Gateway FX6831-03 Gaming PC Review

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Product At-a-Glance

Full Review

Are you looking to buy a gaming PC without breaking the bank? Look no further than the Gateway FX6831-03. It’s got great specs at a price that is almost unheard of these days for a quality PC. How does it perform and is it worth saving the extra bucks?

Our review unit was the FX6831-03 model and contained the following specifications:

• Intel Core i7-860 Processor at 2.8GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.46GHz
• 16GB of DDR3 Memory
• 1.5 TB 7200RPM Hard Drive
• ATI Radeon HD5850 Graphics Card with 1GB of VRAM
• 4X Blu-Ray Disc Drive and 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti Drive
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

A similar Dell Alienware Aurora we specced out cost $370 more but didn’t quite offer the same graphics card and processor options that the Gateway did. Another configuration from Velocity Micro came out to $1819, a difference of a mere $120 but that was without the 16GB of memory. The FX6831-03 isn’t the best gaming PC on the market today, but it is certainly impressive for the price. 5-7 years ago, gaming PCs with these kind of specs would run over $2,000.

The PC showcases some of the design cues that earlier Gateway FX series systems had, including red accents and the prominent FX logo, but adds backlit LED red vents to the corners of the chassis. You can easily turn these off by twisting a knob integrated into the power button at the top. The cheap price doesn’t necessarily mean quality case either, the case is almost entirely made of plastic with hints of metal here and there.

You’ll also find 10 USB ports (4 on the front, six on the back), 2 eSATA ports, 1 FireWire port, 2 DVI ports, 1 HDMI, the usual audio inputs (with HD headphone and 7.1 support in this case) and the now dated PS/2 ports. On the front is a multi-card reader and a slide down door with easy access to two hot-swappable drive bays.

The fact that the Gateway FX6831-03 PC offers 16GB of memory at this low of a price is great and is perfect for any gamer looking to multitask when fragging in their favorite game. Downloading patches in the background? No problem.

Like we saw with the Gateway SX2840-01 however, the system does contain bloatware. From the trial of Norton Internet Security to a slew of Gateway downloadable games and shortcuts to Netflix and eBay placed on the desktop. Any seasoned gamer is going to remove these upon receiving a system like this, but we just thought we’d let you know.

Performance wise, the FX6831-03 handled our benchmarks like a champ. The system received a score of 7485 in our PCMark Vantage tests and in our CINEBENCH graphics tests received scores of 3327 in the single core test and 13639 in the multi-core test. In the shading test, it received a score of 8022.

Overall the Gateway FX6831-03 gaming PC is a great choice for any gamer looking for a PC with a somewhat limited budget. You’ll find it at Gateway.com and select retail stores for $1699.99.