Gateway Performance 1700

WHAT'S HOT: The Gateway Performance 1700 delivers exemplary graphics performance with its VisionTek NVidia GeForce2 Ultra card and 19-inch Gateway VX920 monitor. On our 3D game tests, the system turned in consistently high frame rates. The VX920 monitor rendered a range of hues with rich color saturation, along with lifelike skin tones. If you want to watch TV on your monitor or send your PC output to a television, Gateway's TV-tuner card and the S-Video-out port on its graphics card will ably handle the task. Accompanying the TV-tuner card is a handy remote.

Like most midsize towers in Gateway's Performance line, the 1700 comes with both a 16X DVD-ROM drive and a 12X/8X/32X CD-RW drive, as well as a network adapter and an IEEE 1394 interface. MGI's VideoWave 4.0 video-capture and video-editing software comes bundled with this graphics workhorse. The Boston Acoustics Digital BA7500 speaker set, consisting of four satellites and a subwoofer, provides good bass and treble sound.

WHAT'S NOT: You won't get exceptional performance on business applications in exchange for the Performance 1700's steep price of $2699. With a PC WorldBench 2000 score of 162, this 1.7-GHz Pentium 4 unit scores slightly lower than other P4-1700s, and significantly below relatively inexpensive high-end Athlon systems.

WHAT ELSE: This unit earns high points for ease of use and setup. To take off the side panel, simply remove a single thumbscrew and release a latch on the back of the tower. Inside the roomy interior, you'll find well-organized cables and individually latched PCI cards. Though all the PCI slots are full, there are three open drive bays (two of which are internal). Well-written and easy-to-understand system manuals and a home-networking brief accompany the Performance 1700. Gateway offers a full three-year warranty on parts and labor for this system, along with unlimited toll-free tech support.

BEST USE: If producing videos or playing games is your primary computing activity, this PC has the right stuff. For business tasks, though, a faster, less expensive Athlon system would be a wiser choice.

SUMMARY

Gateway Performance 1700 PC WorldBench 2000 score of 162, Pentium 4-1700 CPU, 128MB of RDRAM, 256KB L2 cache, Windows Millennium Edition, 76GB hard drive, 16X DVD-ROM drive, 12X/8X/32X CD-RW drive, VisionTek NVidia GeForce2 Ultra graphics card with 64MB of DDR SDRAM, TV-tuner card, 19-inch Gateway VX920 monitor, Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live CT4870 sound card, Boston Acoustics Digital BA7500 speakers, V.90 modem, network adapter, IEEE 1394 card, midsize tower case. Three-year parts and labor warranty; unlimited, 24-hour toll-free tech support. $2699 800/846-2000 www.gateway.com