Cadalyst - October 2007 - (Page 26)

cadlabsreview The NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 uses NVIDIA’s unified drivers. Like other cards in this family, it offers PowerDraft, an accelerated AutoCAD display driver, and MAXtreme, an accelerated driver for Autodesk 3ds Max. The latest version of MAXtreme is a Direct3D driver, and it offers significant performance benefits for the Quadro family of graphics cards. Like the FX 4600, the Quadro FX 5600 is based on the G80GL graphics accelerator, which affords DirectX 10 support for Windows Vista environments. The FX 5600 Xi MTower PCIe A speedy system for a broad range of graphics cards, including the most powerful and power-hungry. By Ron LaFon Xi Computer sent Cadalyst one of the latest models of its Xi MTower PCIe workstation for evaluating the graphics cards in this article. The system was based on an Intel Core 2 E6850 dual-core microprocessor that was nominally rated at 2.93 GHz, but on this system was water cooled and overclocked to 3.20 GHz. In addition to providing cooling for the microprocessor, the Silent Water Cooling Xi MTower PCIe also made for a sys@Xi Computer tem that was notice800.432.0486 ably quiet in operawww.xicomputer.com tion. The system Price: $2,699 was built around an EVGA NVIDIA nForce 68i SLI motherboard that used the NVIDIA 680i chipset. This chipset supports a front-side bus speed of 1,333 MHz and graphics cards in an SLI configuration, though all the tests for this graphics card roundup review were conducted with a single card installed. At Cadalyst’s request, the MTower PCIe system included 2 GB of 1,066-MHz DDR2 RAM, a Western Digital 150-MB Raptor hard drive, and a Lite-ON 18 x 10 x 40 x 12 optical drive. As with all systems offered by @Xi Computer, a broad range of configuration options are available, so users easily can tailor a new system to their specific requirements and desires. The MTower PCIe system came housed in a new and beefy case that offered a lot of amenities, including a swing-away drive-bay door and a convenient control panel on the top front of the case with a power button/LED indicator, two USB 2.0 connectors, a reset button, and the HD indicator. The system included a 600-W OCZ Technology power supply that provided sufficient power for expandability and to drive the power-hungry graphics cards. An important consideration is that the system accommodates a full-length graphics card, such as the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600. Expandability options included 10 drive bays, 10 USB 2.0 connectors, and two FireWire 1294 connectors. @ The Xi MTower PCIe system from @Xi Computer was used for all graphics card tests in this roundup and produced exceptionally good CAD scores as well. During the course of the testing, the Xi MTower PCIe system performed flawlessly and provided ample power and smooth operation for every graphics card that I plugged into it. Obviously, the choice of graphics card significantly affects the overall performance of a system used for demanding applications, and the performance numbers for the Xi MTower PCIe speak for themselves. This very speedy system can accommodate a broad range of graphics cards, including the most powerful and power-hungry of them all. In the configuration Cadalyst received, the Xi MTower PCIe system is priced at $2,699. This configuration included an economical XFX 8600 GT 256 XXX graphics card with 256 MB of onboard memory, as well as a three-year warranty on parts and labor, a one-year warranty for on-site service, and 24-hour replacement part availability. @Xi Computer offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on its systems with no restocking fee. Prices may vary, depending upon the peripherals, and additional extended warranty coverage and support options are available. @Xi Computer consistently offers some of the fastest CAD workstations available —with lots of room for expandability — and this workstation is no exception. 26 October 2007 | cadalyst | www.cadalyst.com http://www.xicomputer.com http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - October 2007

Contents Editor's Window Cad Central Tech Trends: First-Hand Architecture in Second Life Rev It Up — Graphics Cards Pack Power for Today’s Hottest Designs TurboCAD Pro 14 — 3D Modeling Software SimEnterprise R2 — Design Simulation Software CADopia 6.2 SP3 Professional Edition — 2D and 3D Modeling Software Cad Manager: Programming Resources for CAD Managers MCAD Modeling: Customer Service Horror Stories PLM Strategies: Manufacturing Across Time Zones AEC in Focus: Digital-Asset Management in AEC/O Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Cadfidential

Cadalyst - October 2007

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