Digital Trends

Gateway FX6800-01e December 1st, 2008 | by Nick Mokey

Software

As the loads of icons sprayed all over the desktop when you first boot up the computer would indicate, Gateway hasn't said no to many companies when it comes to loading its machines with miscellaneous garbage. From a link to Creative product registration and eBay on the desktop to EarthLink and NetZero shortcuts planted squarely at the bottom of the Start menu, the degree to which our system came infested with ads and trialware bordered on disgusting. Gateway's choice of Norton 360 (a trial version of course) for security was especially irritating, since it insists on jumping all over users with questions every time they do anything, like a week-old puppy, but far less cute. Experienced users may want to reload the system from scratch with Windows XP if they intend to do any serious gaming on it, but even less seasoned users will still have to spend a good deal of time cleaning up Gateway's mess right off the bat.

Performance

Though the FX6800 has a hotrod Intel processor under the hood, you wouldn't know it during the boot process, where it takes as long to load Vista as most other desktops we've tried: about a minute and ten seconds. That's not atrocious by any means, but for all the power it packs, it doesn't clear much headway, either.

Fortunately, the fast RAM and processor seem to stretch their legs once the Vista logo appears, since desktop items seem to load much quicker than we're used to, and the system is ready to handle applications nearly immediately. The desktop experience reflects this as well: windows collapse and expand without hesitation, applications launch rapidly, and response time within applications rivals any other system we've used. In a word, it's fast, and we can confidently say it's one of the most eager multi-taskers we've ever used, even on par in day-to-day usage with the much pricier AVA Direct system we reviewed months ago.

Of course, the true task comes when it's time to push pixels in a gaming environment. And the i7-equipped FX6800 strutted its stuff there, too. First up on the roster: BioShock, a relatively recent game with moderate hardware demands. Even after boosting resolution all the way to 1920 x 1080 and cranking every detail slider to high, the FX6800 had no problem pumping out ultra-high, flawless framerates. BioShock could not so much as faze our FX6800, so we moved on to more contested ground.

As the undisputed champion of gaming resource hogs, Crysis made an ideal test to wheel out of the shed and see how the Gateway performed. After our results with BioShock, we started off aggressively with every setting set to high and resolution at a blistering 1920 x 1080. Initially, it seemed to chew through without complaint, but as we progressed through the game and experienced more action and more detailed scenes, certain weak spots started to show through. At the beginning of heavy firefights, the machine seemed to stutter and choke as it struggled under the load of all the on-screen action. Eventually, these spots smoothed and returned us to playable framerates, but the inconsistencies became somewhat irritating under extended play, and we would probably sacrifice some visual niceties to eliminate them by turning down other settings, long term. In the name of testing, we turned on 2x antialiasing, but we wouldn't consider the result playable.

The bottom line: Gateway's FX6800 will play any game on the market and play it well. Although it won't puncture the upper extremes of detail and performance in the tiny percentage of games that test its true abilities, its power should be more than sufficient for years to come. 

Reliability

In our rather brief time with the FX6800, we experienced two random crashes that forced us to reboot the system entirely: one freeze-up as we attempted to change wallpapers, and one blue screen of death after exiting Crysis. Both raise questions about the reliability of this particular hardware configuration, but we couldn't necessarily rule out Vista woes, either. In either case, note that the brand-new and unmodified box wasn't without its hiccups.

Conclusion

There's a lot to like about this reasonably priced gaming rig, though it has its share of problems as well. Buyers looking for a capable machine in this price range should probably place it near the top of their lists, but not before checking out competitors like Dell's XPS line, which was also quick to pick up the Core i7 chip and offers competitive pricing. We would also caution novice users from investing in the FX6800-01e, since the initial mess of trialware and the reliability issues we experienced may require some more techie knowledge to handle properly.



Pros:

• Outstanding gaming and desktop performance
• Good mix of hardware for the price
• Attractive case



Cons:

• Cheap accessories
• Too much preloaded junk
• Chintzyy case widgets
• Random crashes