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The following roundup from selected vendors describes PC workstations suitable for use with MicroStation. A listing in this section does not constitute an endorsement by MicroStation Manager. Information is provided by the vendors, and has not been independently evaluated for accuracy, unless the listing is labeled as a review. If you contact a vendor for more information, please mention that you read about the workstation in MicroStation Manager.
Abbreviations used in the listings include: Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), Universal Serial Bus (USB), Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP); Billions of Floating Point Instructions per Second-"Gigaflops" (GFLOPS)
Compaq AP240, AP550, SP750
[A review of the Compaq AP240 with results on the MSM Benchmark is availablein an expanded version of this article at MSM Online.] Of the four workstations introduced by Compaq Computer Corporation, (Houston), since our October report, the Deskpro Workstation AP240 is billed as offerin high-performance benefits and leading 2D and 3D graphics, the AP550 providing affordable dual-processor performance and the SP750 with ultimate performance and scalability. The AP240 with the 820 chipset and Rambus memory features a single Intel Pentium III processor up to 733 MHz, 133-MHz front-side bus, and a 9 GB Wide Ultra2 SCSI hard drive rated at 10,000 rpm. The 128 MB, 712 MHz ECC RDRAM is expandable to 512 MB (1 GB when 288 MB technology becomes available). Other features include 256 KB full speed integrated L2 cache, either a Matrox Millennium 6400 or ELSA Synergy II graphics board, a 40X CD-ROM, integrated Ultra ATA/66 controller and Adapter Wide Ultra2 SCSI controller, and an Intel PRO/100+ Management Adapter NIC. The AP550 features one or two 600-733 MHz Pentium III, an Intel 840 chipset with scalable bandwidth technology, up to 2 GB of either RDRAM or SDRAM, either 9 GB or 18 GB Ultra3 SCSI (10,000 rpm) hard drives, and an integrated dual channel Ultra3 SCSI and Ultra ATA/66 controller. Graphics cards supported include Matrox 6400, ELSA Synergy II, 3D Labs Oxygen GVX1, Matrox Productiva 6100 Quad MMS, and Compaq PowerStorm 600. Additional features of the SP750 include 667-733 MHz Pentium III Xeon processor, 64-bit/66 MHz PCI, 32-bit/33 MHz PCI, AGP Pro 4X, up to 4 GB of 600 or 800 MHz RDRAM. Prices in Flux at press time. www.compaq.com