Newsgroups: biz.dec.decnews Path: gmd.de!rrz.uni-koeln.de!unidui!math.fu-berlin.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!uunet!decwrl!pa.dec.com!rjones From: decnews-unix@pa.dec.com Message-ID: <9309202248.AA05558@raptor.pa.dec.com> Approved: rjones@pa.dec.com Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Subject: ZLX Graphics Accelerators Details Sender: rjones@usenet.pa.dec.com Date: Mon, 20 Sep 93 15:48:53 -0700 X-Received: by usenet.pa.dec.com; id AA15849; Mon, 20 Sep 93 15:48:55 -0700 X-Received: by raptor.pa.dec.com; id AA05558; Mon, 20 Sep 93 15:48:54 -0700 X-To: biz.dec.decnews.usenet Lines: 204 ZLX Graphics Accelerators Details HIGHLIGHTS o Industry leading mid-range 2D/3D graphics price/performance o Available on DEC OSF/1 via DEC Open3D Version 2.1 in Q2FY94 o Upgrades to ZLX family to be available in Q2FY94 OVERVIEW The ZLX graphics accelerator family offers industry leading price/ performance for mid-range 2D/3D graphics. There are two models in the ZLX family: ZLX-M1 and ZLX-M2. The combination of these new graphics accelerator with DEC 3000 AXP workstations provides customers with the best price/performance 3D workstations in the $20,000 to $35,000 price band. The ZLX family rounds out Digital's complete solution set for 3D graphics, offering industry leading performance at all price points from low to high end. Upgrades to the ZLX family will be available at an attractive price. These upgrades are attractive for the following cases: 1. Customer who already own one of Digital's 3D graphics accelerators (PXG, PXG+, PXG Turbo, PXG Turbo+). In most cases, these are DECstation customers who want to move to Alpha AXP technology and state-of-the-art graphics. 2. Customers who need to take immediate delivery of a 3D workstation from Digital but want a guaranteed upgrade path to the ZLX family. Part numbers and pricing for these upgrades will be included in a future issue of DECnews for UNIX. CUSTOMER BENEFITS The combination of the excellent graphics price/performance of the ZLX graphics accelerators with the industry leading CPU price/performance of the Alpha AXP workstation family offers users of these systems increased user productivity, improved time to market, and reduced product defects. COMPETITIVE COMPARISON The following tables shows how 3D workstations with ZLX graphics accelerators from Digital compare to those from major workstation competitors. Table 1: $20K-$25K 3D workstations DEC 3000 HP9000 SGI Indigo SPARCstation Model 300 Model 715/50 R4000 LX ZLX-M1 CRX24Z XZ ========= ========= ============ ============== Price $19,995 $22,995 $23,000 $19,995 Display 19" color 19" color 19" color 19" color Memory 32 MB 16 MB 16 MB 32 MB Disk 1.05 GB 525 MB 432 MB 1.05 GB SPECint92 66.2 35.3 57 26.4 SPECfp92 91.5 72.1 61 21.0 2D vec/sec 700K 605K NR NR 3D vec/sec 700K 680K 540K 750K 3D tris/sec 200K NR 100K NR 3D quads/sec 100K 65K 45K 125K Table 2: $25K-$35K 3D workstations DEC 3000 HP9000 SGI Indigo SPARCstation Model 400 Model 725 R4400 Model 10/40 ZX ZLX-M2 CRX48Z Elan ========= ========= ============ ============== Price $29,870 $34,495 $35,000 $28,745 Display 19" color 19" color 19" color 20" color Memory 32 MB 32 MB 16 MB 32 MB Disk 1.05 GB 1.0 GB 432 MB 1.05 GB SPECint92 74.7 35.3 82 53.2 SPECfp92 112.5 72.1 86 63.4 2D vec/sec 1.4M 803K NR NR 3D vec/sec 1.4M 1.0M 1.0M 750K 3D tris/sec 295K NR 180K NR 3D quads/sec 140K 80K 88K 125K Footnotes: 1. NR = not reported by the vendor 2. 2D vectors/sec are based on X11perf "10 pixel lines" test 3. 3D vectors/sec are 10 pixel, connected, flat shaded, Z buffered and clip checked 4. 3D triangles/sec are 50 pixel, strips, gouraud shaded, lit and Z buffered 5. 3D quads/sec are 100 pixel, independent. gouraud shaded, lit and Z buffered PRICING/ORDERING/AVAILABILITY INFORMATION The ZLX family is available initially only on DEC OSF/1 AXP. DEC Open3D Version 2.1 for DEC OSF/1 AXP is a prerequisite, as is the DEC OSF/1 AXP Version 1.3 operating system. When ordering, if the DEC Open3D license is not included with the workstation, the license must be ordered separately. The ZLX family is not supported on the DECstation product family. DEC Open3D Version 2.1 for DEC OSF/1 AXP does not support the OpenGL server extension in the ZLX graphics server software. Customers who need OpenGL should purchase one of the PXG family accelerators, which support OpenGL as of DEC Open3D Version 2.0 for DEC OSF/1 AXP. Support for OpenGL on the ZLX family is planned for a future release of DEC Open3D. Availability on DEC OSF/1 AXP is planned for Q2FY94. Part number Description USCLP Std ----------- --------------------------------------- ------ ------ PMAGC-AA ZLX-M1, 24 pl, 24Z, 72 Hz $ 8,000 $8,324 PMAGC-BA ZLX-M2, 24 pl, 24Z, 72 Hz $12,000 $12,480 SERVICES Standard Digital hardware and software product services are offered for both the ZLX family hardware and the DEC Open3D software. TECHNICAL DATA The ZLX graphics accelerator family is based on a new graphics architecture designed to support high performance 2D and 3D graphics. ZLX graphics use state-of-the-art semiconductor technology to provide industry leading mid-range graphics price/performance. In addition to supporting standard 3D primitives such as gouraud shaded triangles, the ZLX family provides hardware support for more advanced graphics objects and techniques such as anti-aliased vectors, accumulation buffering, texture mapping and stereo viewing. The stereo viewing feature, which requires special hardware (including a "stereo ready" monitor) available from StereoGraphics Corporation, provides an effect similar to "3D glasses" used at movies where the objects appear to jump out of the screen at you. Many 3D applications use this feature to enhance the realism of the 3D viewing experience. The ZLX server provided as part of DEC Open3D Version 2.1 for DEC OSF/1 AXP supports X11R5, PEX V5.1, the MIT multibuffering extension, and new Digital-specific extensions to access the overlay planes and stereo viewing capability. The OpenGL extension is not supported in the ZLX server in DEC Open3D Version 2.1. A planned future release of DEC Open3D for DEC OSF/1 AXP will support the OpenGL extension in the ZLX server. There are two ZLX models: ZLX-M1 and ZLX-M2. The following table describes the important characteristics of the ZLX family. ZLX-M1 ZLX-M2 ------------ ------------- Number of TURBOchannel slots 2 3 Supported workstations DEC 3000 Model 500X DEC 3000 Model 500X DEC 3000 Model 500 DEC 3000 Model 500 DEC 3000 Model 400 DEC 3000 Model 400 DEC 3000 Model 300 Resolution/refresh <-------- 1280x1024, 72 or 66 Hz -------> Supported monitors <-- 72 Hz. monitors: VRT19-H*, VRT16-H*-> <-- 66 Hz. monitors: VRT19-D*, VRT16-D*-> Total graphics memory 4M pixels 8M pixels Frame buffer depth <------------- 24 planes ---------------> # of simultaneous colors <------------- 16.7M -------------------> Double buffering <-------------- 24+24 ------------------> Hardware Z buffer <-------------- 24-bit -----------------> Color maps <-2 writable PseudoColor or DirectColor-> <--1 16 entry PseudoColor overlay map --> < Any number of TrueColor and GreyScale-> Overlay planes <----------------- 4-bit----------------> Stereo ready? <------------- Yes ---------------------> Performance: 2D vectors/sec: 700K 1.4M 3D vectors/sec: 700K 1.4M 3D triangles/sec: 200K 295K 3D quads/sec: 100K 140K Notes: 1. 2D vectors/sec are based on X11perf "10 pixel lines" test 2. 3D vectors/sec are 10 pixel, connected, flat shaded, Z buffered and clip checked 3. 3D triangles/sec are 50 pixel, strips, gouraud shaded, lit and Z buffered 4. 3D quads/sec are 100 pixel, independent. gouraud shaded, lit and Z buffered RESOURCES Software Product Descriptions (SPD's): gatekeeper.dec.com: /pub/DEC/DECinfo/SPD/ 45.07.02 DEC Open3D Version 2.1 for DEC OSF/1 AXP Infosheets: gatekeeper.dec.com: /pub/DEC/infosheet/zlx-graphics-family.{txt,ps,ps.Z} Information on StereoGraphics stereo viewing hardware: Gary Fette at StereoGraphics (415) 459-4500 Trademarks ---------- OpenGL is a trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc.