Digital Archaeology: Gateway DX4300-11

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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. At one point i was seriously considering buying one of their Destination systems that came along a couple of years later. I think it was sometime during the Pentium 4 era maybe 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 and ultimately the brand was quietly retired. A sad end for a once great company. It's not a unique story of course, Compaq suffered pretty much the same fate.

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 so in my mind, this is really an Acer computer. I believe the motherboard is even made by Acer. In includes a Phenom II processor and 8 GB of RAM. I guess its most unique features were the angled card reader at the top and an included TV tuner card. 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. I believe this was the lowest end quad core Phenom II processor and it was released roughly a year before this PC was being sold. 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. Still, there are some six core Phenom IIs that may work. I believe the RAM is maxed out at 8 GB. At least that is the max that is officially supported. 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 HD 5670 i added requires no external power so it is ok. The good news is that a standard ATX power supply is used so it is fairly easily replaced. In theory, you can even upgrade the motherboard but I'm not sure if the front panel connectors are standard or not.

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. A very generic and seemingly obscure TV tuner card I might add.

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.

Check out some of my other recent posts:

Vintage Photos - Lot 3 (217-220)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-3-217

PC World (May 2005)
https://ecency.com/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/pc-world-may-2005

Vintage Photos - Lot 3 (213-216)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-3-213

80 Microcomputing (April 1980)
https://ecency.com/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/80-microcomputing-april-1980

Vintage Photos - Lot 3 (209-212)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-3-209

How I got my PowerPC Macs Crunching Tasks in BOINC Again
https://ecency.com/boinc/@darth-azrael/how-i-got-my-powerpc


Check out my other Social Media haunts (though most content is links to stuff I posted on Hive or reposts of stuff originally posted on Hive):

Wordpress: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/darth-azrael
X: https://x.com/Darth_Azrael
Blogger: https://megalextoria.blogspot.com/
Odyssee: https://odysee.com/@Megalextoria:b
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-2385054
Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/Megalextoria

Books I am reading or have recently read:

The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 by Rick Atkinson
Total Power by Vince Flynn
Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg

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From 1998 - 2005, I worked at a Gateway Country Store, a showroom for their mail order PC's. Sold many thousands of PCs and laptops. Later they added "plasma" tvs and cameras and such. Gateway once offered very high-end tech, but eventually lost their market share to Dell, who targeted businesses. It was a sad day for me when the stores closed, but it was a great run.

I bought my wife a Gateway laptop a few years back, they still do make them, but I'm pretty sure it's just a label at this point.

!BBH

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My first two PCs were Gateways. The first was a 486 based machine i got in 1993 and the other was a Pentium II I got at the end of 1997. I loved both of them. I briefly considered getting a Destination system in 1999 but never did. I was building my own PCs after that.

I've had my hands on various Gateways since. Their quality seemed to start really going downhill somewhere in the late Pentium 4 era. I have less experience with their laptops though. Modern one are probably made by Acer. They were the ones that ultimately bought Gateway.

I never had the chance to visit one of the Country Stores.

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I'm pretty sure my wife's Gateway is actually an Acer with a Gateway label on it.

One of the (perhaps silly) reasons people purchased Gateways from the Country "store" (instead of phone/online) is because when customers completed a Gateway order, they would walk out with a sealed cow-print cardboard box. Inside was a thank you note, a Gateway mug, a squeezy cow and a Gateway pen. I handed out thousands of these boxes over the years.

When the store closed, I had a opportunity to take home a dozen or so of these sealed boxes. But I didn't. Today they're probably worth $50 - $100 each.

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