CAD2 has years of experience catering specifically to the creative industry, and clearly the company knows a thing or two about how to actually build machines for this market. Before we get to the specification, which is striking, or the performance, which is spectacular, it's worth considering the build quality on offer here. The cables have been routed sensibly through the tower case to make for a machine that is a joy to open.This is a whisper-quiet system using high-quality parts. The decision to opt for the highest-quality gear is also evident in the performance of the workstation in daily use."A powerful machine in every respect, but so quiet that you'd barely know it's on – and it won't even cost you the earth" The performance is impressive, but ultimately it's the added care and attention that elevates this machine onto the winner's podium. The quietness of the system in everyday use will make it a joy to be around, and the smart design means it won't be problematic to upgrade.

The IMAGINE X64 is a compact, quiet workstation with a clean and simple design. It’s surprisingly capacious for such a small case, with three optical drive bays and four hard drive bays

This unit performed admirably in our Photoshop and After Effects CS3 tests, slightly faster than we’d expect considering the spec/price. It has a 20x DVD±RW drive and the included Logitech S510 keyboard/mouse combo is a great choice.

Using a complex scene in Maya, the FX 1700 took just 77 seconds to fly a camera through it. This is a lot better than you’d expect from a mid-range system; when compared to a high-end model.

The IMAGINE X64 is an Excellent Model!

The IMAGINE X64 is certainly an attractive proposition for those already working with multithreaded FEA, CFD or rendering applications and also provides an excellent platform on which to build concurrent engineering work flows. When Budgeting for a New Workstation, Processing Speed, Memory and Graphics, typically take precedence over Hard Drive Performance. But a New Workstation from CAD2, which features a much more Cost Effective and Fast Hard Drive Sub-System could make you think again.

Image rich applications like CAD require powerful graphics handling applications and this is provided in the ATI FireGL graphics sub-system that has offers lightning fast dedicated memory, which is ample for the most demanding CAD applications. "

CAD2's X64 Vision Pro is a bespoke Pentium 4 equipped workstation featuring excellent build quality and the latest high end Workstation Graphics Card. Created specifically for the 3D CAD and DDC markets, the C3 review team had a hard time letting go of one of the highest specification and best value workstations we've seen.

The QX64’s power is bolstered by a well thought-out system of hard drives

This IMAGINE QX64 is an excellent workstation

Inside the DQX is a top notch set of components, including two of the best quad core processors in the worlds, 4GB of RAM and an NVIDIA Quadro FX4600 Graphics Card.

Graphics cards are an important part of any computer system, and for 3D graphics they are even more so. The graphics card featured in this CAD2 Workstation is, without question, the fastest card we’ve come across.

The workstation provides an excellent platform for CAD users and this is reflected in the benchmark results where the machine delivered solid results across all applications

With CAD2’s Imagine Q64, you’ll not only be buying a machine that can satisfy your requirements today, but well into the future as your needs grow

This is a small price to pay for cutting edge performance which the Imagine QX64 has in abundance, making incredibly light work of scan line rendering in 3ds Max 9 and hardly raising an eyebrow when setting to work on concurrent cutting path calculations in Delcam’s PowerMill.

As always, CAD2’s attention to detail is exemplary - the chosen Silverstone chassis is classic in design and solid in construction and the system is put together with evident love, without a stray cable in sight. CAD2 have produced yet another excellent workstation.