Gateway Gateway 710X Peak Performance

The most recent iteration of Gateway's tall, black-and-silver midsize tower, the $2400 710X Performance, came configured with a 3.2-GHz Pentium 4 processor and 1GB of DDR400 memory. The system produced a PC WorldBench 4 score of 127, which is typical for a PC using this processor.

Our test system was equipped with an NVidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra graphics board with 256MB of DDR memory. The system proved an impressive performer in our graphics tests, making it a good choice for game playing at high resolutions. For example, in our tests with Unreal Tournament 2003, the 710X Performance scored 195 frames per second at a resolution of 1280 by 1024, showing excellent detail and smooth on-screen action. Likewise, in DVD playback, we saw very little pixelation, even in high-motion action sequences.

The Gateway FPD1730 17-inch LCD monitor supplied with our system produced bright, vivid colors and sharp text at all sizes, although we were surprised to see some fuzzy noise in fine dot patterns. For game playing, its native 1280-by-1024 resolution is a good match for the graphics board's frame rates. However, this model has only an analog input. Given the high-end graphics board, you might prefer to upgrade to a monitor with digital input. Gateway offers one with a 19-inch LCD display for an additional $200.

Whether you are playing a game, listening to music, or watching a movie, you will be blown away by the 710X Performance's combination of a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card and the GMAX 2100 speakers supplied with our system. A control module handles any adjustments you might want to make to master, center, rear, and subwoofer volume levels. This module also has headphone and microphone sockets, to make up for their absence on the system's front panel. Details in music came through beautifully and bass response was superb, while the pounding bass in game explosions may have enough oomph to jolt you from your seat.

Our test system was neatly arranged inside, and with three open drive bays, there is plenty of room for expansion. This system also has two easily accessible USB 2.0 ports on its front panel, and six more on the back. Plus, the 710X Performance has front and back FireWire ports for connecting a suitably equipped video camera.

The performance, front-mounted FireWire port, and dual-optical drives make this system a good choice for video editing and DVD authoring. In addition to the 8X DVD writer that supports both -RW and +RW formats, the system has a DVD-ROM drive that has faster playback speeds than the DVD burner.

The rest of this model's configuration complements the powerful components. The Serial ATA hard drive is a whopping 250GB. Instead of including a floppy drive, Gateway bundled a four-slot flash memory reader, capable of reading all the major types of memory cards.

Upshot: The moderately priced 710X Performance is well suited for a variety of uses, ranging from digital video to playing graphics-intensive games.

Paul Jasper