What workstation....
Discussion
Hey all,
Need some advice...
I always buy 2nd hand workstations for work/home and my trusty Z800 seems to have died after about 8 years (due to me messing with bios whilst 6 beers in). Im sure replacement PSU and/or motherboard would revive, but it is probably coming close to 15 years old...
So I've been looking at the HP Z8 G4 (around the $1.5-2K mark not the $20-30K mark one) which should get me a dual xeon/28 core 256Gb ram unit, however wondering if I should go down the new self build route? But have been out of that arena for a long time.
I work in networking so space for 3 or 4 NIC cards is required for labs/testing. Also play games and run a few vms for testing, and have a decent graphics card I'll port over, so really looking to see what would be good motherboard/CPU/Ram combo that anyone would recommend up to similar price of 2k.
TIA
Need some advice...
I always buy 2nd hand workstations for work/home and my trusty Z800 seems to have died after about 8 years (due to me messing with bios whilst 6 beers in). Im sure replacement PSU and/or motherboard would revive, but it is probably coming close to 15 years old...
So I've been looking at the HP Z8 G4 (around the $1.5-2K mark not the $20-30K mark one) which should get me a dual xeon/28 core 256Gb ram unit, however wondering if I should go down the new self build route? But have been out of that arena for a long time.
I work in networking so space for 3 or 4 NIC cards is required for labs/testing. Also play games and run a few vms for testing, and have a decent graphics card I'll port over, so really looking to see what would be good motherboard/CPU/Ram combo that anyone would recommend up to similar price of 2k.
TIA
I've fairly recently received my Scan 3XS system.
While this one likely falls slightly outside the region of your implied budget, I can't recommend them highly enough when it comes to build quality, service and support. Though, as I have admitted elsewhere, I probably should have asked them a few more questions regarding the components I selected (CPU/GPU) prior to placing my order, but that one's on me.
The Asus WS C621E Sage motherboard is a real beast for dual Xeons with support for Intel overclocking, 7 PCIe x16 slots, 12 dimm slots, 8 SATA ports + 1 M.2 socket.
Regarding the networking, excluding that most server/workstation motherboards come with 2 x GBit nics, I have used intel 2 and 4 port cards in all of my latest machines without problems and spare slots are then not much of an issue.
While this one likely falls slightly outside the region of your implied budget, I can't recommend them highly enough when it comes to build quality, service and support. Though, as I have admitted elsewhere, I probably should have asked them a few more questions regarding the components I selected (CPU/GPU) prior to placing my order, but that one's on me.
The Asus WS C621E Sage motherboard is a real beast for dual Xeons with support for Intel overclocking, 7 PCIe x16 slots, 12 dimm slots, 8 SATA ports + 1 M.2 socket.
Regarding the networking, excluding that most server/workstation motherboards come with 2 x GBit nics, I have used intel 2 and 4 port cards in all of my latest machines without problems and spare slots are then not much of an issue.
xeny said:
I look after a stack of Z4 G4s and am pretty happy with them typically with around 12 cores and 128 GB of RAM. I'd also look at multiport ethernet cards rather than multiple single port cards.
Ah I already have 3x4 port ethernet cards and a 1x2 port (plus 2 on board nics)(This is old pic).
I “converted” to workstations rather than self-built machines a few years ago when I picked up a high spec Precision 5820 in the Dell outlet which would have been a ~£10k current order for approx £4k
I still have a reasonable spec self built machine which I hardly use.
What I liked about the workstation - and still do - is the inherent stability of the thing, it’s designed on what could be a server chassis with 24x7 operation in mind and is quieter and more discreet (I realise you could spec a self build in this manner).
It also came with 3 years NBD support which was necessary when its board died.
It’s a bit dated now but with an 18 core Xeon W, 128GB RAM and 6 x NVMe in RAID with a Quadro RTX5000 it’s still formidable as a 24x7 “always on” performance desktop from which my day to day business is conducted.
Self building just seems like too much hassle in comparison.
I still have a reasonable spec self built machine which I hardly use.
What I liked about the workstation - and still do - is the inherent stability of the thing, it’s designed on what could be a server chassis with 24x7 operation in mind and is quieter and more discreet (I realise you could spec a self build in this manner).
It also came with 3 years NBD support which was necessary when its board died.
It’s a bit dated now but with an 18 core Xeon W, 128GB RAM and 6 x NVMe in RAID with a Quadro RTX5000 it’s still formidable as a 24x7 “always on” performance desktop from which my day to day business is conducted.
Self building just seems like too much hassle in comparison.
Hi all - thought would give an update - I ended up going down the HP Z8 G4 new-to-me route. Dual Xeon 3.6GHz, 256GB ram, 1TB SSD & 8TB storage running a RX5700. It came with a NVIDIA Quadro P4000, but seems my old RX slightly pips it in performance so installed that. Seems to run Win 11 just fine.
Incredibly it appears to be heavier than my old Z800, which I didn't think could be possible.
Also got a couple of 32inch monitors which might have been a bit ott.
Incredibly it appears to be heavier than my old Z800, which I didn't think could be possible.
Also got a couple of 32inch monitors which might have been a bit ott.
Brother D said:
Hi all - thought would give an update - I ended up going down the HP Z8 G4 new-to-me route. Dual Xeon 3.6GHz, 256GB ram, 1TB SSD & 8TB storage running a RX5700. It came with a NVIDIA Quadro P4000, but seems my old RX slightly pips it in performance so installed that. Seems to run Win 11 just fine.
Incredibly it appears to be heavier than my old Z800, which I didn't think could be possible.
Also got a couple of 32inch monitors which might have been a bit ott.
How much did you pay for the tower?Incredibly it appears to be heavier than my old Z800, which I didn't think could be possible.
Also got a couple of 32inch monitors which might have been a bit ott.
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