Cadalyst Magazine conducted a review in the summer of 2001 to reevaluate the importance of a second CPU in the modern CAD world. They invited 10 system builders to send workstations powered by dual-processor systems running at 1.2 GHz or faster.

Three stalwart finalists squared off in the magazine's review. While two of the three competitors were among the world's largest computer manufacturers, the third was Xi Computer, a small California outfit with 27 employees. Xi, with 14 years of experience, has built a reputation for high-end single and dual processor workstations and network servers. And Xi was hardly a stranger to high caliber competition, having ranked at or near the top of the price/performance curve in Cadalyst's major reviews of workstations for AutoCAD, dating back to 1992.

Nonetheless, Xi faced a stiff challenge by going against two workstations powered by twin 1.7 GHz processors. Xi had chosen to build its Xi 2400 MTower MP using 1.2GHz AMD Athlon™ MP processors.

The results of the test in the August Cadalyst demonstrate that megahertz alone does not necessarily produce better performance. Xi and its AMD Athlon MP processor- based system were awarded five out of five stars, sharing top honors for overall performance.

Robert Bragaglia, vice president of Marketing for Xi, was pleased but not surprised by the results. "Here was a third party review by a respected publication that, in my view, showed the clear architectural superiority of the AMD Athlon MP processor at 1.2GHz vs. the XEON 'Foster' at 1.7GHz. With the competence of Xi in the CAD arena and the strong deliverance of the AMD Athlon MP processor-based platform, we have a clear winner here."

To Bragaglia, the AMD-760MP chipset used with AMD Athlon MP processors is critical to overall system performance. "Based on our experience, the AMD 760 MP chipset has a superior dual processor architecture and uses DDR memory. None of the above is true for the competing dual processor platforms."

Bragaglia shares the view with many others that the AMD Athlon processor helped initiate a rapidly changing perception of AMD products. "I have seen customer perception change from 'who is AMD?' to 'I want AMD.' The AMD Athlon processor is still unique for its capacity to use DDR memory and the high-speed front side bus."

In the commercial environments of Xi's workstations, performance is critical, but so are other qualities. That's another area where AMD Athlon processors have augmented Xi Computer. "The AMD Athlon processor has benefited us as a top performing product to sell. Stability, compatibility and reliability are currently far above the acceptance level." Bragaglia said.

AMD appreciates the skill and entrepreneurial spirit of Xi Computer, which has proved itself a worthy opponent in a field of heavyweights. That's an environment AMD knows something about.

For details of Cadalyst Review: http://www.cadalyst.com/reviews/hardware/0801wkstn/xi.htm