probably have the 7.3.2104 ver.I purchased the new PDVD Ultra 8 and it is worth it.Download the patch and save it then install it.Hope this helps.My GM5664 runs great now,it just needs adjusted.
Robert i had problems with the dvd player also…i took my recovery disk and reinstalled cyber link, went throught the same steps i tried 12 times before and then it worked…good luck.
Blue screens, unexpected re-starts, hung up web pages, failed audio feeds; are all problems associated with MS Vista (as far as I am concerned) My lack of experience with Vista caused me to keep my HP Pavilion a642n pc. It is has been reliable and faithful for several years. The difference? I believe that the aged and refined XP platform is Prime Time Ready. Vista, obviously, is not. Several friend of min in the IT industry have told me to trashcan Vista and load XP. Those GM5664 owners who have done so report a signifcant increase in speed and total reliability. But don’t tak my word for it. look up the blogs on the GM5664 system. There’s truth in numbers.
I must say that I have had this pc for about 2 months, so I will put that qualifier in there first. I have not had a single problem with this pc. Have a wireless n adapter via usb and all runs very smoothly. The hd/blu drive is just great (I have a ps3 and hd dvd player but it is awesome to have this on the pc). Not sure why so many have had technical problems but vista has not had so much as a hiccup. It is a very well ventilated pc and surprisingly quite. Never have seen (or heard for that matter) a pc that moved so much air and was so silent. So far this was a great purchase and one that I am glad I made. You will be hard pressed to find a quad with all this anywhere near the price. It has been stated on many forumns and such that the intel quads are faster but unless you are comparing them side by side this is a fast pc. The vid card is just ok. This is the only upgrade I plan on doing in the future but for now it is serving me just fine.