Desktop or Workstation – Which do you need?

Written by Carl Mazzanti
December 31, 2005
11:00 pm

Desktop or Workstation – Which do you need?
reprinted with permission from the HP Small Business Center

Workstations are more accessible and more flexible than ever, but do you need that kind of power? How exactly do workstations differ from traditional desktops? Who uses workstations, and what benefits do they offer?

Who uses workstations?
Workstations are designed to meet the requirements of users who place heavy demands on their computers, including:

Power office users who perform complicated and data-intensive office functions—graphic, video and web design, complex linked calculations, database and spreadsheet manipulations and advanced collaboration functions.
Technical personnel who work in design and simulation functions that can include MCAD (Mechanical Computer Aided Design), CAE (Computer Aided Engineering), and ECAD (Electronics Computer Aided Design) in industries as diverse as aeronautics, automotive design, product prototyping and more.
Animators, graphic artists, video editors and renderers who engage in DCC (Digital Content Creation).
Traders or other employees in financial sectors that require quad-monitor support and the computing power to manage complex real time transactions seamlessly.

What makes a workstation a workstation?
There are several features that make a workstation stand out from a traditional desktop PC:

More processing power
Workstation processors support multiprocessing (having more than one processor on the system bus), and generally allow multi-core (having more than one processor core in a single socket). An application like Adobe® Photoshop, for example, has computationally intense effect filters that it can apply over multiple processor cores, speeding the whole operation dramatically.
More robust memory subsystems
Large amounts of physical memory are necessary to run demanding applications, as well as to perform tasks like ‘rendering to RAM’ previews of movies. Unfortunately, physical memory is susceptible to ‘soft’ memory errors. To eliminate these errors, workstations support ECC (Error Checking and Correction). ECC detects and corrects single-bit soft memory errors, resulting in fewer instances of corrupted data or system crashes.
High-end graphics capabilities
The newest generation of HP workstations incorporates the latest 2D and 3D graphics technology and the PCI Express 2.0 slots to provide a wide range of cost-effective graphics solutions. Several 2D graphics cards are available for users that want good 2D performance at competitive price points. For instance, video editing and financial services applications generally support multiple 2D monitors, but don’t require 3D functionality. 3D graphics is required for animation in DCC and MCAD users. The new workstations provide a wide range of 3D cards to meet every need.

New HP Z-series Workstations
The newest generation of HP workstations, the Z series, offers all the workstation functionality discussed above, with powerful new features. The new Z workstations introduced the latest-generation processor technology from Intel, the Intel® Xeon processor, built on the same micro-architecture as the Intel® Core™ i7 processor. The Xeon eliminates bottlenecks previously encountered in multiprocessor systems—the front side bus. With this new architecture and its chipset, each processor has its own memory controller. This results in huge improvements to workstation memory bandwidth, which is performance staple of high-demand applications.

The HP Z Workstations also employ an extensive change to the I/O subsystem. The chipset now consists of an I/O hub (IOH) and an I/O controller hub (ICH). The I/O hub provides support for one or two PCI Express 2.0 (sometimes called “PCI Express Gen 2”) graphics cards and connects directly to the I/O controller hub, which provides additional I/O connectivity. PCI Express 2.0 doubles the peak data rate from the previous generation. The new workstations leverage the connectivity in the new hub to directly support dual PCI Express x16 (“by 16”) graphics cards and even SLI, native for the first time in the Intel architecture.

Thanks to collaboration with the BMW Group Designworks, the HP Z Workstations are designed from the ground-up to be more energy efficient, quiet, serviceable, and expandable. Several of the new systems have completely redesigned electromechanical enclosures, allowing for tool-less access to everything from the power supply to the mother board. All of the Z series workstations have 80 PLUS efficient, ENERGY STAR® 5.0 qualified configurations.

If you’re a power user with intense multitasking needs, you’ll find that a workstation—even an entry-level model—offers you the maximum computing potential you need to get your job done quickly and seamlessly.

Carl Mazzanti

Carl Mazzanti is Co-Founder and President of eMazzanti Technologies, Microsoft’s four time Partner of the Year and one of the premier IT consulting services for businesses throughout the New York metropolitan area and internationally. Carl and his company manage over 400 active accounts ranging from professional services firms to high-end global retailers.

eMazzanti is all about delivering powerful, efficient outsourced IT services, such as computer network management and troubleshooting, managed print, PCI DSS compliance, green computing, mobile workforce technology, information security, cloud computing, and business continuity and disaster recovery.

Carl Mazzanti is also a frequent business conference speaker and technology talk show guest and contributor at Microsoft-focused events, including frequent prominent roles at the Microsoft Inspire (Worldwide Partner Conference / WPC).

Carl, a serial Entrepreneur, gives back to the community through Entrepreneur teaching engagements at Georgetown University, the company’s ocean wildlife conservation effort, the Blue Project, and Tree Mazzanti.