Gateway Goes Gaming: FX530XT Review
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. A Tower Of Power?
- 3. Digging To The Core, Times Four!
- 4. The Graphic Confrontation!
- 5. Peripheral Visions
- 6. Our Configuration
- 7. Audio Encoding
- 8. Synthetic, Continued
- 9. 3D Gaming
- 10. 3D Gaming, Continued
- 11. Conclusion
The greatest win in the battle of "geeks versus nerds" has taken place, as the world's best PC gamers receive the professional athlete treatment! Far from the "dying breed" that nerdy console fans believe them to be, flagship "uber geek" performance systems have become mandatory promotional tools for the PC industry. But as the likes Dell and HP try to buy their way into gamers' hearts through acquisition of "gaming computer" brands, Gateway has chosen the simplest, most direct path to gaming fame: building better computers!
This might seem a ballsy move for a company that only a few years ago gave up its high-end market in a downscale "affordable PC" marketing move that nearly killed the brand. Still, anyone who's been around computers long enough will remember the days when top-end Gateway 2000 systems were the rule rather than the exception. The company certainly has the experience, so let's consider what it now brings to the table.
| Gateway® FX530XT Base Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Hardware | |
| Processor | Intel® CoreTM 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 (2.66GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 2x4MB cache) |
| Chipset | Intel® 975X chipset with DDR2 and Intel® CoreTM Duo support |
| Memory | 2048 MB PC5300 dual-channel DDR2 667MHz SDRAM (2-1024MB modules) |
| Hard Drive | 300GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA hard drive w/ Raid 0 16 MB Cache (two 150 GB hard drives) |
| Floppy Drive | 9-in-1 media card reader. |
| Optical Drive | 16x Double-Layer Multi-Format DVD Writer (DVD±/R±RW/CD-R/RW) and 48x/32x/48x CD-RW/DVD combo drive |
| Case | |
| Controller | 7-bay BTX tower case |
| Expansion Slots | (3) PCI expansion slots, (1) PCI-E x4 expansion slot, (1) PCI-E x16 expansion slot |
| External Ports | (6) USB 2.0 (2 front, 4 rear), (3) IEEE 1394 Firewire (2 front, 1 rear), audio ports and (2) PS/2 |
| Video | Dual Card ATI Radeon® X1950 CrossFireTM solution w/512MB GDDR4 memory DVI w/HDCP, VGA (via adapter) & TV-Out |
| Network | Integrated Intel® 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) Ethernet |
| Integrated Audio | Integrated Intel® 7.1 High Definition audio |
| PCI Multimedia Card 1 | 56K PCI data/fax modem |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Genuine Windows VistaTM Home Premium (32-bit) |
| Additional Software | Adobe® Acrobat Reader® 7.0 and Google Toolbar |
| Standard Software | Napster Trial Subscription |
| Peripherals | |
| Monitor | Gateway 24" Widescreen HD Performance LCD Display |
| Keyboard and Mouse | Gateway Elite Multimedia Keyboard and Soft-touch USB optical wheel mouse |
| Speakers | Logitech X-230 2.1 32 watt Speakers |
| Services | |
| Internet Service Provider | Six months America Online® Internet access |
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