Gateway Delivers Industry's First 'BTX' Desktop PC

Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gateway today announced the industry's first "BTX" computer, a new PC design that delivers significant advancements in cooling and noise reduction.

The new PC -- the Gateway 700GR -- will be available this weekend at leading electronics and technology retailers throughout North America.

Employing the latest in PC technology, the Gateway 700GR is designed on Intel's highly anticipated BTX architecture, which aligns key components in a central wind tunnel. Optimizing this BTX architecture, Gateway designed an efficient and more reliable cooling system. As a result, the PC stays cool and can handle high-speed processors as well as the fastest and most power- consuming graphics cards, add-in cards and hard drives available today and in the future.

Gateway's BTX platform is cooled with two large fans that are positioned to provide up to three times the airflow of a traditional PC. Thanks to the sophisticated cooling design, the Gateway 700GR can easily handle the latest technology without overheating, making it the ideal PC for gaming, graphics, digital media and other power-hungry applications. The design more effectively cools internal components, such as the processor, chipset and graphics card, thereby extending the system's life expectancy and increasing overall reliability.

Because of their large size, the fans can spin at 40 percent slower speeds, which means users will enjoy whisper-quiet operation suitable for any room in the home. A quieter PC lets gamers, digital video editors and any other PC user focus on the task at hand, instead of on the distracting PC noise. Also, system reliability is further increased, since the fans run at slower speeds.

"Right now, the hottest PC trends -- namely gaming and digital media hobbies -- are the ones that require the most power to enjoy and create the most heat inside the PC," said Ed Fisher, Gateway's senior vice president of product planning. "Our new 700GR combats this issue with a significant step forward in PC design. The quiet and cool operation, combined with all the latest technology, will result in unsurpassed performance and consistently reliable operation."

"Customers will want to look into systems based on the new BTX motherboards," said Roger Kay, vice president of client computing at IDC. "The BTX is designed for better airflow over the hottest parts, including the processor, memory, graphics accelerator and core logic. Tomorrow's ever higher performing components will generate even more heat, potentially requiring increasingly noisy ventilation fans. With a BTX board, systems can be cooled with fewer, larger, slower -- therefore quieter -- fans. A cooler chassis results in greater reliability at a given performance level. And the BTX motherboard can support future generations of graphics and other add-in cards, an investment protection benefit."

Gateway has been expanding its line up of PCs for sale through technology and electronics retailers. In recent weeks, Gateway has announced several relationships with the leading retailers as part of the company's strategy to make its PCs available to more customers beyond Gateway's popular direct channels.

Latest, Fastest Technology Complements Cool, Quiet Design
The Gateway 700GR incorporates the latest technology features, beginning with the Intel 915G chipset, which provides improved multimedia performance to support the hottest game titles. The dedicated ATI RADEON X300SE PCI- Express 128MB graphics card takes advantage of PCI Express technology in the Intel 915G chipset to provide the most realistic gaming images, as well as enhanced digital media performance and graphics playback.

The Intel 915G also features Intel High Definition Audio technology, so the Gateway 700GR delivers high fidelity sound quality for a true home theater experience. Additionally, the new Intel technology provides support for next- generation serial ATA hard drives.

The Gateway 700GR is ready to store and access the latest games and digital media with a massive 250GB 7200RPM serial ATA hard drive with an 8MB cache that provides additional buffering when accessing quick-changing graphics and video. The 8-in-1 media card reader provides easy access to digital media by directly accessing the most popular media cards used in digital devices such as digital cameras and camcorders.

The system boasts an 8X DVD+/-RW multi-format drive that uses new double- layer DVD technology to give home movie enthusiasts more room for their digital video. The double-layer drive can burn up to 8.4GB of data on double- layer DVD media -- nearly twice the capacity of single-layer media at 4.7GB. As a result, a four-hour MPEG-2 movie would now fit on a single DVD.

Other premium features take the new PC to the pinnacle of performance. The new 700GR delivers the ultimate in speed and responsiveness with an Intel Pentium 4 550 processor with Hyper Threading technology as well as 1GB of DDR dual channel memory, expandable to 2GB. Also, the system features the latest in networking technology -- integrated Gigabit (10/100/1000) Ethernet -- to ensure a fast connection to a network for a LAN party or online gaming. The PC also comes with a 56K v.92 modem.

The new Gateway 700GR is a great deal at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $1,199.99. Beginning this weekend, it will be available at leading electronics and technology retailers. The PC comes standard with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

Gateway's commitment to quality and reliability is evident in its award- winning line of PCs as well as in its top-notch service and support programs. The company's extensive online support center helps customers maximize their PC investment; it gives them easy access to customer support representatives and information on important issues such as warranties, technical issues and upgrading. Like other Gateway PCs, the Gateway 700GR is supported by the company's standard limited warranty options. Additional service and support options are also available.

See www.gateway.com for more information.

Source: Gateway, Inc.