Gateway paves way for 3Dlabs graphics

Gateway has chosen 3Dlabs to provide graphics for the high end of its workstation line.

The Sioux City, South Dakota, computer maker will start to incorporate the 3Dlabs' Oxygen GMX graphics card, which includes 96MB or RAM. The card is powered by two Glint MX processors and works with Silicon Graphics' OpenGL graphics standard.

The 3Dlabs card also is offered in machines from NEC, Dell Computer, and Polywell.

Gateway is targeting the Oxygen GMX systems at professionals working on 3D modeling, animation, digital content creation, and computer-aided design. A Gateway E-5250 workstation with a 450-MHz Xeon processor, the Oxygen GMX card, 256MB of SDRAM, 9GB SCSI hard drive, Ethernet card, and a 21-inch monitor costs $5,999.

The card won't replace any others in the Gateway workstation lineup, a Gateway spokeswoman said. However, customers needing higher-end performance are likely to choose the Oxygen GMX card over the previous high-end offering, the Evans and Sutherland AccelEclipse, because the Oxygen GMX card offers better performance for about the same price, she said.