IBM 3.2GHz IntelliStation M Pro
IBM has long bucked the trend of putting together a Windows workstation that's exactly like all the others. Because of its deep pool of technology talent, the company's workstations are known more for unique designs than a me-too type workstation from many of its competitors. Our IBM IntelliStation M Pro test machine is no exception. While it offers the latest in Intel Pentium 4 CPU technology, it also offers a variety of little tweaks that makes it a unique workstation in the market in which it competes. In the scope of this review, we'll take a look at some of the accoutrements that make up this $2,659 mid-tower, mid-range offering from IBM.
Motherboard and Case Design
While there are many system manufacturers that tout ease of upgradeability and serviceability, the IBM M Pro really pushes it further with its motherboard design. Rather than rely on Intel and other motherboard manufacturers, IBM design engineers went out of their way to make the internal workings of the system as easily accessible and upgradeable as possible. The case opens via a lockable side panel via a button, a design that IBM has used for years. Once open, all the internal components are exposed and freely accessible. The M Pro sports a pair of memory slots that support two memory modules apiece. Rather than have the memory slots angled or all bunched together, the engineers separated them into pairs of two, and positioned them with a small space in between to make it easier to add and remove the memory modules. In addition, the memory slots are strategically located square in the middle of the system, so when you have the system lying on its side, the memory sits right in the middle in an easily accessible location. There is no digging behind cables or other hassles when it comes to accessing the memory.
The M Pro features a total of six 32-bit 33MHz PCI slots -- four on the motherboard and two residing on a daughtercard, and all those PCI slots can be occupied with full length cards. One slot is currently occupied with an NVIDIA Quadro FX 1000 board. The cards can also be installed without the use of screws as they are held in place by a purple plastic bracket. In fact, purple is the color designation for components that can be easily removed from the system without tools. The PCI slots are of a screwless design, and held onto the motherboard via the purple bracket; the hard drives are housed in an enclosure, connected to it by purple slide rails; and the optical drive is also connected via a purple slide rail.
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| The MPro's motherboard design with hard drive case in upright position |
The hard drive cage is another unique IBM innovation. In many systems, installing a hard drive involves cramming it into a space that is loathe to accept another hard drive, or in some cases, installed right on top of another drive. Hard drives in the Mpro are installed in a hard drive bay that swings out and is completely vertical, giving you free and unfettered access to the drive bay. The drive bay can support up to three drives. As configured, the M Pro features a Maxtor 80GB Serial ATA disk drive. Ultra320 10,000RPM SCSI drives are available as an option.
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Performance
The IBM IntelliStation M Pro test system featured the Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz processor with 512KB L2 cache, 1GB ECC DDR SDRAM and an 80GB serial ATA hard disk drive with average seek times of 9.0ms and average latency of 4.2ms. Windows XP Professional was the operating system, although Windows 2000 is still available as one of the OS choices on the IBM Web site. We ran a 668MB AVI file using Adobe Premiere Pro's Adobe Media Encoder to get a guage of how the system performed under certain real-world type encoding scenarios. We also ran the Cinebench 2003 Benchmark which runs various hardware and software tests. For this review, we ran the CPU Render Test and the CB-CPU test, as the other tests involve the capability of the graphics card.
Test Results
The M Pro performed respectively in the CineBench 2003 render tests, sitting right about in the middle compared to some of the other diverse systems on which DMN has run the test. The Adobe Media Encoder test is new given the recent release of Premiere Pro, and we'll be using it more during the next year as we review more systems.
Features and Specifications
In addition to the six PCI slots noted above, the M Pro features the Intel 875P chipset with 800MHz system bus, 1GB ECC DDR SDRAM (4GB max), integrated Gigabit Ethernet with Wake on LAN, two FireWire ports (4-pin in front, 6-pin in rear), six USB 2 slots (two in the front, four in the rear), two serial, one parallel port, ATA and SATA controllers (Ultra320 integrated on the SCSI based systems), 340w power supply, and the standard headphone, keyboard, mouse, parallel port, LAN connection, microphone and speaker jacks. This particular system shipped with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 1000 with 128MB DDR S2 RAM. Other available graphics adapters include the NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000, 3dlabs Wildcat 7210, 3dlabs Wildcat 7110, NVIDIA Quadro4 980 XGL, and the NVIDIA Quadro 4 280NVS. The system ships with a three year warranty for parts and onsite service. Applications that have been certified to run on the Mpro include EDS Imageware, Digidesign 002 and Mbox, Discreet 3D Studio MAX, Softimage XSI 3.x, EDS I-DEAS 10, 9, and 8, EDS Unigraphics NX, V17, and V18, EDS NX Nastran, and Solidworks 2001+ through 2004. The M Pro 6230 is also compatible with Adobe's suite of creative applications.
First Impressions:
The IBM M Pro sports a user-friendly motherboard design that puts other systems we have reviewed to utter shame. The fact that IBM design engineers actually think about the end user experience with regard to ease of upgradeability should serve as a model for other system manufacturers to follow. Users don't like wading over and under and through cables just to access the memory slots and hard drives, nor do they like fiddling with tiny screws to install a PCI card. The M Pro is intelligently thought-out and sports proficient performance with the 3.2GHz Intel Pentium 4 CPU. Although available as an option, it would be nice to see a DVD burner available as standard equipment, or at least a DVD/CD-RW drive. Some applications ship on a DVD, for instance, Ulead's StudioQuartet, a suite of four creative applications for video editing, and as configured, the M Pro would not be able to load such an application. You can expect other manufacturers that offer editing suites to follow suit and offer applications on a single DVD as well. The M Pro offers a great combination of ease of upgradeability and good speed, and a well designed motherboard, all housed in a sleek, black, tool-free case. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/intellistation.
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