Digital Storm's Davinci workstation gets down with Core i7-980X, Quadro graphics

Creative professional. Hear that much? If that's how this all-too-structured world views you, you just might be due a new rig -- particularly if you're thinking of stepping into 4K territory. Digital Storm is offering up a rather unique solution in its Davinci, which opts for a 3.33GHz Core i7-980X Extreme Edition (yeah, that new Intel chip) instead of a more traditional Xeon. You'll still get an NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 (768MB) GPU, 12GB of DDR3 memory, Windows 7 Processional and one of the nicer liquid cooling systems that we've seen, which may or may not be enough to sneak a little Crysis in between edits. Too bad the base price base rings up at $4,995, but look, that next indie film you're producing is totally hitting it big.

[Hazdaz Posted Mar 21st 2010 7:49PM]

@sydcinema

I so want to hear what software you run that runs a supposed 10X faster.

Cuz it sure as hell isn't CAD software. Nor is it DCC 3D modeling software. Video editing neither.

If you are seeing anything more than a negligible speed difference between a high-end "gaming" card and any "pro" card then it sure as hell isn't set up correctly.

You are doing it wrong.

[sydcinema Posted Mar 21st 2010 9:50PM]

@Hazdaz tell you what, you stay in your industry, I'll stay in mine... If you worked in my field, you'd know the driver and the support that comes with it is everything. Once you're done staring into the virtual IT mirror of self satisfaction, you'll notice I said it has a performance boost, not that it runs 10X faster. It has nothing to do with rendering, exporting, importing, etc. although the newer hardware does support much of that, I don't use that part of it. If you do what I do, you'd know what that means. It means my After Effects, Combustion and similar programs will create previews in the realm of 10X faster than a gaming card. No waiting 2 seconds to see what the garbage matte will do when I click from frame to frame. It also means less occurrences of a crash, because some dudes at Nvidia spent more time with the drivers than the dudes on the gaming side did. In my realm, that is insanely useful, and well worth the premium. I've sat two computers side by side and done the comparisons. My previews in every program I use, 3D, compositing, whatever else, can run that much faster, depending on how optimized the driver is for my software. The final product is exported to a render farm. The sooner I can see what the final product looks like, the sooner it's handed off. That is where these cards do their work, and why we use them. Go back to your snarky cubby hole and find another insult, because repeating the ones I've already used shows very little trolling initiative

[Hazdaz Posted Mar 22nd 2010 7:43AM]

@sydcinema

It's just flat out pathetic when people use money to cover their ignorance.

Very, very sad.

[sydcinema Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:09PM]

@Hazdaz well that's a little better trolling, at least you didn't repeat what I said... The point is moot as what you failed to do is put forth even a remotely convincing argument that these cards are not worth the extra charge that's tacked on, which I can only reach the conclusion that you have no idea how they work.

[Hazdaz Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:51PM]

@sydcinema

Clearly, reading comprehension is not your forte... and neither is computer technology. You must have missed the part where I clearly stated that EVERY "pro" card is based on a "gaming" GPU but with slightly tweaked drivers and some extra cooling. Oh yeah, and maybe some "cool decals" to make people that don't know anything about computer hardware think that they are actually fast. "Oh look, racing stripes!"

:rolleyes:

Anyone in the industry that is more than just a button-pusher should learn a thing of two about the software and hardware that they run to do their job. Those people know that "pro" cards are a scam that offer no real speed benefit and a horrible price/performance ratio. There are countless stories on tons of forums and blogs across the internets of true professions retelling the same story - they too foolishly thought that they "needed" a pro card to run XYZ software. After dropping an obscene amount of money on said card, they found out that it runs their software no better or faster than someone else's $300 gaming card. But by all means, continue with your ignorance because the ridiculous profit-margins that Nvidia and ATi make off of people like you, help fund their research into faster GPUs that will be bought by people like me for a fraction of the price.


A fool and his money are soon parted.

[AlienSix Posted Mar 21st 2010 3:48PM]

What do you get with Windows 7 Processional

What music comes with it?

[DeFlanko Posted Mar 21st 2010 4:23PM]

@AlienSix

LMAO i saw it too...

[Prevacator Posted Mar 21st 2010 3:59PM]

As much as I love Digital Storm for its gaming computers, Velocity Micro makes THE BEST workstation computers by far. Seriously, if you don't believe me go to the site and look up their HPC section. Put in some Dual-Xeon processors and about 6 Tesla cards.

Easily 40,000 dollars+

[dMn Posted Mar 21st 2010 4:29PM]

The white sides really do make the Corsair Obsidian 800D stand out.

[FamiCube64 Posted Mar 21st 2010 5:35PM]

Watercooling in a real-work computer? Lol.

[corei7 Posted Mar 21st 2010 5:59PM]

That 12GB of memory is a waste if you're not running 64-bit Windows 7.

[Jordo1234 Posted Mar 21st 2010 6:21PM]

@corei7
Um yeah, pretty sure they would have thought of that in the design of
the computer, saying it has 12GB pretty much implies its going to run 64 Bit

[pizzaboy Posted Mar 21st 2010 8:05PM]

When I was researching prices for my high-end CAD workstation, I checked Digital Storm, Velocity Micro and Xi Computer.
For the same speced computer, Xi Computer had much lower prices than the other two. Xi Computer also as excellent customer ratings and I am completely satisfied with my purchase. I recommend getting a 128GB SSD card as the primary drive and a 2TB hard drive as the data drive.

[AlwaysThere Posted Mar 22nd 2010 1:49PM]

@pizzaboy

You're right about XI. I built a computer comparable to the one that I bought from Digital Storm and it's $300 cheaper. However, Digital Storm is a local company so I'm happy that I supported them.

[huffy15 Posted Mar 21st 2010 8:08PM]

cheap quadro card and a bit expensive too

[aricCaedmonSoftware Posted Mar 21st 2010 10:51PM]

@Engadget Editors

Typo in your article, processional is supposed to be professional - right?

[tbonet Posted Mar 22nd 2010 9:53AM]

If I'm paying that much for a computer, I had better be getting Windows 7 Ultimate. This computer is like sticking street tires on a dragster.

[Tidal Posted Mar 22nd 2010 12:11PM]

Props for the Swiftech waterblock in there. Love their products. The water cooling is probably the cheapest part of that system, $75 waterblock, $50 radiator, assuming reservoir and not T line - $30-50, decent pump $75. About $250, need more pics to really get a price though. Also, why the hell isn't the Quadro water cooled? for that money I expect a block on that baby, and one on the Motherboard as well.