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Introduction
The creation of 2D and 3D graphics in television
commercial production is a balance between meeting deadlines and striving to
add “that artistic touch” to a project. While some of you may not
believe that a TV commercial can be art there is a tremendous amount of effort
from the production team to make a concept work. What may appear to be a simple
animated text graphic can be the result of many complex layers and effects to
achieve a producer’s vision. Often the most subtle of effects are the
most complex.
Software programs such as Adobe After Effects
and Softimage eat hardware for breakfast and long into the night there will
be only the sounds of computers crashing and the whimpering of the art director.
Software programs have become more powerful and
with that the hardware requirements have increased. So have the costs. I hear
constant reminders of the need to upgrade from the graphic and editing staff.
“Imagine how
much more productive we’ll be if we get new computers.
“We’ll be able to do a
whole bunch more with a faster computer.”
Anyone who manages a budget fears that an upgrade
will be far more productive at eating into the capital request. For a home or
small business computing power is often equated with unaffordable. Where is
the line drawn between cost and performance and can a home or small business
buyer have the best of both worlds?
In the designer’s world (In some jobs graphic
artists like to be referred to as “designers”) the more powerful
the hardware is the more creative they can be. It’s true. Graphic designers
will avoid certain effects due to time constraints. Heavy lighting effects and
ray tracing in 3D is just not done if the computer will take days to render
the frames. I’m not kidding when I say days. To the individual managing
the project the more powerful the hardware means faster and faster means the
project comes in on time and on budget.
In the first article The
Broadcast Box Short-Media took a single processor system into the heart of
a television production. It would have been simple enough to build a system
to impress but we added one restriction and that was money. It had to be affordable
for the average home or small business. In other words the Broadcast Box had
to be relatively cheap.
At the heart of any computer is the processor
and two must be better than one….right?
Two processors must mean twice as fast. Two processors
should give more frames a second and obviously be more powerful. If a gamer
can attain 200 frames per second with a single processor then 400 frames per
second must be achievable with two processors. If Photoshop takes 20 seconds
to apply an effect with one processor then two should be able to do it in 10
seconds.
These images of the power of a dual processor
system invoke a primordial response from the computer geek. They salivate and
lust for the speed, power and strength. In reality dual processor systems are
misunderstood as they are indeed faster…and, surprise, slower….all
at the same time. If you are also under the impression that dual processor systems
are unaffordable and only meant for high end server applications then you’d
be wrong again.
The television production designers quickly got
used to our first Broadcast Box and became comfortable with the speed and performance
provided by our ABIT AT7 equipped with an AMD 2100+ Thoroughbred and a Matrox
Parhelia. So we decided to show up on their doorstep again. This time we brought
heavier artillery.
Tune in and start at the end.
PC buyers assume that speed costs. It usually
is a safe bet to say that. Visit any system builder website and the cost of
a dual processor power system will quickly add up. The original Broadcast Box
article had as the goal “to build a PC, on an acceptable home buyer’s
budget, to function as a workstation capable of taking on 2D and 3D jobs in
a broadcast television station. The hopeful conclusion will be to teach the
buyer that what is expected from the PC is the first question that must be answered
before choosing the parts.
Defining broadcast industry standard in a PC
has some grey area depending on where it is in the production chain. Broadcast
video has to meet a set of parameters that can only be measured by a video waveform
monitor. Expect to shovel out approximately $4000 USD to add this option for
home use.
This PC will be used to output work that will
eventually find its way to a non-linear editing system that assembles and outputs
it to tape. While the display image is extremely important for the graphic designer
it is the finished file itself that is eventually transferred to a format for
playback to air. The video card will not be used to output a signal that will
be recorded or used straight to air.
The work produced is either a completed piece
or a collection of elements that are to be used in a completed piece. These
elements may be produced solely or through the combination of 2D and 3D software
applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects
and Softimage. For example, Photoshop files may be used as name supers or background
elements. On a larger scale, After Effects may be employed to composite Photoshop,
Illustrator and Softimage elements plus internally generated elements and effects
to build a complex timeline that is rendered producing a finished piece or pieces.
A waveform monitor is referenced at certain stages to ensure the output does
not exceed acceptable levels.
The PC workstation needed to be the right balance
of components that have the power to manipulate complicated 2D and 3D applications
real time then render at an acceptable rate. Image quality was important to
display sharp, true images.”
Off we went to price out a popular system builder’s
dual processor workstation.
- 2 x 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon Processors
- 1 GB PC800 ECC RDRAM (4 Rimms)
- Keyboard
- Logitech USB Optical mouse
- NVIDIA Quadro4 700XGL 64mb video card
1 x 40 GB hard drive - 1 x 80 GB hard drive
- Intel 1000XT Gigabit PCI NIC
- 40×10x40x CDRW
- Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Value sound
card - 2 x 19″ Monitors
- RAID
- WindowsXP Professional.
It looks like a pretty powerful workstation doesn’t
it? It should for almost $5,700 USD or nearly $9,000 CND. It definitely falls
into my highly unaffordable category for a home pc buyer budget.
How did we do? Our shopping trip came in just
shy of $2,200 USD or approximately $3,500 CND. At 60% less than the system builder’s
workstation the unaffordable just became affordable and here’s what we did.
Why dual?
Dual or Multiple Processing is more accurately
termed as Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) or Asymmetric Multiprocessing (AMP).
Symmetric Multiprocessing means to evenly distribute any given task over the
total number of processors while Asymmetric Multiprocessing is to dedicate a
given task to an individual processor in a multiple processor group. Both are
not limited to systems with only two processors but require the minimum of two.
In order to best benefit from a multiprocessor
system the software program must be written to properly address two or more
processors. This is called multithreading. Writing a program that is properly
multithreaded is a very complex task and thus, to the consumer, would be more
expensive. A multithreaded program breaks any given task down to be executed
across multiple processors unlike a single-threaded program which executes the
tasks one after another on a single CPU. Peak performance in a dual processor
system is achieved if both the OS and program are SMP aware.
In other words a single-threaded program is like
a train where the railroad cars have to pass the station one after the other
on a single track. A multithreaded program gives the ability to break the train
apart and send it by the station on as many tracks as are available. In theory
the total number of railroad cars will pass the station in faster time.
An SMP program such as Adobe Photoshop will be
much faster on a dual processor system but a single-threaded program (non-SMP)
may execute at the same speed or slower than a single processor system. This
is most evident with games.
Where dual processor systems most definitely
excel is at the job of multitasking. A user can do more simultaneously and with
less CPU lag on a dual processor system. The total task is spread over two processors
instead of just one.
Have you ever played an MP3 while burning a CD
on a single processor system? Chances are that the song will stutter or the
system may lock up. Dual processor systems are more capable of efficiently handling
several tasks at a given time. Go ahead and burn that CD, listen to those MP3’s,
surf the Internet and download those files…all at the same time. A dual
processor system will keep up with most everything you can throw at it even
if it is all at once.
Many make the mistake of thinking that dual processor
computers are faster for all software. That just isn’t true. Dual processor
systems generally are not faster at everything but they do more and more of
it at once. Dual processor systems were traditionally used in server applications
where multiple processors, like more than one cop, can efficiently and properly
handle the sheer amount of traffic. In the broadcast environment dual processor
systems can be of great benefit to increase productivity especially when the
software is SMP aware. This naturally can lead to a better end product.
And it all begins with the processor.
The AMD Athlon 2100+ MP processor
The 2100+
MP processor sample we received is based on the Palomino core and marks
the last of the 0.18 micron Palomino MP processors before the introduction of
the 0.13 micron 2200+ Thoroughbred MP processor. By no means is this a hindrance
nor were we receiving “old” technology. We specifically requested that processor
as it fit into our price vs. performance equation.
There are improvements with the 0.13 micron die
and are explained in the first Broadcast Box article. Buyers won’t go wrong
with either choice of core but the MP Thoroughbred core is 38% smaller, uses
1.65 volts compared to the 1.75 volts of the Palomino and runs 5 degrees Celsius
cooler. The 2200+ MP also has 66 MHz more processing power clocking in at 1.8
GHz. In the grand scheme of things 66 MHz wasn’t that crucial in the purchasing
equation. The “meat and potatoes” of these processors is essentially the same.
The AMD PR machine was up to speed when it produced a Q&A style FAQ and
the following is an excerpt
explaining the MP processor.
Q: What are the key features of the AMD
Athlon MP processors:
A: The key features of the AMD Athlon MP processors
are:
• AMD Smart MP technology
• 266 MHz high-speed Athlon MP front-side bus with ECC Support
• High-performance, full-speed on-chip cache (354K total full-speed cache
size)
• Socket A infrastructure
• AMD 3DNow!™ Professional technology (70 instructions, full SSE
compatibility)
• AMD QuantiSpeed™ architecture
Q: What specific applications benefit
from the performance of the AMD Athlon MP processor?
A: Designed for multiprocessing and multithreaded
applications, the AMD Athlon MP processor and its associated AMD-760™
MPX chipset incorporate several design advancements to deliver the performance
and flexibility demanded in the server and workstation environment. The platform’s
balanced architecture couples superior integer, floating point, and multimedia
performance with a scalable, stable infrastructure, enabling commercial customers
to invest in a single system platform that can meet their requirements for current
and future multiprocessing needs. Specific applications would include, but not
be limited to those designed for Digital Content Creation (DCC), Electronic
Design Automation (EDA), Computer-Aided Design (CAD), and infrastructure and
collaborative server applications.
Q: What is Smart MP Technology?
A: Smart MP technology features dual point-to-point,
high-speed system buses, an optimized “MOESI” cache coherency protocol,
which manages data and memory traffic, as well as innovative “snoop”
buses, which offer high-speed communication between the CPUs in a multiprocessing
system. Smart MP technology is designed to optimize the execution of multi-threaded,
mission-critical applications empowering your server and workstation platforms
to achieve new levels of productivity.
Q: What is QuantiSpeed™ architecture?
A: QuantiSpeed™ architecture is an easy-to-understand
name which encompasses the AMD Athlon MP processor’s core architectural
features, and explains to end users how the AMD Athlon MP processor provides
superior application performance. Specifically, QuantiSpeed architecture incorporates:
• Nine-Issue, fully pipelined, superscalar micro-architecture
• Superscalar, fully pipelined floating point unit (FPU)
• Hardware Data PreFetch
• Exclusive & Speculative Translation Look-Aside Buffers (TLB)
Does the AMD 2100+ MP processor measure up? In
many other reviews I’ve read the benchmarks tell a predictable story but
I was surprised when it came to our own tests.
Picking the platform
Choosing a motherboard is a very important step
as it will determine many other financial steps. There is of course the first
step taken already by upgrading to a dual processor system and that is the immediate
purchase of not one but two processors.
Dual processor motherboards also are built leaner
than single processor motherboards. They usually don’t come with a lot
of frills such as onboard audio, LAN or USB. It was only recently that manufacturers
such as ASUS, MSI and TYAN started to add these features to satisfy consumer
demand or rather…attract more consumers.
The difficulty with dual processor motherboards
is that you can run out of places to connect peripherals in a big hurry. Dual
processor motherboards typically come with Two 64-bit/66MHz and three 32-bit/33MHz
PCI slots and two IDE headers. A CDRW and DVD will take up one header. A Zip
drive will occupy master or slave on the second leaving one additional header
for a single drive. Now you are out of onboard IDE headers.
That’s easily solved by installing a RAID
card. But wait…32-bit or the more expensive 64-bit? That may already be
decided for you.
The concern with many of the recent dual processor
motherboards was USB. It was quite common that the onboard USB did not function
thus manufactures began to include PCI slot USB cards as a work around. So that
takes care of one 32-bit PCI slot. Add a FireWire card and kiss another slot
goodbye. That leaves one last 32bit/33 MHz PCI slot. If you require more hard
drive space then you have to make the choice between purchasing a 32-bit/33
MHz RAID controller or stepping up to the financial plate to purchase a 64-bit/66
MHz RAID controller. If you want to use that third 32-bit slot for a sound card
(some motherboards do not come with onboard audio) then the decision has been
made for you.
The add-on costs to the second Broadcast Box
appeared to be quickly mounting. Onboard video was not in our shopping list
but a motherboard that came equipped with USB, LAN, and AUDIO was primary. Onboard
RAID would top this list nicely.
The Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+
There isn’t much to say out of the gate except
“soak it in people”. This is one nice workstation motherboard. For the purpose
of this article the exact model is Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW-P (not +) but it is listed
on the website as Gigabyte
GA-7DPXDW+.
Processor Supported.
• Dual AMD® Athlon Class Processors
• Socket 462/266Mhz FSB
ChipSet Description
• AMD®-760™ MPX Chipset
• AMD 762 System Controller (Northbridge)
• AMD 768 B2 Peripheral Bus Controller (Southbridge)
Memory Capacity
• ¡PMax. 3.5GB Registered (ECC) DDR-266 Memory
• ¡PMax. 2GB Un-buffered (ECC) DDR-266 Memory
Memory Type
• Supports Registered or Un-buffered DDR-266
DIMM Size
• Supports 4 * DDR
Error Detection
• Supports ECC
BIOS Type
• Award BIOS on 2MB Flash RAM
BIOS Special Features
• Supports Console Redirection
Integrated IDE / SCSI Controller
• Promise® PDC 20276 RAID Controller
• Dual ATA-133 IDE Channels
• Dual ATA-100 IDE Channels
Support RAID Function
• Dual ATA-133 IDE Channels with RAID 0,1
Integrated Network Adapter Controller
• Intel® 82550PM 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN controllers onboard
Integrated Super I/O Controller
• Winbond® W83627HF
PS2
• Two
USB
• Two
COM
• Two
LPT Port
• One
RJ45 Port
• One
Expansion Slot
• 2 x PCI 64/66MHz
3 x PCI 32/33MHz
Board Style
• ATX
Board Size
• 12″ W x 10.6″ D
OS Driver Supported
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Red Hat 7.x
• SuSe 7.x
• Turbo Linux 6.x
The list of pros with the Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+
makes the list of cons insignificant. In fact there wasn’t a list of cons.
There were a few “we prefers” but outright cons were pretty hard
to find.
Touring the board.
The Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ came extremely well packaged
and the entire motherboard was surrounded on all sides and on the bottom by
a thick layer of foam padding. Gigabyte did not want your investment to fall
victim to any impact shock damage.
At the heart of the GA-7DPXDW+ are the two processors.
The socket for CPU1 is located on the left near
the backplane and CPU0 is by the ram. Mounting of the heatsinks comes with a
caution. The space between the capacitors and sockets is tight and you may find,
especially with the CPU0 socket, a capacitor or two has to be nudged to the
side to allow for a screwdriver to properly attach the heatsink clip. This is
seen clearly in the next image of the CPU0 socket.
That being said it is also wise to choose the
proper heatsink as larger base coolers will most likely not be able to be attached
due to the close proximity of the capacitors.
There are four DIMMS supporting up to 3.5 GB
of Registered ECC memory. IT is said that the GA-7DPXDW+ will support unbuffered
ECC memory but we were unable to confirm this. Note that it is ECC unbuffered
memory not the standard DDR memory that is normally used. This was attempted
regardless to no success.
It appears to be a common problem now with motherboards
that lower one or two release tabs of the DIMM slots are blocked by the video
card when installed. Even with the extra width of the GA-7DPXDW+ this still
occurs but only with DIMM 1. It doesn’t prevent memory from being removed
it just means that the top release tab will have to be thrown first and then
the bottom tab can only be partially released. The memory in DIMM 1 still comes
out and goes in easily enough.
Beside the DIMM slots and below CPU0 is the Northbridge
fan covering the AMD 762 Northbridge controller. It’s a beefier assembly
due to the fact that the Northbridge chip generates more heat than the single
processor motherboards. Some dual processor motherboards have passive (fan-less)
Northbridge heatsinks and I’m glad Gigabyte chose to add an active cooling
assembly.
The Northbridge chipset assembly is held in place
by a pin and tension spring which is much better than a simple plastic pushpin.
Over by the Northbridge assembly is the first
of a few jumpers. They are a jumper to enable/disable the onboard LAN, switch
between a 100 MHz FSB or 133 MHz FSB, enable/disable the buzzer, enable/disable
onboard audio and the CMOS clear jumper. The CPU speed jumper is pictured below.
The fact that the GA-7DPXDW+ has a minimal allotment
of onboard jumpers isn’t a problem though it does make the first mention on
the “we prefer” list. It would be preferable to have all the settings in BIOS
after having gotten so used to a jumper-less motherboard. The clear CMOS jumper
is exempt and would remain as a physical item on the motherboard.
At the bottom right of the GA-7DPXDW+ are the
EIDE headers and look! There are four! The two green headers are driven by the
Promise LITE Raid Controller. The GA-7DPXDW+ comes with onboard RAID. This is
the only dual processor motherboard I’ve seen that comes with onboard raid and
is one of the main reasons for our choice. Onboard raid allows for up to four
hard drives to be run off the Promise LITE controller leaving room for four
additional peripherals to be run off the other two headers. It is also a bonus
that the RAID is ATA133. The other two headers are ATA100.
It is interesting to note that Gigabyte chose
to number the IDE headers in order from the bottom up. The green headers are
IDE 1 and 2 whereas with ABIT boards the RAID headers are typically 3 and 4.
There is nothing wrong with this. It is just a matter of breaking some trained
habits as to what headers the RAID controller affects.
Unfortunately the Promise LITE Raid controller
makes the number one spot on our “we prefer” list. It actually is
the only true CON we discovered with the GA-7DPXDW+.
The Promise LITE controller does work and works
well. Anyone can set up a RAID in a matter of moments as it is almost plug and
play. BUT! Yes there is a “but”. The Promise LITE controller is
not a full RAID. The stripe size is set at 64kb and cannot be adjusted. Also
there are only 3 performance choices for RAID 0. They are A/V editing which
sets a larger block size, DESKTOP which is a compromise setting for a mixture
of all file sizes and SERVER for small file sizes. RAID 0+1 has only the setting
SECURITY.
This is rather limiting if a user wants control
over stripe size and block size. There also isn’t the option for RAID
1, RAID 5 or JBOD (Just a bunch of disks). If I weren’t a “tweaker”
or didn’t care about RAID settings then the Promise LITE controller would
be more than sufficient.
There is one very important tip with using disks
on the RAID. Install the operating system AFTER connecting all of the drives
that are planned. If a hard drive is added, in any configuration, after the
OS is installed…the OS will generate an INVALID FILTER driver error on
the desktop. Windows XP will promptly display a message that the hardware (the
new hard drive) is not installed properly.
The only fix to this is to reinstall the operating
system or do a F6 repair of the operating system. Remember that any service
packs will have to be reinstalled if a disk repair is chosen. The Promise LITE
controller and WindowsXP do not like disks being added or moved around.
Way down at the bottom of the board are the RESET-POWER-SPEAKER-HDD
LED etc. connectors and number two on our “we prefer” list. Note
the fan header. It is the system fan header and one of four on the board. The
placement is rather poor in our estimation as once the EIDE cables are connected
it is more or less blocked from use. The placement is awkward.
The PCI and AGP slots feature three 32-bit/33MHz
slots and two 64-bit/66MHz slots. I do like the placement of the two 64-bit/66MHz
slots due to the fact that the PCI card that goes into these slots will be a
bit larger both in length and height. Having the one 32-bit/33MHz slot between
gives a little breathing room.
The AGP PRO slot may confuse some users initially
as to the purpose of the plastic spacer.
The plastic spacer is to ensure that normal AGP
video cards are properly seated in the GA-7DPXDW+ AGP PRO slot.
Over on the backplane are 2 PS/2 ports, 2 serial
and 1 parallel, a game port, AC97 sound with stereo out, line in and mic in,
LAN and 2 USB ports. It was common that the onboard USB ports on the first versions
of the AMD 760 and AMD 760MPX chipset dual processor motherboards were prone
to problems. They often didn’t work at all. Gigabyte seems to have solved
this and we are happy to report no problems with either the backplane USB ports
or the second onboard USB header.
It is important to note that the wiring connections
for the onboard USB header are reverse of what is typically found with the single
processor motherboards. This makes for number 3 on our “we prefer”
list. It would have been nice for Gigabyte to include a PC slot USB connector
for this secondary USB header (USB 3 and 4 seen below)
You’ll have to pull out a jewelers screwdriver
and move the connections around on that spare PCI slot USB connector that happens
to be lying around if you want it to work properly. This isn’t a concern if
you are lucky enough to have a PC case with front USB connections and separate
wires.
Behind the serial and parallel ports is the CPU1
fan header (foreground) and the PSU fan header. Space is very limited and I
suggest hooking these up prior to connecting the main motherboard power. Also
note the secondary connection at the right. Make sure your PSU is equipped with
the secondary four-pin power connector.
Many dual processor motherboards
require specific power supplies but the GA-7DPXDW+ performed well with our Enermax
465 PSU. Always run with a minimum of 400 watts.
The Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ came with two manuals:
one for the motherboard itself and the other for the Promise Raid controller.
Both are rather thin and the Promise RAID controller manual requires a redesign
in logic. It isn’t ultimately clear enough on what to do or expect for
the new RAID user. There was definitely no mention of the INVALID FILTER driver
error message we encountered or how to solve it.
Some may want the motherboard manual to be more
extensive but this board isn’t designed for overclocking or extensive
tweaking. It does have the ability to bump up the CPU and system bus 1 MHz at
a time but it must be done together. There is no voltage control to RAM. This
board is designed for stability and the manual is sufficient to get any user
around the installation, setup and BIOS.
Along with the two manuals are three 80 pin IDE
cables, 1 floppy, a drivers CD, a set of Promise RAID driver floppies, and the
backplane case cover.
Don’t expect a lot or any other goodies. This
is a server/workstation motherboard and the inclusion of games or add-on software
is somewhat unnecessary.
I will say that I am impressed with the Gigabyte
GA-7DPXDW+. It is an excellent motherboard almost no flaws. It is affordable
and can be purchased for approximately $240-$275 USD. Get the “P” version. The
onboard LAN, AUDIO, RAID and USB make this an excellent choice for a high performance
workstation platform.
Our wish list would be to see a full RAID controller
instead of the LITE version and less jumpers on the motherboard and more “tweakabilty”
in the BIOS. The Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ did not crash due to motherboard hardware
error in any of our tests and ran solidly for 96 hours of continuous operation.
We just left it on and let people use it.
Keeping your cool
There has been criticism towards AMD processors
for running “too hot” comparatively to INTEL processors. (Please note
that the 2.8 GHz INTEL processor runs hotter than the AMD 2600+) Many enthusiasts
have clamped, bolted, hung or clipped every type of copper or aluminum heatsink
to the processor in order to combat the excess thermal heat. Sitting on these
metal monsters can be screaming fans generating massive airflow to keep the
processor “on ice” as game play heats up.
Keeping processors cool during normal operation
is a matter of a few good choices, a bit of computer know-how and the right
cooling configuration. Overclocking is a different story as the processor is
subjected to increases in voltage and MHz resulting in above spec stress.
Two background articles that may assist in the
theory and configuration of an efficiently cooled computer are Case Cooling
Tweaks Part 1 and Case Cooling Tweaks Part 2.
As with the original Broadcast Box we looked
to Globalwin and
the CAK4-76T for a heatsink solution.
The GlobalWin CAK4-76T has a built-in temperature
sensor to speed regulate the 70 x 70 x 15 mm fan. At 30 degrees Celsius the
minimum airflow is 23.1 CFM at 24.7 dBA and at 38 degrees Celsius the maximum
airflow is 36 CFM at 35 dBA.
The CAK4-76T
comes packaged with the necessary mounting hardware for either INTEL or AMD
processors. It is important to note that the cooling requirement of this PC
system was to control temperature and keep noise to a tolerable level. 30 dBA
is similar in noise level to whispering and more often than not the average
RPM of the CAK4-76T fan was 3300 RPM which puts it less than 30 dBA and that
is extremely quiet.
GlobalWin has improved their clip mechanisms
and the CAK4 was attached with little effort and a small flat blade screwdriver
is a necessity to mount the heatsink. A further improvement would have been
to make a three socket ear clip instead of the single socket ear design. It’s
quiet and efficient for a workstation. Both ends of the mounting clip are pictured
below.
The heatsink is also just another player in the
heat game. As the Case Cooling Tweaks articles point out the correct choice
of a PC case and additional fan modifications can help win the battle against
heat and noise.
Dual means different.
The Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ comes with diode temperature
monitoring instead of the traditional in socket thermistor. Temperatures will
be higher than what is typically observed on a single processor system but the
range between idle and load temperatures was far less with the Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+
than we expected.
The range was only 5-6 degrees Celsius and 50
degrees Celsius initially seemed high when I was used to idle temperatures of
28-30 degrees Celsius on single processors. This was due to the different temperature
monitor providing an internal temperature rather than a thermistor on the bottom
surface which is always lower. The Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ comes with a simple temperature
and voltage monitoring software program that should be used instead of motherboard
monitor. Motherboard monitor is an excellent software system monitor but does
not work as well with dual processor boards.
As mentioned earlier the Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+
comes with its own monitor program and user of Motherboard Monitor may encounter
some problems with dual processor setups. The only anomaly with the Gigabyte
software is that the processor are designated as A and B and the manual refers
to the CPU sockets as 0 and 1.
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Should anyone be concerned with idle temperatures
of 50 degrees Celsius? The simple answer is no and our research showed that
the majority of dual processor AMD motherboards averaged between 45-50 degrees
Celsius air-cooled idle. What was pleasantly surprising is that the Gigabyte
board with the Globalwin CAK4-76T had a much lower load temperature than the
average.
If it ain’t broke
Don’t fix it. AMK
Computers supplied us with the SX1000 for the first Broadcast Box article
and we stuck with this same case for our dual setup.
The PC case has become an important decision
as the wrong choice can lead to many problems especially with a dual processor
setup. Dual processors generate more heat and that heat must be exhausted.
The concern that many have is noise generated
by the total number of fans. The SX1000 has seven 80mm. fans in addition to
the two in the Enermax power supply, the two heatsink fans and the video card
and Northbridge chipset fans. There are 13 fans in all whirring away. You might
think that this case would be noisy.
But it isn’t.
All of the 80mm. fans are ADDA producing 26 CFM
at only 22.5 dBA. The noisiest fans in the case are the two heatsink fans at
35 dBA and those are buried inside the case. The addition of the Digital Doc
5 fan control unit automatically shuts off 5 of the 7 case fans at idle and
only turns on the rest as needed when temperature rises. Even with all the fans
on this case is tolerably quiet. It is quieter and less intrusive than a single
7000 RPM heatsink fan.
The AMK SX1000 fit our requirements for expandability
and space in a mid-sized tower. There was a lot of gear put into this case inclusive
of the larger dual processor motherboard.
AMK Computers would not let us re-introduce the
SX1000 without further modifications. After all modding is life. The one thing
I like to do is make a PC case look like the Las Vegas strip. Just for kicks
we added six 6″ neon tubes and a neon lightning rod from Streetglow. I
like to have on/off control of these lights but the problem was where to put
the switches. All four external drive bays were occupied.
The solution came with a few round
rocker switches, some LED lights and a few beer.
These switches also control the
LEDs which turn on when power is on via the rocker switch. Thusly:
Note the two blue 6″ neon tubes
hidden behind the bezel grill.
The coolest mod we did was behind
the bezel door. First the door closed.
Then with the door open. There
isn’t much to see with this modification.
Or is there?
Now isn’t that trick? Four LEDs
are mounted under the lip that will illuminate any CD/CDRW/DVD tray that is
extended.
You too can get these modifications
at AMK Computers. (Beer not included)
The big picture.
There isn’t much more that can be said about
the Matrox Parhelia
512 that hasn’t already been said in Short-Media’s previous articles and reviews.
In depth reviews and articles are available at the following links:
|
The Matrox Parhelia brings Matrox’s reputation
for precise image quality to the broadcast design environment. Triple monitor
support ensures that any designer will have “elbow room” to work
in an uncluttered desktop. A myriad of configurations are available where a
designer can see and work in many programs simultaneously and dual CPU horsepower
ensures that multi-tasking over multiple monitors is lag free.
|
Many have panned the Parhelia for poor gaming
performance. There is no denying that the Parhelia is not a front running gaming
card. It simply was not designed for that. It is important to note that the
Parhelia is not plagued by driver problems encountered by the competition. Gaming
speed costs and the competition has seen a few potholes in that racetrack. Many
have asked why the Parhelia keeps finding its way into these types of reviews
and there is an answer. The purpose is to provide design support and not gaming
support. There are other video cards on the market that are built for workstation
design support from NVIDIA and ATI but at a much higher consumer cost. Matrox
also is the only card that delivers triple monitor support with precise and
clear images across all three monitors.
|
The purpose of the Broadcast Box is broadcast
design. Whether used to support web design, Autocad, graphic software such as
Photoshop and 3D software such as 3D Studio Max or Softimage the Parhelia excels
by delivering sharp images to the user across 3 monitors. It also provides the
necessary video card GPU horsepower for fast redraw rates in the GUI of the
designer’s software tools.
Stop the Press!
Hours before this article was to go online Matrox
contacted Short-Media with a new
driver set
“Whether working in the domain of non-linear
video editing, compositing, animation, DVD authoring, motion graphics or visual
effects, users of digital video applications such as Adobe® Premiere®,
Avid Xpress® DV, and Adobe® After Effects® can appreciate the benefits
of increased desktop space for displaying a multitude of application windows,
toolbars, timelines and effects control menus. With the v1.02 drivers, Matrox
Parhelia delivers the ultimate display solution for enhancing the usability
and productivity of digital video workstations by uniquely combining extensive
multi-display support, simultaneous TV previewing, comprehensive software tools
and a variety of related features.
For users of software NLE and visual effects
applications, Parhelia’s support for dual-display plus TV-output and PureVideo
Preview provides the unique benefit of accurately previewing projects in-progress
on a video monitor while still having the luxury of the added display real-estate
through dual-display. Users of hardware editing based workstations will find
Parhelia to be the ultimate companion card thanks to its support for DualHead®-HighFidelity
(HF) and TripleHead Desktop. Matrox Parhelia’s unique DualHead-HF technology
ensures identical visual quality on both displays, with dual independent gamma
correctable hardware overlays for video in a window and support for up to 2048×1536
resolution on each RGB display. Parhelia also boasts numerous other beneficial
features for video including What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) Plug-ins
for Adobe After Effects and Discreet™ 3D Studio Max™, Realtime Display
Color Adjustment, UltraSharp Display Output technology, Dual-DVI output support
and composite and S-Video output for video monitors and VCRs.”
What does this mean? It means that the Parhelia
will can use the third monitor output to a video display source such as a NTSC
monitor.
|
Or triple head can be maintained PLUS a TV video
display through an add-on hardware card.
At the time of this article the driver was still
available in beta format on the Matrox site but this is an extremely positive
move for Matrox. Graphic designers in the Television or film world will absolutely
love the image quality, display power and working room that the Parhelia delivers
across one, two and three displays plus a WYSIWYG TV out display to preview
work in real time.
The test systems and benchmarks
• 2 x AMD 2100+ MP Palomino Processors
• AMD 1900+ Palomino Processor
• AMD 2100+ XP Thoroughbred Processor
• Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ Motherboard (version P)
• 40 GB Maxtor ATA133 7200 RPM HDD
• 2 x 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 7200 RPM HDD
• ABIT AT7 motherboard (AMD 2100+/1900+ XP Processors)
• Matrox Parhelia 512 video card in single head mode* 1.01.00 driver
• 2 x 512 MB Micron PC2100 RAM (AT7)
• 4 x 256 Crucial Reg ECC (Gigabyte motherboard)
• Sony 52x CD
• LG 32×10x40x CDRW
• 16 x DVD (not included in pricing)
• 2 x Samsung 950p 19″ Monitors
• USB Keyboard and Logitech USB wireless Optical Mouse
• Globalwin CAK4-76T HSF
• AMK SX1000 modded PC case (window, fans, cables, loom)
• Enermax 465 Watt FC PSU
• Windows XP Professional SP1
• Digital Doc5
Programs used*:
•
Sisoft Sandra 2002
• ZD Media
Business Winstone 2001
• ZD Media
Content Creation Winstone 2001
• MadOnion 3DMark 2001
SE
• Quake III Arena
• Commanche
4
• GL Excess
• Drone
Z
• SpecviewPerf 7.0
• PS Bench
• Adobe Photoshop 7.0
• Adobe After Effects 5.5
• SoftimageXSI 2.0.1
• MediaCleaner Pro 5
*dual and triple monitors enabled for Adobe After
Effects and Softimage benchmarks only. The above benchmark programs are publicly
available. For more about Ziff Davis and the etesting labs program go
here.
Before the benchmark
Benchmarks are a yardstick we use to measure
performance. Not one benchmark stands above the rest as the defacto tool. Benchmarks
are useful to identify major performance problems in a system. They can also
be used to identify the impact of hardware changes on overall system performance.
This is very useful especially when combined with the software expectations.
A faster processor may deliver faster renders but not help with a smooth GUI.
A better video card may deliver a smoother interface but won’t help if long
ram previews are required. The performance enthusiast and overclocking crowd
are edging each other by a handful of points or frames. Remember this as you
look at graphs and charts. Don’t look at just “who’s in front” but
also by how much both in points/frames and cost.
3D Mark 2001 SE
The granddaddy of benchmarking tools measuring
how effectively a system can run 3D graphic applications. Moving from the 1900+
to the 2100+ showed only a small increase in performance. This isn’t critical
for workstation applications but may be the goal of gamers to squeeze every
frame per second gain from their systems.
Sisoft Sandra.
Look out. SMP rules the roost in Multimedia and
Arithmetic tests. Dual AMD processors do pack quite a punch don’t they.
But sadly not much of a gain in
memory bandwidth.
Code Creatures
Commanche 4
Drone Z
GL Excess
Quake III Arena
Now Quake III Arena is SMP aware and with a tweak
in the console the game now runs off the two AMD 2100+ MP processors and the
difference is jaw-dropping.
Specview Perf 7.0
ZD Net Winstone Tests
Graphically Speaking
Up until now it doesn’t really look like
much does it. Sure there are a few high spikes on the graphs here and there
but not much to blow your socks off. In our unofficial research across the net
we looked at many dual processor motherboard reviews. What we noticed was our
tests had a much closer performance gap between two similar AMD processors (IE:
the 2100+ XP and the 2100+ MP).
What this means to us is that a user will not
be experiencing any or an incredibly small performance difference, either positive
or negative, between a single and dual processor system.
But…
This was a positive finding. It was thought that
across the single-threaded, non-SMP aware programs that dual processor performance
would be much less in a lot of uses. When it comes to gaming it is a widely
known fact that single processor systems will significantly outpace a dual processor
system. It’s good to see that the MP and XP 2100+ processors are evenly
paced.
That was until we started up the programs that
this system is built for.
The original Broadcast Box article explains these
two programs in great detail. Adobe After Effects is a tool to produce motion
graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia and the web. It is primarily
a 2D application using imported graphics or digital footage or self generated
effects.
Softimage XSI can simply bring any computer to
its knees. It’s an incredibly powerful 3D animation program that has the
ability to become so complex that single processor systems have been known to
“think” for days when rendering an animation.
In the broadcast environment we live in these
programs along with Photoshop, Illustrator and the non linear edit suite.
First…Adobe After Effects. A project was
created that was a combination of many video footage files, resizing and rasterizing
effects, text animations and multiple layer effects. This “average”
combination was felt to best demonstrate advantages and/or disadvantages that
a real world user may experience rather than isolating and benchmarking a particular
effect.
The results speak for themselves. Adobe After
Effects loves AMD dual processors on the Gigabyte system. Unofficially these
scores also blew past both single and dual processor MAC G4’s.
PS Bench is a series of isolated Photoshop effects
tested 3 times individually then the combined scores were used. Need we say
more about dual processors moving along at the speed of light? Especially on
the SMP aware program Adobe Photoshop.
Media Cleaner Pro 5 is a software-based video
and audio file compression program. The results here weren’t as pleasing
but differences were sometimes down to only 1 second.
The biggest surprise of all was Softimage XSI.
Softimage works on somewhat similar principle to After Effects. A faster and
more powerful video card will translate to a smoother interface where complex
scenes can be manipulated in real time. Note that Softimage does not have an
interface to real-time preview a finished frame as unlike After Effects. Users
can manipulate objects in a choice of views from wire frame mode to simulated
real-time shading mode. In order to look at a finished frame a user must render
the frame to disk which bypasses the GPU. A faster processor will result in
the faster render. The amount of RAM is not as great an issue as the user is
working frame by frame and the graphics card is doing the bulk of the work while
working within the GUI.
This is a most basic overview and there are specialty
hardware components that can enhance the speed and interactivity of complex
3D scenes and programs. The designers working on the test system use Softimage
on a less complex level to provide enhancements and elements to commercials,
promos and station ID elements. Though their work is quite complex to some it
a far cry from that of special effects in major film productions.
This result made us sit up and say “zoooooooooom!”.
Our 100 frame test project time was cut in half by the AMD dual processor Gigabyte
board.
An unofficial footnote to this test is a piece
of information brought in by the art director I work with. He has a dual XEON
1.7 GHz system with an NVIDIA Quadro video card. Remember when rendering the
majority of the workload is on the processor(s).
His dual XEON 1.7 GHz system did the render in
54 minutes; the same time as a single AMD 2100+ (1.733 GHz) XP processor and
over twice as long as a dual AMD 2100+ MP processor system. He wasn’t too pleased
as he spent nearly 3 times as much to purchase his computer compared to our
test system.
It’s a RAID!
Everyone outta the pool! RAID is not a topic
that will be dealt with any detail in this article except to address a few points
from the previous Broadcast Box article. It was thought that a RAID0 setup would
increase the rendering time in any software application.
Look at how the hard drive benchmarking program
ATTO shows improvement from a single 60 GB drive to a 60 GB RAID0 array.
Single 60 GB drive
|
Raid0 Array Promise Lite controller
(64k stripe)
|
The gain in read speed is most notable but this
had no affect on our rendering tests. Both After Effects and Softimage finished
the projects in almost identical times regardless of RAID or non-RAID.
There is one major benefit to RAID0 performance
and that is for video editing or playback of rendered media files. The test
system was able to play back 30 second 640×480 NTSC uncompressed Quicktime Video
without stutter. (700MB file) This was not able to be done on our previous single
processor test systems. Dual processor horsepower allows this to be possible
along with multitasking. We had very little concern of our test system locking
up if we asked it to do something else during playback.
Summary
When a reader automatically flips to the last
page to find out the quick answer there isn’t one that will make sense.
But if it is quick answers you want…I’ll do my best.
AMD 2100+ MP Processors.
AMD continues to impress us. We chose AMD as
a platform because AMD delivers performance without a high cost.
Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+
This is an excellent workstation motherboard!
I was extremely impressed as it has been over 150 hours that the test system
has been continuously powered up. It was rock stable throughout all of our tests
and had the most options of any of the dual processor motherboards. While there
was nothing that was “wrong” with the Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+…there
were a few things we’d like to see improved and the main improvement would
be a full RAID controller instead of the LITE version and, perhaps, 5.1 sound.
The Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ deserves 4 out of 5!
A full RAID controller and 5.1 sound would have made this dual processor motherboard
almost perfect. This is the only new component besides the processors that truly
should have deserved its own review and as such we believe that anyone who buys
the Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+ will be as please with it as we were.
Globalwin CAK4-76T heatsink
Quiet and efficient. It’s what I like in
a workstation.
AMK SX1000 PC Case
After the many case reviews I’ve done with
AMK product I have gotten to learn what a properly cooled case is. The end goal
determines the starting point. With AMK we continue to receive product that
is what we need to do the job and a bit more.
Of course the mods sure help attract attention
too.
Matrox Parhelia 512
Graphic designers and non-linear editors in the
Television, film, web or multimedia world will absolutely love the image quality,
display power and working room that the Parhelia delivers across one, two and
three displays. The WYSIWYG TV out display only enhances the Matrox experience.
Conclusion
The Broadcast Box grew up and went dual and you
would like to know if you can or should dual it with us? If your business is
graphic design, whether motion or still, then dual processors are for you. If
your business is heavy 3D rendering then dual processors are almost a necessity.
But what about cost?
- Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW+
- (2) AMD 2100+ MP processors
- 40 GB Maxtor ATA133 HDD
- 60 GB Maxtor ATA133 HDD
- AMK SX1000
- Enermax 465 FC PSU
- 52x CDROM
- LG 32x CDRW
- Logitech USB Wireless Optical Mouse
- Microsoft Internet Pro Keyboard
- Windows XP Pro
Just over $2600 USD ($4125 CAD) from prices pulled October 12, 2002 from www.pricewatch.com.
That’s only $400 more from the single processor test system built for
the original Broadcast Box article. So did we do it. Did Short-Media build a power
dual processor system that meets the need of demanding industry professionals?
We think we did as those that used Broadcast Box goes dual didn’t want
to give it back and said it was better than anything they had or probably ever
would.
It’s nice to know that we geeks are the
one out on the performance edge.
Short-Media would like to thank the good people
with these companies for helping us with this article. Their support to our
site and many others is truly appreciated and we are thankful for it.
AMD,
Gigabyte, AMK
Computers, Globalwin
and Matrox.
For more information read the following Short-Media
original articles:
The Broadcast Box
Matrox Parhelia 512
AMD Hyper Transport
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