***Civil War: PCs vs. Workstations
by David Lohse
The most fiercely debated topic at this year's SIGGRAPH is evident from
the inflammatory title of the panel discussion that was its focal point:
"Graphics PCs Will Put Workstation Graphics in the Smithsonian"
This issue, which was probably the most oft-heard topic of discussion on
the show floor, came to a boiling point near the end of the conference at
the panel discussion featuring panel members from Sun, SGI, S3 and
Microsoft. The panelists were well chosen, allowing the discussion to
remain lively, informative and entertaining, as they traded scathing
barbs throughout. The meeting was held in the conference's largest hall,
and was the only SRO event of the week - obviously the issue has the
attention of many.
Until now, graphics workstations (read: SGI) have completely dominated
the serious graphics content development market. However, advances in PC
technology, lowering prices, and new PC tools over the last several years
have made it possible to create relatively high-end content on high-end
models of PCs. The focus for this PC market is Windows NT-based PCs,
which offer a 32-bit operating system and advanced features such as
symmetric multiprocessing, multitasking and security.
Both sides of the panel (S3 and Microsoft vs. Sun and SGI) made
convincing arguments, leaving no clear answer to the issue at hand.
Basically the PC side argued that PCs are already beginning to erode the
previously workstation-dominated low end of the market, and will soon
enter and then dominate the mid-level as well, eventually obviating the
need for workstations at all. Their arguments were based on the lower
price point of the PC, and the advantages they have due to innovation in
a diverse marketplace. In response, the workstation side countered by
claiming that workstations are and always will be at the cutting edge of
graphics technology, and will remain the leaders by providing technology
for the "very best" content creation, while PCs will remain tools for the
"less serious" content developers at the lower end of the spectrum.
Although the issue is far from resolved, it obvious on the show floor
that the PC graphics market is indeed flourishing and getting the
attention of many content developers. Nearly 10 independent vendors of
"graphics PCs" were highly visible, including:
Intergraph, which debuted new models in their StudioZ line, which
start at $25,195 for a 200 MHz Pentium Pro configuration with 64 MB
RAM and the Z10 accelerator up to the $58,820 quad 200 MHz Pentium
Pro with 256 MB RAM and the Z25 accelerator; RenderGL, their library
of extensions to OpenGL; and Reactor, a new add-in 3D game card;
NeTpower, which debuted the Calisto, a "fully configured texture-
mapped 3D graphics workstation" for $4,995, featuring a 200 MHz
Pentium Pro, 32 MB EDO RAM (expandable to 256 MB), as well as an SGI
buy-back program; the Symetra, which includes dual 200 MHz Pentium
Pro processors, 32 MB EDO RAM and their TrueFX Pro texture-mapped
OpenGL accelerator for $6,695; and
Deskstation, which debuted the industry's first Alpha-based
multiprocessor configuration, the Raptor Renegade, based on the Alpha
21164 processor (with clock speeds up to 500 MHz) and starting at
$18,000 for single processor models and $25,000 for dual processor
models.
Wave Issue 9605 8/12/96 Article 4-01