Gateway x58

[pdiener]

I am trying to determine why Gateway's fx6800-01e motherboard bios is so utterly crippled. Aside from the fact that oem's tend to disable every bios setting choice possible.

Acer, I believe, has acquired Gateway, so there should be an uncrippled bios of theirs available somewhere. Especially since the aforementioned Gateway is strikingly alike the Acer Aspire M7720 desktop. Has anyone else noticed this?

I am also trying to modify the Intel Desktop Control to work with the Gateway board, but no luck as yet.

If anyone happens to know where I can dowload the latest bios for Acer's desktop Aspire M7720, I will greatly appreciate a link to it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Guest]

Yes, Gateway is a Subsidiary of Acer and both systems are the same.

Even the motherboard is the same except under Acer the motherboard is labeled as FX58M (Intel X58 rev 12).

I have taken some detailed photos of the motherboard in my system and I have compared them to photos of the FX58M motherboard. They appear to be exactly the same.

Acer M7720 support page
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/desktop/aspire_m7720.html

Here is a Review of the M7720 except it's in German, it's very detailed.
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=522519

Acer FTP Site ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/desktop/

I have not been able to find any updates for the M7720 system.
There are files there, but all listed as 01/07/2009 9:44:00 AM

Searching the Intel website, I can't find this particular motherboard anywhere.

As for the motherboard manual, it's the same problem, No manual can be found.

Looking at the Acer FTP site, you can find the FX6800 listed there, check both of these links and you'll see for yourself.

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/gtw/
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/gtw/dt/

 

[Guest]

At the time?

I needed system as my old system was on it's way out.

The FX6800 appeared to be a decent system.

I did not have the money to build the system I actually wanted.

Last, but not least, This was my first experience with Gateway/Acer and after this, it'll be my last.

- I really should have held off a few months, then built the system I really wanted which would have cost at least $1000 more to build. Like they say, "hind sight is 20/20" and also "you learn from your mistakes".

At least my system is running stable to the point where I'm not having any problems with it, thanks to my years of working on systems and building them.

 

[pdiener]

Thanks for your response. I have gotten to the acer sites and haven't found any manuals or other files for the M7720. But I have hope that a bios will surface that has more options. So I will keep checking.

As a MS beta tester, I needed a fairly fast system to be used for no other purpose than dedicated testing and the gateway cheaply filled the bill. But having more options in the bios would help a lot. Sooner or later a new bios for the M7720 will appear and I will flash it to the gateway. Again, many thanks for your answer.

Yes, Gateway is a Subsidiary of Acer and both systems are the same.

Even the motherboard is the same except under Acer the motherboard is labeled as FX58M (Intel X58 rev 12).

I have taken some detailed photos of the motherboard in my system and I have compared them to photos of the FX58M motherboard. They appear to be exactly the same.

Acer M7720 support page
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/desktop/aspire_m7720.html

Here is a Review of the M7720 except it's in German, it's very detailed.
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=522519

Acer FTP Site ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/desktop/

I have not been able to find any updates for the M7720 system.
There are files there, but all listed as 01/07/2009 9:44:00 AM

Searching the Intel website, I can't find this particular motherboard anywhere.

As for the motherboard manual, it's the same problem, No manual can be found.

Looking at the Acer FTP site, you can find the FX6800 listed there, check both of these links and you'll see for yourself.

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/gtw/
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/gtw/dt/

 

[Guest]

If I recall correctly, there is a site or two out there with instructions and tools for creating a customized BIOS for your system to allow you to unlock the features you need.

Maybe you could find one of these places and check it out?

Incidentally, Packard Bell is also owned by Acer and they have a system too using the same motherboard.

 

[pdiener]

Really. Thanks for the tip. I'll search around. That could be an interesting project.

Ah, Packard Bell, now that's a ghost of computing past.

 

[pdiener]

If you are interested, this might be a link to peruse:


http://support.intel.com/design/motherbd/software/itk/flash/iTKEnglish/index.htm

 

[Guest]

The page does not load in FireFox 3.0.8

It seems the Flash detection code is outdated.

The flash player these days is Adobe, not Macromedia and the detection page is looking for versions 4.0 thru 6.0

I've got the latest Flash player and plugin installed in FireFox

I was able to view the code for that link using a network aware text editor.

 

[Shadow703793]

My recommendations: Wait a few months when the X58 price drops or what ever "mainstream" i7 boards come out and grab one of those.

 

[Guest]

That doesn't help those of us who already purchase one of these systems.

Besides, I'll probably build a new system next year and I've already got my eyes on certain items. There'll probably be an even better processor out by then.

 

[Kira1010]

My recommendations: Wait a few months when the X58 price drops or what ever "mainstream" i7 boards come out and grab one of those.

No wait till the replacement for the Core 2 Quads come out, it will have the 32nm manufacturing process later this year to early next year from what they are saying and is dubbed by some as Core i5... it should be just as fast as Core i7... the difference being graphics controller on the CPU itself, but it doesn't look like from what I have been reading on the net that the Core i5 whatever the tick phase is, is going to beat Core i7... however, they are already talk of a 6 core Core i7 sometime next year and a 8 core in probably 2 years or so with the launch of Sandy the next Tock micro-architecture release. However, all that you can understand up to this point is that they are just working on them and aren't really releasing any specs.

Me personally, I have had a Gateway FX6800 for about 2+ months now, and not much of the original system set up is left. LOL, I personally don't like the case design as it caused some hot spots on the motherboard and elsewhere and I added a front case fan that Gateway should have already had there, and doing a ton of other mods to it, but it is more stable now than it was when I first brought it home.

I personally like the future proof Ci7, but for my next system I think I go back to AMD/ATI, I mean I like the Ci7 and the power, but I like to have customizable settings and stuff and able to push the limit as high as I want, not this Gateway locked BIOS. But then too the components I got with the system I actually got a higher card than labeled on the box and case that is a 1GB card, and with RAM upgrades got the processor running faster than most others FX6800s... Just I don't see the advantage of having the 8 logical processors of Core i7 but the turbo boost helps stop the disadvantages of Hyper Threading so, I guess a win/win situation. Although, me personally have a liking for the way AMD processors and ATI cards work together, although the ATI card is working well now in the FX too.