So you’re paying for Xeon and Nvidia Quaddro as well as an ungodly amount of RAM and SSD. When intel and Nvidia make chips only the top ones become xeon or quaddro. Enterprise vs consumer means “we’re super sure these are flawless” vs “These are great parts”
Hey guys you might check out this deal as a comparison. I’ve bought 6 of these over the last 3 months and they are great and $950 less.
http://www.ubid.com/iSynApp/auctionDisplay.action?auctionId=1140680
Our engineers use these for Solidworks CAD/CAM modeling. They keep up.
Where are all these guys who can create “super computers” ALWAYS cheaper than WHATEVER price gets advertised ANYWHERE? They’re all talk and NO action! They DON’T exist!
Good explanation videos on the differences between workstations and desktop computers. Hope this helps you decide. This is a sweet machine but probably unnecessary for normal consumer use.
If you ever have to replace a component, expect to pay triple what you would expect. HP uses proprietary parts, such as the PSU and MoBo. We have a few Z400 workstations and have had to replace a few parts over the years. 600W PSU was almost $300. The single CPU MoBo was over $600. Even chassis fans are like $50 each.
Buy a proprietary system and they got ya by the balls. There may be 3rd party sellers of compatible components, but we couldn’t find any reputable dealers for Z400 stuff.
Since most games are single-threaded, the number you’re most interested in when considering a CPU is this, from the cpubenchmark.net page: “Single Thread Rating: 1684”. The i5-4690K has a score of 2231, and costs around $250. The i7-4790K has 2528 and is about $340, so is a worse deal for most people.
Side note: Intel has superior single-thread performance than AMD.
You guys are comparing apples to oranges here. The machine here is not made for gaming or for high end single thread processing. Quadro graphics cards are also not intended for gaming, Both the processor and the GPU are meant for computing large amounts of data accurately, not As fast as possible like in gaming rigs. EVEN THE MEMORY is ECC memory which stands for Error Checking & Correcting. NOT MEANT FOR SPEED!
Don’t buy this if you want to play video games!
If you are doing CAD work or other intensive graphical work this is a decent deal, for the price of this machine is half of what hp charges(even though this one is still new.) The only concern is the 2G of video memory instead of the 4G version. So do some research and see how much video memory you might need for what you are doing.
This is not accurate at all unless you define which particular processors you are comparing. It has nothing to do with who manufactures the processor, it has to do with the properties of the individual processor itself. No I’m not an AMD fanboy, I have both Intel and AMD systems and like them all- they each have their advantages based on cost and application.
Can woot confirm if this has 8 memory slots (4 occupied) or if it has 4 memory slots with the ability to expand to 8?
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A year ago, this would have been a good deal. However about 9 months ago, Facebook started dumping all of their Sandybridge Xeon server equipment and it started flooding the used market. Since then, everyone else is doing the same thing. Right now, this is a horrible deal.
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Xeons / workstations are very similar i7 / regular PCs. Xeons use the same core architecture as the i7. The main differences are: SMP (multiple CPUs on a board), ECC, much more cache (great for servers), many more PCIe lanes (4 video card support), and can access a lot more memory. (Note that the i3 and Pentium have ECC support. It’s deliberately ripped out of the i5/i7 to push people to buy Xeons.)
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If you want a home workstation / server with massive thread count, build this (several guides on-line):
2X Xeon E5-2670 V1 = $120 (used / ebay, 2.8Ghz, easy to over-clock to 3.4)
LGA2011 dual processor MB = $400
64G ECC ram = $150 (used / ebay)
512G sata SSD = $100
good case = $100+
good 800W+ gold+ PS = $150+
2X good cpu coolers = $150 (noctra / etc)
That’s about $1200. Add a high end video card and you’re still <$2000 for a machine that’s 3.5X-4X faster (32 threads vs 12, 3.4Ghz vs 2.4Ghz) and with better video. -
Plenty of guides on how to build a Skylake i7-6700K system and over-clock it to 4.8Ghz. The i4790K is only a little behind that. Both are much cheaper and would give superior performance for normal stuff.
I’d like to know too. As previously mentioned, if it actually has 8 DIMM slots it means it also has two CPU sockets and two CPUs. I doubt that, since the price is basically too low for that to be true, but would be nice to confirm. They probably mean “it’s possible to upgrade it to 8 DIMM slots for a very large additional cost.”
To be fair, with USED parts, essentially zero warranty or support, and definitely lower quality components. Most people who can competently build the above already know it and likely don’t need to be told that.
In contrast, professional workstations like this are primarily meant for people who earn money using them and need it to “just work” 24x7 for 3-5 years straight. Freelance designers, engineering firms, or places like DreamWorks, etc.
Why are they lower quality? Usually systems are updated and the old systems get parted out. You take a chance on warranty, but most people will give a 30 day warranty. If the item isn’t DOA, and the hardware can survive a software burn-in test, they won’t go bad before the become obsolete. It’s rare that any hardware goes bad before it becomes obsolete, unless it was bad to begin with, or unless there was other contributing factors- like a surge, or improper voltages coming from a defective power supply.
From our vendor:
*No. That’s part of the second CPU option kit.
So right now, there are 4 slots. Adding the 2nd CPU option kit will get them the second CPU and the 4 Slot Riser.
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04400040.pdf
Optional Kit: Z640 processor AMO kits include: - 2nd CPU/Memory Module (riser) - processor - heatsink*
The Specs have been adjusted to make this more clear.
Random mismatched stuff off eBay for cheap is materially lower quality than a completely engineered, tested, and certified configuration with a solid 3 year warranty.
It’s fun to tinker with stuff, but when your business is riding on it, you want something rock solid and ISV certified. That’s what companies pay the big bucks for.
For anyone actually curious, it looks like there’s lots more info and even some case study videos at Z Workstation Computers- Z by HP | HP® Official Site
In short, if you’re asking that question, you’re not the target market.
There’s nothing magical about workstations. They’re pretty much the same as normal desktops with typically a bit higher quality components (but not always). That said, I’ve seen plenty of high end gaming machines of much higher quality than many workstations (and can definitely run 24/7).
As for the above part list, that could easily include a new supermicro board and a platinum PS. That’s higher quality than the HP workstation. The only used parts are the cpu and memory. While cpu and memory very rarely go bad, test them. If they go bad, at that cost you can buy 8 of them to get backups for the same cost as 1 new
I’ve used AT&T, Sun (SunOS & Solaris), HPUX, AIX, and many different PC config level workstations (linux, bsd). (I’m an electrical engineer.) There used to be a lot of differences. Not anymore
I personally don’t think anyone shopping on woot for a computer is the target market. I can’t imagine NASA looking at today’s woot to figure out if they can upgrade any of their work stations on the cheap.
It looks to be cheaper from the manufacturer…
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/workstations/product-detail.html?oid=6978835
Not sure how they differ though
Here’s my two cents regarding this - I’ve been a VFX artist and Director of CG at 3 different studios over the last decade. I use Maya, Softimage, Houdini, Mudbox/Zbrush, the Adobe suites, and Nuke, pretty much all day every day.
This machine is nice, but somewhat slow. Unless you’re running multiple procs, there’s no reason to go Xeon over the consumer i7. And given the price/performance and stability of gaming cards, you’re much better off getting a gaming card instead of a workstation card. These things used to make a difference, but I haven’t seen a workstation card offer any benefit over a gaming card in the last 7 years or so.
For $2k, you could easily price out a much faster machine that would work every bit as well with these kind of demanding apps.
I know when I’m buying computers, a good gaming rig gets me everything I want.
That seems to indicate you don’t need (or care about) vendor certification, aren’t worried about the possibility of your RAM silently dropping bits, and don’t value rock-solid and robust top-tier components, super-long product support lifespans, long standard warranties, and running the same gear as many of the big studios.
If that’s your philosophy, that’s fine. It just differs from mine significantly.
I would personally never use anything without ECC for serious work. I’ve seen too many single-bit errors over the years. It’s like insurance, you hope you never have to use it, but are very grateful to have it when you end up needing it.
For professional, engineering, design, or content creation work I’d go with an HP Z workstation, Dell Precision 5000/7000 or Lenovo P700/P900 series before even looking at anything else. Only if those were cost prohibitive (perhaps due to just starting out without much capital) then I’d have to compromise.