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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Dustin Sklavos - Wednesday, August 31, 2011 - link
It's my understanding some of that is covered by SPECviewperf.WillR - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - link
I know this will seem out of left field and irrelevant to most. But it's nice to see a SFF system with a CF card slot. SD and its micro sibling have almost become a de facto standard with all other card types ignored, and that leaves Canon DSLR owners with limited options. Usually the solution ends up being an external card reader, and that's frankly annoying these days.Not that I use it also, but no Firewire? Kinda surprising.
Oscarcharliezulu - Wednesday, August 31, 2011 - link
Lots of talk and charts on gaming performance for a non gaming machine - seems like review filler to me sorry. I wouldn't mind a bit more analysis on benefits of the workstation class against consumer, and bench some real workstation apps. Love the SFF but they need to address the storage issue, perhaps I could use a NAS but then would spend a lot of time copying projects in and out. Comment to HP - it's horrifically ugly - what happened to good design? I'd be embarrassed to let clients see it.hampuras - Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - link
How is this good or not for Photoshopping? Or would be better with an iMac?Zumzifero - Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - link
I'm looking for a nice small workstation which I'd mostly use on Vectorworks (Cinema 4D) so I'm pleased to see this review and how well this little PC performs.I need to move it from time to time from one office to another, but not the an extent requiring a full time Laptop (for these task I'll stick on my faithful Macbook Pro).
I was checking HP pricing just now and saw how, on their site, they are advising about getting a FirePro V3800 on this class of systems. The Quadro 600 is available too but at a premium price.
So far I've found a lot of reviews of the FP3800 but no head to head with it's natural competitor, the Q600. Specs worth the Q600 fits somewhere in between the V3800 and the more performing V4800 (which is full height and costs as the Q600), so what would be nest for a little budget system? is the Q600 worth 100% more in price? Overall I may still go with Nvidia since VW has problem with Anti-aliasing on ATI and because of 512mb on board, but still I'm curious about seeing what's going on in the pro range of the graphic cards
The second question I'm pondering is: since HP is not cheap on components, how easy it is to install my own SSD?
It's not just for the money: I found it's damn hard to get a custom built system form HP (unlike form Dell), especially since here in Italy, so being able to buy a bare bone system and then adding graphic card and SSD of my choice would be piece of cake