Dell brings Precision to VR
April 2016 – The rapidly growing interest in the emerging market of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) is driving content creation. To better address this need, Dell has updated their Precision workstation line to provide options that are optimized for VR/AR content creation and development with all the reliability of their long running M&E solutions. The new units are the Dell Precision Tower 5810, Tower 7810 and Rack 7910. On the consumer side, the dominant platform for VR is the Dell XPS.
On the content creation side, the Precision line which supports ECC memory and Xeon class high reliability processors are needed. The complexity and large data sets used for media creation require the extra level of safety to insure the content is created without data drops that can impact the QOE when played back in the headset. The VR platforms range from mobile with Cardboard & Gear headsets through gaming consoles and PC based systems like Occulus and Vive.
2016 Dell Precision Workstation Kits for VR
The new platform configurations were developed in conjunction with several of the VR industry and technical consortiums. The laptops received a refresh to the Intel Skylake architecture last year, this year the desktops & rack mountable systems are getting a refresh to the Broadwell architecture cores. Similarly for the GPUs, the Nvidia products have migrated from Kepler to Maxwell architecture. In order to support the 24/7 operating target of the units, the new configurations have a number of new liquid cooling options for the CPUs.
The need for VR content is rapidly moving from just gaming in the commercial sector. Architectural & interior design is pushing the limits of photo realistic VR for property & design review. The traditional CAD and engineering space is looking at VR as an alternative to multi-person and personal 3D caves. The VR systems are being used as guides for multi-person 3D caves to provide group reviews of 3D objects and designs. The Retail community is looking for the creation of dynamic virtual showrooms which need high reliability content creation tools for real time rendering.
The Precision line is also being incorporated into “cave in a cube” products that bundle a VR/AR unit with an application optimized workstation and is available as a single SKU kit. To support these new VR uses and kits, the products are getting VR identifies partners, 3rd party vendor AVLs, and customer integration and success stories.
