Gateway FX530: Mad Cows and Quad Core Overclocking
by Jarred Walton on February 9, 2007 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
Final Thoughts
The Gateway FX530 is really a very good system, and considering the performance and features being offered the price is one of the lowest out there. If you're looking at getting a new workstation, it might be worth considering the Gateway FX530 instead, as the overclocked quad core CPU should be more than fast enough for all but the most demanding users. With prices of the 3.2 GHz Core 2 Quad version starting at $2000, businesses that do a lot of content creation or other work that can benefit from multi-core processors should definitely give the system a look. Normally, businesses tend to shy away from PCs that come with enthusiast level features like overclocking, but Gateway is a large corporation with an equally large support department, so some businesses will be very pleased with the performance, support, and warranty being offered.
In terms of stability, we have absolutely no complaints. Throughout testing, the Gateway FX530 performed with aplomb, without any crashes or other unpleasant behavior. Given some of the torture testing we do, the ability to complete the tests without any issues is definitely commendable. That goes double for overclocked systems.
Unfortunately, while the FX530 as it stands will be very good for some uses, there are definitely areas where of falls short of the competition. Gaming enthusiasts will almost certainly want a better graphics subsystem, especially with the official launch of Windows Vista and DirectX 10. In the graphics department, the Gateway FX530 appears to be about four months behind the curve, and the prices of various graphics upgrades are not very competitive either. You could save quite a bit of money by purchasing the system with the stock GeForce 7600 GS and doing any graphics upgrades on your own rather than paying Gateway to do it. Of course, once you're willing to make one upgrade on your own, you have to wonder if you really want to purchase a prebuilt system in the first place.
One other item that we haven't talked about much yet is all of the software that comes preinstalled. Some of the software consists of useful utilities to help you keep your system running smoothly. One such utility is called BigFix, and it helps people stay up-to-date with the latest Windows patches. In our particular case, we didn't see anything other than the critical Windows updates, but BigFix should also help end-users stay up-to-date with their drivers and other software. In standard OEM fashion, however, there's quite a bit of other software installed that's not nearly as useful. Google desktop and the Google toolbar both come preinstalled, along with some AOL and other Internet service provider offers. Many people will want to spend the first 30 minutes or so just clearing out the extra software that they don't want installed/running in the background. On the other hand, Microsoft Works is also included, so if you don't feel like spending the money on Microsoft Office at least you still get a basic set of business applications.
Another aspect of the system that we will cover more in-depth in the future is the 24" LCD. Subjectively, we would say that the display is as good as most of the other 24" LCDs we've used. It's bright, and it worked well when watching movies, playing games, or just doing typical computer work. The current price is around $680, so it is definitely a reasonable alternative to displays such as the Dell 2407WFP. You can also get an optional speaker bar that plugs into the bottom of the display, and while it doesn't sound as good as discrete $75 speakers (which is what the speaker bar costs), it does sound better than any other LCD speakers that we've heard. With the speaker bar, the LCD is more like a combination computer monitor/HDTV, and it does have all of the necessary inputs to function as an HDTV should you so desire.
What it really comes down to is performance, and if you're the type of user that needs a lot of CPU performance for various tasks but you're not as worried about graphics performance, the FX530 is definitely a system worth considering. There are a lot of companies out there currently offering systems built around Intel's Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors, but without spending $3000 or more it's very difficult to find a system that can match the performance offered by the FX530. It's even more difficult to find anyone willing to factory overclock and provide warranty coverage for a QX6700 without spending $4000 or more. The system we tested did cost $4000, but almost $1000 comes from the graphics subsystem, and another $750 comes from the 24" LCD. Considering that the retail price of the QX6700 is about $1000, being able to get a complete system starting at around $2000 with an overclocked QX6700 is a really good deal. Put another way, on a $2000 system, increasing the price by 5% yielded a 15% or more speed increase in many applications. Basically, there's really no reason to consider purchasing the Gateway system with a stock QX6700. If you don't need a quad core processor, getting one of the lesser Core 2 Duo processors instead would make sense, but if you're already planning on spending close to $1000 on a CPU you will get much better bang for the buck by spending $1100 instead.
With the FX530 Gateway has shown that they can include features that cater to the enthusiasts of the world. Unfortunately, they don't manage to do this in all aspects of the system, but it's a great starting point. All they really need to do now is come up with a configuration that allows customers to purchase graphics cards faster than the X1950 XTX without incurring a performance hit from the bottom X4 PCI-E slot. At the very least, the FX530 appears to require some tweaks to the motherboard design, if not a completely new motherboard, if it's going to fully utilize newer graphics cards. The BTX form factor also means that it won't be easy to upgrade the motherboard on your own in the future should you so desire. At least part of the point in getting a prebuilt system is to avoid having to do that sort of work, however, so anyone looking for a fast PC that they can just go out and buy should definitely give Gateway's FX530 a look. For serious gamers, though, Gateway still needs more cowbell.
The Gateway FX530 is really a very good system, and considering the performance and features being offered the price is one of the lowest out there. If you're looking at getting a new workstation, it might be worth considering the Gateway FX530 instead, as the overclocked quad core CPU should be more than fast enough for all but the most demanding users. With prices of the 3.2 GHz Core 2 Quad version starting at $2000, businesses that do a lot of content creation or other work that can benefit from multi-core processors should definitely give the system a look. Normally, businesses tend to shy away from PCs that come with enthusiast level features like overclocking, but Gateway is a large corporation with an equally large support department, so some businesses will be very pleased with the performance, support, and warranty being offered.
In terms of stability, we have absolutely no complaints. Throughout testing, the Gateway FX530 performed with aplomb, without any crashes or other unpleasant behavior. Given some of the torture testing we do, the ability to complete the tests without any issues is definitely commendable. That goes double for overclocked systems.
Unfortunately, while the FX530 as it stands will be very good for some uses, there are definitely areas where of falls short of the competition. Gaming enthusiasts will almost certainly want a better graphics subsystem, especially with the official launch of Windows Vista and DirectX 10. In the graphics department, the Gateway FX530 appears to be about four months behind the curve, and the prices of various graphics upgrades are not very competitive either. You could save quite a bit of money by purchasing the system with the stock GeForce 7600 GS and doing any graphics upgrades on your own rather than paying Gateway to do it. Of course, once you're willing to make one upgrade on your own, you have to wonder if you really want to purchase a prebuilt system in the first place.
One other item that we haven't talked about much yet is all of the software that comes preinstalled. Some of the software consists of useful utilities to help you keep your system running smoothly. One such utility is called BigFix, and it helps people stay up-to-date with the latest Windows patches. In our particular case, we didn't see anything other than the critical Windows updates, but BigFix should also help end-users stay up-to-date with their drivers and other software. In standard OEM fashion, however, there's quite a bit of other software installed that's not nearly as useful. Google desktop and the Google toolbar both come preinstalled, along with some AOL and other Internet service provider offers. Many people will want to spend the first 30 minutes or so just clearing out the extra software that they don't want installed/running in the background. On the other hand, Microsoft Works is also included, so if you don't feel like spending the money on Microsoft Office at least you still get a basic set of business applications.
Another aspect of the system that we will cover more in-depth in the future is the 24" LCD. Subjectively, we would say that the display is as good as most of the other 24" LCDs we've used. It's bright, and it worked well when watching movies, playing games, or just doing typical computer work. The current price is around $680, so it is definitely a reasonable alternative to displays such as the Dell 2407WFP. You can also get an optional speaker bar that plugs into the bottom of the display, and while it doesn't sound as good as discrete $75 speakers (which is what the speaker bar costs), it does sound better than any other LCD speakers that we've heard. With the speaker bar, the LCD is more like a combination computer monitor/HDTV, and it does have all of the necessary inputs to function as an HDTV should you so desire.
What it really comes down to is performance, and if you're the type of user that needs a lot of CPU performance for various tasks but you're not as worried about graphics performance, the FX530 is definitely a system worth considering. There are a lot of companies out there currently offering systems built around Intel's Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors, but without spending $3000 or more it's very difficult to find a system that can match the performance offered by the FX530. It's even more difficult to find anyone willing to factory overclock and provide warranty coverage for a QX6700 without spending $4000 or more. The system we tested did cost $4000, but almost $1000 comes from the graphics subsystem, and another $750 comes from the 24" LCD. Considering that the retail price of the QX6700 is about $1000, being able to get a complete system starting at around $2000 with an overclocked QX6700 is a really good deal. Put another way, on a $2000 system, increasing the price by 5% yielded a 15% or more speed increase in many applications. Basically, there's really no reason to consider purchasing the Gateway system with a stock QX6700. If you don't need a quad core processor, getting one of the lesser Core 2 Duo processors instead would make sense, but if you're already planning on spending close to $1000 on a CPU you will get much better bang for the buck by spending $1100 instead.
With the FX530 Gateway has shown that they can include features that cater to the enthusiasts of the world. Unfortunately, they don't manage to do this in all aspects of the system, but it's a great starting point. All they really need to do now is come up with a configuration that allows customers to purchase graphics cards faster than the X1950 XTX without incurring a performance hit from the bottom X4 PCI-E slot. At the very least, the FX530 appears to require some tweaks to the motherboard design, if not a completely new motherboard, if it's going to fully utilize newer graphics cards. The BTX form factor also means that it won't be easy to upgrade the motherboard on your own in the future should you so desire. At least part of the point in getting a prebuilt system is to avoid having to do that sort of work, however, so anyone looking for a fast PC that they can just go out and buy should definitely give Gateway's FX530 a look. For serious gamers, though, Gateway still needs more cowbell.
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akers - Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - link
Can anyone shead some light on why Gateway is delaying shipment on the FX530? I have had two delays so far and they cannot promise that it will be deliered by the second delay date. I have heard that there were so Vista problems but it was fixed by now.rfaster - Thursday, March 22, 2007 - link
My system arrived last week - I ordered it bare bones with the quad core OC'd to the 3.2.Specs - I put in a 8800GTX (fac OC'd to 600) - 2nd slot so its only running at 4X ( I did not realize this until I read the great article on this site), I'm running 2 150 10K raptor's, 4GB 667 ram. The best I can do is low 9K's on 3DMark 2006 (Running Vista Ultimate 32bit). I'm seeing easy 1,200's from other folks with similar setups.
Question - Is the 4X for Slot 2 causing the SLOWNESS? As you pointed out in your article there is NO way to fit the 8800GTX into slot 1 - so I am trying to decide if I should accept the 4X speed on my $699 8800GTXOC - or ship this pc back. I hate to think that my $699 video card is a WASTE on this system due to the 4X?
rfaster - Thursday, March 22, 2007 - link
Akers - on the delay I was told they are having a difficult time sourcing the parts needed to build this system. I was a bit put off by the delay on getting this box -- reminded me of my experience with Alienware a few years back ----JarredWalton - Monday, March 26, 2007 - link
Right now, Vista plus 8800 GTX is probably going to be a bit slower than normal. Still, I wouldn't worry too much - you can see that your low 9000s score matches what I got in 3DMark06... which is really just a benchmark and not an actual game.Darkskypoet - Thursday, February 15, 2007 - link
Now, correct me if I am wrong... But One of the major hinderances to the Quad FX platform (yes I realize 2 dual core chips is power hungry, and inelegant vs a dual die Quad core) is NUMA, rather the lack of proper NUMA support in XP. Looking at the benchmarks (and in fact all Quad FX bench's) sites continue to use XP variants to benchmark the Quad FX systems vs Conroe. XP does not support NUMA, one article in particular I had read mentioned this fact explicitly, and also mentioned that in many cases accessing data in memory in a NUMA dumb system incresed memory latency SUBSTANTIALLY. Consider that in a NUMA dumb O/S, the data required for a process / thread assigned to one chip, could inadvertantly have it's data stored in memory directly linked to the other CPU. This alone hurts benchmarking scores like crazy. In reality a Quad FX setup, if benched with real SMP/ SMC aware software, should eek out a higher per core performance vs Quad Core Conroe, then an X2 vs Dual Core Conroe.I saw this because the interconnect superiority (When run with NUMA Aware O/S : Vista / Linux / Etc.) will show itself vs the somewhat limited FSB in use in Quad Core C2D implementations; thus increasing performance per core vs Quad Core C2D.
I'm not saying we're gonna see the Quad FX Systems out perform C2D systems here. However, given proper NUMA support, the Benches will be a lot closer. Added to that we can use 2xxx series opterons in QUAD FX, and it starts to become a bit of a nicer picture for AMD. The icing on the cake however, would be that one should expect to be able to drop 2 native Quad Cores on to the QUAD FX boards in the near future.
I believe Nintendo Summed it up for us previously, "Now you're playing with power". If AMD follows this track, then they have a platform out that is fully tested, and stable; running 2 NAtive Quad core chips for the Enthusiast market. As unknown as the Performance of K10 is at this stage, 8 cores with should be mighty interesting. Mighty interesting Indeed.
Anyone know of a Proper NUMA aware OS used in Quadcore C2D vs Quad FX benchmarking?
Tuvoc - Saturday, February 17, 2007 - link
Windows XP x64 edition DOES support NUMA. I have dual Opteron 265s (nicely overclocked from 1.8 to 2.2) and as long as the BIOS is set correctly, then Sandra reports the NUMA statusI also have an Intel Quad core, and it is blindingly fast....
roflsaurus - Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - link
BTX case?JarredWalton - Tuesday, February 13, 2007 - link
BTX is a new form factor that Intel came up with a couple years ago, but the computer parts manufacturers have been relatively slow to adopt it. Basically, it reorganizes the locations of various parts in order to allow for better cooling. Motherboards are also mounted on the offices side of the case, compared to ATX. So where you would open the left side of the case on an ATX system, on the BTX case you would open the right side. If you were to put an ATX motherboard and a BTX motherboard next to each other, on the BTX motherboard everything would appear to be "backwards".Tuvoc - Sunday, February 11, 2007 - link
They say Gateway had to increase the voltage to make the overclock stable - but by how much ? That would have been intresting to know. Also core temps under full load certainly would have been very interestingJarredWalton - Monday, February 12, 2007 - link
The motherboard doesn't appear to work all that well at higher FSB speeds, so Gateway's overclocking is accomplished via changing the multiplier. More on this in a moment.Voltages are also a bit odd. CPU-Z reports 1.238V, but the BIOS is set to 1.450V. Obviously, there's a pretty big difference, and which is more accurate I cannot say. That illustrates the problem with reporting CPU temperatures as well: the BIOS/motherboard implementation will have an impact, as they can read the thermistor differently. Basically, you only end up comparing the Gateway results to itself, and the important thing is that there were no issues with stability when running overclocked.
Back to the FSB stuff. The BIOS has support for adjusting FSB speed and RAM speed, but only in large steps. The FSB can be set to 533, 800, 1067, and 1333 - default being 1067 for Core 2. The RAM can be set to DDR2-400, 533, and 667 (or Automatic). Basically, all of these items select a ratio and bus speed. DDR2-533 represents a 1:1 bus/RAM ratio, while 400 is 3:4 and 667 is 5:4. Using those ratios, you can use the FSB-1333 speed to modify the overclocks a bit. I was able to run the bus at 1333 with DDR2-533 and a 10X multiplier to end up at a 3.33 GHz CPU speed (and a real DDR2 speed of 667).
RAM voltages can be adjusted as well, but only to 1.8, 1.9, 2.1, or 2.2V. I didn't play with these at all. No point in trying to fry Gateway's equipment. I would venture to guess that the CPU could run at 3.3-3.5GHz if you want to push things (3.33 seemed perfectly fine in somewhat limited testing), but again I don't want to push too hard and end up with a dead PC/CPU/RAM/mobo/whatever.
Hope that helps,
Jarred Walton
Editor
AnandTech.com