HP Z210 SFF Workstation: Serious Power in Cramped Quarters
by Dustin Sklavos on August 29, 2011 8:10 PM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- IT Computing
- Intel
- HP
- Xeon
- Quadro
- Workstation
- SFF
- Enterprise
- NVIDIA
Conclusion: It May Be Little, But It's Fierce
Between testing workstations like the HP Z210, the EliteBooks, Toshiba's Tecra, and the Dell Precision T1600, I think my biggest problem with enterprise-class hardware has less to do with the hardware itself than it does with marketing: I wish these machines were targeted at consumers. Not necessarily in terms of internal hardware, but in terms of aesthetics and build quality. The Z210 SFF isn't particularly flashy, but it's not fugly either: it's designed for work and reliability and on that front it's a major success.
Internally, the Z210 SFF has a smart layout that allows it to fit snugly into that smaller form factor while still being very easy to service, but there are some real sacrifices made here that any potential buyer should be aware of. The biggest sacrifice is undoubtedly the single 3.5" internal drive bay; while many workstations aren't going to need more than that one drive, the chipset does support RAID, and you'll have to ditch the card reader for a second drive (depending on your needs that may not be much of an issue). The other issue is the half-height video card: the Quadro 600 is basically the fastest thing you can fit into the Z210 SFF, and while it's a major improvement over just using desktop class graphics it's not exactly a performance powerhouse.
That said, the Quadro 600 (AMD FirePro 2270 also available) at least allows the Z210 SFF to enter the conversation when it comes to OpenGL applications. The Z210 SFF is also capable of supporting a very powerful processor and frankly, the price is right, especially compared to some of Dell's offerings. The Precision T1600 we reviewed was at least $200 more than the Z210 SFF while being larger, more power hungry, and actually offering both less RAM and a slower storage subsystem. None of Dell's small form factor offerings even compete with the Z210 SFF in terms of potential processing power and graphics hardware.
With those points in mind, it's tough to argue against the Z210 SFF. If you need a system this powerful and this small, you'll have a hard time finding anything that competes with it. Lenovo doesn't have anything that can compete with it. Neither does Dell. Best of all, the pricing is actually fairly reasonable (though we'd like to see custom configurations easier to order). At about $2,000 for a configuration like our review unit, it's not exactly cheap, but you get a healthy amount of hardware for your money. While we still have some reservations about HP's Performance Advisor in practice, the underlying system is nonetheless a solidly built, well-engineered machine and easy enough to recommend on its own.
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The Von Matrices - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
I thought BTX was dead due to the rise of integrated memory controllers (difficult memory trace layout), but it's used in this case. I'm sure you couldn't get nearly as good thermal performance with an ATX layout, which is why I wish BTX had caught on in the build-your-own market.jecs - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
I builded a minitower PC back in december 2010 and it happens to include a 2600K and a Nvidia Q600 + 8 MBs of memory and W764. It is a great system and it was about $1500 from Newegg, Amazon and a local CompuUSA. So it is a mixed commercial PC with an entry Quadro to run 3D apps, mostly Maya 2011, but I run 3D terrain modelers, Photoshop or gaming engines with an Nvidia 460 installed on another slot (both cards at the same time). It runs very well and stable, I haven't overclocked the CPU but is really fast. For comparison it renders one image using Maya software or Mental Ray as fast as my Mac Pro 2008 with 8 Xeon cores at 2.8 MHz. But at some other rendering jobs as toonshading the 2600K doubles the Mac Pro performance (because the memory subsystem in the newer i7). However the Mac Pro is the machine I run all day and night and it is as stable as it possibly can be, it never fails and it runs cool and silent. But for 2K the HP including a Xeon is very competitive. Also the size (not the shape) is appealing to me.I need a Mac for FCP and because I have a ton of images, references, fonts, software, devices connected I like OSX and I am proficient using the Mac. I will upgrade the MP at the end of this year. I am thinking to try the top iMac that includes the 2600K, but I am afraid the iMac wont be able to handle all the demanding job the Mac Pro does or it may not be as easy to upgrade, handle everything, exchange HDs. etc The Mac Pro is a very solid workstation based on Xeon technology.
An experience I can share is the BIG difference a Quadro makes in Pro 3D, it is not only the performance numbers you can digest. I tested the 460 alone and it is a horrible card for that. The Q600 produce an image in the viewport the 460 can't touch.
I am glad I have both machines to run what I need at critical times and now I will always have both the Mac and PC combination. It gives me literally 2 eyes to try many things and I do.
Great article and Please keep doing Xeon and workstation reviews.
Dustin Sklavos - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
Do me a favor and humor me, because I do my video editing on the PC side (I know, I'm weird) on Adobe Premiere CS5.5: how has the switch from FCP7 to FCPX affected you?jecs - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
It hasn't yet! because I did not "upgraded" immediately (clever me) but it was shocking to know Apple's new strategy and in general the massive complains it generated and why. Being an early adopter has been hard on me lately on both Mac (Software and hardware) and PC (hardware). I guess I will investigate in detail how the new FCPX will affect me and when I feel confident I will upgrade. As for Premier Pro I guess I will download the trial and see how it works before the upgrade to FCPX.On the humor side everything is working great now, thanks! but what a pain it is to discover you want to desperately go back and stay there (if you can).
Parhel - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
Looks quite similar to SFF version of the Optiplex 990. The have an Ultra SFF as well, but it doesn't have an expansion slot for discrete video. I was considering one of those as the base for an HTPC build. Only thing that held me back was 2-channel sound. Would be interesting to see how this compares.koinkoin - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
Well what you would need is a video card with HDMI audio support.I got it in an optiplex 960 and works like a dream, you can get a AMD low profile card that would fit in there I guess.
GTVic - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
While one Anandtech reviewer recently referred to HP as a slow moving company, compared with Lenovo, as stated in this article, they do come up with enterprise hardware using the latest technology fairly quickly.In our organization we migrated to Windows Vista about 3 years ago and are about to move to Windows 7 next year. The hardware we received at the time was reasonable but already more than a year old in terms of when the chip hardware was released by Intel. I have a Lenovo S10 workstation that takes 90-120 seconds to boot up when you factor in all the corporate crap and is not noticeably faster than their standard desktop. They are proposing to replace this NEXT YEAR with the "BRAND NEW" S20 which can be found in reviews dating back to August 2009 (PCMag).
We should be getting this type of equipment and the EliteBook or ProBook laptops and higher end workstations as needed instead of the Lenovo one-size fits all crap we are getting now.
Death666Angel - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
Hello!Thanks for the article (haven't read it all, yet), but I wanted to ask you if you can also post the measurements of the case in the metric system (mm or cm) for your international viewers. Anandtech sometimes has both, sometimes just the metric one and sometimes just the imperial one.
It would be much appreciated.
Toshio - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
Thanks for the article! Tho I like to build my own gaming pc for home, at work we're considering workstations like this because of service, warranty, etc. I'm stunned by the OpenGL performance of the Quadro 600 card, didn't think there was such a gap compared to GTX580-class GFX.Only one question: this SFF system uses a proprietary PSU, right?
mike_ - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
CS5 benchmarks are all well and good, but I would reckon if you're in the market for one of these then you're in either engineering (ie, CAD or similar) or development, and the benchmarks covered neither.Linux performance would have been a welcome comparison also, as 7 can be a bit tiresome running workstation loads at times. Perhaps pull some of the server benchmarks out here? With something like this it won't be uncommon to run several server applications + virtual machines + development tools on the same box.