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We are back up and running once more and our thanks to all that have contributed in one way or the other in getting the new site into place.

Since we closed down the 3D Professor dot Com website and started afresh with this new site, we did ask our viewers to mail requesting the old review they wanted to see.   Many, many requests have come forth for us to show the old reviews online what we have completed in the past on the Quadro's and FireGL to name but a few.  

Therefore to appease our faithful following within the High-End community have chosen a few of the most popular reviews completed here and uploaded them onto the site over on the "OLD REVIEWS" page so that you all may draw direct comparisons when the new Quadro's, FireGL cards ETC when they finally arrive.

   
18th Dec 2009 Todays growing market storage demands are high and for this reason simplicity is key.    Powered by industry leading storage applications Supermicro are able to offer the flexibility of having iSCSI and NAS via a range of solutions.   Therefore in this rare look at the Supermicro Storage solution the SSS-2120-ID-OE (aka The Goliath) we found some very interesting results in which everyone can fully understand.

For more information please click here.
2nd Dec 2009

A month has passed and it's been a very busy one.  Today sees our outing on the acclaimed OCZ Vertex Series SATA II 2.5" SSD.  Now, we have seen many of these items pass through here and some good others not so.  The Vertex, well this has most certainly caught our eye with its utter raw performance. 

Just how fast you might ask, well read on and be prepared for some very interesting facts and figures.  For the full article please click here.

3rd Nov 09 WD® ENTERS TRADITIONAL ENTERPRISE HDD MARKET WITH FIRST SAS PRODUCT.  The WD S25 delivers ultra-high performance with its 3 Gb/s and 6 Gb/s SAS interfaces and a sustained sequential data rate of 128 MB/sec. In addition to all the speed required to service any enterprise need, the WD S25 also provides a 1.6 M hour MTBF rating.

More here and here


Therefore we are fully fitted out here with a 6 Gb/s SAS 2.0 interface Raid card, bring on the bad boys please.
23rd Oct 2009 Supermicro has for the last 6 months pushed to market "an extensive selection of mainboards and solutions".   Today we look at one of their high-end mainboard the X8DA3 with an onboard LSI Raid.  Tie this in with a pair of Intel Extreme 32GB Intel Enterprise SSD's configured into Raid 0 and watch the results like you have never seen before.

For the in depth look at how it performed please click here.
15th Oct 2009

NVIDIA® Quadro FX1800   Grand successor of the Quadro FX1700, what's under the hood, is it faster, more CUDA Cores.   A few of the questions many will be asking.   Today sees out first proper look at this mainstay bread and butter professional graphics card for NVIDIA

So how did it really perform, please click here just to find out that little bit more.

1st Oct 2009 Following on from the great new outing seen of the Lynnfield CPU, todays little offering is that of Intel's™ FoxHollow Server, Grosse Point Server Mainboard (S3420GPLX) and Intel® Xeon® 3470 Processor.   But wait it does not stop there.  Introducing Western Digitals new 2TB RE4 7200RPM Drive.  Is this the winning formula that Small business so desperately needs.

For the complete in depth look at all please click here
9th Sept 2009 Once more we now see a significant change in areas with Intel's new offerings from the Nehalem family and enter the Lynnfield variant.   Turbo Boost settings of 3.6GHz.  Three new P55 mainboards to support the CPU's.   Choice for all in upgrading with a bang.

How did these new offerings from Intel perform then please click here to see what unfolded.
1st Sept 2009 THE MOST ROBUST DESKTOP PRODUCT WD HAS BUILT

WD (NYSE: WDC) today announced that it is now shipping desktop 2 TB 7200 RPM hard drives and is qualifying with OEMs enterprise-class hard drives based on WD’s 500 gigabytes-per-platter technology. The popular family of WD Caviar Black drives, now led by the new 2 TB capacity, is perfect for gaming, high-performance desktop systems and workstations; while the WD RE4 2 TB is suited for servers, network attached storage and storage networks.

High-performance hard drives by an industry leader in performance, WD Caviar Black and WD RE4 2 TB drives combine 7200 RPM spin speed, 64 MB cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 3 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor to deliver ultimate performance in a maximum-capacity drive.


“WD Caviar Black 2 TB hard drives maximise the features and functionality of power computing applications such as gaming, photo editing, user generated multimedia and video,” said Jim Morris, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s client storage systems. “With the selection of WD Caviar Black hard drives, WD desktop customers receive the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability that is required for intense desktop computing.”

“Specifically designed for enterprise-class applications, WD’s RE4-GP 2 TB drives incorporate the best combination of features, optimum performance, and superior reliability that customers have come to expect from WD,” said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of enterprise storage solutions for WD. “Our enterprise products are directly aimed at customers who require additional features and extensive testing that are necessary for high-end enterprise environments.”
  Introducing the Western Digital 2TB Black 3 1/2" Hard Drive

WD Caviar Black drives combine a high performance electronics architecture with a rock solid mechanical architecture to deliver the perfect storage solution for your fully-loaded PC or maxed out gaming machine. Cool drive operation, no-touch head technology, leading-edge vibration protection ensure enhanced reliability. And we back it all up with a 5-year warranty.

Product Features

High Performance Electronics Architecture

Dual processor — Twice the processing power to maximize performance.

Colossal cache — Bigger, faster cache of up to 64 MB means faster performance.

Rock Solid Mechanical Architecture

• Dual actuator technology — A head positioning system with two actuators that improves positional accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses a piezoelectric motor to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy. (2 TB only)

StableTrac™ — The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations. (750 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB models only)

NoTouch ramp load technology — The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media, as well as better drive protection in transit.

Massive Capacity — WD Caviar Black SATA drives are available in capacities up to 2 TB.

Compatible — We perform tests on hundreds of systems and a multitude of platforms in our FIT Lab™ and Mobile Compatibility Lab to give our customers confidence that our drives will work in their systems.

5-year limited warranty

A huge amount of data has arrived, so for now a brief introduction above.  A more detailed look is to follow over the next few days.  Though we have to add, the 1TB Black was awesome, just how much faster is the 2TB Black, we will have to wait and see.   Though for now the inert feeling is FAST.   To read up on Western Digitals new drive, pop over to their website and gather a few more details. 

Price and Availability

The WD Caviar Black 2 TB GB (model WD2001FASS) hard drives are available through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Caviar Black 2 TB drive is £232.00. The WD RE4 2 TB (model WD2003FYYS) drive is currently being qualified by OEMs. Both drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty. More information about WD Caviar Black 2 TB desktop hard drives may be found on the company's Web site at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=733 and the WD RE4 2 TB enterprise hard drives at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=732

Yes the clocks a ticking and this will be good.

12th Aug 2009 Every now and again something really good sneaks into the test labs here and today is no different.  Into the limelight and stopping the show is Intel's new offering the WX58BP (Banroof Point) supporting the Intel® Xeon® Processor 3500 series and, for the impatient a maximum of 16GB of 1333MHz ECC memory.   Therefore we have on paper another mainboard that just could fulfill the requirements of the bold who construct these masterpieces so many take for granted.

For the complete look into this new workstation mainboard featuring its first entry to the world wide web and in conjunction with the first ever showing of ATI's new FirePro V7750 professional graphics card.  How did they all perform together.  Then click here to find out and be somewhat taken by surprise.
28th July 09 Its been a few weeks since our last outing when we exclusively revealed Boston Limited's Venom System.   Today and in our usual fashion, once more two exclusives. 

First out the door and this will catch many analysts and the likes completely off guard we showcase ATI's new CrossFire Pro
Technology.  Yes the power of Two and the Choice of many.  What does it all mean.  Has life in the fast lane just got faster?

Well for a complete breakdown of our article then please see here.
  Our second exclusive of the day sees the announcement of the new ATI FirePro V8750.  2GB of DDR5, 115GB/s bandwidth, and at a snip of the cost.

How does this little rascal perform, then please click here to discover.
23rd June 09

Boston Limited announce Venom F1000-4 HPC Solution

1U compute platform optimised with 4 AMD FireStream™ compute accelerators

HAMBURG, Germany, June 23 2009 -- Boston Limited launch and showcase their highly optimised CPU & GPU compute solution based around AMD’s next generation FireStream GPU technologies in conjunction with one of the SS6016XT series servers from Super Micro Computer, Inc.  (NASDAQ: SMCI).

Unveiled at ISC’09 (International Supercomputing Conference), Boston’s Venom F1000-4 system features four AMD FireStream 9250 compute accelerators offering up to 4 TERAFLOPs of computational power. With each card operating at less than 120W and all fitted in a 1U form factor, the Boston Venom F1000-4 displays incredible performance per watt in a remarkable density.

In addition to four AMD FireStream 9250 cards, the 1U Venom still has one card slot free allowing professional users to add a high performance network card such as an Infiniband controller or 10Gb Ethernet card. The solution already hosts system management as standard via on-board IPMI 2.0 with additional KVM Over LAN.  Further expansion options are provided via three hot-swap hard drive bays, Dual GbE controllers and a slim DVD. The whole system is driven by a 93% efficient 1400W power supply, which has attained the highly coveted Gold Level rating.

“Our 6016XT SuperServers feature four full-height, full-length PCI-Express x16 slots and one low-profile slot to support up to five PCI-Express 2.0 add-on cards," said Dev Tyagi, General Manager of Supermicro UK. "With highly reliable thermal optimization monitoring and control, and industry-leading power efficiency, Supermicro has developed the world’s most optimized GPU-based server platforms for the HPC community."

Boston
’s implementation features 4 AMD FireStream 9250 GPUs with each GPU capable of providing up to a staggering 1 TeraFLOP of performance and more than 200 gigaflops raw double precision performance. “It is ideal for the most demanding compute-intensive and data-parallel tasks,” said Manoj Nayee, Managing Director of Boston Limited. “The F1000 is an ideal and highly power efficient solution suitable for various industry segments including financial analytics, seismic analysis, life sciences and computer aided engineering”.

“By taking advantage of AMD’s leadership in performance per watt Stream computing, and the phenomenal compute power of 800 Stream Processors per AMD FireStream 9250 card, Boston have engineered an excellent 1U solution with 4-Teraflop performance” said Robert Jamieson, EMEA Marketing Manager Workstation Graphics.

Boston’s CPU / GPU offerings span a range of 1U, 2U, and 4U configurations providing customers with a range of optimized and affordable choices.

About Boston Limited
Founded in 1992 Boston Limited has built up an exceptional reputation within the IT trade by supplying the latest in high performance technology backed up by unrivalled in-house pre and post sales technical expertise. Boston Ltd prides itself in the meticulous engineering of cutting edge Supermicro based server, workstation and storage solutions that are offered with Climate Neutral and Worldwide Warranty support options. For further details visit www.boston.co.uk or e-mail
sales@boston.co.uk.

16th June 2009 Eight months down the line we now see the dawning of time and a new revolution of a speed step faster with the new i7 975 processor bringing a new fabled speed of 3.33GHz.However, within the professional benchmarking community we are tied to stock speeds.  With this in mind, just how much performance is to be gained from this magnificent new CPU from Intel.

Please click here for the complete article
8th June 2009 It has been a while since a unit has come in to us directly from distribution for review. Therefore with the advent of AMD's new 6 Core Opteron was presented to us in a completed bundle by Boston it did save us a huge amount of time with build and initial burn in tests.   The sleek Supermicro black chassis supporting the  Supermicro H8DAI mainboard based upon NVIDIA's MCP 55 Chipset certainly has the bundled storage abilities and upgrade paths which will keep most end users happy for a long time to come.

Did the Venom from this beast have the required toxin to maintain our attention.  Please click here for the complete article.
31st May 2009 *Exclusive Interview* with Mr. Charles Liang C.E.O. and Co-Founder of Supermicro

As many know the boss from here travels the world extensively on business, talking to many when he can.  On a recent trip he sat down in direct face to face interview with Mr. Charles Liang the C.E.O. and Co-Founder of Supermicro.  Our relationship here with Supermicro goes back now some 12 years, therefore a huge degree of trust with the company has been built.  Therefore from this interview what came out?   There are many interesting points within the interview that give you the reader a very good idea of what to expect soon as the clues are there.

For the complete detailed account of the visit and interview please click here.
21st May 09

Golden Era for Supermicro Green Storage Solutions

Gold Level (93%+ efficiency*) 1200-watt Redundant Power Supplies

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 21, 2009 - Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), a leader in application-optimized, high-performance server solutions, today announced that its latest generation of enhanced, high-capacity storage chassis with Gold Level certified 1200-watt redundant power supplies are shipping in volume. These chassis feature Supermicro's advanced cooling subsystem designs to deliver optimal system efficiency and TCO by reducing customers' energy bills.  

More information can be found on our Press Release page or directly from Supermicro's website here http://www.supermicro.com/newsroom/pressreleases/2009/press052109.cfm

14th May 09 Supermicro Creates Dual GPU, 1U Server Architecture

World's Fastest Non-Blocking PCI-E Gen2 GPU Product Line to be Unveiled

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 13, 2009
- Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), a leader in application-optimized, high performance server solutions, announced today that it has designed a new, non-blocking architecture for 1U multi-GPU (graphics processing unit) systems. Supermicro is rolling out an entire family of GPU systems, starting with a 1U server that integrates two enterprise-class GPUs as well as 2U/4-GPU and 4U/4-GPU models. Strategic customer sampling is beginning now with production expected in early June.

"To address the requirements for this emerging high-performance, highly-parallel computing segment, Supermicro has developed the world's first truly optimized GPU servers,"
said Charles Liang, CEO and President of Supermicro. "Advancements such as multiple x16 non-blocking native Gen2 PCI-Express connectivity, highly reliable thermal optimization, and industry-leading power efficiency establish Supermicro as a global IT hardware leader in architecture, performance and green computing. These platforms feature new Gold level (93% efficiency) power subsystems and deliver breakthrough performance-per-watt."

This new family of highly parallel, multi-core, multi-GPU systems is an exceptional choice for a wide range of graphics and computationally intensive applications in fields like medical imaging, oil and gas exploration, quantum chemistry, financial simulation, 3D ultrasound and astrophysics. In general, these system are expected to make the fastest teraflop clusters much more affordable and accessible for researchers throughout the world.
13th May 2009 January saw the launch of Western Digitals 2TB GP Drive.  Keeping up the pace within the industry they quickly launched their 2TB Enterprise drive a few weeks back.   Today we have a good look at the drive as a Single Disc and within Raid 1 which is one of the main configurations enterprise drives of this nature would be found.

How did it perform, then click here to be amazed.

15th Apr 2009 Two weeks ago we had a swift look into NVIDIA'S new offering of the Quadro® FX3800 and promised you an exclusive very soon.  The dawning of time arrived and today we look into what this little rascal can actual do.  Is it fast and does it perform.  To find out all these answers and more please click here to see what we have unleashed.
  SPEC delivers blade server power-performance metric

SPEC introduces new capabilities with SPECpower_ssj2008 V1.10  

More information please see our press release section
9th Apr 09 Less than 10 days ago we caught you all completely unawares with our mighty launch below of Intel's new Nehalem-EP et al.  Today we follow up very swiftly with a new addition to the pack, Supermicro's offering of the X8DAi Workstation mainboard based upon the Tylersburg chipset.  How fast is fast, then take a good look at just what has been achieved, if you thought our last outing below was fast - then meet faster still.

On a foot note, what is next - then be fully prepared to be completely blown away.

For our full in depth report of this professional workstation mainboard please click here and be prepared........

30th Mar 09 The dawning of time is now upon us, its a new evolutionary beginning and the long awaited new era of Workstation Xeon's, Workstation Platforms and Servers from Intel have finally arrived. The shattering Intel® Nehalem-EP Processor. Much anticipation of this new arrival has been awed at the briefings those of you that have attended behind the closed doors.

Please remember to check out the exclusive bonus pages at the end of both the new offerings from both ATI's FirePro V7750 and the NVIDIA Quadro FX3800 

How has the Intel® Nehalem-EP Processor performed within the professional graphic's arena, please click here to see what we uncovered.
30th Mar 09

NVIDIA Quadro FX3800

Its been a long time in coming but the dawning of time is upon us.  Banging right out the starters gate today we have a brief preview on The NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800.

More information please click here
10th Mar 09 *Exclusive* Q & A with Janet Matsuda, Senior Director Professional Graphics AMD (ATI)
17th Feb 09 Having already investigated Supermicro's X8SAX Workstation mainboard today we turn our attention to their new C7X58 Multimedia i7 Variant.   A bold move into this heavily populated market, though with the engineering skills to hand this should be an amazing first outing.

How did it fair; please click here to read our in depth report.
7th Jan 09 Last year we saw the first outing of Western Digitals Caviar® Green™ 1TB Hard Disc.   A complete year has passed and we see these discs being used in many different solutions.  Today we move up a gear and behold the 2TB version of the Caviar® Green™ hits the fore of modern technology.  How does this huge beast perform has to be one of the few questions sitting on many lips.

How did it perform, click here for our exclusive outing to see 
7th Jan 09 mATX Mainboards most certainly have their places within the professional community, especially those who are pushed for space.   A new solution hot of the press from MSI may just be another added bonus to SI's and OEM's alike.

Experience HD playback via onboard DisplayPort with

MSI G41M-FIDP motherboard
 

Today MSI announces its first motherboard with onboard DisplayPort. MSI G41M-FIDP is based on Intel G41 Express chipset with GMA X4500 graphics and Clear Video Technology. It provides smooth HD playback, supporting the DisplayPort or DVI output with 7.1 channel HD audio. MSI G41M series is also equipped with Firewire and DVI ports. Unlike some other boards, MSI G41M-FIDP’s PCI express x16 VGA runs at ‘true’ x16 speed, to fully benefit the available bandwidth.

The first with DisplayPort

MSI G41M-FIDP is the first motherboard with onboard DisplayPort digital output. DisplayPort is the next generation digital output which is optimized for the personal computer. It delivers twice the performance compared to DVI. Users can easily convert its output with a dongle to HDMI or DVI. It also supports HDCP and is compatible with all video outputs. “MSI G41M-FIDP is the best solution for end-user’s everyday HD content computing.” says Jason Lee, Desktop Marketing Manager of MSI.

Intel GMA X4500 graphics

MSI G41M-FIDP motherboard with onboard Intel GMA X4500 graphics supports HD Video. Compared to previous generation Intel graphics, MSI G41M-FIDP with GMA X4500 graphics offers smooth and more detailed HD playback on video. It also offers more efficient 3D graphics for casual gaming with DX10 support. With the hardware decoding acceleration in X4500, MSI G41M-FIDP enables users to play a Blu-ray movie with lower CPU utilization.

Product SKU’s

There are several product SKU’s in the MSI G41M series:

 We hope to see one here pretty soon, so watch these spaces......

29th Dec 08 Professional Graphic 64 Bit tests on Supermicro's X8SAX have been completed.  More information please see here
11th Dec 08 X58 chipset and i7 CPU's which have caused an almighty storm within all walks of life.   The professional community biting hard at the bit waiting patiently for the Dual variant to come forth - well that's not too far around the corner now least we thinks.   We knew up on the horizon that Supermicro had something very interesting coming forth with its X8SAX variant of the X58.   Therefore for those wishing to take that upgrade path now embracing the complete advantage of Intel's new offering of the i7 and X58. Look no further.   Here is the gold standard.

For a complete look at this article please click here or on the URL above
3rd Dec 08 Take 3 state of the art systems.  Add into the mix one new NVIDIA Quadro® FX4800 bulging in with 1.5GB of memory and a very cleverly clocked GPU and DDR3 memory.  Most importantly supporting the new 55nm core process or for some the GT200GL supporting some 1.4Billion transistors, so this should in actual theory see some massive improvements upon it predecessor the Quadro® FX4600 with the clever implementation of it's 192 CUDA processing cores.    

Give it all a good mix about on the 3 Test Systems and yes, The Lean Green Fighting Machine - Its Back. Click on the URL for our full review and results
17th Nov 08 Supermicro's new SUPER X8SAX X58 High Performance Workstation Mainboard is about to land tomorrow.  A sneak look at some of the mainboards features and of course a picture. 
 
  • Intel® Core™ i7 Processor
  • Intel® X58 and ICH10R
  • Integrated Memory Controller Hub
  • 24GB of DDR3 ECC or non-ECC UNB at 1333/1066/800 MHz
  • 2 PCI-E 2.0 X16, 1 X4 in X8 Slot
  • 2 PCI-X 133/100 Slots
  • 1 32-bit PCI Slot
  • 6 SATA ports with Raid 0, 1, 5 and 10 Configurations
  • 12 USB 2.0 (8 in Rear)
  • Onboard HD 7.1 Audio
  • 2 Intel 82574L G/Bit LAN controllers
  • 2 IEEE 1394a headers
  • ATX Format 12" X 10"
 

  A full review on the board will be completed very soon with some interesting components, so watch these spaces for more information.
3rd Nov 08 Intel's i7 965EE Has Landed with ATI's FirePro V8700.   For months now the internet has been abuzz with what Intel's new i7 CPU has to bring.  Turbo Boost and Triple Channel Memory to name but a few.  The list is endless, but what's the true actual performance really like.  Amazing is the word that springs to mind.  But to make this a little more different we see today also the exclusive first look at ATI's Ultra High End Professional Card the FirePro V8700.  Together the two items combined have made here the fastest stock single socket Workstation about. 

How did they perform together, well read here for our exclusive first looks.
14th Oct 08 LSI's MegaRAID SAS 8888ELP Card.  The debate on is Raid 1 better and faster than a single drive. 

For more information please click here and watch those numbers unfold like you have never would imagined.
5th Sept 08 *Exclusive* Intel® 80GB X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive Review.

Whilst everyone was away at the last IDF, we had time to sit down and properly look at Intel's latest offering which had the IDF
audiences in whow at just how fast the new 80GB SSD from Intel was.

For a complete look at this please click here or on the URL above;
Intel® 80GB X25-M Mainstream SATA Solid-State Drive
 

 

 

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