Let‘s face it; there are a lot of multiple processor, multiple core computers out there. To a degree, they‘re reasonably generic, using the same processors, motherboard chipsets and memory. When I sat down with Boxx Technologies Director of Marketing Francois Wolf, my basic question was “how do you tell them apart?”

By way of background, Boxx Technologies sells high performance workstations into the digital content production market, and was showing their latest product, the 3DBOXX RTX, designed for high definition editors and animators, at the show. Here are the questions he recommended potential buyers consider.

1. What operating systems? Not all workstations support 64-bit Windows, Linux or the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003, which are necessary for some applications.

2. How much RAM? For 32-bit applications, anything beyond 4 GB is a waste; for 64-bit applications, the more the merrier.

3. Application certification. The more exotic the application, the less many box vendors actually test with the program. Check the web sites of the computer and application vendor to determine certification.

OK, you knew these, but I wanted to be comprehensive. Here are some additional factors you may not have thought about.

4. Internal hard drive support. Most computers can hold about 6 or 7 drives, max. The RTX can hold up to 15 internal hard drives delivering sustained retrieval in the hundreds of megabytes a second. Though external drive configurations can provide this capacity and throughput, they‘re generally much more expensive than internal drives.

5. Graphics card support. If you‘re not running two graphics cards now, chances are you may be soon. This means at least two PCI Express x16 slots, plus other high speed I/O for high definition capture cards and the like.

6. Finally, with dual internal graphics cards and multiple hard drives, you need a system that runs cool and doesn‘t sound like a freight train during intensive rendering. A significant portion of BOXX‘s efforts relate to both thermal and acoustic engineering to accomplish these goals.