News release

Compaq Evo Workstation W4000 Outshines the Competition in SPEC Benchmarks

Company Also Enhances Workstation Line and Introduces New Monitors for Business

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) today announced its Evo Workstation W4000 outperformed all competitors by 30 percent in a new benchmark for systems running Solid Edge Version 11 CAD/CAM software from the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC).

In addition, Compaq also announced availability of its high-end professional Evo workstations with the new Intel® Xeon™ 2.4 GHz processor, nVIDIA® Quadro4™ NVS graphics and 32X CD-RW drives, as well as a new line of high-quality CRT and TFT displays for businesses.

The new SPEC benchmark, SPECapc for Solid Edge Version 11, was created by the organization's Graphics Performance Application (www.spec.org/gpc) group and measures four basic areas of performance representing typical user operations that are valuable in evaluating the performance of systems running Solid Edge: graphics, file I/O, CPU and workflow. SPEC is a non-profit corporation formed to establish, maintain and endorse a standardized set of relevant benchmarks that can be applied to the newest generation of high-performance computers.

The value-oriented Compaq Evo Workstation W4000 with an Intel Pentium® 4 2.4 GHz processor, nVIDIA Quadro4 750XGL graphics card, 20 GB hard drive and 512 MB RAM earned a composite score of 7.3767, which was 30 percent better performance than competing systems. Paired with a 17-inch Compaq 7550 monitor, the Evo Workstation W4000 with this configuration is available for just $2,736 direct from Compaq.

Evo Workstation Enhancements

Already offering the superior performance of high-end 3D nVIDIA Quadro4 XGL series graphics, Compaq now also offers a full range of Quadro4 family options with the availability of the entry-level nVIDIA Quadro4 200NVS multi-display graphics card. Ideal for the demanding 2D imaging required by professionals in the financial industry, the Quadro4 200NVS is available for the Compaq Evo Workstations W4000, W6000 or W8000 and supports dual analog or digital displays.

The superior price for performance of the Compaq Evo Workstation W6000 is an ideal solution for mainstream CAD/CAE, DCC, electronic design automation (EDA), software development and financial analysis. With one of the smallest footprints in its class, the Evo Workstation W6000 starts at $2401 with the new Intel Xeon 2.4 GHz processor, supports up to 2 GB of memory, five bays and four slots and may be configured with high-performance options such as SCSI hard disk drives, and CD-RW and DVD drives.

With support for 4 GB of memory, seven bays and seven slots, the Compaq Evo Workstation W8000 is a high-performance, expandable dual-processor solution powerful enough for the most demanding MCAD, CAE, 3-D rendering, animation, video editing, or GIS applications. The Evo Workstation W8000 starts at just $2850 with the new processor.

For more information about Compaq Evo Workstations, visit www.compaq.com/products/workstations.

New Monitors for Business

Completing Compaq's new line of displays for business users, Compaq also introduced today one new TFT and two new CRT monitors.

The new 15-inch Compaq TFT5017 is a value-priced flat-panel ideal for a variety of space-constrained working environments. At just $499, the TFT5017 is perfect for the small home office or home activities such as Internet browsing, e-mail and Microsoft Office applications.

The affordable 15-inch Compaq 5500 series CRT monitor is a great offering for a cost-conscience small business user, first monitor purchase or an economical alternative for a second PC. Available for just $149, the 5500 series monitor has the right features at the right price in a dependable, easy-to-use monitor.

For more demanding display needs, the 19-inch Compaq 9500 CRT series monitor offers outstanding picture quality with maximum viewing capacity. The $299 9500 series monitor is ideally suited for use with common business applications such as word processing, spreadsheets and e-mail.

Easy to set up and easy to use, all Compaq monitors feature Compaq's exclusive icon-based, on-screen controls to easily adjust settings and store them in memory, as well as Coloreal Color Management technology, which ensures accurate color display from Coloreal-enabled Web sites. All three are also plug-and-play compatible and designed for optimum user comfort with tilt-and-swivel features that allow the user to adjust the positioning of the monitor to their individual needs.

For more information about these and other Compaq monitors, visit www.compaq.com/products/monitors.

Company Background

Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation is a leading global provider of information technology products, services and solutions for enterprise customers. Compaq designs, develops, manufactures and markets information technology equipment, software, services and solutions, including industry-leading enterprise storage and computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, communication products, personal desktop and notebook computers, and personal entertainment and Internet access devices that are sold in more than 200 countries directly and through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Information on Compaq and its products and services is available at http://www.compaq.com.