If you set the 'Number of Counts' to read at a time to 1, then it will return the current value of the counter every time a pulse comes in on the Gate. The problem with setting this value to one is that you must make sure you get that value before the next one comes in or it will be overwriten. Setting it to one can also cause issues with the PCI transfers if the frequency of the Gate signal is high. If you get a -1084x error, it is probably due to the PCI bus cannot transfer the counts fast enough.
Brian