Hardware

MAINGEAR Quantum Shift workstation eats Adobe CS5 for breakfast

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Maingear announced their latest today, the Quantum Shift workstation. Designed more for the content developer then the gamer, the Quantum Shift definitely brings the heat. Of course, you customize exactly how much power the Quantum Shift is packing, but it’s designed around Nvidia’s Quadro FX GPU technology.

What that means is that you can have up to 3 Nvidia Quadro FX based cards, giving you a GPU accelerated system that can pretty much take whatever you can throw at it. This workstation was conceived and designed specifically for the new Adobe Creative Suite, and allows up to 30 FPS in Premiere Pro. Expect to pay a premium for a machine this fast though, the Quantum Shift starts around $3,399, and goes up from there depending on how you want it customized.

From the press release:

Union, New Jersey – April 12, 2010 – MAINGEAR Computers, award-winning builders of custom computers for PC gamers, enthusiasts, and creative professionals, unveils the Quantum SHIFT Workstation, an everyday super computer that exceeds the demands of the most power hungry graphics professionals. Fully optimized for Adobe CS5, the SHIFT employs up to three NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics cards to enable a GPU accelerated Adobe Creative Suite that allows you to design with creative precision. SHIFT’s unique vertical heat-stack design ensures that your Quadro equipment remains cool and quiet no matter how intense your tasks may be.

With Adobe CS5 powered by MAINGEAR, you can navigate images like never before with GPU-accelerated scrubby zoom, bird’s eye zoom, and 3D modeling. Also, GPU-accelerated color picker, color dropper and real time brush resizing give you immersive interaction with your canvas. The CUDA-accelerated Mercury Engine in Premiere Pro gives post-production houses the power to edit more than 3 layers and multiple effects in real-time. With Quadro’s GPU acceleration in Premiere Pro, playback of two layers HDV and effects can be accelerated in real time on the GPU. At nearly 30 frames per second. Compare that to 2.2 frames per second on the CPU only.

“Adobe CS5 fully leverages the advantages of NVIDIA’s Quadro FX GPU accelerated technology,” said Wallace Santos, CEO and Founder of MAINGEAR. “Quantum SHIFT optimizes both technologies with enhanced performance and airflow, providing creative professionals with the most advanced workstation PC ever created.”

In addition, the new GeForce GTX 480 brings an unprecedented amount of professional power to the table. If you’re looking for the ability to playback three layers of HD, and twice the performance of a GTX 285 in CS5, the SHIFT with GeForce GTX 480 is a powerhouse editing product.

“Adobe CS5 powered by GeForce GTX 480 hardware has enabled us to achieve same-day edits with our in-house video production,” said Chris Morley, CTO of MAINGEAR. “In seven years of designing and selling high definition post production workstations, I’ve never seen so much get done in so little time and for so little money. The ROI with SHIFT powered by NVIDIA running Adobe CS5 is amazing.”

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