NEC began selling the Express 5800/56Wb high-performance workstation in March 1999. The 56Wb was equipped with either one or two of Intel’s newest and fastest processor, the Pentium III Xeon processor (500/550 MHz). The processor’s excellent core performance — coupled with its use of 70 streaming SIMD extended instructions for faster multimedia processing and the high-speed multiprocessing computation capability — made the 56Wb ideal for 3D graphics, image editing, analytic simulations, and other processing-intense applications. Memory could be extended to as much as 2 GB thanks to the use of the 440GX AGPset chipset and 512 MB of ECC SDRAM memory. The 56Wb model with NEC’s TE3A 3D graphics accelerator chip scored a remarkable 156.30 on the Viewperf CDRS-04 test, a standard benchmark test for 3D rendering performance.
Although a workstation, this model is included in the PC server section because the Express 5800 series included both PC servers and PC workstations.
| Model name | Express 5800/56Wb | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Pentium III Xeon (500 MHz) | Pentium III Xeon (550 MHz) | |
| No. of processors | 1 - 2 | ||
| Cache memory | Primary cache | 32 KB | |
| Secondary cache | 512 KB | ||
| Chipset | 440GX AGPset | ||
| Memory | Standard | 256 MB | |
| Maximum | 2 GB | ||
| Internal hard disk | Standard | 8.6 GB (10,000 rpm) | |
| Maximum | 17.2 GB | ||
| PCI bus | 3 slots (3 blank) | ||
| PCI/ISA bus | 1 slot (1 blank) | ||
| LAN interface | 100BASE-TX or 10BASE-T | ||
| Enclosure | Mini tower | ||
| Dimensions [mm] | 216 x 433 x 452 (w x d x h) | ||
