Gateway GT5692 Value Desktop PC

This triple-core Phenom system is a solid buy for SOHO users on a budget.

The GT5692 is the first PC we've reviewed that comes configured with AMD's triple-core Phenom processor. In this case, it's a 2.1-GHz X8450 model fed by 4GB of PC5300 DDR2 memory and a 500GB, 7200-rpm Western Digital SE16 Caviar Blue hard drive. What did we think of the triple-core? There's certainly no reason to avoid one; but if you have the software to take advantage of more than two cores, you might as well spend a little extra to move up to a four-core processor instead.

In our tests, the GT5692's delivered solid but unspectacular performance for a value desktop PC. Its score of 82 on our WorldBench 6 test suite indicates that it will manage everyday computing tasks with aplomb. Though the integrated ATI HD3200 graphics don't deliver the worst frame rates we've seen, smooth game play in all of our tests maxed out at a 1024 by 768 resolution.

The GT5692's case is solidly constructed, with enough open slots and bays for most users' upgrade needs. However, we didn't like the way the ...

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Jon L. Jacobi