Gateway FX530: Mad Cows and Quad Core Overclocking
by Jarred Walton on February 9, 2007 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Gaming Performance
Quake 4 and Oblivion are two games that ostensibly offer support for more than one CPU core. However, Oblivion does not seem to benefit as much as it is already severely GPU limited, and Quake 4 only supports two processor threads with the majority of the work being handled by a single thread. Half-Life 2: Episode One on the other hand still only supports single core processors, but the improved clock speed relative to an X6800 should help out here. Unfortunately, we're going to be somewhat GPU limited, so even though this is the fastest CPU configuration we have ever officially benchmarked, in terms of gaming performance we don't expect it to do significantly better than the other test systems.
This is our first glimpse of any actual problems with the Gateway FX530. As we have discussed previously, the graphics subsystem simply isn't going to come out on top in various gaming benchmarks. There's no doubt that the X1950 CrossFire configuration is extremely fast, and four months ago it would've been the fastest graphics solution available. These days, however, it often falls just short of the top-performing solutions. Considering that the other systems were tested with a single GeForce 8800 GTX card, the fact that the Gateway can't sweep the gaming benchmarks is really disappointing - at least for gamers. We can also see that the X4 PCI-E connection appears to be hampering the performance of the 8800 GTX card, as otherwise it should at least be as fast as the other 8800 GTX solutions.
Our recommendation remains that if you want best in class graphics performance for games, you should either wait to see what AMD's next graphics chip can do or else look for a solution that uses one or two 8800 GTX cards (depending on how much money you want to spend). Spending this much money on a pair of X1950 CrossFire cards just really isn't the best option right now, except perhaps for a few people that might want to run Folding@Home's GPU client.
Quake 4 and Oblivion are two games that ostensibly offer support for more than one CPU core. However, Oblivion does not seem to benefit as much as it is already severely GPU limited, and Quake 4 only supports two processor threads with the majority of the work being handled by a single thread. Half-Life 2: Episode One on the other hand still only supports single core processors, but the improved clock speed relative to an X6800 should help out here. Unfortunately, we're going to be somewhat GPU limited, so even though this is the fastest CPU configuration we have ever officially benchmarked, in terms of gaming performance we don't expect it to do significantly better than the other test systems.
This is our first glimpse of any actual problems with the Gateway FX530. As we have discussed previously, the graphics subsystem simply isn't going to come out on top in various gaming benchmarks. There's no doubt that the X1950 CrossFire configuration is extremely fast, and four months ago it would've been the fastest graphics solution available. These days, however, it often falls just short of the top-performing solutions. Considering that the other systems were tested with a single GeForce 8800 GTX card, the fact that the Gateway can't sweep the gaming benchmarks is really disappointing - at least for gamers. We can also see that the X4 PCI-E connection appears to be hampering the performance of the 8800 GTX card, as otherwise it should at least be as fast as the other 8800 GTX solutions.
Our recommendation remains that if you want best in class graphics performance for games, you should either wait to see what AMD's next graphics chip can do or else look for a solution that uses one or two 8800 GTX cards (depending on how much money you want to spend). Spending this much money on a pair of X1950 CrossFire cards just really isn't the best option right now, except perhaps for a few people that might want to run Folding@Home's GPU client.
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Tuvoc - Saturday, February 17, 2007 - link
Thanks for that.Presumably there was no evidence of throttling while you were testing ? I'm surprised at 1.45v on air at 3.2 that it stayed cool enough. Maybe the BTX case design helps a lot
I have an Intel Quad Core on an ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i which you've reviewed. With vcore on auto (which os presumably the default 1.35v), CPU-Z reports as low as 1.20v under full load, from a starting value of about 1.28 (vdroop on this board is a little higher than normal as you found in your review). But the difference between the Gateway 1.45v BIOS setting and the CPU-Z figure of 1.238v is extreme...
Now if only I could get a proper coretemp program to monitor temps under Vista x64..... (I mean proper core temps, not ASUS Probe temps..)
PrinceGaz - Saturday, February 10, 2007 - link
I know it is already overclocked to 3.2GHz, but it would have been nice if you reported the core-temperatures and found out how much further it would overclock. Assuming of course the options were available in the BIOS for further overclocking and over-volting.anandtech02148 - Saturday, February 10, 2007 - link
Lianli Case would be luxury and modular. you can take out parts just so to fit a 8800gtx.$4000 to spend, there's a riches that this Gateway can only show with a quad cpu. no fancy rams or mobos.
Genx87 - Friday, February 9, 2007 - link
Yup that's a Gateway. I hate their cases btw.bamacre - Saturday, February 10, 2007 - link
Yeah, me too. I think as far as OEM's, Dell has the best cases, hands down.Vidmar - Friday, February 9, 2007 - link
One thing I didn't see mentioned in your article is that all Gateways are now being built (assembled) in the USA. Also all Gateway support is located in the USA as well. I think these two points are major pluses for that company.Vidmar - Friday, February 9, 2007 - link
Ahh now I do see a bit on the support "Finally, Gateway also makes a point that they now offer 100% North America based phone support, so that should generally keep the communication barrier down to a minimum".Thanks!
Crassus - Friday, February 9, 2007 - link
Revisiting the AMD Quad FX-74 power draw under load:When I looked at those numbers, suddenly a scene from one of the Harry Potter movies popped up in my mind. It's Harry waving his wand at something shouting "Ridiculous". In this case, it's a FX-74.
For the record: I run a X2 and am pretty happy with it, and I'm not going to swap it out anytime soon.
shortylickens - Friday, February 9, 2007 - link
This baby uses my companies memory.Operandi - Friday, February 9, 2007 - link
For $4,000 that is pretty blah looking box compared to an XPS or a Lian Li for your custom build.Also in regards to the PSU. Delta make very high quality units, much better then 90% of the "enthusiasts" class PSUs at any rate.