The Lab shifts into overdrive to look at three
NT Alpha workstations
Last month I began a new series of reviews highlighting several NT Alpha-based workstations. The combination of a 64-bit 533MHz 21164PC Alpha processor and an Alpha PC 164SX motherboard produces a workstation with the kind of speed and performance that was only a dream a few years ago. When a 64-bit architecture becomes the industry standard, supplanting the 32-bit architecture that reigns today, it will bring about the same seismic shift in technology that Pentium processors produced when they entered the market.
To give you a context for understanding overall NT Alpha system performance, I've coordinated my testing for this series with AIM Technology, which has been providing benchmark services for the NT environment since 1996. AIM's mission is to provide third-party performance and price-performance information to industry and government.
I selected two of AIM's Workstation Benchmark metrics, WNT Peak Performance and WNT Sustained Performance, to test each Alpha system in this series. The peak performance test increases CPU, RAM, and disk caching to determine the maximum number of application jobs a system can process in 1 minute. The sustained performance test pushes a system by incrementally increasing tasks it must perform and measuring the number of application jobs per minute the system performs at the brink of failure. (For more information about AIM and to see complete AIM benchmark test results for the Alpha systems I test, as well as for other Alpha systems, check out the AIM Web site at http://www.aim.com.)
Because monitor resolution, bit depth, and a system's graphics card can significantly affect the AIM benchmark results, I test each Alpha system at 800 * 600 * 16-bit resolution with a Matrox Millennium II 4MB 2-D video card. (Two-dimensional graphics cards give better AIM results than 3-D cards give.) To test the higher-end 3-D graphics cards, I run three viewsets from the Viewperf benchmark tests on systems that support OpenGL 3-D graphics. The OpenGL Performance Characterization (OPC) project endorses the five viewsets that constitute the Viewperf performance benchmark. To get a better understanding of the Viewperf tests and to see the results I achieved with the LX Series UltraWide and the PowerStation LXS4 in context with the Viewperf scores for other Alpha systems, visit the OPC Web Site (http://www.specbench.org).
Every month in this series, you can quickly find the test results for the systems I review by referring to each product's "Benchmarks" box. This box lists results of the two AIM Workstation Benchmark parameters--WNT Peak Performance and WNT Sustained Performance--and the three Viewperf viewsets results.
Last month I looked at two workstations: Aspen Systems' Montrose, an entry-level NT Alpha system, and MaxVision's Symbion AXP164SX, an NT Alpha system with high-end 3-D capabilities. This month I look at three systems that vary in price and performance.
Targeting the price-conscious, performance-minded user, Microway's Scream'n Demon Personal Alpha-SX Special workstation is an entry-level system. DCG Computers' LX Series UltraWide System workstation incorporates the Samsung and Digital Semiconductor Alpha motherboard design and 2MB of Level 3 cache to push the performance envelope. Finally, taking a big step up in performance and price is the Computer PowerStation LXS4 from Tri-Star Computer, which facilitates 3-D graphics rendering and CAD applications.
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