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PRODUCT REVIEWS THE SKINNY ON NEW TOOLS
The term workstation is often used with some alacrity to describe the computers game artists work on every day. Few, however, would truly be considered an heir to the title passed down from the SGIs of yesteryear. This month I took a look at two products that both live up to the title and at least one that redefines the way CG artists can work.
Boxx Technologies' 3D Boxx
First up is Boxx Technologies' 3DBoxx featuring dual AMD Athlon 2000+ processors, 1GB 266MHz DDR memory, an Nvidia Quadro 4 900 XGL 128MB DDR video card (which supports two monitors), and an 80GB hard drive. Though it comes equipped with two Ethernet ports, there is no Firewire port as a standard feature, which is unfortunate, as any modern graphics workstation should be able to support DV camcorders, a variety of hard drives, and other peripherals that need the superior bandwidth of Firewire over USB.
It's hard to look at a desktop workstation these days and see its true value. After all, in the world of www.cheappartsforyourpc.com and with the geekish nature of game developers, we feel we could make more for less than buying a turnkey solution. And if you perceive your purchase as merely the buying of parts, you may be right. But what is the value of your time and sanity? Would you rather spend weeks researching which motherboard works with which processor (and with how much RAM) and then trying to find a good video card that doesn't have issues with all of the above and, on top of it all, performs well with your software? Or would you rather just take a machine out of the box, plug it in, and go to work? With a machine like the 3DBoxx, that's precisely what you do. Throw in one year of 24-hour guaranteed part replacement, and suddenly that extra premium you paid is looking better.
Upon unpacking the 3DBoxx, two things struck me. First was its weight (or lack thereof). While it feels quite solid, the case and mountings are made of aluminum, rather than traditional steel. Not only does this make the machine more portable, but, given the qualities of aluminum, it turns the entire...