Nehalem desktops: Gateway vs. the rest?

Thecla

n00b
Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Messages
27
I've been looking at buying a new desktop after a long time (my current computer is one of the original Dell XPS desktops, which has performed like a champion for over 5 yrs...) so I have lots of questions, but here's a specific one: I priced out a couple of different configurations of Nehalem desktops from big manufacturers (Dell, Gateway) and custom builders (which would be my preference; I liked the looks of Velocity Micro and Puget best among the ones I checked out e.g. FalconNW, Vigor, Maingear, AVAdirect, Digitalstorm...)

Config I:

Intel Core i7-920 (2.66 GHz)
3 GB RAM
ATI HD 4850 GPU
750 GB hard drive (7200 rpm)
CD/DVD drive
Vista Home Premium


Config II:

Intel Core i7-920 (2.66 GHz)
6 GB RAM
ATI HD 4870 GPU
300 GB VelociRaptor (10000 rpm)
CD/DVD drive
Vista Ultimate


Here what I got (where available) with warranty

....................................................I................................II...............................
Gateway (FX6800-01e)...........1470 (2yr)............................................................
Dell XPS 730x.......................2150 (2Yr).......................2600 (2 Yr)*...................
Puget Gaming Comp.............2354 (1Yr)**.....................3053 (1Yr)**......................
Velocity Micro Z55................1924 (1Yr)........................2604 (1Yr)......................
Falcon NW.................................................................2790 (1Yr)......................

* ATI HD 4850
**Lifetime labor

The Gateway is $1250 at BestBuy, but doesn't seem to come with a warranty, which is an extra $220 from the so-called "GeekSquad".

Now I fully recognize I'm comparing plenty of apples and oranges here in the parts used by different builders, service, etc. but the Gateway (even if it's not configurable) looks like a great value. Am I missing something?
 
Of course the Gateway will come with a warranty, though probably not a comprehensive or long one. Don't bother with ant geek-squad warranty just deal with Gateway (unless you're a bit technically challenged then go for it).

I have built many systems, had my own shop, and that Gateway (the recent Nehalem) are one of the very few big box systems I have seen I would buy myself outright (if I were a normal joe and not a former/builder myself). It has an X58 mobo with onboard Xfi and two 16X PCIe slots and a good processor, and you don't have to pay a premium for niceties/the name/the custom emails/personal staff etc... that premium botique builders charge for. The only issue I might have would be that I would make sure that when W7 comes around that you can get a free upgrade disk if you ask for it. Who knows when W7 will really roll around though. :p
 
The gateway comes with a 1yr parts and labor only warranty. That is it covers failures due to manufacturing, not normal wear failure.
Sometimes they don't cover shipping either.
 
Buy the parts and build it.You should end up with a better rig for a lower price.
I bought a gateway pc last year and I wish I would of built one instead.This time around (E8400) I am building it myself
 
Thanks for the reply

Of course the Gateway will come with a warranty, though probably not a comprehensive or long one.

Yah, I saw that a 1yr warranty is standard (all I need) after posting, but it was mysteriously hard to dig out that info on the BestBuy site. ;) (I also saw that the Dell Studio XPS is much more competitively priced that the Dell XPS 730x, especially with a bundled 24" ultrasharp 2408 WFP for $330, since I need to upgrade my LCD --- but the lack of expandability of the studio kills it for me, unfortunately. And Gateway has another more powerful Nehalem model FX6800-05, not sure if it's out yet, but at $3000 that seems a lot less of a bargin.)

I also came across the helpful roundup of i7-desktops on engadget

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/18/intel-core-i7-desktop-roundup-the-rest-of-whats-new/

that Gateway (the recent Nehalem) ... has an X58 mobo with onboard Xfi and two 16X PCIe slots and a good processor

So do you -- or anyone else --- know if this means that the FX6800-01 can be easily upgraded to, say, dual ATI HD4850s if I want to, down the road? (Not sure what it has for a power supply) And I'm assuming there'd be no problem throwing in another 3GBs of RAM.

you don't have to pay a premium for niceties/the name/the custom emails/personal staff etc... that premium botique builders charge for.

Actually, I'm fine with paying a decent premium for a more-expensive high-quality machine instead of getting the cheapest one available. But $1000, or thereabouts, on a $1250 machine for advice, extra customization, probably better components, and the service etc. seems just too much to justify...


The only issue I might have would be that I would make sure that when W7 comes around that you can get a free upgrade disk if you ask for it. Who knows when W7 will really roll around though. :p

Call me crazy, but I actually like Vista. :p
 
Vista is alright - I was in om the on the early beta testing. Drivers are better now and more plentiful and SP2 helped. So yes Vista is ok. I do like XP better though. I dual boot myself.

Yes you can run crossfire with the Gateway, though, one of those PCIe slots "might' be electrical 8X, thus you "might' be running @ 8x8x when crossfired, and you would likely need to move up to a 600-650W PSU from the included 500W - maybe not if you keep only one HDD/Optical and you only use the HD4850's and not two 4870's.

If you have money to spend and you don't mind paying a bit for premium service , Puget or Maingear would be my recommendations. If I were buying the Gateway I would get 620-750W Corsair and crossfire 2x 4870's. I do think the Gateway would be ok though, but I have to agree with others suggesting to DIY, but I also understand that this forum is for those seeking advice on pre-builts. :)
 
Having worked at BestBuy as a in-store tech and later Geek Squad, I'd be hard pressed to say any of the OEM machines are worth you time if you have the time and knowledge to build 1 yourself.

Many, many time we had gateway machines that had weird custom bios issues that locked up in games beacause of irq issues like the souldblaster used to with the old via motherboards.

Oftne times there is not as much room as you thing in the case to upgrade as you would think and they'd use custom PSU's and graphics cards to shoehorn the parts in. So in the end you has sub-par parts and we (geeksquad0 couldn't fix the problem unless it was sent out to a service center for weeks only to have it sent back because the service tech there couldn't reproduce the issue.

Getting the Best Buy warranty only means the parts are sourced differently and you don't pay for troubleshooting oftentimes were as through the OEM you might not be able to get help and instead have to ship the whole thing to them.

Still if you buy a OEM, check your credit card to see if they extend the coverage as part of being a card holder.
 
To necro this thread: the following velocity micro i7-desktop

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883239006

Processor: Intel Core i7 940(2.93GHz)
Memory: 6GB DDR3-1333 (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3
Hard Drive: 2 x 750GB 7200rpm
Optical Drive 1: Blu-ray DVD player
Optical Drive 2: 20X DVD burner with Lightscribe
Graphics: 2 x ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB each

looks pretty good to me for $2,800. Has anyone recieved this, or a similar, system? Without too many actual user reviews, I wonder if they've ironed the major wrinkles out of the new i7-desktops, though I'm still planning to buy one in January.

I've also configured systems from Puget and Maingear, and they typically come out around $3,000+ with an i7 920 and a single ATI 4870 (1GB) graphics card, so there's a significant price differential.

Any comments welcome (excluding the one that says I should build my own ;) ).
 
I just received five Velocity i7 machines 6Gig. Blu-ray etc. including some with Intel RAID0 SSDs in RAID0. If you have more time than money you can build these machines yourself. I run a small systems integration business and after a VERY busy year I didn't want to spend my end of the year building five machines which I need for a project that starts Tuesday.

other than a few loose parts due to shipping that needed reseating (always crack the case before you power up) they all worked fine on power-up.

I ran all my enterprise software bench marks and test software without a hitch. The i7 is about 20-30% faster in my applications which are all memory and CPU intensive. I've had good luck with Velocity over the last few years.

Get the beefiest power supply and you can upgrade/modify as you see fit.
 
I just received five Velocity i7 machines...other than a few loose parts due to shipping that needed reseating (always crack the case before you power up) they all worked fine on power-up.

Thanks for the reply. I realize it's subjective, but how quiet/loud are these machines? Mine would be for a home environment; they don't have to be silent, but they should be reasonable quiet even under heavy loads.
 
I have a Velocity Micro that I bought for my girlfriend, an E2250 with Liquid Cooling, Q9450 and its a super quiet machine. I couldn't imagine that the i7 would be a heck of alot louder, but its possible since they use air cooling on the processor and not liquid cooling. The build process was decent, the aluminum case is nice and light but scratches easy and is pretty "light" duty.

On the Gateway PC, I went and looked at it MANY times because I was thinking about purchasing it, it does have an issue with a blinking cursor when using Windows Explorer which is a nuisance more then anything. The build process was ok, the case sucks, I think its really ugly. The ram from what I can see is the cheapest DDR3 you can get, Crucial 1066. Video card is ok, 4850 Radeon, and the power supply sucks, its only 500w. I personally would just build my own for that price, the Gateway is a decent comptuer but theres alot lacking in the system.
 
On the Gateway PC, I went and looked at it MANY times because I was thinking about purchasing it, it does have an issue with a blinking cursor when using Windows Explorer which is a nuisance more then anything. The build process was ok, the case sucks, I think its really ugly. The ram from what I can see is the cheapest DDR3 you can get, Crucial 1066. Video card is ok, 4850 Radeon, and the power supply sucks, its only 500w. I personally would just build my own for that price, the Gateway is a decent comptuer but theres alot lacking in the system.

Yup, I came to the same conclusion --- buying an i7 system like the Gateway FX 6800-01e with a limited capacity for future upgrades doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The FX 6800-05 is now available at Best Buy (backordered) and it has a lot more stuff (i7-940, ATI 4870 X2, 1000W power supply...). But I haven't seen any actual user reviews yet to tell if it has any stability/heat/noise issues etc.

I am here, if you need anything, let me know. ;-)

Thanks, Heather, I'll be sure to do that. ;-)
 
The Velocity i7 machine is "reasonably quiet" compared to the other machines we own. The video card(s) and gaming loads will determine the over all noise profile. We have the Z55 model machines built on the GX2 case which as grooverider said is rather light duty.

Overall, I think these are good value for the money machines if you want to go with a boutique builder. We also own several Velocity Micro's "fastest machine you can build" OverDrivePC custom models which, of course, cost a lot more.
 
I'm still waiting to jump aboard the i7 bandwagon, but I have looked into both of those Gateway models and I haven't been able to check out the other Gateway system because it's only available online at Best Buy. Both of those Gateway systems are Best Buy exclusives. You won't see much on the other system until it becomes more readily available, but for the price tag of $3000 you can open your doors to alot more different botique companies for that price range that I personally think would be way better then a Gateway.

I would splurge the money for the higher end case on the Velocity system, the Z55 case is nice but it scratches easy and like I said is very light duty.
 
I'm looking at that Gateway FX6800 myself. I know it has a low wattage PSU but does anyone know if it is a name brand PSU at least?

Also, what about Cyberpower PC? I know they aren't popular here but Cyberpower builds an i7 on the cheap as well. So.........................If you were choosing between these 2 (Gateway or Cyberpower) which one would you choose and why? Please withhold the "build it yourself" commentaries. I'm definitely not building it and my budget is $1250.
 
Cyberpower is hit or miss (mostly miss). Do a search for them here and you will find some good information. For $1250 that Gateway is probably the rest bet for you if you want i7. The PSU is Delta I beleive.
 
If you were choosing between these 2 (Gateway or Cyberpower) which one would you choose and why? Please withhold the "build it yourself" commentaries. I'm definitely not building it and my budget is $1250.

I'll give you my opinion, for what it's worth: it's just based on my general impressions (I have no personal experience with cyberpower or its apparent clone ibuypower), so take it with a big grain of salt. But I'd go with Gateway (or perhaps Dell--they have some i7 studios in your price range, though they also wouldn't be upgradeable either, and I think the Gateway looks like a better choice). I don't like the Cyberpower (or ibuypower) designs, and personally I'm more comfortable with the quality control and support from the huge-volume companies like Dell or Gateway. People complain a lot about Dell etc., but I've never had a problem getting them to fix stuff they were supposed to fix, even if it requires too much time going through tech support phone trees, and most of the computers I've got from them have been reliable.

I've pretty much decided to buy an i7-system from Puget, but that's going to cost a lot more ($3,000+) for a machine with less capability than a corresponding Gateway or Dell (though I don't much like the design of the Dell 730x either). But hopefully it'll be high quality and have plenty of room for future upgrades. At least, that's my rationalization. ;)
 
I bought a FX6800 2 weeks ago and this is what I have discovered so far. The motherboard appears to be an ECS referance design similar to their X58B-A motherboard. The PSU is 500W from Liteon. The memory is actually DDR3-1333 and not DDR3-1066 however, it is a generic brand I can't ID. I too had the cursor problem which was fixed by disabling Shell Hardware Detection. In order for the OS to boot if a second drive is used in the removable carrier it is necessary to change the boot order in the bios, or as I did, you can swap the SATA connections. These are minor irritants I was able to correct however, they are problems Gateway should have resolved prior to production. With that said, I have to say its a very fast mid-range PC. So far I've played Bioshock, Orange Box (gotta love Team Fortress) as well as a handful of others, and have had very good frame rates. The onboard audio perfromed so well that I returned the Fatality card I bought for it. I'd have to say I am pleased with the purchase. I would have preferred 6GB of memory and a more powerful PSU, but these are easy upgrades to make. For the money I would by it again.
 
Thanks for the info on the Gateway. It's of great assistance to me where my considerations are concerned.
 
I've had good experiences with some of Dell's i7 rigs. I got a XPS for Xmas and my little bro got a Studio as well as my sister. My sister's arrived DOA and Dell sent a new one right away and they were fairly easy to deal with (8/10) and that one had issues as well (memory) so they upgraded upgraded her to a 4850 for free. Mine arrived in great condition and I've gotten an awesome new case (I like the look) for free and I have a 2nd i7 rig now. :D
 
Are you not considering any of the many quality boutiques out there? I see someone wanting to buy a Gateway or Dell desktop and I cringe.

And when Cyberpower PC is thrown into the mix, well, information is love and this thread needs love.

Cyberpower PC is simply a no. On top of low quality builds, they also have a record for some of the worst customer service experiences. Check resellerratings.com to check that. And you have already had a Best Buy/Geek Squad employee stating right here in this thread that he wouldn't buy a Gateway PC from them.

There are many good boutiques that offer great warranties, great customer service and great builds.
To research some of them out check out a similar discussion in this thread http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1365958.
 
But if the buyer has no choice like a young kid with a parent not wanting to buy from a boutique that they've never heard of a Dell or HP isn't a bad thing. I still won't touch Gateway out of the bunch....they've had a history of problems.

And, on Cyberpower. Note: They were bad nine years ago when I bought my current computer system. And, they're still bad. I even looked at them figuring they improved in time but they didn't. The only good that came from them is I used their configurator to show the guy what I wanted.
 
But if the buyer has no choice like a young kid with a parent not wanting to buy from a boutique that they've never heard of a Dell or HP isn't a bad thing. I still won't touch Gateway out of the bunch....they've had a history of problems.

And, on Cyberpower. Note: They were bad nine years ago when I bought my current computer system. And, they're still bad. I even looked at them figuring they improved in time but they didn't. The only good that came from them is I used their configurator to show the guy what I wanted.

Yeah, they're configurator is cool, I'll give them that. That's it though...thats it.

A Dell or HP isn't THAT bad...but they're nowhere near as good as the quality boutiques that can be found.

And never having heard of them is easily rectified by going to resellerratings.com or doing a small amount of research on the matter.

Not baggin on you at all but I just think when you're about to spend $1000+ you owe it to your money to research what is and isn't a good buy.

The "Wal Mart" specials just aren't in my opinion.
 
Are you not considering any of the many quality boutiques out there? I see someone wanting to buy a Gateway or Dell desktop and I cringe.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1365958.

Just a comment --- I don't think generalizations like this are too helpful. I've had plenty of very good results with computers from major manufacturers like Dell, HP, IBM/Lenovo (have to say I've never bought a Gateway, so I've no personal experience there), and I've had some very bad results from supposedly "quality" boutiques. Everybody has different constraints on time, money, expertise, performance requirements and everything else.

Sure, like you say, it's good to consider all the possibilities, and investigate what you're planning to buy as thoroughly as possible (though even that's no guarantee you'll end up satisfied, especially with newer models that don't have lots of reviews or previous users).. But dismissing the big manufacturers out of hand doesn't make sense either: a Gateway from Best Buy might well turn out to be an excellent choice.
 
Yeah, they're configurator is cool, I'll give them that. That's it though...thats it.

A Dell or HP isn't THAT bad...but they're nowhere near as good as the quality boutiques that can be found.

And never having heard of them is easily rectified by going to resellerratings.com or doing a small amount of research on the matter.

Not baggin on you at all but I just think when you're about to spend $1000+ you owe it to your money to research what is and isn't a good buy.

The "Wal Mart" specials just aren't in my opinion.


Now if I opt for a laptop in the future, I'll likely get a Dell/Hp. Though I might get myself a fruit instead. :) But I agree if you're going to spend over $1000 and plan to use the machine for gaming then a good deal of research along with a boutique is good to go.

I saw one of the exotic cars over at the local mom/pop place again. I still may pop back in over there but I've got these cold days right now to really dig my nails into it. And, watch $2000 budget get more money tossed into it. Heh. I may start a new PC budget again the moment the new one comes in the door...
 
Or, it could of been a holiday special. If I was going to pitch my hands up and just say screw it. I've had a few of those moments a few days ago I would of drove up to Best Buy and got the $1200 i7 and be done with it. But, I got that self control...well sorta...;)
 
Odd enough Gateway has yanked all the models from their website, and Best Buy has yanked the $2999 expensive i7 gateway from their website too:

http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529598057.php?cmpid=ms_fx

Kinda odd if you ask me. Maybe they are having more issues with these computers then we realise.

Interesting...maybe it's just a web glitch, or maybe it's because there was too much demand for the $2,999 model (they were backordered when they were up on the website), or maybe not. The $2,999 model didn't show up at all on Best Buy until something like a month after it was announced, so I wondered about that too in terms of possible issues; and how well the i7 systems really do with stock CPU cooling and a big video card? The Gateway FX 6800-05 looks quite appealing on paper, but I'd be very wary about plunking down $3,000 for it until I'd seen some reviews and user feedback on actual systems (and there isn't any so far as far as I can tell)...
 
It all boils down to your needs. I do not have the time, desire, or inclination to build my own system, and I like the idea of have a system warranty. Therefore a pre-manufactured pc was my choice. I would have preferred a pc from Velocity Micro, Alienware or Falcon, but they cost 2-3 times as much for the same setup I got with gateway. (Yes Virginia I know the components are of better quality in a boutique build, but 2 grand more??...I don't think so.) Although I've had a number of Dells and never had a problem, I wanted the option to upgrade which is almost impossible with a Dell. Therefore Dell was out. This only left Gateway and Cyberpower/iPower with a decent i7 setup, and from everything I read regarding the latter's reliability and customer service, I was only left with the Gateway. For me it was the best choice, my father on the other hand is not interested in upgrading so he went with the Dell.
 
Back
Top