Gateway GT5238E

C.Jackson

C.Jackson

New Member
Ok so here's the deal. I went and bought a Gateway a couple of weeks ago ,against my better judgement, but I didn't want to have to order parts thru Newegg and risk having to RMA something. Well long story short it's been a pretty decent computer even though I haven't had much time to use it lately. Anyway, I popped in Battlefield 1942 the other day and I was surprised to find that it was choppy :eek:, on a Core 2 Duo system, well to say the least I was pissed. My father just bought an eMachine for 350 bucks that plays it smooth on high settings and it's choppy on LOW settings on my Gateway! I even changed the sound settings to the lowest quality because I figured the on-board sound may have been taking a beating, but that still didn't help. I haven't had much of a chance to fool with it since, but I just thought I'd post and get some input. Been outta the loop for a while and I'm not too savvy with all of the new dual core processors, ect. so be gentle.
Computer's specs are below....





Processor Brand Intel® Core(TM)2 Duo Desktop
Processor Speed 1.86GHz
System Bus 1066MHz
Cache Memory 2MB on die Level 2
System Memory (RAM) 1GB
System Memory (RAM) Expandable To 8GB
Type of Memory (RAM) PC4200 DDR2
Hard Drive Type SATA II (7200 rpm)
Hard Drive Size 250GB
Graphics Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3000
Video Memory Up to 224MB DDR (shared)
Personal Video Recorder (PVR) No
TV Tuner No
MPEG Yes
Audio High-definition 7.1-channel (8-speaker support)
Speakers Amplified stereo
Modem 56 Kbps* ITU V.92 *Capable of receiving 56 Kbps downloads.
Network Card Built-in Intel® 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Wireless Networking None
Recordable DVD Drive Yes, double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
Recordable DVD Drive Speeds 4x DVD+R DL; 16x8x16 DVD+RW; 16x6x16 DVD-RW; 40x24x40 CD-RW
LightScribe Compatibility No
Digital Media Reader or Slots Yes, digital media card reader
Diskette Drive No
 
Graphics Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3000
Video Memory Up to 224MB DDR (shared)

That's your problem right there. You can't play games(well) with just basic onboard graphics.
 
Well my bros old Dell (Outdated Intel Accellerated graphics with only 64MB vid. memory) and my dad's eMachine both have onboard video (ATI X200 64MB) and do fine with BF1942. I'm starting to think I should have just went with a Compaq SR2050NX because at least I know I can play BF1942 smoothly with the ATI X200 onboard video, but I wanted a DVI port. I'm going to throw a decent video card in it later (After cash allows since I just blew $1k on a new computer+monitor), but I've always used onboard video and come out pretty decent as far as games go (I'm not a "huge" gamer)....
 
C.Jackson said:
Well my bros old Dell (Outdated Intel Accellerated graphics with only 64MB vid. memory) and my dad's eMachine both have onboard video (ATI X200 64MB) and do fine with BF1942. I'm starting to think I should have just went with a Compaq SR2050NX because at least I know I can play BF1942 smoothly with the ATI X200 onboard video, but I wanted a DVI port. I'm going to throw a decent video card in it later (After cash allows since I just blew $1k on a new computer+monitor), but I've always used onboard video and come out pretty decent as far as games go (I'm not a "huge" gamer)....
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your not ognna get very far with onboard video, for 1942 grap a cheap AGP or PCIe card, if you plan on playing games later on then i would look at a more expensive cards like the nvidia 7 and up series.
 
But what I don't get is why it can't even run on the lowest settings, sound disabled, low resolution, ect. without lag! I mean seriously, I know onboard graphics are bad, but comparing other computers (eMachine W3502) to mine it just seems that the onboard video is not the weak link. My cousin's joke of a laptop - from Wal-Mart - does better than this! All I know is that the ATi X200 must be 10 times better than the Intel X3000 (Someone should let the spec sheets know) because it runs BF1942 just fine on high settings.
I know a PCI-E card will do me better, but I don't have the cash for one now and probably won't for sometime. I was just hoping that onboard graphics would tide me over for now, but I think I may just take this one back and go buy a $350 eMachine if that's the case :rolleyes: !
 
C.Jackson said:
But what I don't get is why it can't even run on the lowest settings, sound disabled, low resolution, ect. without lag! I mean seriously, I know onboard graphics are bad, but comparing other computers (eMachine W3502) to mine it just seems that the onboard video is not the weak link. My cousin's joke of a laptop - from Wal-Mart - does better than this! All I know is that the ATi X200 must be 10 times better than the Intel X3000 (Someone should let the spec sheets know) because it runs BF1942 just fine on high settings.
I know a PCI-E card will do me better, but I don't have the cash for one now and probably won't for sometime. I was just hoping that onboard graphics would tide me over for now, but I think I may just take this one back and go buy a $350 eMachine if that's the case :rolleyes: !
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it is quite possible that the ATI X200 is worse than the intel X3000, just because ATI is ont he Mobo doesnt mean your gonna get stellar graphics.
Look up the ATI x200 specs and compair them to the Intel X3000.
 
I know that just because it says ATi I'm not going to get great graphics, but I'm comparing by use of both. Comparing a eMachine W3502 against my Gateway, the eMachine comes out on top. I've talked to Gateway tech support and even changed the video memory up to 256, but nothing has helped so far. And when I say I put it on low settings I mean bottem of the barrel, 640x480 16-bit color @ 60 Hz, ALL settings at the lowest, sound disabled! I could play this game on a *STOCK* 10 year old Dell and it was smoother on low settings than this is! I'm about to the point where I'm going to package this sucker up and go get another computer. I want something that I can at least play a game on once and a while without it having a conniption fit. The game is 4 years old, requires much less of a computer, and it's not superior in any way to any other game of it's era so why am I having problems playing it with this brand-new computer? Intel's website even says this game is compatible with the GMA X3000!
On a sidenote, I popped in Enter the Matrix and it lags too (not to mention the pretty artifacts)! This game had some lag in the eMachine, but far less and no artifacts were present at anytime. You'd think I'd be sitting here comparing apples to oranges, but so far I'm not impressed with anything on this computer because using both the eMachine and Gateway I can't tell any difference as far as power goes. Install time, gaming, video I think the eMachine comes out on top and the damn thing has a Celeron D processor!

One thing I have noticed is that there isn't much difference in how much lag is present whether you have the settings maxed out or if they are all low and this is something that just puzzles me. If I knew for a fact that it was just the video card I would happily run over to Office Depot an pick up a cheap PCI-E card, but I'm to the point now where I'm not even so sure that it is.....
 
I'm going to take all of your advice and run over to Office Depot and pick up a PCI-E card tomorrow. I have $150 now but will have about $75 more after the first so what would you recommend as far as something from Office Depot goes? I don't want the hassle of ordering online so something local works best.
 
Ok, I'm going to borrow a credit card so I can order online. I've been looking thru Newegg and a few video cards have caught my eye, namely the Sapphire X1900GT and Asus EAX1950PRO, but what would you guys suggest for under $220? Another thing I'm worried about is the PS. I haven't cracked this PC open yet so I'm not sure what kinda power supply I'm looking at but I figure it's probably pretty weak.
 
For under $220, I'd suggest an X1950 Pro. However, your PSU will probably have to be replaced, so I would recommend buying a new one and getting a 7900GS instead.
 
Well since all I really have money wise to throw into this PC is the $220, the PS and video card have to be bought with this. So how do these sound:

Sapphire 100189L Radeon 1900GT

Rosewill RP500-2 500W Power Supply

All I'm looking to do is be able to play older games like GTA3, BF1942, Hitman 2, NFS: Underground, ect. without lag and watch some HD movies. Maybe play a few newer games like BF2142, but I won't mind lowering the graphics if need be.

EDIT: The motherboard is a micro-BTX so do you think I'm going to run into problems as far as room goes?
 
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After navigating around the Intel website I've come to find that I didn't have the newest drivers, contrary to what I was told at Gateway! Now I can run BF1942 on all high settings just fine! I've yet to try other games, but I play BF1942 the most so I'll try a few others later. I'm thoroughly surprised that it's working great now and I'm very dissappointed in Gateway for telling me that all computers should have the newest drivers. Now I think the GMA X3000 will tide me over until more DX10 cards make their way onto the shelves. I hope anyone like myself who had any problems with the GMA X3000 will find this topic and update their drivers before making any hastey decisions because the before and after differences are quite amazing.
I'm going to buy a video card, but I'm going to wait until more video cards that are based on DX10 become availible. Thanks to everyone that posted and tried to help.
 
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