Cadalyst - May 2008 - (Page 14)

cadalystlabsreview By Ron LaFon I n the past, Cadalyst has tested and reviewed quad-core systems on a standalone basis, but the ﬁrst workstation roundup of 2008 is devoted entirely to systems based on these capable processors. The systems reviewed in this article range widely in price and performance, and they encompass a number of variants. Earlier this year, Cadalyst sent invitations to a number of vendors indicating plans to do a roundup review of quadcore workstations. Six vendors initially accepted the invitation, although two withdrew as the deadline for receiving the systems approached, so Cadalyst received four systems to put through their paces. As I’ve said in the past, Intel notes that quad-core systems will test slower on some processes, both because of the slower base-clock speed of the processor and because of how the task switching is handled. Obviously, applications that handle multitasking well will show the greatest performance benefits. See www.cadalyst.com/intel for additional information about tasks and speeds. The systems that Cadalyst received ranged in price from $2,795 to $5,499, and all vendors submitted systems based on Intel processors (although the choice of processor was entirely up to the individual vendor). All systems also included NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards, with one including the Quadro FX 4600 and the other three including the newer Quadro FX 3700. Three of the four submitted systems were overclocked to one degree or another, depending upon the particular processor. Among the systems, two were liquid cooled. Although liquid cooling has become relatively common, some — myself included — have qualms about liquid systems within a box of complex electronics. Cadalyst requested systems based on Windows XP Professional rather than any of the Vista versions. Accurately benchmarking on Vista is difficult at best due to the extensive background processes that seem to be part and parcel of the new operating system. I continue to look at options for benchmarking Vista-based systems, but at present, getting repeatable and reproducible results is elusive. I will know soon if the highly anticipated Service Pack 1 for Vista improves this situation. Review Standards For this roundup, Cadalyst requested systems with the fastest available single quad-core processors installed, whether Intel or AMD based. The choice of processor included in Quad-core Systems Report Card Category @Xi Computer, Xi MTower PCIe, p. 15 Hewlett-Packard, HP xw4600 Workstation, p. 16 Polywell Computers, Poly i780SLI3, p. 17 Velocity Micro, ProMagix W160 High-Performance Workstation PC, p. 18 14 Performance Price (7x) (4x) A+ B A– A B A A A+ Warranty (2x) A A A+ A– Expandability (2x) A+ A A+ A Return Overall Policy (1x) Grade A A– A– A– A– B A– A www.cadalyst.com cadalyst May 2008 http://www.cadalyst.com/intel http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - May 2008

Cadalyst - May 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central A Solid Job in AutoCAD Today’s Power — Quad-Core Workstations Performance — Tomorrow’s Possibilities Reverse Engineering an Antique Italian Treasure Trends in Reverse Engineering NextEngine 3D Scanner — Reverse-Engineering Tool Setting CAD Standards Fight for Your Hardware Rights The Jack and Jill of Ergonomics Technology for Civil Infrastructure Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Shortcuts and Solutions

Cadalyst - May 2008

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