The Bottom Line
Pros
- Excellent Performance Thanks To New Quad Core i7 and DDR3 Memory
- Strong 3D Graphics
- Twin Front SATA Drive Bays For Easy Upgrades
Cons
- Only Front USB Ports on Top of System Behind Panel
- Power Supply Not Suited To Extra Graphics Card
Description
- Intel Core i7-920 Quad Core Desktop Processor
- 3GB PC3-8500 DDR3 Memoty
- 750GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
- 18x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner with Labelflash
- ATI Radeon HD 4850 Graphics Card with 512MB Memory
- Intel HDA 7.1 Audio with Stereo USB Powered Speakers
- v.92 56Kbps Modem, Gigabit Ethernet
- Ten USB 2.0, Two FireWire 400, Two eSATA, 15-in-1 Card Reader
- Vista Home Premium 64-bit, MS Works, Power2Go, Norton 360
Guide Review - Gateway FX6800-01e Gaming Desktop Personal Computer
11/24/08 - Intel made ome major changes with the Core i7 processor lineup resulting in some significant performance boost over the previous Core 2 designs. The i7-920 may be the lowest model currently available, but the built-in memory controller and quad core configuration give it some spectacular performance compared to the older Core 2 Quad designs. Gateway uses this processor along with 3GB of DDR3 memory in a triple channel configuration that let's the memory run incredibly fast. Sure, 3GB is slightly lower than most comparable offerings but the motherboard does have three additional memory slots.
Since the FX lineup is designed for performance and in particular gaming, the FX6800-01e performs quite well thanks to the ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics card. While this isn't the top of the line graphics card from ATI, the performance is quite good especially up to resolutions of 1680x1050 (the most common resolution of 22-inch LCDs). It does suffer at higher resolution because of the 512MB of graphics memory compared to 1GB versions of the card.
One thing that people purchasing this want to be aware of is the limitations to running a CrossFire configuration by adding a second HD 4850 card. The 500W power supply has enough room to handle the current configuration but will likely not be able to properly hand two HD 4850's.
In terms of the case design, Gateway has made upgrading the hard drives to the system extremely easy. Two hard drive trays are accessible behind a front panel. Simply install a standard desktop SATA drive into the tray and slide it in to add drive space. One problem though is the layout of the front USB ports. In fact, there aren't really any as the two USB ports are on the top rather than the front.
