Next Monday, Sun Microsystems Inc will turn its attention to the graphics market with new Sparcstation 10TurboGXplus, ZX and 10ZX models, which are pitched directly against Hewlett-Packard Co and Silicon Graphics Inc boxes. It will also add imaging and video subsystem technologies. The Sparcstation 10TurboGXplus effectively a Sparcstation 10 with a TurboGX Sbus accelerator offers double buffering, 1m two-dimensional vectors per second performance and 1,600 by 1,280 screen resolution. The box is aimed at mid- to low-end computer aided design and electronic design automation applications: prices start at $2,000 above the cost of a Sparcstation 10. The Sparcstation ZX is based on the existing LX unit and delivers a claimed performance of 290,000 triangle meshes per second. Sun says this outperforms the HP 9000 Model 715/33 24Z – at 100,000 – and Silicon Graphics Indigo XS/24’s 50,000. The Sparcstation 10ZX offers the same three-dimensional features as the ZX which is based on a Sparcstation 10 as opposed to an LX. The two are aimed at high-end applications including molecular modelling and scientific visualisation. As well as the Goraud shading, 24-bit double-buffered colour and Z-buffer, Sun says we should be impressed with its dynamic tessellation of NURBs. Apparently the system can dynamically alter the number of triangles used to render different parts of an object, using fewer triangles for less complex parts, enabling faster rendering and animation. The ZX and 10ZX use an accelerator that takes up two Sbus slots, and they are priced at from $20,000 and $28,750 respectively. Sun also has a new ASIC, code named SX that will be integrated into future workstation memory subsystems and deliver a claimed 100-fold performance benefit over current imaging workstations and Apple Computer Inc Macintosh systems. Sun says the ASIC, targeted at colour pre-press, satellite and medical imaging applications, will enable users to manipulate larger and more complex images. Eastman Kodak Co and Advanced Visualisation Systems Inc are using SX prototypes for conversion and testing. In addition, Sun is working on a new Sbus-based video compression board dubbed SunVideo that can capture and compress images at 30 frames per second, for low-cost digital video and multimedia applications.
