Xi MTower PCIe
January 19, 2011 By: Ron LaFonFirst Look Review: Workstation offers exceptional speed at a moderate price.
Editor's
note: This article was originally published in the
Fall 2010 issue of Cadalyst magazine.
It's been a few years since Cadalyst reviewed a workstation from @Xi Computer, so when a new Xi MTower PCIe arrived, I was excited by the opportunity to put it through its paces. As it turned out, this moderately priced desktop workstation set a new performance record in Cadalyst Labs.
System Features
The MTower PCIe system I received was based on an
Intel Core i7-950 3.0-GHz quad-core processor that
was mounted on an Asus P6X58D Premium Intel X58
motherboard that supported both SLI and CrossFireX
graphics accelerators. The motherboard had three
PCIe 2.0 slots and included two USB 3.0 connectors
as well as eight standard USB 2.0 sockets.
The system supported triple-channel DDR3
1600/2000-MHz RAM with 6,144 MB of 1,333-MHz triple
rank interleave memory with heat spread, which is
available only on Core i7–based motherboards. When
fully populated, the motherboard can accommodate 24
GB of 1,333-MHz RAM. Although numerous hard disk
options are available, the system I tested included
a Seagate Momentus 500-GB 7,200-rpm XT hybrid SATA
II drive with 4 GB of SSD memory cache. Due to the
nature of these drives, the second and subsequent
iterations of a given benchmark test will produce
slightly higher scores, which I used for the test
results reported below.
Devices include a DVD + RW DL/±R/CD-RW double media
4.7/8.5-GB 18x optical drive, a Logitech deluxe
Windows keyboard, and a Logitech 2+ wheel optical
mouse. An ultra-quiet Corsair TX850W series power
supply (greater than 80% efficiency, 99% active
power factor correction UL) provided ample energy
resources for the system as equipped and for future
expansion. The sturdy case measured 10.0" x 19.7" x
22.2" (W x D x H) and offered a substantial number
of ventilation fans.
Microsoft
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit was preinstalled on
the system, and both a Windows 7 DVD and a DVD that
included the various drivers used by the system were
packaged among the cables and accessories. A PDF
user manual for the Xi MTower PCIe also was
included, as was a quick-start guide.
Graphics were provided by the new Fermi-based NVIDIA
Quadro 4000 graphics card. This PCIe 16x single-slot
card has 2 GB of DDR5 RAM, a DVI-I connecter, two
DisplayPort connections, and a stereo connector. The
Quadro 4000 supports OpenGL 4, Shader Model 5, and
DirectX 11. (For additional information about this
graphics card, as well as other Fermi-based cards
from NVIDIA, visit
www.nvidia.com.) Windows 7 x64 NVIDIA graphic
drivers v8.17.12.5957 (dated September 1, 2010) were
preinstalled and used throughout the benchmark
testing. For the AutoCAD benchmarks, I used NVIDIA
AutoCAD 2011 performance drivers x64 v18.1.4.
Test Results
When testing the Xi MTower PCIe system, I ran two
benchmarks: the
Cadalyst C2011 v5.3b and the
SPEC ViewPerf 11. The Cadalyst benchmark was
running under AutoCAD 2011 x64 with the most
currently available service packs and patches
applied. I performed all tests at a screen
resolution of 1,280 x 1,024 at a color depth of 24
bits. I ran several iterations of the Cadalyst
benchmark in two different configurations, first
with the default Autodesk drivers, then with several
iterations of the same test using the NVIDIA
performance drivers for AutoCAD. All benchmarks were
run with vertical sync set to the Force Off
position, as I typically do during all testing.