I
always wonder just how much faster I could work if I
had the latest, fastest technology. How much of a difference could it
really make? Would I notice? How could I quantify that difference? In
reviewing products aimed at the DCC market I often get a chance to test
these questions out.
Right now, my most often-used work system is a dual Pentium II 400MHz
workstation with 256MB RAM. I know I don't use half of the power it
contains, and yet the longer I use the system, the more I get spoiled
and wish it could just do the everyday tasks a little faster. And so,
I was eager to see just how much faster everything would go with a system
of almost twice the clock speed.
The answer I have found, after looking at the dual Pentium III 733MHz
IBM Intellistation M Pro workstation, is that, unsurprisingly, just
about every design task is around twice as fast. I say unsurprisingly
because 733MHz is close to twice 400MHz alone, and with a new generation
Pentium chip -- as well as Rambus memory, the new 133MHz front-side
bus, and a much faster graphics card with 64MB memory -- you would expect
performance to be at least doubled. In fact, I guess, I expected a little
more. But no doubt that is just a reaction to the hype of the whole
speed race to 1GHz and beyond.
The IBM Intellistation
M Pro -- From the Outside In
IBM knows how to put together a sturdy well-designed product. The
Intellistation is a well-built classy-looking machine. Little touches
like the top handle for carrying the CPU unit, the no-screws easy-to-remove
side panel, and the stabilizing swing-out feet add to the overall appeal
of the charcoal-colored system. The front CD-ROM and floppy drives are
easy to access and firmly rooted in their slots. The system, although
it contains three separate cooling fans, is still relatively quiet.
And, the 21-inch monitor which I tested has the latest flat-screen technology
for a crisper sharper image with no distortion and less glare.
My only complaint about the outer workings of the system are that the
side panel, though easy to remove, also has a tendency to pop off when
you are not trying to remove it. The panel slides forward and then tips
open to the side, but if you are moving the system and happen to pull
it the wrong way, you then have to reseat the cover. There is no snap-lock
deterrent to this.
Once open, you see the cleanly laid out, nicely expandable guts of the
Intellistation system. There are an ample number of available PCI slots
and drive bays, though you may want to look at the roomier Z Pro if
you will be adding a lot of internal extras. Of the total 5 PCI slots,
one is in use by the SCSI adapter, and one is unusable if you have either
an AGP Pro50 card (like the Elsa GLoria II in my test system) or the
Intense 3D Wildcat 4110 graphics adapter installed -- leaving only three
free slots. There are two internal 3.5-inch drive bays, one external
3.5-inch, and one external 5.25-inch bay open.
Maneuvering inside the case is not too bad. The Rambus memory modules
are a little difficult to access under the SCSI cable running from the
adapter at the bottom of the case to the drive at the top, but the easy
snap-in installation goes smoothly, once you get at them.
For a complete listing of the test system's specifications check out
Table 2.
21-inch Display
Shipped with the system I tested was a flat screen 21-inch (19.8 vis)
IBM P260 monitor. This display was a joy to use. I hadn't realized just
how much better flat screen technology could be. Images were crisper
and clearer on the fine-pitch .24mm aperture grille screen. The best
thing though was the almost complete lack of screen distortion and glare.
The monitor also has DVI interface compatibility, and ships with a DVI
adapter cable. This monitor makes a great companion to the 64MB Elsa
GLoria II graphics adapter
Elsa GLoria II -- Quadro GPU-Based
The M Pro can be configured with a select variety of graphics card
options. On the high-end 2D and business end, there is the Matrox Millennium
G400. For mid- to high-range 3D graphics there are the IBM FireGL1,
and the Elsa GLoria II. At the top end, for extreme 3D graphics processing
speed, there is the Intense 3D Wildcat 4110. There is also a dual monitor
specific card, the Appian Gemini, available.
IBM has chosen wisely for their graphics options. Each of these cards
is a well-tested, top-of-its-class performer. And they are also not
afraid to add a brand new technology to the mix, as evidenced by their
adoption of the NVIDIA Quadro-based GLoria II.
The GLoria II is an AGP 4X card with 64MB of SDR SDRAM on board. It
is also built to be compatible with DDR SDRAM, however this has not
yet been implemented on the Elsa card. The card uses the Quadro OpenGL
GPU single-chip integrated QuadEngine transform and lighting architecture,
and is aimed squarely at the digital content creation market with a
price well below comparably powerful offerings. For a complete look
at the GLoria II see the description
in DCCWorkstation's Buyer's Guide section.
Performance Results
As can be seen in Table 1: Real World
Tests, the two Pentium III processors combined with the 256MB of
Rambus RAM and the Intel 840 chipset, make for a system that pumps out
fast results in every test thrown at it. An average speed increase of
1.76 times the performance of the base dual 400MHz system means I can
perform most tasks at around twice the speed I normally would now. This
includes work in Adobe Photoshop, Discreet 3D Studio MAX (for which
the Elsa GLoria II has an optimized driver), Quark Xpress, and Newtek
Inspire 3D, amongst others. I tested rendering, save to disk, open file,
filter application, install to disk, and launch program times using
a wide variety of test files and images in all these programs, with
consistent results in all but a few tests. It is possible the few anomalous
results were due to the slightly slower 7,200rpm hard drive.
Security is Key
In a decided nod to the growing importance of system security in
the current e-commerce driven economy, IBM has fitted all of their new
Intellistations with a new soldered-on hardware security chip. This
chip provides embedded support for cryptographic operations such as
key exchange and digital signing and includes EEPROM memory where RSA
key pairs are stored. The chip communicates with the main processor
of the computer through the System Management Bus. Whereas standard
CAPI/CSP and PKCS#11 cryptographic APIs perform their operations in
software, IBM has implemented these APIs in such a way that they route
cryptographic operations through the embedded security chip in hardware
instead. This makes the whole process more secure, while not requiring
any changes to applications.
Conclusion
IBM takes the guess work out of choosing options for their Intellistation
systems. They rigorously test components for compatibility and usefulness
for the target market. Many of the components from hard drives to monitors
to graphics cards are, indeed, IBM-branded products. This makes for
a safe reliable powerful setup. Despite the few quirks I have mentioned,
I can't hesitate to recommend the Intellistation M Pro dual 733MHz product
as a workhorse DCC system.
The more difficult question of whether you need to upgrade to this speed
is a more personal one. If you are creating any kind of 2D or 3D graphics
on a regular basis, then you are most likely to need every speed advantage
you can get. Twice the speed is twice the work done, or it can be, at
least. Most programs still don't take maximum advantage of the dual
processor setup, but if you use even one program which does, like 3D
Studio MAX, then the extra expense is most likely worth it.
You can always wait for the next fastest system to come out, but by
that time, there will be yet another in the wings. If it has all the
features you require, the $5000 (without monitor) M Pro system I reviewed
is a good solid choice that you will not have to worry about fitting
into an existing network. It's price is a little higher than the top
end of other manufacturers but factored into this is the reliability
of the IBM name and such perks as the availability of Intellistation
engineers for questions after your purchase on the Ask
Engineering web site. Though
systems at speeds up to 1GHz are currently available, this dual 733MHz
system is a good representation of a full-featured mid-range system
from IBM. As with most manufacturers, as speeds increase, IBM's price
for the top-end offering remains the same, and prices for lower speeds
will drop.
