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Alienware's MJ-12 7550a Workstation ($7906) is loaded with dual AMD Opteron 275 dual core processors and is also packing two NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 256 MB graphics cards. As we unpacked this behemoth, we wondered?what would happen if you strapped together four 64-bit processors and two of the most powerful graphics processing units available today, resulting in the third-millennium equivalent of a 40-mule team? With this kind of power, which impressed us as being nearly comical in its sheer audacity, we expected extraordinary performance. We were not disappointed.
We?ve seen a system similar to this before, the Boxx 7400 dual Opteron/dual core machine that we had on our test bench a couple of months ago. It was the fastest machine we?d ever tested, dusting the fastest Intel processor-packing boxes as well as the fastest Mac at the time. Of course, now that dual core technology has finally found its way to the Mac platform, we are eager to test the new G5 Quad box, but until we can get one of those here in the Midwest Test Facility, these dual core/dual Opteron boxes will have to do.
And a fine specimen this is from Alienware?the MJ-12 7550a is a formidable-looking beast with its all-black visage. No sir, there won?t be any of that trademark Alienware alien-headed monkey business going on here. This mutha is loaded for bear, and screams out, ?I mean business.? Nor can you choose from the rainbow of colors available on Alienware desktops?no, no, with its workstation line, Alienware will let you have any color you want, as long as it?s black.
Certainly the most distinctive feature of this box is not its appearance, but what?s packed inside. In a previous review, I?ve already extolled the virtues of the remarkable Opteron 275 dual core processors. Keep in mind, though, that AMD has now released the Opteron 280, which at 2.4 GHz is even faster than the 2.21 GHz 275 inside our test machine here, and which Alienware is now offering in its computers as well. We?ll be reviewing an HP machine with those processors soon, by the way.
Besides those dual-core CPUs, the most notable feature of this Alienware machine are its dual NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics cards plugged into two PCI Express slots. The things are so big that they actually take up three of the six available slots on board the Alienware Roswell 7500 motherboard. This is a formidable pair of graphics cards, which blew us away when we ran the 3D Mark benchmarks from Futuremark (you can try out the benchmark yourself ? download it free from Futuremark.com). The two cards, strapped together in an SLI configuration, scored an astonishing 10580 on the 3D Mark. If you?re familiar with this benchmark, your jaw?s dropping right about now. To give you some perspective, I loaded the 3D Mark onto a dual Xeon 3.6 machine with an ATI FireGL v3100 128 MB graphics card, and it scored a mere 1178. And that card is no slouch?it?s billed as a workstation-class graphics card itself. So, if you?re a gamer or animator and you?re looking for a blisteringly fast graphics setup, this rig will cost you an extra $3112 over the garden-variety NVIDIA Quadro FX 540 graphics card with 128 MB of RAM that Alienware is also offering inside this same machine. Nevertheless, you get what you pay for. It was a joy to see these two cards blasting through the 3D benchmarks faster than I?ve ever seen. If you?re as serious as gamers get, you might just want to consider dropping the three grand-plus on this exquisite hardware.
Also packed inside are two 74GB disks spinning at 10,000 RPM. Strapped together by an NVIDIA nForce RAID controller and striped RAID-0, these discs put in a respectable read speed of 64 MB per second, and an even-better write speed of 142 MB per second. Also inside the box were four 512 MB RAM sticks, Dual Channel DDR Registered ECC SDRAM running at 400MHz and occupying just half of the eight slots available. There are also plenty of fans, both on the case and on the processors, keeping things cool while not making too much of a racket. I like the way there are pieces of foam on the computer case door and in the floor of the case as well, also contributing to this workstation?s considerable quietude. It?s not as silent as some of the Dell workstations that have graced our Midwest Test Facility, but it?s certainly quiet enough to keep itself from being a distraction.
The case itself, while heavy-duty and subtly attractive, left something to be desired. The front of the case includes a door that streamlines the front of the computer, hiding its DVD/CD drives. The door is cleverly designed, where you can open it and fold it against the side of the computer case (see graphic below). However, there is a small door within the door in the bottom of that door that popped out as soon as I touched it when I was first unpacking the computer. It seems to be a cheap afterthought. On the plus side, behind that little door is a conveniently-located 1394 port, alongside two USB 2.0 ports and audio inputs and outputs.
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| The front door opens and then lies flat against the side of the case. |
When you want to get inside this computer, you?ll have to deal with a standard issue thumbscrew-opening PC door (incidentally, why can?t any PC in this world have a door that opens as easily as a Mac?s door? Is there some law against it?). After using my safecracking skills I?ve developed over many years of opening various PCs, I peered into the case, and immediately noticed how beautifully all the cabling is laid out, and how nice and tidy everything looks (see graphic below). Although it?s not that highly desirable tool-free configuration we?ve seen in a few other manufacturers? computers?you will need a screwdriver when you want to tinker around in there?it still is well-ventilated and leaves plenty of room for expansion.
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| (Click graphic for enlargement) The interior of the Alienware workstation is neatly laid out. |
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