Over the past several years, the workstation market has redefined itself. Once thought of as elite Unix-based 3D graphics machines containing a powerful RISC processor, lots of memory, expensive graphics components, and a six-figure price tag, most of today's workstations run Windows or Linux and are based on popular 32-bit (IA-32) processors built specifically for workstation applications. According to an IDC report, more than 80% of the workstations sold in the U.S. in 2002 were Intel-based systems, with the Xeon family of single, dual and multi capable processors leading the way.

The emergence of powerful x86 uni-processor workstations based on Intel's Pentium 4 series has given new meaning to the term "entry-level workstation." Systems that previously cost tens of thousands of dollars are now obtainable at a fraction of the price, and when paired with the right graphics card and storage subsystem, are more than capable of filling the low-end workstation bill.

In addition to their Xeon and Pentium 4 offerings, Intel is making a run at the segment of the market that relies on RISC-based workstations to feed their need for huge amounts of addressable memory with their Itanium2 family of 64-bit processors. AMD continues to provide alternative x-86 and 64-bit workstation chips with their Athlon and Opteron series of chips as well. Although systems based on proprietary RISC processors and graphics components no longer dominate the market as they did in the past, companies such as Sun, HP, IBM, and to a lesser extent, Apple, are still churning out workstation systems using RISC-based processors paired with high-end graphics cards.

The latest Intel Xeon DP processor for mid-range workstations is based on the .13 micron Prestonia core and runs at 3.20 GHz with a 1 MB cache and a 533 MHz system bus. It also features Intel's Hyper-Threading Technology (HT), which uses otherwise idle processor resources to run multiple tasks, or application threads, on a single processor, thereby increasing performance. This may well be the final version of the Xeon Prestonia chip as Intel plans to introduce Xeon models based on the Nocona core, which will be manufactured using a 90- nanometer, or .09 micron fabrication process.

The move toward .09 manufacturing is significant as it allows for more densely packed transistors on a single die, resulting in narrower "gates," which move signals through the processor. The narrower the gate, the more quickly they can switch on and off, which in turn enables faster clock speeds as well as larger amounts of on-die cache.