PowerStorm 4DT: A High-performance Graphics Software Architecture

Vol. 9 No. 4 1997 49 The PowerStorm 4D40T, 4D50T, and 4D60T midrange graphics adapters from DIGITAL have exceeded the performance of all OpenGL graphics devices costing as much as $25,000. In addition, these products achieved twice the price/performance ratio of competing systems at the time they were announced. The PowerStorm 4DT series of mid-range graphics devices was developed in 1996 to replace the company’s ZLX series. In its search for a vendor to replace the graphics hardware, DIGITAL found Intergraph Systems Corporation. This company had been designing three-dimensional (3-D) graphics boards for a few years and was then on its second-generation chip design. The schedule, cost, and performance of Intergraph’s new design matched our project’s target goals. Intergraph was building software for the Windows NT operating system on its Intel processorbased workstations, but was not doing any work for the UNIX operating system or the Alpha platform. The goals of the PowerStorm 4DT project were to develop a mid-range graphics product powered by the Alpha microprocessor that would lead the industry in performance and price/performance. This paper describes the competitive environment in the graphics industry at the conception of the PowerStorm 4DT project. It discusses our design decisions concerning the graphics subsystem architecture and performance strategy. The paper concludes with a performance summary and comparison in the industry.