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gateway fx desktop
Has anyone used this system before? and does gateway still have major issues?
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
Comments
Gateway and most of the buy the PC companies always cheap out on parts somewhere. Usually the power supply. Or even a cheap brand of a good generation of video cards. Every single Watt is pre-calculated into the cost, so you will usually have to upgrade the power supply from any of those companies if you uprade the computer. Even the expansion slots will be this way since they wouldn't wanna overspend on a motherboard if they only need 1 PCI slot.
I know the card is BFG and the motherboard is sli ready.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
if this is the actual motherboard layout
http://support.gateway.com/s/Manuals/Desktops/8511781.pdf
(on page 56)
then it looks like crap. this HAS to be one of the most horrible current motherboard layouts i've seen. systems like that also (alot of the time) use proprietary layouts making them near impossible to upgrade.
____________________________
TheCore
If you plan on buying a PC, please get the parts and do it yourself. Besides learning a lot about how things work, most likely you will save money and get exactly what you want. You will have room to upgrade when needed, and know how to do it when the time comes. None of the hardware will be proprietary garbage and you will be using a standard layout. Some build-it-for-you manufacturers use strange internal design schemes that make it impossible to replace parts or upgrade without buying the parts through them, and they will be very overpriced.
If you are considering buying a PC through gateway, then don't aim for top of the line when building your own either. Build mid-range, it will have graphical capability beyond that of all consoles on the market and still be relatively cheap.
If you plan on trying to run everything on super-high settings, don't buy a monitor with a crazy native resolution. The higher the resolution you game at the lower you will have to put the rest of your settings.
Buy components from good brands, like EVGA, BFG, etc. Do research and make sure everything you are buying will cooperate once you put it in your box.
Buy a good mouse and Keyboard. There is no point in building a fine gaming rig and then using a $10 keyboard/mouse combo to communicate with it. Consider the cost of good interface devices into your budget, including a headset if you use ventrilo or teamspeak.
Try newegg.com. I've found their pricing to be very good and they are trustworthy. I've spent well over 20k through them and never had a problem.
What you assume i know nothing about computers?
The system i put together at newegg with OS and smaller moniter is about the same size. The card in the gateway is BFG. i was doing this for the moniter. I would have np building my own computer as i have done it before. I just wouldnt mind the waranty from best buy or the nice moniter. Its not like i just came out from under a rock. Sorry is this sounded a little rude but what you just said was basicly for someone buying their first gaming rig.
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
I assumed so, rightly, because you were considering a pre-built system. I meant my advice to be helpful, not offensive.
I was looking at the Gateway 9600 with AMD Phenom quad-core processor 9600, 3GB RAM, 500GB Serial ATA II hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT. It doesn't look bad, and why pay 4x as much for alienware or voodoo with a pretty case? Just upgrade your powersupply, gfx card, and add 1gig of ram and make sure you get XP instead of vista and you are all set. I love how people talk so much about computers like getting the BEST of the BEST on the market when their own computer specs most likely are below average.
This system is cost efficient as well. @ $1,099.99
-jaz
A prebuilt is the easy way to go, but as others have said your usually stuck with a craptastic PSU and other annoyances.
And seeing as you know how to build one, you should just go with making your own. You will know exactly what your getting.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
I've built all my computers except my last one which I had PC Club build. I looked at prices and such, and it came out to be almost the same with a 3 year warentee. The Gateway one looks pretty good, but I agree, I would put a new power supply in it right away, probably get the power supply before I buy the computer and change it out right away. The motherbaord layout does look kind of bad, but just be patient when switching the power supply and you'll be ok. I like that it comes with 3 gigs of memory and a BFG card. It looks like you want the warantee too so thats a good thing. I would probably be more likely to buy it from Gateway rather than Best Buy (I saw they have the same system on their website...actually they have an intel quad for $100 less), because I think Gateways warentee would be better than Best Buy's, they tend to take their sweet time and nit pick to try and get out of fixing your computer. I looked at Dell, and HP and this was the best deal I found.
The very best of the best do not come from any manufacturer. The user builds them. If you need a fancy paintjob ala' Falcon Northwest bring your case to an autobody shop and have it painted for far less.
The machine you describe can be built for much less if one were to purchase the components and simply assemble it, and the builder would be far better off in the long run.
Also, you do realize that there is no point in having 4 gigs of ram unless you are running a 64 bit os? Which then leads to application and driver issues.
The very best of the best do not come from any manufacturer. The user builds them. If you need a fancy paintjob ala' Falcon Northwest bring your case to an autobody shop and have it painted for far less.
The machine you describe can be built for much less if one were to purchase the components and simply assemble it, and the builder would be far better off in the long run.
Also, you do realize that there is no point in having 4 gigs of ram unless you are running a 64 bit os? Which then leads to application and driver issues.
Alienware makes the best gaming PC's but their also much more expensive and Voodoo is always more expensive. This person was looking into this PC because its inexpensive and you can get a warantee so if anything happens he can just get it fixed...if the motherboard burns out for instance. This is the only reason to buy a store bought machine is because instead of relying on the seperate warantees per component (and motherboards usually only have 1 year), you can get a 3 year warantee down the line with a store bought.
If you have $3000+ to spend go to Alienware, if not either build your own or get a store bought with a good warantee.
I hear Vista 64 is better than the 32 bit version when it comes to drivers. I'd probably do a duel boot of 64 and 32 and see what issues I have with programs.
I'm actually considering buying this desktop as well, The graphics card is decent and everything else looks nice, I may need to buy a new power supply though (Only comes with 400 watts). Plus you save money on a 19 inch monitor if you buy it so ya.