Specification
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Storage: 640GB hard drive
Optical drive: DVD±RW
Monitor: None
Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA X4500
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
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Gateway’s Last Attempt; Rising to the competition in the slim desktop battle, there’s the SX2800-01. Competing with the Dell 537s and HP’s slim-line s5160f Gateway has kept Quad-Core performance under $500 without a monitor, while keeping the design very sleek. It’s loaded with a Core 2 Quad processor, a 640GB hard drive, 4GB DDR3 RAM, a DVD burner, a multi-format card reader, HDMI output, and a host of external expansion ports. The only thing you’ll find missing from the equation is gritty 3D performance, certainly not for gamers.
The SX2800-01 comes with a shiny plastic front cover that hides the DVD drive and expansion ports; the rest of the exterior is a matte black. Easy to store next to your desk or alongside your entertainment center as it measures 14x7x20 inches (HWD).
The SX2800-01 performed near the top of the slim-line PC pack during benchmark tests, and was even competitive with many full-size systems. Thanks to its 2.33 GHz Core 2 Quad Q8200 processor and 800 MHz DDR3 RAM, it scored 9533 in our CPU-focused 64-bit Cinebench 10 test. This was just behind the slimline HP Pavilion s5160f, which shares the same CPU and scored 9709, and well ahead of the dual-core Dell Inspiron 537’s 5548 score. Its scores of 3 minutes, 47 seconds for our iTunes encoding test and 4 minutes, 4 seconds for our Windows Media Encoder test were equally impressive, beating the HP system by a second or two on each test.
Although the SX2800-01 was far ahead of Dell (score: 3,854), it couldn’t compete with HP (score: 5,010) with a score of 4,791 during the PC Mark Vantage test, which examines overall system performance. However, we can put it down to the SX2800-01’s poor 3D performance. While both HP’s and Dell’s slim line include dedicated PCI Express 3D graphics cards, the SX2800-01 is based on the Intel GMA X4500 circuitry that has been integrated into the motherboard support chipset. In the DirectX 9 gaming graphics test, the score was capped at just 12.1 frames per second (fps) at 1280×1024 resolution, compared to Dell’s 30.8 fps and Dell’s 25.8 fps. . (We also tried flexing the muscles of the Gateway system with our 3DMark Vantage synthetic benchmark, but it wouldn’t work and would crash with a blue screen when trying to run it in any configuration, even after updating the graphics drivers to the latest versions.)
In short, the SX2800-01 will do just fine for casual games like Max Payne or web-based hobbies. You can always invest in a graphics card to play modern 3D games with reasonable performance. Although, the SX2800-01 offers much better CPU performance than the similarly priced Dell and costs significantly less than the HP.
With its poor 3D performance, the SX2800-01 still offers a lot for non-gaming tasks and other productivity options. Priced at under $500, it will please a lot of people who don’t play 3D games at all. If you’re looking for a well-performing PC and aren’t planning on breaking your PC with additional upgrades, the SX2800-01 is a compact, well-performing solution at a surprisingly low price.
Price (at time of review): $499