Gateway FX6800-09

The PC's black-and-orange case can accommodate lots of connections. Two USB ports and a multicard reader hide beneath a convenient pop-up box on the case's top, and a single FireWire 400 port lurks beneath a similar pop-out tray on the case's front. On the back, Gateway provides six USB ports, two eSATA ports, 7.1 surround sound, a FireWire 400 port, and a gigabit ethernet port.

Wiring in the case's interior is a bit unkempt, which could make adding a 5.25-inch device or a hard drive to one of the system's two free bays more difficult than it should be. But you can bypass the wiring difficulties by hot-swapping two additional hard drives into two bays located on the system's front. I found the large amount of free space below the system's inner drive bays disconcerting. Gateway likely left this room open to increase airflow on the FX6800-09's interior, but somehow it still feels like wasted space. You get only one open PCI Express x16 slot on the system's motherboard, so choose your PCI device wisely.

Well-designed covers render the front optical drive, the two hot-swap bays, and the previously mentioned pop-out connectors visually undetectable, giving the PC's exterior the look of a smooth, shiny box. The system's input devices--a two-button mouse with a scroll wheel, and a generic keyboard with a few accessory volume and media controls built in--replicate the chassis's orange-and-black color scheme.

But aesthetics aside, the Gateway FX6800-09 offers fewer connections and less expansion space than you'll find on some less expensive Power PCs that overtake it in general and gaming-based performance.