Windows NT systems vendor NeTpower Inc has launched its new Calisto3 workstation aiming it at users of graphic intensive applications in the key markets of design, animation and finance. The company says its new hardware is one of the first Pentium II- based systems to include Intel’s new Accelerated Graphics Port 440LX chipset, claimed to increase performance in 3D graphics cards and applications by up to 400%. AGP technology speeds up performance by moving graphics off the PCI Bus, usually shared by other functions such as Ethernet and SCSI, and onto the AGP bus. Intel claims the increased bandwidth gives faster access to the processor, boosting throughput by a factor of four. The new box also features Symmetric Inc’s Glyder MAX-2 AGP-powered graphics card, which uses 3DLabs Inc’s Permedia2 graphics processor with 8MB of board memory, for 3D performance of around 1 million polygons per second. Calisto3 is available now in 266MHz and 300MHz versions with starting prices of $4,220 and $4,480 respectively.
