Back in the day, you would have needed more than $2,500 to pay for a serious power user desktop, and true "gaming-class" systems were upwards of $5,000, but now you can get the powerful Gateway FX6831-03 ($1,700 list) for well under that amount. The FX6831-03 is a gaming-oriented desktop that's the top of the line for Gateway, but is more of a "budget" system in the larger arena of gaming rigs. It focuses more on the expensive features like Blu-ray and maxing-out its memory than providing a pure bang-for-the-buck experience. If you like your creature comforts, the FX6831-03 could be the desktop to cut your gaming teeth on.

Design
The design of the new version of the FX6800 chassis is a clear-cut improvement over the previous model, yet cues like the red accents and FX logo remind you that Gateway is continuing an existing brand. The FX6831-03's chassis is made up primarily of black metal and plastic, but there are backlit red vents on the sides of the top panel that give this PC some gaming flair. Twisting a ring around the power button turns the accent lights off and on. The ring's twisting action feels a little flimsy, as does the plastic on the front panel of the system. Tap the plastic with your fingers and it just echoes the word "cheap." It takes away from the overall image of the system, but you will likely overlook these details when you find out the system is so well equipped.

The system's multi-card reader and two USB ports just off the top of the system on a "lip" that looks partly like a spoiler and partly like a flying bridge. It's a good look and works well in the overall design, such ostentatious details can look hokey if not done right. The system has a total of ten USB ports, two are conveniently placed next to an indentation on the top of the system and the rest are on the back of the system. The FX6831-03 has a lidded storage area behind the indentation, so you can store some of those USB cables, or hide slack cable out of the way. Other ports include HDMI, DisplayPort, digital audio out (SPDIF), and two eSATA ports, making for a well-connected system.

Features
The FX6831-03 has a sliding door under the optical drives, hiding a pair of internal hard drive sleds. You can pop two extra hard drives into the unit without having to crack the case with a screwdriver. This feature is a nice touch, and I wish more multimedia- and gaming-oriented systems were so easy to upgrade. The FX6831-03 comes with a 1.5TB hard drive, so it may be a while before you need to upgrade. You'll need a screwdriver to get inside the case, but inside you'll find space for another hard drive, plus two open PCIe x1 slots, and a PCIe x4 slot.

The system also comes with a whopping 16GB of DDR3 memory. The 16GB is enough to let you multi-task—it's exactly what a gamer needs. The FX6801-03 has the ability to run two instances of a game like World of Warcraft in a window, search for hints in a browser, update Facebook, download a patch in the background, listen to music from Pandora, IM with guild buddies in another window, and check Xbox Live status in another. If you try to do all that on a system with only 2GB, your experience will grind to a halt.

The system comes with both a Blu-ray reader/DVD burner combo drive and another DVD burner. It's a little overkill, but it will allow you to either copy optical discs directly or use multi-disc games with less swapping. And of course, you can watch Blu-ray movies on this system.

The one big drawback of the Gateway FX6831-03 is bloatware that's included on all Gateway PCs. The FX6831-03 has a whole lot of unneeded stuff like shortcuts to Netflix and eBay on the desktop, Office 60-day trial, and a short 60-day trial to Norton Internet Security. Normally having Internet Security is a good thing, but 60-days of updates is too short. Also gamers tend to drop anti-virus and Internet Security, since it's a background task that can steal performance away when you need it on the game grid. Even the "Gateway games" are a source of bloatware, as these are just about all casual games that will work just as well on a netbook. They're downloadable games that you'll have to pay extra for in the long-run anyway. Last but not least, the system comes with Microsoft Works SE. While Works is genuinely useful, the SE version displays advertisements in the toolbars. Other systems, like those from Dell, come with the full version, which is functionally the same, but without the ads. Unfortunately, since the Gateway is a pre-built system found in retail stores, you can't order a FX6831-03 without the bloatware.

Performance
Gaming rigs are centered on performance and the FX6831-03 delivers. On the game grid, it's able to return smooth, playable frame rates on two of our three tests. Crysis is playable at 1,280 by 1,024 resolution (93 frames per second) and so is World at Conflict at 1,280 by 1,024 (128 fps) and 1,920 by 1,200 resolution (47 fps). The system returns a respectable score of 25 fps in Crysis at 1,280 by 1,024, but that's still not playable (we're looking for at least 45-60 fps). So far you need much higher powered (and more expensive) multi-graphics card setups to play Crysis at the highest resolutions and settings. That said, the system's 6622 point score at 3DMark Vantage's Extreme test is a good indication that the system will be able to run on the game grid for years to come.

The FX6831-03 is also a great multimedia performance machine, since it takes only 30 seconds to finish our Windows Media Encoder test and 1:14 for the Photoshop CS4 test. Both are what we'd expect from a high-powered Core i7 system. It's notable to show that these scores are only seconds behind the much more expensive Alienware Area 51 ($7,866 direct, ) (0:26 WME, 1:00 CS4). The Alienware has two graphics cards, so it understandably does better at the gaming tests. What's notable is that the $1,700 FX6831-03 can keep up with the $4,000 Alienware while performing multimedia tasks.

The Gateway FX6831-03 makes an attractive alternative to the boutique PCs out there, since it is likely to be found on retail shelves and ready-to-ship on ecommerce web pages. Unlike a custom PC, you won't have to wait for it to be built. The FX6831 is faster overall than systems like the AVADirect GT3 ($1,367.26 direct, ) and Polywell MiniBox P5500C ($1,850 direct, ). It's also a smidge faster than our current Editor's Choice for affordable gaming, the Velocity Micro Edge Z30 ($1,299 direct, ). However, the Z30 is a lot less expensive at $1,299 direct. The FX6831-03 is a lot better equipped, but not $400 worth. Take a look at the Gateway's less expensive brother, the FX6831-01. It is a lot less expensive, has much of the same components, and has similar performance. The FX6831-03 only makes sense if you're going to use the Blu-ray drive extensively and if you multi-task enough for the 16GB to make a difference over 8GB.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS
Check out the test scores for the Gateway FX6831-03

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Gateway FX6831-03 with several other desktops side by side.