Pci Express Graphics And I/O; Isv Certifications - HP xw4550 Frequently Asked Questions Manual

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What do I do if my 32-bit
apps do not run due to
missing shared libraries?
Once I have installed the
64-bit version of Linux, what
do I have to do to build
64-bit apps?

PCI Express Graphics and I/O

What graphics card are
available on the new HP
xw4550 Workstation?
What's the advantage of PCI
Express for graphics? What are
the differences?
Should I buy a graphics
card with 256 MB or
512 MB of memory?

ISV Certifications

You will need to get the library from Red Hat's 32-bit RHEL 3 distribution and put it on your system in the appropriate
directory and report the missing library to Red Hat through their Red Hat Network subscription. This will help Red Hat to get
the right set of 32-bit libraries needed for most apps in future releases.
Simple. Just rebuild from scratch and the compiler will build 64-bit by default. This is true for most apps. However, some
apps must be made 64-bit clean which means that the developers must review the code to get rid of any assumptions about
32-bitness, such pointer arithmetic issues. Some makefiles that explicitly declare paths such as /lib, /usr/lib and
/usr/X1 1R6/lib might need to be changed to append "64."
Integrated Graphics ATI Radeon X1250
Professional 2D
NVIDIA Quadro NVS290 (256 MB)
Entry 3D
NVIDIA Quadro FX3700 (256 MB) and NVIDIA FX570 (256 MB)
Mid-range 3D
ATI FireGL V5600 (512 MB) and NVIDIA FX1700 (512 MB)
PCI Express is the next generation interface not only for graphics cards, but also for I/O cards. PCI Express is a scalable
interface, and depending on the chipset the system can have multiple PCI Express connections with various bandwidths.
For graphics cards, the defined standard is "by sixteen" (or x16). This implementation of PCI Express Gen 1 provides
twice the unidirectional bandwidth and four times the peak bandwidth as AGP 8X. PCI Express Gen 2 doubles that
bandwidth again. The PCI Express specification also allows for 75W from the motherboard to the graphics cards. This is
three times as much power as the standard AGP 8X specification.
Graphics performance is dependant upon many factors, including the amount of video memory. Higher performing cards
also include bigger and faster GPU's, more memory bandwidth, and tend to have more features like dual-link connectors
and support for stereo. The higher performance graphics cards will also have more memory (and a higher price). A dual
display configuration at 1920x1200 pixels will allocate about 70MB for the frame buffer. The remaining graphics memory
will be used to store textures, display lists (graphics data sent by your applications), and other data specific to graphics. If
your application would benefit from more storage space for these items, then you should purchase a graphics card with
more memory.
HP has very strong relationships with independent software vendors (ISVs). The software vendors recognize that HP is a critical
ally in the industry, not only as a hardware OEM, but in marketing and support relationships. HP, in many cases, has engineering
personnel located full-time on site at these software vendors' location providing technical support, application performance
tuning, and graphics driver optimization.
ISV certification is a critical aspect of the workstation value proposition. Workstation users are running very complicated,
high-end, technical applications and reliability and stability are an absolute requirement. The entry workstation is targeted at
specific technical applications, many of which were listed above. The following table outlines the applications that are
planned for the HP xw4550.
Some of the applications listed in the table do not certify hardware, but they are listed as "targeted" applications. For
those applications listed above that do offer hardware certification, the new entry workstation will be certified.
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