Digital Archaeology: Gateway DX4300-11

I know I've said it before, but once upon a time, Gateway (AKA Gateway 2000) used to make awesome systems. Before I started building my own systems, I had a 1993 era 486 from Gateway 2000 and a 1997 era Pentium II from them as well and they were both great computers. I think it was sometime during the Pentium 4 era that they really started going downhill. In 2004, Gateway bought eMachines and not long after that it seemed like most Gateway PCs were on the same level as eMachines in terms of components and build quality. Things did not improve when Acer bought Gateway in 2007.

Anyway, this particular Gateway with the pretty generic model name of DX4300-11 was being sold in 2009. This was a couple of years after being purchased by Acer. I believe the motherboard is even made by Acer. In includes a Phenom II processor and 8 GB of RAM. Specs include:

• CPU: Phenom II X4 805 @ 2.5GHz
• RAM: 8 GB PC2-6400 (400 MHz)
• Video: Radeon HD 5670 (upgraded from on-board Radeon HD 3200)

For more complete specs, check out the output of HWiNFO or CPU-Z.

Physically, it has a sleek black theme that was popular at the time. It looks nice enough but isn't very distinctive. As far as the components go, they went pretty cheap. The motherboard features AM2+ support. The processor itself is an AM3 processor but these worked in AM2+ boards though with DDR2 memory instead of DDR3. The motherboard featured the 780G chipset which includes AMD Radeon HD 3200 (RS780) integrated video. As far as integrated video goes, I guess it wasn't that bad. However, the cheapest discrete video card at the time was likely many times better. I've added a Radeon HD 5670 just to try out.

Upgradeability of OEM systems is often limited, difficult and/or impractical. This machine is certainly no exception. The CPU is upgradeable but you are limited to 95 watt processors so not just any AM2+/AM3 processor will work. I believe the RAM is maxed out at 8 GB. There is an x16 PCI-E slot for a video card upgrade but you are really limited unless you also upgrade the power supply which is only 300 watt. The good news is that a standard ATX power supply is used so it is fairly easily replaced.

Reviews at the time basically said that this was an ok computer but was more expensive that similar models from other vendors. It seems that Gateway was trying to appeal to customers who wanted TV capability in their PC by including a TV tuner card.

I probably won't end up keeping this machine. Gateway was my favorite PC maker back in the day but ones from this era just make me sad. However, for now, when it is running it crunches tasks for BOINC. It can still crunch tasks for all of the projects I participate in including Einstein@home, Milkyway@home, Asteroids@home, Universe@home, Rosetta@home, and World Community Grid.

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