Dell has announced the 15.6” Precision M4600 and 17.3” M6600 mobile workstations based on Intel’s Sandy Bridge platform. They both can support up to 32 GB of RAM in 4 DIMM slots, and dual 128GB SSDs.
The 15.6” Precision M4600 includes an option for the AMD FirePro M5950 Mobility Pro with 1GB of GDDR5 memory, 725 MHz core/900 MHz memory clock speed, a 57.6 GB/s, 128-bit bandwidth pipeline and TDP = 25W (consumer counterpart is the 480-shader Radeon 6770M).
The 17.3” Precision M6600 features the new AMD FirePro M8900 Mobility Pro with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, 680 MHz core/900 MHz memory clock speed, a 115.2 GB/s, 256-bit bandwidth pipeline and TDP = 75W (consumer counterpart is the 960-shader Radeon HD 6970M).
Both CAD-certified FirePro Mobility cards offer 5 display Eyefinity support, as well as full support for DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.1, OpenCL 1.1 and DirectCompute 11.
Autodesk XpoCast has good presentation that covers the key differences between consumer grade and professional graphics, how using the right or wrong solution can impede or boost your productivity (including Eyefinity), and how to identify the right tool for the job. Worth checking out.
I yanked out one segment as a teaser, on the real differences between consumer and professional graphics. AMD’s Robert Miller goes over hardware differences, unique features such as framelock/genlock or SDI sync, longevity, and of course highly tuned drivers for specific professional apps (as opposed to games). Also includes a very telling demo of running professional apps on a good consumer card vs even a low-end professional card.
Following up the new EliteBook mobile workstations, HP also announced the new budget-friendly HP Z210 Desktop Workstation. The two models of this workstation are intended as a low-cost, entry-level options for MCAD/AEC and video editing.
The Z210 CMT is a convertible mini-tower with room to upgrade. It accepts full size graphics cards including the CAD-certified entry-level FirePro V3800 and mid-range FirePro V5800.
The Z210 SFF is a highly-compact desktop for space-constrained workspaces. It only handles small form factor cards like the passively-cooled 2D AMD FirePro 2270 or the entry-level 3D FirePro V3800.
Last week HP announced an update to their 15 and 17 inch EliteBook mobile workstations. The 17.3-inch 8760w and the 15.6-inch 8560w offer the option of an RGB-backlit DreamColor 10-bit displays.
Both models come standard with a FirePro M5950 workstation graphics card featuring 1GB GDDR5 memory, 57.6 GB/s, 128-bit bandwidth pipeline and TDP = 25W (consumer counterpart is the Radeon 6770M). The new CAD-certified FirePro Mobility card offers 480 stream processors, Eyefinity support for 5 displays, and full support for DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.1, OpenCL 1.1 and DirectCompute 11.
There is also a 14-inch EliteBook which features a low power, CAD-certified FirePro M3900 with 1 GB of DDR3 memory, 12.8 GB/s 64 bit bandwidth and TDP < 20W (consumer counterpart is the Radeon 6470M).
Coupled with Viz Engine 3.5, the ATI FirePro V9800 with 6-display Eyefinity provides broadcasters a certified, highly flexible set of tools and a creative run-time environment to render animated 2D and 3D content in realtime on the Viz Video Wall ER or other touch-screen devices.
During NAB, Vizrt will use ATI FirePro V9800 graphics cards to power its Viz Video Wall ER presentation at its booth (#SL5408). The video wall will use multiple Barco displays as well as HP Z800 workstations equipped with multiple V9800 graphics cards. This 3D accelerated output is then synchronized with the Viz Engine real-time rendering engine.
Desktop Engineering has selected the AMD FirePro 2270 and ATI FirePro V5800 DVI as Editor’s Pick of the Week because:
“Both products offer the horsepower you need to efficiently support multiple 30-in. monitors and run graphics-intensive applications at the same time without busting the bank.” The cards “give you a ‘new’ workstation environment awfully inexpensively. As a bonus, the cards are simple to install, so the IT guys shouldn’t grumble beyond normal at you either”
The CRN Test Center recently reviewed the Dell T1500 Precison desktop PC with ATI FirePro v4800 graphics card.
From the review:
“The machine was impressive even before performance tests were run. Just 35 seconds from power-on, the unit was ready to accept keyboard and mouse input. Geekbench performance was outstanding.” ... “We ran the 64-bit version of Geekbench 2.1.11, under which the Precision delivered a top score of 9,286, faster than any other production desktop PC we’ve tested.
Helping propel this performance was the ATI FirePro, which also earns it AutoCAD certification. With 400 streaming cores, this card has enough processors to run a small city.”
3D Professor has a review of the energy efficient, slim, FirePro V5800 covering OpenGL, DirectX11 and OpenCL benchmarking across CAD applications. Although the card has been out almost a year, this review remains relevant given the recent release of the FirePro V5800 DVI targeting the medical markets.
Cut to the chase: as in previous reviews the FirePro V5800 is deemed a great value (street $350) for a mid-range card to use in CAD and visualization.
AMD today announced support for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1), featuring Microsoft RemoteFX with ATI FirePro professional graphics.
Microsoft RemoteFX virtualizes 2D and 3D graphics, enabling multiple remote workers to access nearly any type of application or screen content, including 3D applications, on a broad range of connected remote devices including PCs, thin clients and network monitors.
“Taking advantage of host-side rendering, ATI FirePro professional graphics lets applications on the host computer run at full speed. Combining fast host-side rendering with traditional client-side rendering, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 gives Microsoft VDI customers great deployment flexibility: In a single solution, you get great graphics performance for device-independent remoting, as well as for network-constrained environments.”
FireUser.com is a community resource for CAD, visualization, 3D, video and engineering professionals to learn about the latest acceleration and display technologies and news with a focus on the AMD FirePro workstation graphics line.
