The stripe set used for booting turned out to be quite sprightly, according to HDTune 2.54. The array's data transfer rate ranged from 79.6-140.3MB/sec, averaging a very respectable 113.8MB/sec.

Unbeknownst to us, the mirror set arrived having been marked for verification by the controller, so the first time we ran the benchmark, we got some bizarrely slow performance numbers as the disk controller scrubbed through the disk. Upon rebooting the system, we hit Ctrl-A to enter the SAS controller's BIOS configuration screen and allowed the machine to continue the verify task more quickly (without operating system intervention). Ultimately, the sustained data transfer rate turned out to be a pretty strong 38.8-65.3MB/sec, averaging 58.9MB/sec. The controller can handle burst transfers of up to 93.3MB/sec.

We found Systemax' Endeavor Xeon Workstation to be a solidly-built unit. It's ready for pretty much any serious video suite you're ready to throw at it. We don't think there's a lot that this machine wouldn't be able to do, really.

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
RAM: 2GB, PC2-5300 DDR2 (ECC, fully-buffered, dual-channel)
Processor: Intel Xeon E5310 Quad Core (1.6GHz)
Number of Physical Processors: 1
Hard Drive Capacity: 1TB
Hard Drive Interface: SATA
Video Editing Software Included: Windows Movie Maker
Analog Video Capture Card Included: No
DVD Burner: Lite-On DH20A3P
Software Included: Nero 7 Essentials
Multiple Monitor Connections: Yes

• Well-built, cleanly-assembled.
• Logically-configured, easily-customizable storage.

• Loud out of the box.
• Many software updates required.
• No FireWire port

A straightforward workstation that is ready for practically any video work.

Charles Fulton is Videomaker's Associate Editor.

Systemax Inc.
11 Harbor Park Drive
Port Washington, NY 11050
www.systemaxpc.com

$2,999