Irvine (CA) - Gateway today announced three additions to its eMachines entry-level PC brand. Two sub-$500 products are joined by a $580 gaming machine, well. Sort of.

A gaming eMachines PC? We know eMachines especially for its entry-level prices of general use PCs. Reading through the spec list of the gaming PC quickly reveals that Gateway did not break down barriers and the device will not satisfy a common gamer with somewhat higher performance expectations to a computer. However, the eMachines T6212 could be a choice for users who are looking for a low-priced gaming PC for children whose performance requirements are not yet based on frame rates in Doom 3.

The model is equipped with an Athlon 64 3200+ processor, 512 MByte dual channel memory, ATI's Radeon Xpress 200 integrated graphics chipset with 128 MByte shared memory, a 160 GByte harddrive and a DVD burner. According to Gateway, eMachines offers upgrades to the model, including a discreet graphics card. Prices for such upgrades have not been announced yet.

Also new is the T3985, marketed as digital media device with a dual layer DVD burner, an 8-in-1 media reader, an 80 GByte harddrive, integrated Intel graphics and 512 MByte memory for $470. The third new PC is the T3882 for $370 that offers a 2.8 GHz Celeron processor, 256 MByte memory, an 80 GByte harddrive and a CD burner.

Monitors for the computers are available from about $230.