DEVELOP3D workstation special report - Winter 2024

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Workstation special report Winter 2024

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series Breathtaking performance and, with Pro and ‘prosumer’ versions, AMD now has all bases covered

Workstation GPUs

Buying advice

Remote possibilities

We push the latest AMD Radeon Pro and Nvidia RTX workstation GPUs to their limits

From CPU and GPU to power and serviceability, we share our top tips for buying a workstation

Two fresh approaches to remote workstations with high frequency processors at their heart

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07/02/2024 09:21

workstation special report

Power to the people When choosing a laptop, we all compare specs, but just because two machines have the same processor it doesn’t mean you’ll get the same performance. Power plays a critical role, but without transparency from the vendors it’s hard to make an informed decision, writes Greg Corke We’ve all been there.

The ThinkPad P16 is a You’re choosing your very powerful laptop, but next laptop: one is super there’s always a bigger sleek, the other a brick, in fish. In the world of mobile comparison. Both have the workstations, it’s the same high-performance MSI CreatorPro X17 HX. GPU. Which one do you Both machines can be choose? I’m sure we all configured with the topknow how this story ends. end Intel Core i9-13980HX The problem is, you processor, but you’ll may not realise that probably get significantly both machines will more multi -threaded probably give you quite performance out of the different performance.

MSI machine. You only For the average Specifications are one need to look at the massive thing, but in order to get person comparing cooling unit that hangs off the best out of a processor laptop specs, few the back to understand it needs power. And when why, or the 330W power would think to it comes to slimline mobile supply unit (PSU), which search out a workstations, this can be delivers 100W more than processor’s TGP the ThinkPad P16. in short supply.

Take the Lenovo Power gaps aren’t or TDP for a ThinkPad P1 mobile limited to laptops. specific machine, Desktop workstations workstation, for example.

It’s significantly thinner which may or may also suffer from the same and lighter than the not be hidden in thermal challenges when Lenovo ThinkPad P16. you shrink them down. the depths of a Both 16-inch laptops can Take the HP Z2 Mini technical be configured with the G9, for example. With document powerful Nvidia RTX an extremely compact 5000 Ada Generation chassis, it simply can’t GPU, but the ThinkPad compete with larger P16 would almost certainly win out in a towers when it comes to power and GPU rendering race. cooling. With a 280W external adapter to The reason is, both machines have a power everything inside, it doesn’t take a different TGP (Total Graphics Power), genius to work out that an Intel Core i9the maximum amount of power a GPU 13900K processor won’t go all the way can consume under load. In the ThinkPad up to its max turbo P1 it’s 80W, but in the ThinkPad power of 253W. P16 it goes up to 115W. Compared to a well The smaller the chassis, specified tower, you the harder it is to cool, probably won’t notice a so less power can be performance difference in pumped in. single threaded or lightly threaded CAD workflows, but when all CPU cores kick in, it’ll drop quickly off the pace.

‘‘

’’

The Lenovo ThinkPad P1 is a beautiful slimline laptop, but with the same highend components, you’ll get more performance out of the bulkier ThinkPad P16

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when it’s fed more watts? As we discovered in our AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series review (see page WS8), there can be diminishing returns.

Returning to our Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation laptop GPU example, don’t expect to get 44% more graphics performance out of the ThinkPad P16 simply because the GPU has access to 44% more power. The performance curve will always flatten out.

A call for transparency I understand that I may be preaching to the converted. Many of you love workstations even more than me, and a lot of this information is out there in the public domain. But for the average person comparing laptop specs, few would think to search out a processor’s TGP or TDP for a specific machine, which may or may not be hidden in the depths of a technical document somewhere.

It would be great to see more transparency from the workstation OEMs. A simple bracketed power consumption figure right next to each processor would be a good start. Power consumption in relation to performance is not always straightforward (read our Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation review on page WS36 to find out why), but it would at least show potential buyers a difference between two machines. Let’s just get the conversation started.

Of course, publishing power consumption up front would also draw attention to just how much energy some of these processors consume, which is another conversation entirely. At the end of the day, it’s all about giving people the data they need to make informed decisions, and that’s got to be good for everyone, right?

To find out more about power consumption in workstations and how to save power, read our ‘We need to talk about energy’ article in The power curve DEVELOP3D’s December 2022 workstation Power is important, special report, available here, along with all of but how much faster our back issues. does a processor go ■ www.develop3d.com/magazines February / March 2024

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07/02/2024 09:48

workstation special report

Know your workstation Greg Corke breaks down the desktop workstation, and explores what key components mean for product design, engineering and manufacturing workflows

Processor (CPU) Always aim for a CPU with a high turbo or boost frequency (GHz). This is important for the performance of the system and of the applications, as many operations are single threaded or lightly threaded. i.e. they use only one CPU core or a handful of cores.

Highly multi-threaded operations can take good advantage of multiple CPU cores. Ray trace rendering is the best example, as performance scales very well.

Simulation software also tends to be multi-threaded, especially Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). With Finite Element Analysis (FEA) there can sometimes be diminishing returns as you use more cores, and performance can even go down. It is sometimes possible to run multiple simulations in parallel on a single machine, providing you have sufficient memory and memory bandwidth, storage bandwidth and software licences.

CPUs that have lots of cores typically run at lower frequencies, so it’s important to strike a balance. In saying that, the new AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series processors are bucking that trend. Another strategy is to optimise your workstation for modelling workflows and send your multi-threaded calcs to a server or the cloud.

Intel used to dominate the workstation CPU market, but this has changed. For highend multi-threaded workflows, AMD Ryzen Threadripper or AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro processors have a clear lead over the Intel Xeon W-Series. However, mainstream Intel Core processors still have the edge over AMD Ryzen in single threaded or lightly threaded workflows, such as CAD and BIM.

Graphics (GPU) The professional 3D graphics card or graphics processing unit (GPU) is one of the key components that defines a professional 3D workstation. Pro GPUs come with pro graphics drivers, which are specifically designed to work with professional 3D software (especially CAD and BIM software). Pro GPUs are often given an official stamp of approval for individual applications through a process called ‘certification’, which comes with the promise of full support from the software developer.

Pro graphics drivers can mean better performance, better stability and access to specific features, such as RealView in Solidworks, and Order Independent Transparency (OIT) in several 3D CAD applications. If there are any display or stability issues in your CAD or BIM software, they are more likely to be fixed in a subsequent driver release.

Modern GPUs comprise different types of processor cores. Many have hardware ray tracing built in, which is essential for modern visualisation software, for offline rendering and to bring ray tracing effects into viewport. Meanwhile, AI cores can be used to ‘denoise’ renders, or to boost 3D performance in real time applications.

Nvidia has the lion’s share of the add-in GPU market with its Nvidia RTX family and older Quadro GPUs. AMD Radeon Pro also plays an important role, especially in terms of price/ performance. Intel is also looking to get in on the action with Arc Pro, which launched last year. Some Intel and AMD CPUs include integrated graphics, but these are currently mainly for entry-level mobile workstations.

Professional GPUs are facing increased competition from their consumer counterparts — Nvidia GeForce, AMD Radeon, and Intel Arc. Some of the major workstation OEMs now offer consumer GPUs in their workstations.

High-end professional GPUs tend to feature more memory than high-end consumer GPUs, which is a big consideration. However, they can easily compete on raw processing power.

For CAD and BIM workflows we recommend sub-£500 entry-level to mid-range pro GPUs with 8 GB or more, but when you get into the high end, an area where you need more 3D performance for real-time visualisation, offline rendering or virtual reality (VR), the difference in price is greater and pro graphics cards are often a harder sell for those on a budget, especially for applications that support multiple GPUs. Nvidia even has a GeForce ‘Studio’ driver for applications including Enscape, Unreal Engine and V-Ray. GPUs are not just for 3D graphics or rendering. They can also be used to solve other parallel processing tasks such as simulation and reality modelling. Some simulation software requires good double precision performance, which is available in specialist GPUs like the Nvidia A800.

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February / March 2024

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07/02/2024 09:54

workstation special report

Memory (RAM) It’s important that your workstation has enough system memory. If is becomes full, performance can significantly slow down as your workstation has to page data to your Solid State Drive (SSD). Every application you load up uses up memory, so you will need to be able to cover all the applications and datasets you typically have open at the same time — think CAD, visualisation, data management, simulation, email client, web browser, and others.

32 GB is a good starting point for CAD-centric workflows, with 64 GB or more recommended for more demanding workflows such as visualisation, simulation and reality modelling.

Memory bandwidth is important, but only to certain workflows. It is governed by the frequency of the memory and the number of memory channels supported by the workstation platform. Mainstream processors like Intel Core and AMD Ryzen generally support dual channel memory, which is fine for CAD, while Intel Xeon W-Series and AMD Ryzen Threadripper (Pro) processors offer 4 or 8 channel memory, which can benefit memory intensive applications like simulation. In order to benefit from the full memory bandwidth, the number of memory modules should match the number of memory channels.

Don’t forget that memory requirements will always change over time. Your datasets will get bigger and the memory footprint of your operating system and applications will increase with new releases. With this in mind, it’s good to buy a workstation with spare memory slots for easier upgrades, though this needs to be balanced against memory bandwidth. ECC memory can protect against crashes, which becomes important for lengthy calculations, as you can lose hours of work.

Storage M.2 NVMe Solid State Drives (SSDs) have quickly become the standard in workstations. Now you must choose between PCIe Gen 5.0 SSDs and PCIe Gen 4.0 SSDs. With PCIe Gen 5.0, sequential read/write speeds are superior. Those working with very large datasets, such as point cloud, simulation or video editing, should benefit most.

The cost of NVMe SSDs has come down a lot and it’s now feasible to cover all your workstation storage requirements with one or more SSDs. Most tower workstations support multiple SSDs directly on the motherboard. Some workstations provide front-accessible SSDs, while others offer add-in boards that support multiple SSDs. For the fastest performance or protection against data loss, multiple SSDs can be configured in various RAID arrays. For example, RAID 0 (striped, for performance) or RAID 1 (mirrored, for redundancy so, if one drive fails, your data is safe).

SSD endurance is another important consideration, particularly if your workflows involve writing huge amounts of data. Simulation and point cloud processing, for example, can produce huge temporary files. Endurance is often defined by TBW or terabytes written, the total amount of data that could be written to the SSD during its life span.

Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) still continue to offer the best price per GB, but should absolutely not be used as a primary drive for operating system and applications. They are good for secondary storage, however, and do not impact load / save times of CAD models that much. However, if you need to process large point cloud or simulation datasets, especially if you don’t have enough RAM to hold the dataset entirely in system memory, then NVMe SSDs are always best.

Operating System Microsoft Windows 11 Professional is pretty standard these days in new workstations, but there are many firms that still rely on Windows 10 Professional.

There are many reasons why Windows 11 is better, but one of the most important is when you have an Intel Core processor with a hybrid P-Core / E-Core architecture. Windows 10 sometimes assigns processes to the slower Efficient-cores (E-cores), instead of the faster Performance-cores (P-cores), as one would typically desire.

In the past, we have observed simulation in Solidworks, recompiling shaders in Unreal Engine and drawing production in Autodesk Inventor to run notably slower because of this.

This can be easily ‘fixed’ by changing CPU priority in the excellent third party tool, Process Lasso, but of course, you must first know that the problem exists. You don’t have this issue when running Windows 11. Everything appears to be assigned correctly.

OS

station

5 work

HP Z4 G

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February / March 2024

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07/02/2024 09:54

workstation special report

Beyond performance: c Choosing the right specs are important, but that is not the be all and end all of buying a workstation.

Greg Corke looks at some other critical points to consider

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February / March 2024

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Power usage

Bottlenecks

Power usage has become an even more critical consideration in recent years.

Firms have long been aware of their obligation to protect the environment.

Now with rising energy costs they are feeling the pinch.

The fact is that energy consumption of processors has been rising steadily.

Today we have mainstream workstation processors that draw over 250W at peak and high-end GPUs that hit 450W. There are many ways to save power, but choosing the right hardware is arguably the most important.

First, consider a power efficient CPU with fewer cores. Intel Core i5 processors, for example, use significantly less power than Intel Core i9 processors, and won’t be that much slower in single threaded or lightly threaded workflows, such as CAD or BIM. Super compact workstations like the Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tiny offer T suffix Intel Core i5 processors that consume even less power. There are also AMD Ryzen processors which, overall, offer better performance per watt than Intel Core, though they are not as widely available.

Second, buy GPUs that are matched precisely to your workflows. If your viz datasets aren’t that complex and you can smoothly navigate your scene with a 70W GPU like the Nvidia RTX A2000, do you really need the 130W Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation? More powerful GPUs might be able to render your scene with more frames per second, but you probably won’t notice a difference. Of course, offline renders will come back faster.

Understanding how your software works and where your bottlenecks occur can help you make informed decisions on workstation purchases. Don’t presume that software developers know how their software performs with different processors. Recommended specs are not always accurate or up to date.

Many of the major workstation OEMs offer free workstation tuning software that can monitor resources in real time and over a set period. Other good tools include GPU-Z for monitoring GPU usage, CPU-Z for CPU, HWinfo and Windows Performance Monitor.

If you are experiencing slow 3D performance, for example, check to see how much of your GPU is being used.

If it’s 100%, then investing in a more powerful GPU would probably help.

However, if usage is significantly lower, you could be wasting your money and would be better off buying a CPU with a higher boost frequency.

Once you understand where your bottlenecks occur, it can help you assign budget to the correct areas and tailor a workstation for your specific workflows.

Read this DEVELOP3D Magazine article to find out more (www.develop3d.com/ hardware/know-your-bottlenecks).

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07/02/2024 09:54

workstation special report

e: choosing a workstation OEM

Warranty

The maker

The chassis

Virtually all workstations come with a three-year warranty, but the level of cover can vary considerably between manufacturers. This isn’t just about protecting your investment. In the event of a failure, you need to get your workstation back up and running as quickly as possible and with minimal hassle.

A next business day (NBD) on-site warranty is common with workstations from major OEMs. Some custom manufacturers only offer ‘return to base’ as standard or NBD on site for the first year. Having to send away your workstation to be repaired could mean days without its use, which could be catastrophic when on a tight project deadline.

Many minor repairs can be done by yourself. Some manufacturers specifically make their workstations easy to service, so customers can be guided over the phone or video call and get themselves back up and running the same day (or the next day if a part needs to be sent out). Other manufacturers state that any repairs or alterations that are carried out by the customer invalidate the warranty, so check with your supplier first.

When comparing prices of workstations, make sure you are looking at details of the warranty and not just the specifications of the machine.

Warranties can be extended and negotiated, so also bear that in mind.

A common question is whether to buy your workstation from a specialist system builder or a major OEM like Dell, HP or Lenovo. There’s no simple answer, but there are a number of things to consider.

Custom manufacturers are more flexible in how machines can be configured and are generally quicker at introducing new technologies. Many such firms overclock their CPUs, which can boost performance.

OEMs, on the other hand, spend much more time on R&D to make sure that components work well together and do extensive studies into acoustics, electromagnetic interference and thermodynamics.

OEM workstations tend to be more solid and easier to service, particularly as some custom manufacturers try to cut costs by using budget PC chassis. They also have long term availability, so if you find a system / spec that works for your project team, you will probably be able to buy it for several years.

Major OEM workstations also go through extensive testing and certification to ensure they work well. Some software developers will not provide full support if you don’t have certified hardware. With custom manufacturers, you are usually just getting the certification of the GPU. Of course, many large architecture or engineering firms will only buy from major OEMs for reasons of support, management or global availability, so the decision is already made.

Workstations are about so much more than just their constituent parts. The chassis can be incredibly important.

There are four main points to consider: size, noise, cooling and serviceability.

But easy access to things like USB ports, USB charging ports, hot swappable storage or headphone sockets can also make a big difference.

Ask yourself the following questions:

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•

• • • • • • • •

• •

Will the machine fit on your desk, or will it have to be kept down by your feet?

Could it be attached to the back of a monitor?

Can it fit in a rack?

How many can you fit in a rack?

If you need to move it, is it heavy and does it have built-in handles?

Are the fans so noisy that they are distracting?

Do the fans do their job or will they make the processor throttle?

Will the chassis serve you well into the future?

Can you expand the system with GPUs, storage or memory (are there free memory slots)?

Is it easy to service internal components?

If your power supply unit or fans fail, how easy are they to change?

Of course, if you are the type of person that would never dream of getting inside a computer then serviceability is a moot point. Think about the things that matter to you. For some, aesthetics are very important.

February / March 2024

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07/02/2024 09:54

workstation special report

In-depth review AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series AMD does it again with a phenomenal new workstation processor that combines high frequencies with buckets of cores. And with nine models spanning Pro and high-end desktop (HEDT) families, there’s something for everyone, writes Greg Corke

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February / March 2024

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07/02/2024 10:17

workstation special report

T

he AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series processors, based on AMD’s ‘Zen 4’ architecture, launched in October 2023 with specifications that were nothing short of breath-taking. The combination of high core counts (up to 96), high clock speeds (up to 5.3 GHz), support for multiple GPUs and lots of high-bandwidth memory, makes them extremely well suited to a variety of demanding pro workflows including visualisation, simulation, reality modelling, AI, and lots more.

Workstations based on these powerful multi-core processors are now starting to come to market. And there are plenty to choose from.

The big news is that all the major OEMs now offer a Threadripper workstation.

Following the lead of Lenovo in 2020 and Dell in 2022, HP is finally on board.

Considering that AMD had virtually no presence in the OEM workstation market three years ago, this is a major breakthrough.

There are also workstations from specialist system builders like Armari, BOXX, Puget Systems, Scan, and Workstation Specialists, some of which are overclocked to squeeze even more performance out of the multi-core chip.

The other big development is that the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series comes in two variants: the ‘Pro’ range

(AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 WXSeries) and ‘High-End Desktop (HEDT)’ range (AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series). This is a change from the previous generation ‘Zen 3’ Threadripper 5000 Series processors which were ‘Pro’ only and marks a return to the dual product family approach of ‘Zen 2’.

Splitting out Threadripper into two product families gives users more choice and makes the Threadripper platform more accessible in terms of price. While the Pro and HEDT versions are very similar in terms of clock speed and cache, Pro offers more cores (up to 96 versus up to 64), more memory bandwidth (8-channels versus 4-channels of DDR5), more PCIe lanes, and comes with AMD Pro Security and Manageability.

Management and security are critical for enterprises, which is why the major OEMs only offer workstations with Threadripper Pro. Meanwhile, specialist systems builders can offer both, although we suspect most of their workstations will be sold with HEDT processors.

The platform is not only cheaper, but there are only select workflows that will benefit from the additional memory bandwidth of Pro. Some engineering simulation solvers, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD), will. Many visualisation workflows, including rendering, will not.

The ‘Zen 4’ generation AMD hasn’t released an HEDT Threadripper since 2020, so it’s fair to say that both new ‘Zen 4’ Threadrippers are the natural successors to the ‘Zen 3’ Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000 WXSeries, which launched in 2022. Let’s look at where things have improved.

Core count: Threadripper Pro 5000 WXSeries maxed out at 64-cores, but the new Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series goes all the way up to 96-cores. This alone will deliver a substantial performance improvement in highly multi-threaded workflows such as ray trace rendering and engineering simulation. Meanwhile, the ‘HEDT’ Threadripper 7000 Series peaks at 64-cores.

Higher frequencies: Base and boost frequencies on all Threadripper 7000 Series chips are significantly higher than the Threadripper 5000 WX-Series. This benefits everyone – those with highly multi-threaded workflows such as rendering and those with single threaded workflows such as CAD. Both the 64-core Threadripper Pro 7985WX and Threadripper 7980X processors, for example, deliver 3.2 GHz base and 5.1 GHz boost, which is 0.5 GHz and 0.6 GHz faster than their ‘Zen 3’ equivalent, the Threadripper Pro 5995WX.

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7960X

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X

AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7945WX

AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7955WX

AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7965WX

AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7975WX

AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7985WX

AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX

# of CPU Cores

24

32

64

12

16

24

32

64

96

# of CPU Threads

48

64

128

24

32

48

64

128

192

Base Frequency

4.2 GHz

4.0 GHz

3.2 GHz

4.7 GHz

4.5 GHz

4.2 GHz

4.0 GHz

3.2 GHz

2.5 GHz

Max Boost Frequency

Up to 5.3 GHz

Up to 5.3 GHz

Up to 5.1 GHz

Up to 5.3 GHz

Up to 5.3 GHz

Up to 5.3 GHz

Up to 5.3 GHz

Up to 5.1 GHz

Up to 5.1 GHz

Memory type

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

DDR5 RDIMM up to 5200MT/s

Memory channels

4

4

4

8

8

8

8

8

8

Cache

L1 cache - 1.5 MB L2 cache - 24 MB L3 cache - 128 MB

L1 cache - 2 MB L2 cache - 32 MB L3 cache - 128 MB

L1 cache - 4 MB L2 cache - 64 MB L3 cache - 256 MB

L1 cache - 768 K L2 cache - 12 MB L3 cache - 64 MB

L1 cache - 1 MB L2 cache - 16 MB L3 cache - 64 MB

L1 cache - 1.5 MB L2 cache - 24 MB L3 cache - 128 MB

L1 cache - 2 MB L2 cache - 32 MB L3 cache - 128 MB

L1 cache - 4 MB L2 cache - 64 MB L3 cache - 256 MB

L1 cache - 6 MB L2 cache - 96 MB L3 cache - 384 MB

Default TDP

350 W

350 W

350 W

350 W

350 W

350 W

350 W

350 W

350 W

AMD Pro Security & Manageability

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Price (Ex VAT)

£1,242

£2,083

£4,125

N/A (only available through OEMs)

N/A (only available through OEMs)

£2,208

£3,208

£6,083

£8,250

(from scan.co.uk 7/12/23)

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February / March 2024

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workstation special report

KeyShot 11.3.1 benchmark

Cinebench R23 benchmark (single core)

Cinebench R23 benchmark (multi core)

Ray trace rendering

Ray trace rendering

Ray trace rendering

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

5.70

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

5.37

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

5.32

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C) Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

16.65

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

2,304

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

9.15 12.36

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

2,022

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C) N/A

9.72

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

15.19

Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

37,601

Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

35,490

Core i9-14900KF (8 + 16C)

37,421

Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

1,670

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

1,279

2 x Xeon 8490H (2 x 60C)

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

1,368

TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

1,875

TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

1,897

TR 7980X (64 C) (PBO off)

58,796 84,920 70,286 60,960 92,903

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

18.65

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

1,895

TR 7980X (64 C) (PBO 70° C)

107,578

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

19.07

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

1,878

TR 7980X (64 C) (PBO 80° C)

113,755

19.44

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

1,890

TR 7980X (64 C) (PBO 90° C)

115,495

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

1,825

TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

112,946

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

17.50

0

V-Ray 5.0 benchmark

5

10

15

20

0

500

1000

1500

2000

Cinebench 2024 benchmark (single core)

2500

0

20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000

Cinebench 2024 benchmark (multi core)

Ray trace rendering

Ray trace rendering

Ray trace rendering

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

29,458

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C) N/A

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C) N/A

Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

28,392

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C) N/A

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C) N/A

Core i9-14900KF (8 + 16C)

25,544

Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

2 x Xeon 8490H (2 x 60C)

95,937

TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

59,982

TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

82,914

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

2,137

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C) N/A

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C) N/A

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C) N/A

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C) N/A

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C) N/A

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

50,802

TR 7980X (64 C) (PBO off)

136

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C) N/A

47,056

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

109

3,509

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

114

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

5,557

TR 7980X (64 C) (PBO 70° C)

99,882

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

114

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

TR 7980X (64 C) (PBO 80° C)

102,294

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

113.5

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

6,449

TR 7980X (64 C) (PBO 90° C)

105,932

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

114

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

6,368

TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

102,566

0

20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000

Even the top-end 96-core Threadripper Pro 7995WX delivers a whopping 5.1 GHz boost, which is only 0.6 GHz behind AMD’s top-end consumer processor, the 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. These significant frequency gains are in part down to an increase in Thermal Design Power (TDP), going from 280W in the previous generation to 350W for all new Threadripper 7000 Series chips.

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

106

0

30

60

90

120

150

0

6,343

5,889

1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

Higher IPC: All Threadripper 7000 Series chips get a significant boost simply because they are built on AMD’s newer Zen 4 architecture. Compared to Zen 3, AMD quotes a 13% uplift in Instructions Per Clock (IPC), the number of instructions a CPU can execute in a single clock cycle. This should benefit all multicore and single core workflows.

on the number of memory channels.

Here the Threadripper Pro 7000 WXSeries has an advantage over the ‘HEDT’ Threadripper 7000 Series as it supports eight channels versus four, although all RDIMM slots need to be populated in order to benefit.

The previous gen Threadripper Pro 5000 WX-Series also supports 8-channels, but consumer processors including the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series and 14th Gen Intel Core, support dualchannel DDR5.

Incidentally, AMD decided not to go for 12-channel memory, a hallmark of its Zen 4 EPYC server processors. According to AMD, this is partly to tailor the platform to a workstation audience and partly because there is simply no room for more RDIMM slots in a standard workstation chassis.

With 148 PCIe lanes (128 of which are PCIe Gen 5.0), the Threadripper Pro 7000 WX Series platform can, in theory, support eight double slot GPUs. In reality, this number is less, as it’s decided by the motherboard manufacturers. Most of the major workstation OEMs support two or three double slot GPUs on their new Threadripper Pro machines, but we could see boards from specialist manufacturers that support more. This could be an interesting proposition for manufacturers of virtual workstations who want to assign a powerful dedicated GPU to each virtual machine.

Meanwhile, the ‘HEDT’ Threadripper 7000 Series supports 92 PCIe lanes (48 PCIe of which are 5.0). PCIe lanes can also be used for high-performance storage and network cards.

DDR5 memory: Both Threadripper 7000 Series chips support 5,200 MHz server-class DDR5 RDIMM memory, compared to 3,200 MHz DDR4 with the 5000 WX-Series. DDR5 memory delivers significantly more bandwidth, which will benefit some memory intensive workflows such as engineering simulation.

Memory bandwidth is also dependent

PCIe Gen 5: The new Threadripper 7000 Series supports PCIe Gen 5, which doubles the PCI bandwidth to any slot on the board compared to the previous generation with PCIe Gen 4. According to AMD, this should deliver real benefits to multi-GPU AI workflows. But this is more for the future, as current pro GPUs, including the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada and AMD Radeon Pro W7900, are still on PCIe Gen 4.

AVX-512 instructions: The new ‘Zen 4’ Threadrippers support AVX-512, a set of extensions to the x86 instruction set that are used to boost performance in a variety of software tools. AVX-512 is especially prevalent in simulation software, with supported applications including Altair Radioss, Simulia Abaqus and Ansys Mechanical. AVX-512 was originally developed by Intel and is supported on

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Xeon processors, so this is a big step up for AMD. It is not supported on Intel Core processors with a hybrid P-Core / E-Core architecture.

The new chips The new ‘Zen 4’ Threadrippers present users with more choice than ever. There are six models in the Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series chips with 12, 16, 24, 32, 64 or 96 cores, and three models in the ‘HEDT’ Threadripper 7000 Series with 24, 36 or 64 cores.

All eyes are on the flagship AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX. With 96-cores and a boost frequency up to 5.1 GHz this monster chip is head and shoulders above AMD’s previous flagship workstation processor, the 64core Threadripper Pro 5995WX, and indeed the competition. Intel’s top-end workstation chip, the 56-core Intel Xeon w9-3495X, lags behind in both single threaded and multi-threaded workflows.

Of course, for unrivalled performance, AMD can charge a big premium, and many firms will find the 96-core chip’s price tag of £8,250+VAT hard to swallow, especially considering the performance uplift over the 64-core model is not always that big (see later).

Better value can be found with the lower core-count models, especially with the HEDT Threadrippers. At £4,125+VAT, for example, the 64-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X costs around 50% less than the 64-core Threadripper Pro 7985WX. In terms of price per core, the 24-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7960X looks best value. And at £1,242+VAT it’s nearly half the price of its Pro equivalent, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7965WX. The challenge for these lower end Threadripper 7000 Series processors is demonstrating enough value when compared to the AMD Ryzen 9 7000 Series.

These consumer-focused processors, which peak at 16-cores with the Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 7950X3D, are significantly cheaper, as are the motherboards that support them.

While the jump from 16 to 24 cores is not that big, the Threadripper 7000 Series offers much more than just more cores. There’s more memory capacity, more memory bandwidth, and more PCIe lanes, which will be important for some customers.

All about the power All AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series processors are rated at 350W Thermal Design Power (TDP). TDP is www.develop3d.com

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a measure of the maximum power a chip will consume under the maximum theoretical load. This is 70W higher than the previous generation Threadripper Pro 5000 WX-Series, so presents some significant thermal challenges for workstation manufacturers.

To keep the processor within its thermal limits and stop it from overheating (and therefore throttling) workstation manufacturers have two options: air cooling or liquid cooling.

Air cooling uses fans to blow cool air over a heatsink that is attached directly to the CPU via a conductive baseplate and heat pipes. This method is preferred by the major workstation OEMs as it’s considered to be the most reliable.

Liquid cooling uses a liquid coolant, which flows from the baseplate through a tube to a large heat exchanger cooled by fans. It’s a more efficient way of removing heat from the CPU, but because there are more points of failure (and liquid involved), it’s considered to be more of a specialist solution. It is not offered by the major OEMs. Liquid cooling has two potential benefits: first, the workstations can sometimes be quieter as fans don’t have to work as hard, and second, the best liquid coolers allow more power to be pumped into the CPU so boost clock speeds can remain higher for longer.

With the AMD Threadripper 7000 Series processors (HEDT and Pro) more power can be applied through a technology called Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO). It isn’t the same as traditional overclocking, where specialists manually tweak CPU frequency and voltage. With PBO, the boost is essentially automated without losing stability. By simply changing a setting in the motherboard BIOS or AMD Ryzen Master software, the CPU can be fed more power as long as the cooler can handle it.

PBO is not enabled on any workstation from the major OEMs, so 350W is the maximum power that is ever pumped into the CPU, regardless of the number of cores. As all Threadripper 7000 Series processors have the same TDP, it means the higher core count CPUs have lower all core frequencies.

This presents an opportunity for specialist system builders like Armari to take power and performance beyond the standard levels. Using a custom All-In-One (AIO) cooler, Armari raises the sustained PBO to around 700W, delivering higher clock speeds over a longer period of time to get significantly

Solidworks 2022 SPECapc benchmark (CAD) 1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

Rebuild test AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

2.32

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

2.32

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

2.50

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

1.62

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

1.35

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

1.53

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

2.14

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

2.12

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

2.10

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

2.14

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

2.13

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C) 2.03

Convert test

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

2.17

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

2.25

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

2.33

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

1.56

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

1.11

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

1.41

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

2.07

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

2.12

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

2.14

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

2.17 2.17

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

1.87

Simulate test 0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C) AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C) Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

2.5 1.99

1.95

2.26

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

1.60

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

1.40

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

1.55

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

1.75

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

1.89

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

1.82

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

1.88

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

1.88

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

Mass properties test 0.0

1.17

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

2.47

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

1.19

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

1.17

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

2.57 2.70

1.67

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

2.19

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

1.66

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

1.78

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

2.20

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

1.78

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

2.05

Boolean test 0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

3.0

2.06

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

2.29

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

2.32

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

1.12

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

1.05

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

1.35

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

1.84

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

1.98

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

1.79

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

1.88

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

1.82

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

0.0

1.68

0.5

February / March 2024

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

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more performance out of the same silicon, all while keeping within thermal limits so the processor is not throttled.

The conundrum for specialist system builders is that of warranty. While AMD makes overclocking easy and safe with PBO, and actively promotes the practice with a crack team that uses liquid nitrogen to break world records, the official stance is that AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking.

When you are talking about processors that costs thousands of pounds this is a big exposure for a specialist system builder.

In the case of Armari, it has a tonne of experience in boosting workstations while keeping machines running within safe limits. It has stated that PBO tuning will be a ‘supported and fully warrantied feature’ of its flagship Magnetar M64T7 workstation.

drop in frequency which would reduce performance in workflows that do not benefit from additional cache.

A lot of what we see in the Threadripper 7000 Series is inherited from AMD’s ‘Zen 4’ EPYC server processors. Some of the more recent models from the EPYC 9004 Series come with 3D V-Cache, a special type of L3 cache that is stacked vertically instead of horizontally, so more cache

can be placed on the CPU. The 96-core AMD EPYC 9684X, for example, boasts a whopping 1,152 MB compared to its non 3D V-Cache equivalent, the AMD EPYC 9654 which has 384 MB. The benefit of having more cache is that the CPU has a greater chance of being able to fetch the data it needs from faster cache instead of from slower system memory (RAM). And in some memory intensive workflows, such as CFD, where large amounts of data need to be fetched regularly, this can deliver a performance benefit, as demonstrated in DEVELOP3D’s review of the consumerfocused AMD Ryzen 7000 X3D processor, and in this blog post about CFD software Siemens Simcenter STAR-CCM+ (www.tinyurl.com/Epyc-siemens).

None of the new Threadripper 7000 Series processors support 3D V-Cache.

Instead, chips come with standard L3 cache, up to 384 MB on the 96-core model.

On a core-to-core basis this is the same as the previous generation.

AMD said that it experimented with 3D V-Cache on Threadripper but found that there are ‘very few applications that show a material performance uplift’.

Enabling 3D V-Cache also means a small

Unreal Engine 4.26

Agisoft MetaShape Professional 1.73

SPECWorkstation 3.1

Recompile shaders (Audi Car Configurator model)

Puget Systems benchmark (photogrammetry)

Simulation tests (CFD and FEA)

1.23 Time secs (smaller is better)

1.23 Time secs (smaller is better)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

What about AMD 3D V-Cache?

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

Rock Model

165.72

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

202.31

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

85.93

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

72.40

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

66.31

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

65.04

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

64.06

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

64.67

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

50

SiSoft Sandra benchmark

83.30

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

215.45

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

100

150

200

250

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

116.65

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

15.81

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

121.55

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

15.51

115.63

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

15.77

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

117.80

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

50

100

150

15.53

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

152.30

200

250

11.72

0

5

10

15

20

25

Calculix (FEA) workset

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C) N/A

405.33

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C) N/A

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

68.0 (2-channel / 2 x DDR5-6000)

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

206.1 (8-channel / 8 x DDR5-5200)

18.10

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

52.0 (2-channel / 2 x DDR5-6000)

139.3 (8-channel / 8 x DDR4-3200)

24.96 13.11

105.80

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

325.6 (16-channel / 16 x DDR5-4800)

14.80

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

School Map

184.6 (8-channel / 8 x DDR5-4800)

6.28

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

157.30

0

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C) N/A

5.65

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

Memory bandwidth 1.23 Memory bandwidth GB/sec (bigger is better)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C) Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

159.40

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

81.04

0

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

Lenovo ThinkStation P8 • AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX (96-core Pro) • 512 GB (4 x 128 GB) 4,800MT/sec DDR5 RDIMM memory • Lenovo motherboard (WRX50) • 1 TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 5.0 SSD • Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 22621 (Read our full review on page WS22)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C) N/A

134.53

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C) N/A

78.52

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

HP Z6 G5A • AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7975WX (32-core Pro) • 128 GB (8 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 MHz RDIMM memory • HP motherboard (WRX50) • 1 TB HP Z Turbo G2 2280 PCle x2 SSD • Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 22621 (Read our full review on page WS18)

WPCcfd workset

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16 C)

102.63

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

For our AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series review, we tested three different Threadripper 7000 Series processors (two from the Pro range and one HEDT) in three different workstations.

189.71

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

The performance

324.10

Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C) AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

1230.80

3.85 5.47

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

6.77

AMD TR Pro 5995WX (64 C)

617.40

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

3.79

Intel Core i9-14900KF (8+16C) Intel Xeon W9-3495X (56 C)

706.40

2 x Intel Xeon 8490H (60C)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16 C)

8.79

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

442.35

6.12

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

153.6 (4-channel / 4 x DDR5-6400)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

568.75

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

153.2 (4-channel / 4 x DDR5-6400)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

570.55

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

10.66

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

152.1 (4-channel / 4 x DDR5-6400)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

564.63

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

10.51

153.1 (4-channel / 4 x DDR5-6400)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

566.90

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

10.73

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C) AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

113.9 (8-channel / 4 x DDR5-4800)

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

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AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

651.90

0

300

600

900

10.39

1200

1500

0

3

12.18

6

9

12

15

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HWinfo - CPU Package Power

Max single core frequency

Max multi core frequency

Total power consumed during Cinebench 23 multi-core test

Max frequency after 10 min Cinebench 23 single core test

Max frequency after 10 min Cinebench 23 multi core test

1.23 Measured in Watts

1.23 Measured in GHz

1.23 Measured in GHz

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

350W

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

5.03 GHz

AMD TR Pro 7975WX (32 C)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

350W

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

4.99 GHz

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (no PBO)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

500W (approx)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

600W (approx)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

700W (approx)

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C) 100

200

300

400

500

5.05 GHz

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C)

5.08 GHz

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

5.05 GHz

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (90° C)

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

350W 0

AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (70° C) AMD TR 7980X (64 C) (80° C)

600

700

800

Armari Magnetar M64T7 • AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X (64-core HEDT) • 128GB (4 x 32GB) G.SKILL Z5 Neo DDR5 RDIMM 6,400MT/sec memory • ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAFE WIFI motherboard (TRX50) • 2TB Crucial T700 PCIe Gen 5 SSD • Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 22631 (Read our full review on page WS24)

4.70 GHz 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

we also tested with ‘Level 3’ (70°C – around 500W), ‘Level 1’ 90°C (around 700W) and with PBO off (350W). To put these temperatures into perspective, AMD considers 95°C to be safe ‘with no detriment to longevity or reliability’. For reference, when rendering in Cinebench 23 for one hour, the HP Z6 G5A hit 95°C and the Lenovo ThinkStation P8 hit 83°C, although it mostly hovered around 75°C. There are also some differences in memory. For the ‘Zen 4’ Threadrippers, memory officially goes up to 5,200MT/ sec. The HP Z6 G5A uses eight 16 GB RDIMMs of 5,200MT/sec memory, making full use of Threadripper Pro’s eight memory channels. It topped the charts in the SiSoft Sandra benchmark with a score of 206.1 GB/sec.

4.39 GHz 3.56 GHz 4.10 GHz 4.47 GHz 4.56 GHz

AMD TR Pro 7995WX (96 C)

3.13 GHz 0

1

2

3

4

5

‘Sapphire Rapids’ processors, the Intel Xeon w9-3495X (56-cores) (Lenovo ThinkStation P7) and dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H (60-cores) (Lenovo ThinkStation PX), plus three of the best consumer desktop processors, the Intel Core i9-14900K (8 P-Cores + 16 E-Cores) (Workstation Specialists WS IC-Z7900), AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (16-cores) (Scan 3XS GWP-ME A132R) and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (16-cores) (Armari).

Each machine is different, so there Rendering performance are many other variables, including motherboard, memory, storage and For processors with an exceptionally cooling. Furthermore, as tested, the HP high number of cores, ray trace rendering Z6 G5A was the only workstation that’s is always a good place to start for testing, a full shipping product. The Lenovo simply because performance tends to ThinkStation P8 is a pre-production unit scale very well. and the Armari Magnetar M64T7 is a We first tested with PBO off on the pre-production Armari machine unit / technology and a strict TDP demonstration. of 350W. The 96Overclocking with PBO uses significantly more power. core Threadripper With this in mind, our benchmark Pro 7995WX This means a larger carbon footprint and higher results should topped all our electricity bills. Performance is one metric, but firms not be treated as benchmark charts. also need to assess new technologies in different ways However, despite gospel.

This is not a definitive having 50% more comparison of cores than the 64Threadripper 7000 Series processors, Meanwhile, the Lenovo ThinkStation core Threadripper 7980X, the chip although it should give a good idea of P8 only came with four 128 GB RDIMMs did not deliver anywhere near 50% relative performance. of 4,800MT/s memory, so the memory more performance. This can largely There are some other caveats. Both bandwidth was much lower – 113.9 GB/sec. be attributed to the sustained all-core the HP and Lenovo machines run their HEDT Threadripper only has four frequencies.

Threadripper Pro processors within memory channels but the Armari In Cinebench 23, the 96-core 7995WX a strict power limit of 350W, which is Magnetar M64T7 got the very best out maintained 3.13 GHz for the duration standard on all Threadripper Pro 7000 of it with 128 GB (4 x 32 GB) of G.SKILL of the ten-minute test, while the 64WX-Series OEM systems. Both machines Z5 Neo DDR5 memory that runs at core 7980X sustained 3.56 GHz, only are air cooled.

6,400MT/sec, delivering a score of 152.1 resulting in a 22% performance uplift.

Meanwhile, Armari shipped its HEDT GB/sec. Compared to standard 5,200MT/ In V-Ray the uplift was bigger (24%).

Threadripper workstation with Precision sec memory, this may give a boost in In KeyShot it was smaller (15%). In Boost Overdrive (PBO) enabled and a certain memory intensive applications Cinebench 2024 it was only single custom All-In-One (AIO) liquid cooler with like CFD, but memory this fast currently digit (6%). As Cinebench 2024 is a a contact plate that covers the entire chip. comes at a huge premium. Armari knows new benchmark, we have very little In the BIOS of the ASUS Pro WS this isn’t for everyone, so will typically experience of using it, but we guess the TRX50-SAFE WIFI motherboard ship machines with more cost effective smaller gap could be down to the superior there are three PBO settings which the 5,200MT/sec DDR5 memory. memory bandwidth of the 64-core customer can choose from. The machine For comparison, we also included Armari workstation. Memory bandwidth came with ‘Level 2’ enabled, which results from workstations featuring is almost certainly the reason why the limits the temperature of the processor AMD’s previous generation Threadripper 96-core 7995WX loses out to the 64-core to 80°C and raises the sustained PBO Pro 5995WX (64-cores) (Scan 3XS GWP- 7980X in our Unreal Engine test for to around 600W. For comparison, ME A1128T), Intel’s closest competitive recompiling shaders.

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AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro processors feature up to 96-cores

For pure rendering, the performance uplift from the 32-core 7970WX to 64core 7980X was larger: V-Ray (63%), KeyShot (56%), Cinebench 23 (52%), Cinebench 2024 (58%). Despite having 100% more cores, you don’t get double the performance, as the 32-core 7970WX can sustain a higher all-core frequency (4.39 GHz vs 3.56 GHz in Cinebench 23).

Interestingly, the 32-core 7970WX edges out the 56-core Intel Xeon w93495X and the 96-core 7995WX edges out the dual 60-core Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H. It looks like Intel will find it very hard to compete with AMD, although Intel could go hard on price/performance.

Next, we brought PBO into mix with the Armari Magnetar M64T7. This massively upped the power consumed by the 64-core 7980X processor but yielded some very fast results.

The maximum ‘Level 1’ 90°C profile pushed peak power consumption to around 700W but saw performance rise by as much as 28% with both V-Ray and KeyShot. Remarkably, when drawing up to 700W, the 64-core 7980X even outpaced the 96-core 7995WX with the standard 350W TDP. It’s important to note that there are diminishing returns as you pump more power into the processor. With this in mind, it looks like the 70°C profile, which ‘only’ raises the power draw by 150W, might deliver the best balance.

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an important part of many design, engineering and architecture workflows.

In years gone by the trade-off of having lots of cores, meant low frequencies and limited performance in tools like Revit, Solidworks and Inventor, when compared to mainstream desktop processors with far fewer cores. This started to change with first generation Threadripper and now the Threadripper 7000 Series takes single threaded performance to new levels.

The 32-core 7970WX and 64-core 7980X hit 5.0 to 5.1GHz, while the 96core 7995WX reached 4.7 GHz, delivering impressive scores in the SPECapc for Solidworks 2022 benchmark. This is a fair bit ahead of the previous generation AMD Threadripper Pro 5995WX (64 C) and not that far behind the best consumer processors – 14th Gen Intel Core and AMD Ryzen 7950X. PBO made no difference to performance.

Simulation performance Engineering simulation includes Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

FEA can help predict how a product reacts to real-world forces or temperatures. CFD can be used to optimise aerodynamics in cars or predict the impact of wind on buildings. Both types of software are extremely demanding computationally.

There are many different types of ‘solvers’ used in FEA and CFD and each behaves differently, as does each dataset. In general, CFD scales very well and studies should solve much quicker with more CPU cores. Importantly, CFD can also benefit greatly from memory bandwidth, as each CPU core can be fed

data quicker. This is one area in which Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series has a potential advantage over the ‘HEDT’ Threadripper 7000 Series as it supports 8-channel memory compared to 4-channel.

For testing we used three select workloads from the SPECworkstation 3.1 benchmark. These included two CFD benchmarks (Rodinia, which represents compressible flow, and WPCcfd, which models combustion and turbulence) and one FEA benchmark (CalculiX, which models a jet engine turbine’s internal temperature). We decided not to publish any results from Rodinia benchmark as they were very inconsistent with the 64-core and 96-core Threadripper processors. However, one thing that remained clear is that the dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H (2 x 60 cores) had a considerable lead.

As we’ve seen before, the WPCcfd benchmark is very sensitive to memory bandwidth. With the 32-core HP workstation having almost double the memory bandwidth of the 96-core 7995WX Lenovo workstation, it came out top in this test. Lenovo shared some internal lab results from the WPCcfd benchmark which put the 96-core 7995WX with 8 x 32 GB RDIMMs in at 22.43.

While this would give it top spot, it’s not a convincing argument for spending so much more on a 96-core processor.

On the flip side, memory bandwidth has very little impact in the Calculix (FEA) benchmark, so the 96-core Threadripper won out. The 32-core 7970WX beat the 56-core Intel Xeon w9-3495X in both tests.

Surprisingly, any benefit from PBO was negligible. This is because the benchmarks don’t appear to stress the CPU anywhere near as much as ray trace rendering, which takes full advantage of AMD’s Simultaneous Multi-threading (SMT), allowing each CPU core to handle two tasks (threads) at the same time - CPU resources that would otherwise be idle.

In the WPCcfd test for example, even with the maximum ‘Level 1’ 90 C profile and all 64-cores running flat out, the temperature of the CPU never went above 81 C, drawing 447 Watts at peak, and maintaining a phenomenal 4.73 GHz on all 64 cores for the duration of the 48-minute test.

When PBO was disabled and power draw went down to 350W, frequency fluctuated between 4.32 GHz and 4.52 GHz. However, this drop in clock speed appears to have little impact on performance. In short, when overclocking in these simulation workloads, you could simply be wasting power. www.develop3d.com

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Conclusion

expect Armari will also apply PBO to the to maximise memory bandwidth. Here, High core counts historically meant 96-core chip, pushing multi-threaded the 12, 16, or 24 core Pro chips could have a huge drop in frequency. But when performance to entirely new levels. an important role to play, particularly AMD first introduced Threadripper, Of course, enabling PBO uses in CAD-centric simulation workflows, workstation users could finally have their significantly more power. This means where the software is often limited to cake and it too. At least in small portions. a larger carbon footprint and higher a certain number of cores. For others, First gen Threadripper is to blueberry electricity bills. Performance is one memory bandwidth is not that critical, muffins, as the Threadripper 7000 metric, but firms also need to assess new giving the HEDT Threadrippers a clear Series is to black forest gateaux. With technologies in different ways. Putting price/performance advantage. up to 96-cores and extremely high boost more power into the chip also means Users also need to consider the wider frequencies the new processors take more heat is produced and more cooling cost of software. Some simulation workstation performance to phenomenal is required - both inside the computer software providers charge extra to new levels. On a performance-per-core and in the general office environment. run their solvers on more cores, so any basis, Intel simply can’t compete with its Running the CPU at 700W was a potential performance increases need single socket workstation equivalents, welcome heat source this winter, not so to be weighed up against increased the Intel Xeon W-2400 Series and much in summer. licensing costs. Of course, with so W-3400 Series.

Beyond visualisation, the Threadripper much variance between applications, But the new chips bring some tough 7000 Series is ideal for simulation solvers and datasets, we would always choices. Users must now decide between thanks to high core counts, high-memory recommend in-house benchmarking to HEDT and Pro variants. For some, this will bandwidth, and high memory capacity. get the most out of your budget. be an easy decision. Many large engineering This gives both HEDT and Pro variants a Furthermore, beyond the desktop, and manufacturing firms the Threadripper 7000 only buy from Dell, HP or Series could have an Lenovo, because of global important role to play When you need lots of cores or lots of highavailability, global support, in virtual workstations. certification, single source bandwidth memory in a personal workstation, With high clock speeds IT, and many other reasons. there’s nothing else out there that comes close and a dedicated single slot For others, there’s a complex or dual slot GPU for each matrix of cores, memory virtual machine, there’s bandwidth, PBO, and of huge potential here. course value for money. distinct advantage over consumer Intel In summary, the AMD Ryzen From a performance perspective alone, Core and AMD Ryzen CPUs. What’s Threadripper 7000 Series is a phenomenal the HEDT series looks to offer best value more, the new Threadrippers will also workstation processor. With nine models for design visualisation. Most workflows outperform the Intel Xeon W-2400 and spanning Pro and HEDT variants, it covers that centre on ray trace rendering are not W-3400 Series on a core-by-core basis. many different workflows, and now with that memory bandwidth intensive, so Against the Threadripper 5000 WX- the all the major OEMs on board, many Pro’s 8-channel architecture should not Series, Intel had an advantage. Now, with different routes to market. deliver a major benefit. the Threadripper 7000 Series, and its Users of CAD and BIM software are What’s more, with appropriate liquid higher IPC and faster DDR5 memory, this still best served by the consumer-focused cooling, specialist system builders like lead has gone.

AMD Ryzen or Intel Core processors, Armari are pushing these chips way But users of FEA and CFD software but when you need lots of cores or lots of beyond their stock settings and with need to spend their money wisely. In some high-bandwidth memory in a personal PBO enabled the 64-core 7980X can even workflows, instead of throwing more workstation, there’s nothing else out there outpace the 96-core Pro 7995WX. We cores at a problem, it’s more important that comes close.

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AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series workstations

Dell Precision 7875

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Lenovo ThinkStation P8 see page WS22 for review

HP Z6 G5A see page WS18 for review

Armari Magnetar M64T7 see page WS24 for review

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07/02/2024 10:17

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workstation special report

the HP Z8 Fury G5 with Review: HP Z6 G5 A while Intel Xeon W-3400 processors

Product spec

Pro and Quad Pro PCIe add in boards support up to two or four NVMe SSDs in various RAID configurations.

Meanwhile, for easy access, the front accessible QX448 storage module can support up to four hot-swappable and lockable NVMe SSDs, the largest number of front accessible SSDs out of all the OEM Threadripper Pro workstations. This is particularly useful when the HP Z6 G5 A is rack mounted, which we’ll get onto later.

(up to 56 cores) supports more ■ AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro GPUs (four vs three).

7975WX processor That’s not to say the HP Z6 G5 (4.0 GHz, 5.3 GHz boost) (32-cores, A is light on options. It offers the 64 threads) entire Threadripper Pro 7000 ■ 128 GB (8 x 16 GB) WX-Series CPU stack from 12 to DDR5-5600 MHz RDIMM memory 96 cores, so the workstation can ■ 1 TB HP Z Turbo G2 be matched to a huge range of 2280 PCle x2 SSD workflows.

■ HP motherboard t’s incredible that HP took so long to The HP Z6 G5 A can pack in (WRX50) adopt AMD Ryzen Threadripper three double height GPUs, but ■ 169 x 465 x 445mm chassis Pro. Since the powerful multi-core there is a trade-off here. With ■ Microsoft workstation processor launched in three super high-end graphics Windows 11 Pro 2020, AMD has consistently delivered cards like the Nvidia RTX ■ Warranty on System thermals application industry-leading performance with each 6000 Ada Generation, you’re new generation. restricted to the entry-level With so much powerful ■ £on application It must have been hard for HP to 12-core Threadripper Pro hardware packed into a ■ www.hp.com compete with Lenovo and Dell in the 7955WX processor. relatively compact chassis, high-end workstation market. Prior to This isn’t really an issue for HP’s engineers certainly the launch of the ‘Sapphire Rapids’ Intel those with GPU-centric workflows such had their work cut out for thermal Xeon-based HP Z6, Z8 and Z8 Fury G5 GPU rendering. Also, as the 12-core model management. In addition to the 350W Edition workstations in mid 2023, all of is dramatically cheaper than the higher core processor, there’s potentially multiple HP’s high-end workstations relied on count Threadripper Pros, it makes the HP 300W GPUs, NVMe SSDs and lots of ageing Intel Xeon processors that dated Z6 G5 A attractive for an entirely different high-frequency memory to cool. back to 2019. reason. Threadripper Pro becomes the Everything is handled by a multitude of Now, with the launch of the ‘Zen 4’ enabler rather than the star of the show. fans, controlled in real-time by algorithms Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series, HP is Moreover, while having 96 cores taking data from over 20 sensors that finally on board. And with the brand-new and 1 TB of RAM is great for simulation continuously monitor system and HP Z6 G5 A, the company has done a great and AI, some workflows in this space component temperatures. job of delivering an exceedingly powerful lend themselves to GPU acceleration.

One large fan at the rear pulls air from workstation in a remarkably compact 4U The HP Z6 G5 A can also support up the processor’s sizeable heat sink, while (169 x 465 x 445mm) chassis. to two Nvidia A800 GPUs (40 GB) two fans at the front push cool air over The HP Z6 G5 A shares a similar name which are tuned for compute and offer the GPUs and on-board SSDs. Air moves to the Intel Xeon W-3400far better double precision from front to back in the traditional way based HP Z6 G5 but — you performance than the Nvidia and is also drawn in through the side guessed it — the A suffix RTX cards. panel’s grill using dedicated fans for each Considering refers to ‘AMD’. Both chassis The HP Z6 G5 A comes memory bank, and for each GPU. One are the same size, but the its size, the with DDR5 5,600 MHz might question how this design impacts Threadripper Pro version has but this runs at thermals in the datacentre when multiple HP Z6 G5 A is memory, a different industrial design, 5,200 MHz speeds. All machines are packed together tightly in a remarkably eight DIMM slots need to be a rack. Considering HP’s intense focus better airflow, and more memory channels. populated to benefit from on HP Z workstations in the datacentre, powerful Considering the workstation. Threadripper Pro’s 8-channel we can’t imagine it hasn’t done its Threadripper Pro 7000 WXmemory architecture, for thermodynamics homework here.

It’s solid, Series shatters performance the maximum memory extremely records and offers more bandwidth.

This isn’t The chassis cores, higher frequencies and well built and important for all workflows. Build quality is good and the machine feels better Instructions Per Clock for those where it is — very solid throughout. In contrast to the the smallest But (IPC) than all Intel ‘Sapphire some types of engineering Lenovo ThinkStation P8 (see page WS22), Rapids’ Xeon processors, one Threadripper simulation for example — it where the handles are part of the aesthetic, Pro OEM might be surprised that the effectively makes 128 GB built into all four corners of the chassis, the HP Z6 G5 A sits in the middle workstation a practical minimum (8 x HP Z6 G5 A’s two top handles are more of HP’s ‘performance desktop’ 16 GB), while 1 TB is the understated. Despite the rear handle being out there workstation product stack maximum (8 x 128 GB). hidden and smaller in size, it’s still easy (which covers everything With support for up to 12 enough to lift the machine, but there are no other than its Intel CoreNVMe SSDs and two 3.5- bottom handles for maximum mobility. based machines). inch SATA HDDs, there’s a tonne of Inside, it’s a very neat modular design.

This is more about expandability than storage options. For standard configs, up To get to the memory and GPU, the side the performance of the processor. The top to four SSDs can be placed directly on the fans can be removed effortlessly, guiding of the range HP Z8 G5 with dual 4th Gen motherboard (2 x PCIe 4.0 and 2 x PCIe the user with blue touch points. With Intel Xeon Scalable processors (up to 60 5.0) with capacities up to 4 TB. blind mate connectors there’s no need to cores) supports more memory (2 TB vs 1 There are two optional extras. For detach or re-attach power cables.

TB) and more memory channels (16 vs 8) performance, the HP Z Turbo Dual HP calls the HP Z6 G5 A whisper quiet.

This Threadripper Pro workstation is the smallest from the major OEMs. Considering its huge potential for cutting edge performance, that’s remarkable, although some compromises may need to be made when it comes to expandability, writes Greg Corke

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We wouldn’t describe it that way, but fan noise was perfectly acceptable, with both the Threadripper Pro 7975WX processor and Nvidia RTX A6000 GPU in our test machine running flat out. Temperature on the 7975WX hit 95°C when rendering on all 32 cores. This is significantly higher than the other Threadripper 7000 Series workstations we’ve tested, and right on the CPU’s maximum recommended operating temperature.

It might be the case that not all Threadripper Pro processors hit this temperature limit inside the HP Z6 G5 A. Although it sounds counter-intuitive, the 32-core model is reportedly harder to cool than the 64-core and 96-core models as it has fewer chiplets, so the power (and therefore heat) is concentrated in smaller areas. N.B. Instead of being made from a single large piece of silicon, Threadripper 7000 Series processors are made up of multiple 8-core chiplets (also called CCDs), which are then stitched together.

With such a compact chassis, HP has worked hard on customisation. Rather than using up an additional PCIe slot, a proprietary Flex-IO interface at the rear enables the user to expand connectivity, adding 10GbE RJ45 LAN (in addition to the standard 1GbE Ethernet built in), Wi-Fi6, which hooks into the internal integrated antenna, or more USB ports.

As standard, the machine has no USB Type-C ports, so you’ll either need to use up the Flex-IO expansion at the rear or go for the premium front I/O option of (1) www.develop3d.com

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USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C and (2) USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A. The basic configuration gives you (4) USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A and (2) USB3.2 Gen1 Type-A at the rear and (4) USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A at the front.

In this day and age, and considering that workstations typically remain in service for years, it seems strange not to make USB Type-C standard, especially as using up the Flex-IO expansion can restrict other customisation options.

Finally, there’s also an optional HP Dual Port Thunderbolt 4 Low Profile PCIe add-in card, offering data transfer rates of up to 40Gb/s.

HP Z in the datacentre In recent years, HP has made a big play for its desktop workstations to be deployed in datacentres and server rooms as a centralised, remote resource. The HP Z6 G5 A is 4U in size and comes with an optional rack mount kit, and optional HP Anyware Remote System Controller.

This PCIe add-in card is designed to give the workstation ‘server level’ management capabilities. The idea is to help IT managers better manage fleets of workstations, allowing them to remote in, power workstations on and off remotely, perform bare metal imaging (with multiple Operating Systems), manage inventory, and get hardware alerts and diagnostics info.

Then, of course, there’s HP Anyware, the remote access and collaboration software which evolved from HP’s

acquisition of Teradici in 2021.

Altogether, it gives HP a joined-up solution to support the growing shift towards hybrid working.

Performance Our HP Z6 G5 A test workstation came with the mid-range 32 core AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7975WX processor.

While this only gave the machine one third of its potential maximum number of cores, it offered a good insight into how performance scales within the family of processors and of the broader benefits of the Threadripper Pro platform.

The first thing to note is that compared to the top end consumer AMD Ryzen 9 7950X processor with sixteen ‘Zen 4’ cores it delivered around 60% to 70% more performance in our ray trace rendering benchmarks. This is nothing to be sniffed at, but it’s in memory bandwidth intensive workflows, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), that the HP Z6 G5 A and its Threadripper Pro processor truly shines. With the 8-channel memory architecture fully harnessed with 8 x 16 GB DIMMs, it outperformed the dual channel AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor in the SPEC Workstation 3.1 WPCcfd workset benchmark by more than a factor of three.

In the WPCcfd test, superior memory bandwidth even gave it the edge over the Lenovo ThinkStation P8 with a 96core Threadripper Pro 7995WX Series processor. The ThinkStation P8 we tested February / March 2024

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only had four RDIMMs fitted, so the HP Z6 G5 A made the most of having almost double the memory bandwidth (113.86 GB/sec vs 206.1 GB/sec).

In ray trace rendering, more cores means more performance, and here the ThinkStation P8 with 96 core 7995WX has a clear lead. But as the number of cores goes up, the all-core frequency goes down, so you get closer to double the performance when going from 32 to 96 cores, despite having three times as many.

And then there’s Intel’s single socket workstation processor, the Intel Xeon W-3400. Amazingly, the HP Z6 G5 A with a 32 core Threadripper Pro 7970WX, edged out a Lenovo ThinkStation P7 configured with the top-end 56 core Intel Xeon w9-3495X in all our benchmarks — multi-threaded and single threaded.

With this in mind, it’s hard to see where the original Intel-based HP Z6 G5 workstation fits in unless it wins out at certain levels of price/performance.

The verdict Considering its size, the HP Z6 G5 A is a remarkably powerful workstation. It’s solid, extremely well built and the smallest Threadripper Pro OEM workstation out there, edging out the Lenovo ThinkStation P8 and Dell Precision 7875 Tower.

But in its drive to keep things compact, it feels like HP has made some tradeoffs. If connectivity or multi-GPUs are important, then it’s prudent to fully explore if this chassis will work for you — now and in the future.

These small points shouldn’t detract from an otherwise excellent workstation.

With support for Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series processors from 12 to 96 cores, it can hit so many different workflows.

It’s hard to see how HP’s Intel Xeonbased workstations — the HP Z6, Z8 and Z8 Fury G5 — will now get a look in, in anything other than edge case scenarios.

A final mention should go to the datacentre. While the HP Z6 G5 A looks like a desktop workstation and performs like a desktop workstation, HP is putting all the pieces in place — hardware and software — to make it an important part of a cohesive remote workstation solution.

With the Threadripper Pro 7000 WX Series offering high frequencies and high IPC for good single threaded and multi-threaded performance it shouldn’t have the performance trade-off which many virtualised / cloud workstations suffer from.

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(Above) Considering the processing power inside, the HP Z6 G5 A is an extremely compact workstation (Left) The front accessible QX448 storage module can support up to four hot-swappable and lockable NVMe SSDs (Below) The HP Z6 G5 A can support up to three dual slot GPUs, but this limits the choice of CPUs

www.develop3d.com

07/02/2024 10:13

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workstation special report

Review: Lenovo ThinkStation P8 The striking chassis from this Aston Martin-inspired workstation made its debut last year with the Intel Xeonbased ThinkStation P7. Now with the new AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 Series processor at its heart, the ThinkStation P8 takes performance to exciting new levels, writes Greg Corke

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P7 in May 2023 it had the edge datacentre with a rack optimised Product spec over the ‘Zen 3’ Threadripper ‘4U’ design. Bolt holes are hidden Pro Lenovo ThinkStation P620 under a removable top cover, ■ AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro in workflows that were single making it easy to deploy with the 7995WX CPU threaded or memory-bandwidth optional sliding rack rail kit.

(2.5 GHz, 5.1 GHz boost) (96-cores, intensive. Now with the ‘Zen 4’ The machine can be 192 threads) Threadripper delivering configured with a Baseboard ■ Nvidia RTX A5500 enhanced Instructions Per Clock Management Controller (BMC) GPU (24 GB GDDR6 memory) (IPC), DDR5 memory across card, similar to those found ■ 512 GB (4 x 128 GB) 8-channels and even more cores, in rack servers. It offers ‘full 4,800MHz DDR5 RDIMM memory that lead has gone. remote management’, enabling ■ 1 TB M.2 NVMe The beauty of the Lenovo IT managers to monitor the PCIe 5.0 SSD ThinkStation P8 is that it workstation, cycle on and off, ■ Lenovo Extended can cover so many different perform BIOS or firmware eATX WRX90 motherboard workflows. With support for updates and re-image if ■ 175 x 508 x Threadripper Pro 7000 WXnecessary. There’s also dual 434mm chassis Series processors from 12 to 96 Ethernet as standard (1 GbE and ■ Microsoft cores, up to three dual slot or six 10 GbE) with Wake-on-LAN, Windows 11 Pro single slot professional GPUs along with a rear power button.

■ ■ 3 Year On-site warranty (future proofed for PCIe Gen 5 An entire ThinkStation P8 can GPUs when they come available), be assigned to a single user, but ■ £ on application and up to 1 TB of DDR5 memory, not everyone needs such levels ■ www.lenovo.com it can do almost everything of performance. The machine that the Intel Xeon-based also lends itself extremely well to ThinkStation P5, P7 and PX combined can virtualisation and with the right software do. It’s only when you need more memory, can be carved up into six virtual machines, more memory bandwidth, or four dual slot each with their own dedicated single slot GPUs, that you’ll have to turn to the dual pro GPU, powerful enough for CAD and socket Lenovo ThinkStation PX. mainstream design visualisation.

hen it comes to AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro, Lenovo is a relative veteran. Back in 2020, the company became the first major OEM to take on the powerful multi-core workstation processor. The ThinkStation P620 redefined the high-end desktop workstation, and arguably made it what it is today.

The ThinkStation P8 is Lenovo’s second generation Threadripper Pro workstation, built around the ‘Zen 4’ Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series.

It shares the same chassis as the Intel Xeon W-3400-based ThinkStation P7, but arguably earns its elevated status in The chassis Lenovo’s workstation portfolio, simply For desktop or datacentre because it is so much faster.

The ThinkStation P8 is primarily a desktop The ThinkStation P8 is a beautifully When we reviewed the ThinkStation workstation, but it’s also been built for the designed and engineered machine, with a WS22

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solid metal 175 x 508 x 434.4 mm chassis Considering the ThinkStation P8 has a the ThinkStation P8 boosted to 3.13 GHz, with handles on all four corners. This 350W processor flanked by eight memory while the 64-core 7980X in the Armari makes it easy to hold, and it certainly modules, and up to three 300W GPUs, Magnetar M64T7 sustained 3.56 GHz. needs to be. Approaching 20kg, our test it’s hardly surprising Lenovo paid a lot of For our test machine, Lenovo supplied machine was heavy enough with one attention to the thermal design. the memory in four 128 GB 4,800MHz dual slot Nvidia RTX A5500 GPU and It all starts with the ‘3D Hexperf’ front RDIMMs. This meant it did not take full one SSD. When loaded up with multiple grill, the design of which was inspired advantage of the platform’s 8-channel GPUs and Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), by the Aston Martin DBS grand tourer. memory architecture, resulting in lower raising it into a rack memory bandwidth. is definitely a twoIn the SiSoft Sandra person job. memory bandwidth The ThinkStation benchmark, it The beauty of the Lenovo ThinkStation P8 is that it P8 scores very highly recorded 113.86 GB/ on serviceability sec. In comparison, can cover so many different workflows. It can do with tool-free access the HP Z6 G5 A almost everything that the Intel Xeon-based on everything bar Threadripper Pro ThinkStation P5, P7 and PX combined can do the CPU. This starts workstation, maxed with the side panel out with 8 x 16 GB that can be removed RDIMMs of 5,600 with a simple press MHz DDR5 memory, and pull of the stylish flush handle. It The spacing and shape of the rigid plastic delivered 206.10 GB/sec. continues inside, with red handles and grill, which has rounded spikes that While the lower memory bandwidth clips to secure and release the GPUs, protrude at the front, is engineered for had very little bearing on our rendering fans, power supply unit (PSU) and 3.5- maximum airflow. benchmarks it did impact the scores in inch HDDs. In short, anything that is red, Low duty front fans pull fresh air our simulation tests. With the WPCcfd moves. Unlike the ThinkStation PX, there into the machine, while rear fans push workset from the SPECWorkstation 3.1 are no blind mate connectors, however. warm air out. There’s a massive dual benchmark, the HP Z6 G5 A configured Cables for the fans and HDDs must still be fan heatsink for the air-cooled processor with the 32-core Threadripper Pro unplugged. with dual stacks to maximise surface 7975WX actually beat the Lenovo The Lenovo ThinkStation P8 is a area. Each bank of four memory modules ThinkStation P8, even though it had one beautiful looking machine, with an also gets its own cooling fan unit. third as many cores.

Aston Martin-inspired ‘Storm Grey’ Unlike the ThinkStation P7, there’s Of course, the P8 is completely flexible. and red design, which was the result no air baffle to channel cool air directly All eight memory slots can be populated for of a collaboration with the legendary over the CPU, but the system cooling maximum memory bandwidth and it can be automaker. The front grill and side panel remains very effective. Even when CPU configured with any of the six new ‘Zen 4’ flush handle are heavily influenced by the rendering in KeyShot with the 96-core Threadripper Pro 7000 processors, from 12 UK firm’s sports cars.

Threadripper Pro 7995WX, and GPU to 96 cores.

There are some nice touches at the front: rendering in Twinmotion with the Nvidia We explore performance in much the ThinkStation logo lights up, as do the RTX A5500 GPU, the machine was more detail in our in-depth review of the USB ports — (2) USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 and (2) remarkably quiet. Running Cinebench Threadripper 7000 Series, both Pro and USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 — to make them easy to R23 for over an hour barely took the CPU High-End Desktop (HEDT) models, on find in the dark. There are plenty more temperature above 80 C. page WS8.

USB ports at the rear — (3) USB-A 3.2 Gen The verdict 2, (2) USB-A 2.0 and (1) USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2. On test On top of the standard dual Ethernet, Lenovo sent us a ThinkStation P8 pre- The ThinkStation P8 is an impressive there’s an optional Nvidia ConnectX-6 production unit with the top-end 96 core new addition to Lenovo’s workstation Dual Port 25-Gigabit PCIe adapter for AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX family. The striking, functional chassis super high-bandwidth data transfer. processor, Nvidia RTX A5500 GPU, 512 that Lenovo introduced with the Intel For cable free connectivity, an optional GB of 4,800MHz DDR5 memory, and Xeon-based ThinkStation P7 now has Mediatek RZ616 WiFi 6E module uses an 1 TB M.2 SSD. a turbocharged processor at its heart antenna that sits under the panel at the For CPU rendering, the ThinkStation to take performance to exciting new top of the chassis, instead of sticking out P8 set new records in all our benchmarks. levels. And it does so without breaking at the rear.

It was a whopping 71% faster than a into a sweat, with a thermally optimised Most storage is internal, via on- standard workstation with a 64-core design that keeps fan noise well within board M.2 SSDs or HDDs / U.3 SSDs Threadripper Pro 5995WX, the flagship acceptable limits. in a dedicated drive bay. There’s also processor from the ‘Zen 3’ generation.

When a machine looks this good – and an optional front access Flex Bay that The lead over a ‘Zen 4’ 64-core it’s hard not to love the clean design and supports a single M.2 NVMe SSD. This Threadripper AMD Ryzen Threadripper Storm Grey / red aesthetic – it’s a shame could be particularly useful for easy access 7980X processor, however, was not as to hide it away. But with the rack mounted in rack mounted deployments. However, large as one might have expected. As kit and optional Baseboard Management the competition can support more. The Dell the number of cores goes up, the all-core Controller (BMC) the ThinkStation P8 will Precision 7875 offers up to two front NVMe frequencies come down. When rendering be just as much at home in the datacentre SSDs and the HP Z6 G5 A up to four. in Cinebench R23, the 96 core 7995WX in as it is on the desk.

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’’

www.develop3d.com

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Review: Armari Magnetar M64T7 This AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 Series workstation takes performance to entirely new levels with a custom liquid cooler that allows to processor to boost well above its typical all core frequencies, writes Greg Corke

O

ne of the advantages of buying a workstation from a specialist system builder is that they sometimes squeeze every last drop of performance out of key components. This is especially true with CPUs. One of the best in the business is UK firm Armari, which has developed exceedingly powerful workstations for decades and, as we found in our last two reviews, knows how to get the absolute best out of AMD’s multi-core Ryzen Threadripper processors.

For its new ‘Zen 4’ Threadripper 7000 Series workstation, the Magnetar M64T7, Armari has managed to significantly increase the performance of a standard Threadripper processor — so much so that an overclocked 64-core High End Desktop (HEDT) model, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X, can beat a standard 96-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX in some workflows.

Before we get into the details, let’s first talk about overclocking in general. In years gone by, Armari had to manually tweak frequencies and voltages to boost

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the performance of each from the processor is the need to Product spec processor. Then AMD released feed in more power. At standard Precision Boost Overdrive settings, the Threadripper ■ AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X (PBO) and the process of 7000 Series draws 350W. By processor (3.2 GHz, overclocking essentially became enabling PBO, power can go up 5.1 GHz boost) (64cores, 128 threads) automated, pushing up all-core all the way up to 700W. ■ 128GB (4 x 32GB) frequencies so long as sufficient Users have full control over G.SKILL Z5 Neo DDR5 cooling was in place. this. By simply changing a PBO RDIMM 6,400MT/sec memory Of course, good cooling takes setting in the BIOS of the ASUS ■ 2TB Crucial T700 engineering expertise. In the Pro WS TRX50-SAFE WIFI PCIe Gen 5 SSD past, Armari developed a Full motherboard, the CPU can be ■ ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAFE WIFI Water Loop (FWL) cooling boosted to the desired level. motherboard system, which required regular It’s all controlled by setting (TRX50) maintenance with liquid thermal boundaries. ‘Level 3’ ■ AMD Radeon Pro W7700 GPU (16 GB coolant changes and plumbing limits the temperature of the GDDR6 memory) inspections. For its latest processor to 70°C and raises ■ Armari workstation it has gone for an the sustained PBO to around Threadripper AIO CPU cooler All In One (AIO) cooler, which 500W. ‘Level 2’ takes it up ■ Magnetar is far more straightforward. to 80°C (around 600W), and M60G4 chassis Armari’s AIO is different ‘Level 1’ up to 90°C (around (470 x 220 x 570mm) to many others on the market 700W, which is the upper limit ■ Microsoft Windows 11 Pro in that it covers the entire of the AIO cooler). This might ■ 3 Year RTB rectangular integrated sound hot, but AMD considers warranty. 3 Years RTB Parts & Labour, heat spreader (IHS) of the 95°C to be safe.

1st year collect and Threadripper Pro CPU, so That’s as far as temperature return is included heat generated by the massive goes. AMD’s product warranty ■ £8,495 (Ex VAT) processor transfers more does not officially cover ■ www.armari.com efficiently to the cooler. Other any damages caused by AIOs that are being used with overclocking, but Armari has Threadripper processors are circular, so stated that PBO tuning is a ‘supported don’t reach the extremities. Round peg, and fully warrantied feature’ of the square hole, if you will. The result is an Magnetar M64T7. In short, Armari extremely efficient liquid cooled system knows what it’s doing. that keeps thermals well under control and allows the processor to boost to very What about performance? high all-core frequencies, resulting in a PBO can make a big difference to double-digit performance boost. performance in ray trace rendering Nothing in life is free, of course, and the software. Going from PBO off, and running downside to extracting more performance the CPU at a stock 350W, to ‘Level 3’ 70°C, which pumps 150W more into the processor, took all core frequency from 3.56 GHz to 4.10 GHz and boosted performance by 16% in Cinebench R23, 14% in Cinebench 2024, 20% in V-Ray, and 23% in KeyShot. If you’re planning on rendering out a complex animation for hours this is a massive potential time saving.

You can take performance even higher but there are diminishing returns with each new Level of PBO. Going from ‘Level 3’ 70°C to ‘Level 1’ 90°C took all core frequency from 4.10 GHz to 4.56 GHz and boosted performance by an additional 7% in Cinebench R23, 6% in V-Ray, and 4% in KeyShot, but you burn a considerable 200W to get you there. We also observed no benefit at all in Cinebench 2024, which uses the Redshift rendering engine.

Of course, even small boosts are important to some users and with ‘Level 1’ 90°C enabled the Armari Magnetar M64T7 even outpaced the leader of the ‘Zen 4’ pack, the 96-core Threadripper Pro 7995WX, in all our ray trace rendering benchmarks, as tested in the Lenovo ThinkStation P8.

As the 96-core 7995WX processor costs www.develop3d.com

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workstation special report

twice as much as the 64-core 7980X this is certainly food for thought. In fact, you can buy the entire Armari workstation for only a tad more than the 96-core processor.

PBO is not for everyone. In some workflows there is no benefit at all. In engineering simulation, for example, in the WPCcfd (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and Calculix (Finite Element Analysis) worksets from the SPECworkstation 3.1 benchmark, scores remained static even with more power draw.

There is also no benefit to PBO in single threaded or lightly threaded workflows, such as those typically used in CAD and BIM application like Solidworks and Revit, but at least you are not wasting energy if PBO is enabled, as it never goes above 350W. As reviewed, the Armari Magnetar M64T7 can be considered more of a technology demonstration / preproduction unit than a fully shipping product. When we tested the workstation in December 2023 as part of AMD’s Threadripper 7000 Series review program, Armari was putting the finishing touches to the machine, and in the process of introducing an updated chassis.

As part of the review program, AMD provided Armari with 128 GB of G.SKILL Z5 Neo DDR5 6,400 MT/sec memory. Spread across four 32 GB RDIMMs it maxes out the four-channel architecture of the HEDT Threadripper 7000 Series platform.

The G.SKILL Z5 Neo DDR5 6,400 MT/ sec memory is not only faster than the typical 5,600 MT/sec DDR5 memory that Armari would supply with this machine, but it also costs significantly more. In fact if you specify 256 GB of 5,600 MT/sec DDR5 memory instead of 128 GB of G.SKILL Z5 Neo DDR5 6400 you’ll save £100.

In the Threadripper 7000 Series all memory operates at 5,200 MT/s speeds by default, but like the processor itself, memory can be overclocked. In the Magnetar M64T7, Armari set the memory to run at full 6,400 MT/s memory speeds, delivering a significant boost in memory bandwidth.

With a score of 152.15 GB/sec in the SiSoft Sandra benchmark, it wasn’t that far off a Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series workstation with 8-channel memory. As tested with 8 x 16 GB DDR 5600 DIMMs (running at 5,200 speeds), the HP Z6 G5A delivered 206.1 GB/sec.

Memory bandwidth has very little bearing on performance in ray trace rendering software. However, there are some select visualisation workflows where it will make a difference.

Recompiling shaders in Unreal Engine is one, which is probably why the Armari www.develop3d.com

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Magnetar M64T7 outpaced the Lenovo ThinkStation P8 with the 96-core 7995WX and four 4800 DDR5 RDIMMs (113.86 GB/sec) even with PBO off.

We explore performance in much more detail in our in-depth review of the Threadripper 7000 Series, both Pro and High-End Desktop (HEDT) models on page WS8.

The chassis Unlike most other specialist system builders, Armari designs its own chassis. Our test machine was built around the company’s M60G3 case, which features a strong steel frame and lightweight aluminium side panels. It’s since been updated to a G4 edition, with changes largely made to accommodate very high-end Nvidia GPUs. This includes a new ATX 3.0 PSU with native 12VHPWR (Nvidia) GPU power connectors, improvements to the cooling to support two Nvidia RTX 4090s, and a new support brace to secure them in transit.

The Armari M60G3 chassis is sizeable. At 470 x 220 x 570mm it’s much bigger than the Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series workstations from Dell, HP and Lenovo.

A large part is taken up with the AIO cooler’s heat exchanger, which is secured top left and cooled by three 12cm fans.

Each memory bank has its own custom RAM cooler, which is 3D printed in house

by Armari. The rest of the machine is all about pushing air from front to back using a combination of large Phantek and Noctua intake and exhaust fans.

Altogether it contributes to a relatively quiet system, although fan noise does ramp up as PBO levels increase. But even when 700W is being pushed through the CPU, it’s not excessive.

There are plenty of options for storage. Armari included a single 2TB Crucial T700 PCIe Gen 5 SSD, but the motherboard can accommodate up to two more M.2 NVMe SSDs (1 x PCIe Gen 5 and 1 x Gen 4). With a caddy for up to four 3.5inch Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) there’s plenty of options to build on this.

For accessible I/O, all the ports are on

the top of the machine, rather than the front, which is good or bad depending on where you keep your workstation. There’s (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C and (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports. At the rear, you get (1) USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C, (6) USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A, and (2) USB 2.0.

As the name of the motherboard suggests, the machine has WiFi 6E built in. Of course, for most workstations of this type, it’s all about maximum and consistent data transfer over the network, and this is done via the built in 10Gb or 2.5Gb Ethernet.

Armari did not provide a GPU, but we tested with a mid-range AMD Radeon Pro W7700 (16 GB) (see page WS30 for our review). As mentioned earlier, it can take up to two super highend Nvidia GPUs.

The verdict It’s impossible not to take notice of the Magnetar M64T7, simply because Armari has squeezed so much additional performance out of the already powerful Threadripper 7000 Series processor. Dell, HP and Lenovo simply can’t compete on performance alone.

Outpacing the 96-core Threadripper Pro 7995WX processor with the 64-core Threadripper 7980X is a phenomenal feat. It can save you a lot of money or, because Armari can also configure this machine with the 96-core Pro chip, there’s potential to take performance even higher.

Of course, dialling up PBO does come with a cost — both in terms of power consumed and heat produced. We expect most users will choose some middle ground here. Armari ships the machine with ‘Level 2’ enabled, but customers can select whichever profile they prefer, including PBO off. It’s not inconceivable that a user could temporarily invoke ‘Level 1’ when on a tight deadline, although this will require a reboot.

In summary, Armari has delivered another excellent Threadripper workstation that not only stands out from the major OEMs, but many of the other specialist system builders as well.

February / March 2024

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Sponsored by HP / AMD

www.hp.com / www.amd.com

SOLIDWORKS ON THE GO HP ZBook mobile workstations powered by AMD Ryzen PRO

The HP ZBook Firefly G10 A and HP ZBook Power G10 A with the AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 Series processor offer impressive performance and long-lasting battery life. With up to 4 GB of dedicated memory for the integrated Radeon graphics, these powerful mobile workstations deliver in the most demanding of 3D workflows in Solidworks

H

P is rewriting the rule book for CAD-focused mobile workstations.

The sleek and highly-portable HP ZBook Firefly G10 A and HP ZBook Power G10 A feature the powerful and energy efficient AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 Series processor. With Radeon graphics built in to the processor, there is no need for a separate GPU for many 3D CAD workflows. In addition, both workstationclass laptops take advantage of advanced Radeon PRO graphics drivers that are optimised for Solidworks and many other professional design applications.

The AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 Series processor is built on AMD’s latest Zen 4 architecture, enabling the HP ZBook Firefly and Power G10 A to deliver

impressive performance in a variety of demanding CAD-centric workflows. The processor boosts up to 5.2 GHz, so can dramatically accelerate single threaded CAD tasks, while its eight CPU cores deliver good performance in multithreaded workflows such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in Solidworks Simulation.

Moreover, with a total Thermal Design Power (TDP) of up to 54W, the processor is very power efficient, helping bring extended battery life to the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A and ZBook Power G10 A. Both workstation-class laptops are ideal for product designers, engineers and manufacturing professionals. They are not only optimised for Solidworks but are tested and certified by the developer of the

CAD software, Dassault Systèmes.

With a 14-inch display, the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A is the smaller and lighter of the two, starting at 1.4kg. It comes with a tiny 65W power supply.

The HP ZBook Power G10 A offers a larger 15.6-inch display, a keyboard with numeric keypad and more expandability but still comes in at 2kg.

Both laptops feature sturdy aluminium chassis, fast Wi-Fi 6E, and an optional 5MP camera with HP Auto Frame that follows the user when moving within the camera’s frame. There’s a choice of highperformance NVMe SSDs, up to 64 GB of DDR5 memory for huge CAD datasets, and enterprise-level security, including HP Wolf Pro, and HP Sure Click.

Produced by

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Sponsored by HP / AMD

www.hp.com / www.amd.com

A NEW ERA OF LAPTOP GRAPHICS The AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 Series processor, at the heart of the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A and HP ZBook Power G10 A, looks set to change the way designers and engineers think about integrated graphics

F

or 3D CAD, designers and engineers have historically been best served by mobile workstations with a separate CPU (Central Processing Unit) and GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).

Processors with integrated graphics have often come up short in terms of raw 3D performance, support for application-specific optimisations, and CAD software certifications. In the case of Solidworks, graphics processors that are not certified do not support certain features, such as RealView for advanced real time shading.

The AMD Ryzen PRO 7000 Series processor, at the heart of the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A and HP ZBook Power G10 A, looks set to change the way designers and engineers think about integrated graphics.

The top-end AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS processor, for example, features powerful AMD Radeon 780M graphics that delivers a smooth interactive viewport experience in Solidworks, even when working with large assemblies.

This is in part due to raw graphics performance, thanks to AMD’s advanced RDNA3 graphics architecture, but also

because HP has dedicated up to 4 GB of system memory specifically for graphics in these HP ZBook mobile workstations.

As both laptops support up to 64 GB of total system memory, this is still a relatively small proportion of the overall memory footprint.

on the GPU. These include Ambient Occlusion, for more realistic shadows; Anti-Aliasing, for smoother edges; Order Independent Transparency (OIT), for faster and more accurate transparent objects; and Occlusion Culling, which means objects that are obscured by others are not rendered.

By dedicating up to 4 GB of memory specifically for graphics, the HP ZBook Firefly G10 A and HP ZBook Power G10 A allow more information to be buffered on the GPU. This means less time is spent waiting for the CPU to feed in data, resulting in much better performance.

To provide some context, the complex 2,000 component Solidworks motorbike assembly HP ZBook mobile workstations, pictured left uses 4 GB of dedicated powered by the AMD Ryzen PRO GPU memory when viewed in the shaded 7000 Series processor, can handle large Solidworks assemblies with edges display mode at 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. The HP ZBook Firefly G10 A ADVANCED 3D GRAPHICS FOR CAD with AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS processor When it comes to 3D graphics, Solidworks delivers a silky smooth 31 Frames Per is one of the most advanced CAD tools out Second (FPS) in the viewport, significantly there. It uses OpenGL’s ‘retained rendering’ more than the minimum recommended mode, where more data is stored in GPU 24 FPS. Previously, this level of 3D memory. Many key algorithms in the performance could only be achieved using Solidworks graphics engine rely heavily a mobile workstation with a discrete GPU.

HP ZBook info

Specs

HP ZBook Firefly 14-inch G10 A

HP ZBook Power 15.6-inch G10 A

Processor

Up to AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS with Radeon 780M Graphics

Up to AMD Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS with Radeon 780M Graphics

Memory

Up to 64 GB DDR5-5600 non-ECC SODIMM

Up to 64 GB DDR5-5600 non-ECC SDRAM

Storage

Up to 2 TB PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe M.2 2280 TLC SSD

Up to 2 x 4 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2

Display

14-inch display up to WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600), 500 nits, HP DreamColor

15.6-inch display up to QHD (2,560 x 1,440), 300 nits

Ports

2 x USB Type-A • HDMI 2.0b 2 x Thunderbolt 4 with USB4 Type-C (DisplayPort 1.4) headphone/microphone combo

3 x USB Type-A • HDMI 2.1 • 1 x Thunderbolt 4 with USB Type-C (DisplayPort 1.4) • headphone/microphone combo RJ-45 (Ethernet) • power connector

Keyboard

HP Premium Quiet Keyboard, full-size

HP Premium Quiet Keyboard, full-size with numeric keypad

Battery

HP Long Life 3-cell, 51 Wh Li-ion polymer

HP Long Life 6-cell, 83 Wh Li-ion polymer

Power

HP Smart 65 W External AC USB Type-C power adapter

150 W Slim Smart external AC power adapter

Dimensions

31.56 x 22.43 x 1.99 cm

35.94 x 23.39 x 2.29 cm

Weight

Starting at 1.4 kg

Starting at 2 kg

Solidworks certification

Certified for Solidworks 2022-2024

Certified for Solidworks 2022-2024

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workstation special report

Review: Workstation Specialists WS IC-Z7900 (14th Gen Intel Core)

he 14th Gen Intel Core processor has received a lot of bad press since its launch in Autumn 2023.

The mainstream chip has been criticised for being little different to 13th Gen Intel Core, both architecturally and in terms of performance. Many said it’s not deserving of a new generation.

That might be true, but the fact remains that it’s still the fastest desktop processor for single threaded CAD and BIM workflows. If you rely on Revit, Inventor, Solidworks, or other similar tools, you should be paying attention.

The WS IC-Z7900 is a mid-sized tower workstation, one of the many to feature the new processor. It’s built around the compact Asus Prime Z790-P WiFi ATX motherboard, which feels a little lost inside the spacious 469 x 220 x 490mm Antec P20CE case, which can take motherboards up to E-ATX (Extended ATX) in size.

The workstation has plenty of options for connectivity. At the rear you get a 2.5 Gigabit Realtek RJ45 network port, Dual Band Intel WiFi 6 Network & Bluetooth 5.2, (4) x USB 2.0 Type-A, (2) USB 3.2 Type-A and (1) USB 3.2 Type-C. The easy access ports are located on top, and this also aids uninterrupted airflow from front to back. These include (2) USB 3.0 Type A and (1) USB 3.2 Type-C. There’s 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) of 5,200MHz

Dual Channel DDR5 memory and a lone 2TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD. With a slender single slot Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation GPU and no hard disk drives, it’s a very neat build, with minimal visible wires.

There are some nice touches inside, including a custom 3D printed mounting bracket attached to the end of the GPU to keep it firmly in place.

A large part of the interior is taken up by the Fractal Lumen AIO cooler, which keeps the Intel Core i9-14900KF processor running cool. Despite drawing 253W at peak with its 8 P-Cores and 16 E-Cores running flat out when rendering, CPU temperature never went above 80°C in our tests. The fans kick in after a while, but the machine stays remarkably quiet.

The Intel Core i9-14900KF processor sits at the top of Intel’s 14th Gen stack, alongside the slightly more expensive Intel Core i9-14900K, which has integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770 graphics built in. It shines in CAD and BIM workflows, where most operations are single threaded or lightly threaded.

However, in the majority of the SPECapc for Solidworks 2022 benchmark tests it only edged out the Intel Core i9-13900K by around 2% to 4%, as tested in the Scan 3XS GWP-ME A132C workstation we reviewed in November 2022. This can be explained by the Intel Core i9-14900KF only having a slightly higher max turbo frequency than

Chaos Group V-Ray 5.0 benchmark

Cinebench R23 benchmark (multi core)

KeyShot 11.3.1 benchmark

CPU rendering

CPU rendering

CPU rendering

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

This 14th Gen Intel Core workstation doesn’t deliver the generation on generation performance increase one would expect, but it’s still one of the fastest for CAD and BIM workflows, writes Greg Corke

T

Intel Core i9-12900K

16,427

Intel Core i9-12900K

Intel Core i9-13900K

26,952

Intel Core i9-14900KF

(WS IC-Z7900)

25,543

Intel Core i9-13900K Intel Core i9-14900KF

(WS IC-Z7900)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

29,458

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

28,392

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

WS28

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

February / March 2024

WS28_29_D3D_FEBMARCH24_WS.indd 28

■ Intel Core i9-14900KF processor (3.2 GHz, 6.0 GHz boost) (8 P-Cores, 16 E-Cores, 32 threads) ■ 64GB (2x 32GB)

5,200MHz Dual Channel DDR5 memory

■ 2TB Samsung 990

PRO M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD ■ Asus PRIME Z790-P WiFi ATX motherboard

■ Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation GPU (20GB GDDR6 memory) ■ Antec P20CE case (469 x 220 x 490mm) ■ Microsoft Windows 11 Pro ■ 36 Months Premium RTB hardware warranty with remote engineer diagnostics by next business day ■ £2,839 (Ex VAT) ■ www.workstation

specialist.com

22,691

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 0

Product spec

0

the Intel Core i9-13900K — 6.0 GHz versus 5.8 GHz. Interestingly, the Intel Core i9-13900K beat the Intel Core i9-14900KF in all our multithreaded rendering benchmarks, by as much as 6% in some tests. This can be explained by higher all-core frequencies. In Cinebench R23, for example, the Intel Core i9-13900K hit 4.77 GHz, while the Intel Core i914900KF settled at 4.70 GHz. Of course, as both processors were tested in entirely different systems with different Windows 11 builds, there are many variables here. The lower all core frequency of the Intel Core i9-14900KF could be down to the cooling in the Workstation Specialists machine, rather than the processor itself, although the Fractal Lumen AIO is a respected piece of kit.

Compared to the Intel Core i912900K, as tested in the Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Ultra, the performance gains were larger, between 13% and 29% in the single threaded and lightly threaded workloads of the SPECapc for Solidworks benchmark.

However, as the Intel Core i9-12900K also has fewer cores (8 P-Cores and 8 E-Cores), the Intel Core i9-14900KF pulled away considerably when rendering. In KeyShot it was nearly twice as fast.

Of course, these days Intel faces increased competition from AMD, from both the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processors.

Intel Core i9-12900K

2.75

37,862

Intel Core i9-13900K

37,421

Intel Core i9-14900KF

(WS IC-Z7900)

37,601 35,490

5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000

5.65 5.32

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

5.70

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 0

1

2

5.37 3

4

5

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Solidworks 2022 SPECapc benchmark (CAD) 1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

Rebuild test Intel Core i9-12900K

2.16

Intel Core i9-13900K

2.41

Intel Core i9-14900KF (WS IC-Z7900)

2.50

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

2.32

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

2.32

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Convert test Intel Core i9-12900K

2.02

Intel Core i9-13900K

2.28

Intel Core i9-14900KF (WS IC-Z7900)

2.33

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

2.17

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

2.25

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Simulate test Intel Core i9-12900K

1.99

Intel Core i9-13900K

2.18

Intel Core i9-14900KF (WS IC-Z7900)

2.26

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

1.99

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

1.95

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Mass properties test Intel Core i9-12900K

Intel Core i9-13900K

2.41

Intel Core i9-14900KF (WS IC-Z7900)

2.47

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

2.57

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

2.19

0.0

0.5

Intel Core continues to be strong in single threaded workflows in CAD tools like Autodesk Inventor

2.70

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

And not just in terms of performance; both AMD chips consume less power.

The Core i9-14900KF was around 7% to 12% faster than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X in most single threaded and lightly threaded operations, as tested in the Scan 3XS GWPME A132R. However, it lost out in most multi-threaded rendering tests. In V-Ray, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X had a 15% lead.

It’s all about delivering high frequencies on a few cores and leaving all the heavy lifting to the GPU. Of course, if you’re 100% focused on CAD and BIM, the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation is overkill. You can save a significant amount by downgrading to an Nvidia T1000 (8 GB), AMD Radeon Pro W7500 (8 GB) (see page WS30) or similar.

Graphics choice

The verdict

The Workstation Specialists WS ICZ7900 comes with a massive choice of GPUs, from the Nvidia T400 GPU for true entry-level CAD to the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada Generation for the most demanding viz workflows.

Our test machine took up some middle ground with an Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation GPU (20 GB), which is a great option for CAD-focused visualisation (read our review on page WS36). With plenty of horsepower and plenty of memory for viz tools like KeyShot, Solidworks Visualize and V-Ray, this powerful GPU makes the CPU’s all-core capabilities less important.

If you currently have a workstation with a 13th Gen Intel Core processor, this is probably not the machine for you. The performance gains with 14th Gen Intel Core in single threaded workflows are marginal, and you may even take a drop in multi-threaded performance. But if your workstation is older, and your priority is accelerating your CAD and BIM workflows, then this quality desktop machine is worth a look. It’s well built, quiet in operation, and while it’s a bit on the large side considering the components inside, it should serve you well, now and into the future.

Boolean test Intel Core i9-12900K

Intel Core i9-13900K

Intel Core i9-14900KF (WS IC-Z7900)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

1.79 2.26 2.32 2.06

0.0

0.5

2.29 1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Rendering test Intel Core i9-12900K

4.30

Intel Core i9-13900K

Intel Core i9-14900KF (WS IC-Z7900)

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

0

1

2

7.25 6.91 6.78 6.33 3

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others have burgeoning needs for performance. With a total board power Review: AMD visualisation as they look to make it an of 190W it requires an 8-pin power part of their design process. connector. It costs £833 + VAT. Radeon Pro W7500 integral The RDNA 3-based Radeon Pro W7600 and W7700, which The CAD workhorses W7600 & W7700 W7500, launched in summer 2023, are specifically 3D graphics performance in a lot of CAD designed to appeal to these types of users.

AMD’s new mid-range workstation GPUs represent a solid foundation for 3D CAD and entry-level viz. However, by not having the option of a low profile form factor and holding back on memory in the middle of the stack, AMD has missed some opportunities in this price competitive market, writes Greg Corke Radeon Pro W7500 (8 GB) - £358 + VAT Radeon Pro W7600 (8 GB) - £492 + VAT Radeon Pro W7700 (16 GB) - £833 + VAT amd.com/radeonpro

I

n Spring 2023, AMD introduced the AMD Radeon Pro W7800 and W7900, a duo of high-end workstation GPUs based on the company’s RDNA 3 architecture. With 32 GB and 48 GB of GDDR6 memory respectively, both GPUs were designed for demanding workflows in media and entertainment and design visualisation.

Despite offering buckets of processing power, AMD could not keep pace with Nvidia’s best, the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada Generation (48 GB). However, the Radeon Pro W7800 and W7900 were hot on price/performance. In some workflows, the Radeon Pro W7900 could deliver 75% of what the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada Generation could, for less than half the price (£3,200 +VAT vs £6,670 + VAT).

Of course, not everyone has needs or budgets for such high-end pro GPUs. Many architects, engineers and product designers rely purely on CAD or BIM software, which is far less demanding from a GPU perspective. Meanwhile,

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Targeting the mid-range All three Radeon Pro GPUs are designed to address the volume mid-range workstation market, which AMD describes as the $350 to $950 dollar segment.

The GPUs comprise multiple unified RDNA 3 compute units (28 on the W7500, 32 on the W7600 and 48 on the W7700).

Each compute unit has 64 dual issue stream processors, two AI accelerators and one second gen ray tracing (RT) accelerator. According to AMD, RDNA 3 offers up to 50% more raytracing performance per compute unit than the previous generation.

The Radeon Pro W7500 and W7600 are full height, single slot GPUs, so are designed to fit in a standard desktop tower workstation. There are not compatible with small form factors (SFFs) / ultra-compacts.

Both GPUs come with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and four DisplayPort 2.1 Connectors, the latest version of the digital display standard.

The Radeon Pro W7500 offers 12.2 TLOPs of peak single precision performance and has a total board power of 70W, so can operate with PCIe slot power alone. It costs £358 + VAT. The Radeon Pro W7600 boosts peak single precision performance to 19.9 TLOPs and has a total board power of 130W, so needs a 6-pin connector from the Power Supply Unit (PSU). It costs £492 + VAT. Finally, the Radeon Pro W7700 is a full height, dual slot GPU with four DisplayPort 2.1 connectors. It comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory and boasts 32 TFLOPs of peak single precision

and BIM software is CPU limited, where the GPU is held back by the frequency of a single CPU core. If all you ever do is model buildings in Autodesk Revit or design machinery in Autodesk Inventor, there’s little point in buying a high-end pro GPU. CAD software developers are slowly managing to better harness the power of GPUs in general. As they adopt more modern graphics APIs and push more of the graphics processing onto the GPU, this reduces the reliance on the CPU and hence the bottleneck.

A case in point is the product design focused CAD software, Solidworks, which updated its graphics engine a few years ago. Prior to the 2020 release, performance scaled very little as you moved up the range of your chosen GPU brand. Now, there’s a fair bit of difference.

With the SPECapc for Solidworks 2022 benchmark, there is a substantial gap between the W7500’s and W7700’s benchmark scores in simple shaded with edges display mode and when RealView is enabled for more realistic lighting and materials. However, this doesn’t mean you should buy the faster GPU simply because it has bigger numbers. It’s important to have some context.

We loaded up the largest Solidworks model we have, a massive 13,000 component MaunaKea Spectroscopic Explorer telescope assembly, and still got good performance with the Radeon Pro W7500. Even at 4K resolution, it delivered a smooth 29 Frames Per Second (FPS) with RealView on, above the minimum recommended 24 FPS. With the Radeon Pro W7600 this went up to 52 FPS. This higher frame rate might mean

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something to a hardcore gamer, but we found there was no discernible difference in terms of user experience when navigating the model.

Design visualisation

SPECapc for Solidworks 2022 benchmark

SPECapc for Solidworks 2022 benchmark

GPU shaded with edges (4K resolution)

GPU shaded with edges with RealView (4K resolution)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

1.23 Benchmark score (bigger is better)

AMD Radeon Pro W7500 1

1.19

AMD Radeon Pro W7500 1

1.36

Dedicated design visualisation tools put a 1.62 AMD Radeon Pro W7600 1.98 much bigger load on the GPU, with highly AMD Radeon Pro W7600 realistic materials and lighting and, more AMD Radeon Pro W7700 2.69 AMD Radeon Pro W7700

3.22 recently, GPU ray tracing.

Nvidia RTX A4000

2.33 Nvidia RTX A4000

2.55 In real time arch viz applications like Enscape, Lumion, and Twinmotion, Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada

2.28 Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada

2.86 there’s a big benefit to more powerful GPUs. They not only make model 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 23.Q4 driver / Ryzen 7 5800X 537.7 driver / Ryzen 7 5800X 23.Q4 driver / Ryzen 7 5800X 537.7 driver / Ryzen 7 5800X navigation smoother, especially at higher resolutions, but render times are much shorter when exporting stills and videos.

Unreal Engine 4.26 (DirectX 12 - rasterisation) Unreal Engine 4.26 (DirectX 12 - DXR) Audi car configurator model (ray tracing enabled) Here the Radeon Pro W7700 shows a Audi car configurator model (ray tracing disabled) real benefit over its lower end siblings.

1.23 Frames Per Second (FPS) (bigger is better) 1.23 Frames Per Second (FPS) (bigger is better) In Unreal Engine it delivered a smooth 32.23 FPS at 4K resolution, when testing FHD 52.82 FHD 20.79 AMD Radeon Pro W6600 the Audi car configurator model with ray AMD Radeon Pro W6600 4K 12.81 4K 2.56 (uses more GPU memory than available) tracing disabled. It also beat the Radeon FHD 106.53 FHD 41.00 AMD Radeon Pro W6800 AMD Radeon Pro W6800 4K 29.67 4K 11.43 (uses more GPU memory than available) Pro W6800, which was AMD’s previous 43.61 FHD 17.67 generation flagship pro GPU. It even AMD Radeon Pro W7500 FHD AMD Radeon Pro W7500 4K 12.57 4K 3.11 (uses more GPU memory than available) outpaced the new Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada FHD 61.97 FHD 26.86 AMD Radeon Pro W7600 generation GPU which costs 40% more AMD Radeon Pro W7600 4K 19.04 4K 2.40 (uses more GPU memory than available) FHD 107.02 FHD 43.21 (see review on page WS36).

AMD Radeon Pro W7700 AMD Radeon Pro W7700 4K 32.23 4K 12.06 Meanwhile the Radeon Pro W7500 and FHD (MAX) 120.00 FHD 56.76 AMD Radeon Pro W7800 W7600 could only muster 12.57 FPS and AMD Radeon Pro W7800 4K 39.69 4K 15.98 19.04 FPS respectively. For acceptable FHD 86.10 FHD 49.44 Nvidia RTX A4000 Nvidia RTX A4000 4K 26.03 4K 14.11 viewport performance with this dataset 77.09 FHD 49.70 and these lower end GPUs, you’d really Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada FHD Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada 4K 21.10 4K 12.97 need to go down to FHD resolution.

FHD 100.52 FHD 68.71 Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Introducing real time ray tracing and 4K 4K 29.64 18.31 engaging the ray tracing (RT) accelerators 23.Q4 driver / Threadripper 7980X 537.7 driver / Threadripper 7980X 536.25 driver / Ryzen 7950X3D 23.Q4 driver / Threadripper 7980X 537.7 driver / Threadripper 7980X 536.25 driver / Ryzen 7950X3D that are built into the GPUs showed a 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 different side to the AMD cards. Compared to the Nvidia GPUs, performance was out final images at notably slower. The high resolutions or In certain viz workflows, the Radeon Pro Nvidia RTX 4000 displaying models with W7700 looks to be excellent value for money, Ada outperformed the more realism.

Radeon Pro W7700 Running out of GPU particularly compared to the Nvidia RTX 4000 by some margin, and memory is not the Ada Generation, which costs 40% more even beat the highcatastrophic event it end AMD Radeon Pro used to be, which often W7800. We saw similar resulted in crashes as when ray trace rendering in Lumion and more detailed materials and higher display soon as it ran out. However, it can have a Twinmotion. AMD’s RT accelerators are resolutions. At 4K resolution (3,840 x huge impact on performance and end user one generation behind Nvidia’s, so it’s 2,160), for example, the GPU has four times experience. Instead of accessing data from clear that AMD has some catching up to do. as many pixels to process than at FHD fast GPU memory, the GPU must pull (1,920 x 1,080) resolution. data from shared GPU memory, which The weight of GPU memory With 8 GB, both the Radeon Pro is reserved in the workstation’s system GPU memory is becoming increasingly W7500 and W7600 should have memory (RAM). important, so the fact that the Radeon plenty in reserve for most CAD / BIM In several of our tests the 8 GB Radeon Pro W7500 and W7600 both have 8 GB workflows.

Viewing the colossal Pro W6600, W7500 and W7600 and the Radeon Pro W7700 has 16 GB is telescope model in Solidworks 2024, came up short. In Unreal Engine for significant. for example, takes up 7.6 GB at 4K with example, viewing the Audi model at 4K In CAD and BIM software, in order for RealView enabled. Most CAD models use with ray tracing enabled pushes GPU the GPU to take on more of the processing, considerably less. With a 300 component memory usage to around 9 GB. This more data must be loaded into GPU computer model, Solidworks fills 2.4 GB. effectively ground the viewport to a halt, memory. Memory usage increases due to Memory usage in viz tools is typically with all three GPUs only delivering an several factors: model size and complexity, higher, especially when rendering unworkable 2-3 FPS. 1

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In Lumion, rendering out our sample scenes at FHD resolution with the ray tracing effect enabled, also pushed memory over 8 GB, resulting in significantly longer render times.

To experiment, we processed the same Lumion sample scenes, but dialled down the monitor’s resolution from 4K (3,840 x 2,160) to 720p (1,280 x 720). This reduced the reliance on shared GPU memory and cut the render times from 1,160 seconds to 855. While working at 720p is highly impractical, it just shows that even small changes can have a big impact on performance when GPU memory is in short supply.

All of this testing was done with single applications straight after a Windows reboot. In reality, this is not how architects, engineers and designers work.

Running multiple applications at the same time can have an accumulative effect on GPU memory.

In most CAD-centric visualisation workflows, users rely on a companion visualisation tool. For architects, it’s often Revit and Twinmotion or Revit and Enscape. For product designers, it’s Solidworks and KeyShot or Solidworks and Solidworks Visualize.

For users to be able to swap quickly between these tools, each application must reserve some GPU memory. To find out what impact a shortage of memory might have on multi-application workflows, we loaded up a model in Solidworks then rendered it in Solidworks Visualize at the same time. Even with the relatively small 300 component computer model, memory usage soon went over 8 GB. And while the Radeon Pro W7500 still managed to render the scene OK, albeit slower than it would have done with everything stored in GPU memory, it also had an impact on user experience.

Rendering at 1K resolution used 5.7 GB of GPU memory in total and both applications remained 100% responsive.

This wasn’t the case when rendering at 2K resolution. It used up 7.7 GB of GPU memory and 3.8 GB of shared GPU memory, and when swapping back to Solidworks and trying to quickly reposition the model in the viewport, there was a small initial lag. Rendering at 4K resolution used up 7.6 GB of GPU memory and 7.8 GB of shared GPU memory. This caused more lag in Solidworks and Solidworks Visualize became quite unresponsive. On one of our test runs the entire Windows 11 OS froze.

Meanwhile with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, the Radeon Pro W7700 loaded everything in, resulting in a WS32

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Twinmotion 2023.1.2

Twinmotion 2023.1.2

Lake House ‘real time’ render (set of 11 images)

Lake House ‘path tracer’ render (set of 7 images)

1.23 Render time (secs) (smaller is better)

1.23 Render time (secs) (smaller is better)

AMD Radeon Pro W6600 1

120

AMD Radeon Pro W6800 1

AMD Radeon Pro W6600 1

68

AMD Radeon Pro W7500 1

125

AMD Radeon Pro W7600 1

AMD Radeon Pro W7500 1

87

67

Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada 3 53

30

303 260

Nvidia RTX A4000 2

Data N/A

0

523 385

AMD Radeon Pro W7800 1

Nvidia RTX A4000 2

Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada 2

AMD Radeon Pro W7700 1

50

Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada 3

307

AMD Radeon Pro W7600 1

61

AMD Radeon Pro W7800 1

478

AMD Radeon Pro W6800 1

AMD Radeon Pro W7700 1

106 Data N/A

Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada 2

60

90

120

150

0

106

100

200

300

400

500

600

23.Q4 driver / Threadripper 7980X 2 537.7 driver / Threadripper 7980X 3 536.25 driver / Ryzen 7950X3D

1

Lumion 2023

Lumion 2023

‘Streetscape’ render set (4K resolution)

‘Streetscape’ render set with ray tracing (FHD resolution)

1.23 Render time (secs) (smaller is better)

1.23 Render time (secs) (smaller is better)

1

AMD Radeon Pro W6600 1

AMD Radeon Pro W6800 1

650

AMD Radeon Pro W6600 1

338

AMD Radeon Pro W7500 1

740

AMD Radeon Pro W7600 1

307

AMD Radeon Pro W7500 1

515

1,141

AMD Radeon Pro W7600 1

360

AMD Radeon Pro W7800 1

560

AMD Radeon Pro W6800 1

AMD Radeon Pro W7700 1

23.Q4 driver / Threadripper 7980X 2 537.7 driver / Threadripper 7980X 3 536.25 driver / Ryzen 7950X3D

966

AMD Radeon Pro W7700 1

279

AMD Radeon Pro W7800 1

276 206

Nvidia RTX A4000 2

438

Nvidia RTX A4000 2

256

Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada 3

443

Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada 3

254

Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada 2

335

0 1

Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada 2

100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

23.Q4 driver / Threadripper 7980X 2 537.7 driver / Threadripper 7980X 3 536.25 driver / Ryzen 7950X3D

0 1

202

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

23.Q4 driver / Threadripper 7980X 2 537.7 driver / Threadripper 7980X 3 536.25 driver / Ryzen 7950X3D

‘‘

When a workstation runs out of system memory, you can add some more. With a GPU, it’s fixed, and because you will typically have that card for three to five years it’s important to get things right

’’

highly responsive Solidworks viewport, continues to rely on older graphics cards and faster renders, beyond what you to target less demanding workflows like would expect from simply having more CAD and entry-level visualisation. processing power at your disposal.

In terms of positioning, the Radeon Pro W7500 goes up against the Nvidia The competition T1000, which launched in summer In the volume $350 to $950 mid-range 2021. Both GPUs have 8 GB of memory workstation market AMD has no direct and should be powerful enough for most competition from Nvidia’s RTX Ada CAD and BIM workflows. The Radeon Generation GPUs. Instead, Nvidia Pro W7500 has the advantage of having www.develop3d.com

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workstation special report

it outperforms the older Nvidia RTX A4000 and is priced almost identically. It even outpaces the new Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada which costs 40% more. However, it loses out on ray tracing performance, uses more power and takes up two slots on the motherboard so may not be compatible with as many desktop workstations.

AMD also faces competition from Intel with its Arc Pro GPUs that effectively launched in 2023. Arc Pro GPUs have hardware ray tracing built in and are price competitive, but are not that widely available. The single slot 130W Arc Pro A60 is the closest in terms of positioning, and comes with 12 GB of memory. There’s also the entry-level low-profile 50W Arc Pro A40 and 75W Arc Pro A50, both with 6 GB.

The verdict Twinmotion Lake House model Lumion 2023 sample model

hardware ray tracing built in and while we don’t expect this GPU to be used on anything other than CAD or entry-level viz workflows, it does make it more future proofed. Over the next few years, we expect to see ray tracing techniques combined with traditional rasterisation to deliver a much more realistic CAD viewport. The idea is that users will be able to flip into ‘ray traced’ mode, in much the same way they currently do with shaded, shaded with edges and realistic.

Moving up the stack, the Radeon Pro W7600 goes up against the Nvidia RTX A2000. Both GPUs feature hardware ray tracing, but the Nvidia RTX A2000 has two advantages. One, it has 12 GB of memory, which gives it more headroom in viz focused workflows. Two, it has greater WS34

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software compatibility, including support for V-Ray and KeyShot, although with the rise of DirectX-based real time viz tools like Lumion, Twinmotion, D5 Render and Chaos Vantage, this is changing.

The other advantage of both Nvidia GPUs is that they are low profile boards.

This means they can fit in standard desktop tower workstations and Small Form Factor / ultra-compact workstations, such as the HP Z2 Mini and Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Ultra. With these compact machines representing an increasingly big slice of the mainstream workstation market, not just on the desktops of users but in racks for remote graphics deployments (see page WS38), this limits the market for AMD. Finally, there’s the Radeon Pro W7700.

In workflows that rely on rasterisation,

As AMD rolls out its RDNA 3 pro graphics cards for the volume workstation market it feels like there are some missed some opportunities. With no low-profile option, users have to rely on the previous generation Radeon Pro W6400 (4 GB), which is very much entry-level. If AMD had made the Radeon Pro W7500 compatible with this increasingly popular form factor, it would have immediately expanded its potential reach.

Perhaps with these cards AMD is focusing more on specialist system builders like Armari and BOXX, who tend to only use standard workstation tower chassis. Alternatively, it possibly feels there is less need for a low-profile pro GPU moving forward as it plans to beef up its APUs (CPUs with integrated GPUs).

At the same time, only giving the Radeon Pro W7600 8 GB of memory limits its appeal for visualisation workflows. It certainly has enough raw graphics processing power for entry-level workflows in Lumion, Twinmotion and others, but if you run out of GPU memory things can slow right down. Yes, you can adjust your workflows, but who wants to make compromises? When a workstation runs out of system memory, you can add some more. With a GPU, it’s fixed, and because you will typically have that card for three to five years, it’s important to get things right. Even 12 GB would have given it some headroom.

Finally, in certain viz workflows, the Radeon Pro W7700 looks to be excellent value for money particularly compared to the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation, which costs 40% more. However, it’s let down a little by its ray tracing performance, which is only going to become more important to designers and engineers in years to come. www.develop3d.com

07/02/2024 10:48

Professional Graphics Begins Here

With built-in ray tracing hardware, graphics acceleration, and machine learning capabilities, the Intel® Arc™ Pro A40 GPU unites fluid viewports, the latest in visual technologies, and rich content creation in a condensed low-profile, single slot form factor.

• Ray Tracing Hardware Acceleration • Dedicated AI Acceleration • Full Media Encode and Decode Support, Including AV1 • 6GB High Speed Memory • Software Certifications • Up to 4x Displays, with Audio Support & Latching Mechanism • Premium Components • 3-year Limited Warranty

Intel.com/ArcProA40 Customize on Dell.com to select the Intel® Arc™ Pro A40 GPU

Now Available in the Dell Precision 3460 SFF Workstation

© Copyright 2024 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

Intel Arc Graphics is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

workstation special report

Review: Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation Nvidia’s new flagship single slot workstation GPU might not offer as big a gen-on-gen performance leap as some 4000-class graphics cards from the past, but it’s a very solid performer for CADcentric visualisation, writes Greg Corke Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation (20 GB) £1,159 + VAT www.nvidia.com | www.pny.com/professional

O

ver the years, Nvidia’s 4000 class pro GPUs have formed a very important part of the company’s workstation GPU portfolio. With a total board power of around 150W the single slot graphics cards have found their way into an extremely broad range of workstations, from the entry-level to the high-end. They have provided architects, engineers, and designers with enough horsepower to augment CAD and BIM modelling with more demanding workflows such as real time visualisation, VR, and others.

The latest incarnation, the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation, is based on the AD104 graphics processor, the exact same chip found in the dual slot, small form factor version, the Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation.

Both GPUs feature 20 GB of GDDR6 memory, 4 GB more than the previous ‘Ampere’ generation Nvidia RTX A4000.

However, the full sized Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation has slightly more memory bandwidth than its SFF sibling (360 GB/s vs 280 GB/sec). It also draws more power, and hence offers more performance.

The Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada has 130W to play with compared to the SFF version, which has 70W. This means the processor can be clocked higher, resulting in more Chaos Group V-Ray 5.0 benchmark

horsepower across the board. SinglePrecision Performance is rated at 26.7 TFLOPs versus 19.2, RT Core Performance for ray tracing is rated at 61.8 TFLOPs versus 44.3, and Tensor Performance for AI is rated at 327.6 TFLOPs versus 306.8.

Despite there being a significant performance difference between them on paper, both GPUs cost the same (£1,159 + VAT). In terms of price/performance, this means users pay a premium to have the AD104 chip in a small form factor or super compact workstation like the HP Z2 Mini or Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Ultra.

Interestingly, the SFF version comes with a half-height bracket and optional fullheight ATX bracket, so can be used in full sized towers as well. This doesn’t really make sense unless you are particularly focused on using less power.

The Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation cannot draw all of its electricity from the PCIe slot on a workstation motherboard, so gets its additional power from a 16-pin 12VHPWR connector. This modern connector is only supported directly on new generation Power Supply Units (PSUs). It’s not a problem if your workstation doesn’t have one. Nvidia includes a standard 8-pin to 16-pin adapter, so you can plug into your existing PSU.

The pro viz workhorse For testing, we compared the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation (20 GB) to the SFF version, as well as the previous Ampere generation, Nvidia RTX A4000 (16 GB).

Here, it’s important to state that our benchmark comparisons aren’t perfect, as not all GPUs were tested in the same workstation. For the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation and Nvidia RTX A4000 we used the 537.7 driver inside an AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7800X workstation from Armari. For the Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation, we used the 536.25 driver inside an AMD Ryzen 7950X3D-based workstation, also from Armari. PNY loaned the Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF GPU to us several months ago, so we no longer have the card.

As both CPUs are built around the same AMD ‘Zen 4’ architecture and hit similar single core frequencies, any variance from testing on two different systems should be very small.

Our testing focused predominantly on design viz, with the architectural-focused Twinmotion, Lumion, V-Ray and Nvidia Omniverse, the product design focused KeyShot, and Unreal Engine with an automotive model. We also tested with CAD software Solidworks, although for a GPU with this much horsepower, it’s a given that you’ll get good performance.

The big trend in visualisation at the moment is the expansion of GPU ray tracing for much more realistic renders.

GPU ray tracing used to be handled exclusively by offline renderers like V-Ray and KeyShot. Now it’s also available in real time viz tools, typically enabled through the graphics APIs DirectX 12 with DirectX Ray Tracing (DXR) and Vulkan Ray tracing.

In Unreal Engine, Twinmotion, Lumion, Omniverse and others, users can choose between standard rasterisation, or ray tracing to increase visual quality and realism. This is all done on the GPU and has largely been driven by Nvidia, and the dedicated RT and Tensor cores in its RTX cards. In the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada, the RT cores are third generation, and the Tensor cores are fourth generation. While it has the same number of cores as the Ampere-based Nvidia RTX A4000, all are one generation ahead.

As you would expect, ray tracing increases the load on the GPU. In Unreal Engine, when testing at 4K resolution with the Audi car configurator model, viewport performance went down from 29.64 Frames Per Second (FPS) with ray tracing disabled to 18.31 FPS with it enabled. This is below the ideal 24 FPS, but navigation within the scene was still relatively smooth.

On paper, it’s not a massive improvement over the Nvidia RTX A4000 (14.11 FPS) but there was a noticeable difference in terms of how easy it was to quickly and accurately reposition the model in the For more performance data see page WS30

Luxion KeyShot 11.3.1 benchmark (GPU)

1.23 vrays (calculations per minute) (bigger is better)

Nvidia RTX A4000 1

Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation 2

Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation 1

0

500

1,669

1000

1500

Nvidia RTX A4000 1

55.51

1,920

Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation 2

69.42

1,961

Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation 1

72.01

0

2000

537.7 driver / Threadripper 7980X 2 536.25 driver / Ryzen 7950X3D

1

10

20

30

40

537.7 driver / Threadripper 7980X 2 536.25 driver / Ryzen 7950X3D

50

60

70

0

1

1.23 Relative performance to reference system (bigger is better)

100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

V-Ray GPU RTX

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viewport of Unreal Engine Editor.

The rest of our main tests were all about render times, expressed either in seconds (smaller is better) or as a benchmark score (bigger is better). In general, the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation was about 25% to 30% faster than the Nvidia RTX A4000.

However, in V-Ray it was only 12% faster and in Twinmotion with path tracer enabled there was no difference at all.

Comparisons to the Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation were in some cases, quite unexpected. The full-sized Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada card had a clear lead in real time viz tools — Unreal Engine (41%) and Lumion (32% with default render and 25% with ray trace effect). However, in prior frame, to discover how the scene is RTX 4000 to the ‘Ampere’ Nvidia RTX offline renderers, V-Ray and KeyShot, this changing as you navigate a scene. It then A4000, the generation-on-generation lead was very slender (2% and 4%). generates entirely new frames without leap was much higher. In most real time viz This could be explained by how much having to process the graphics pipeline. tools you were talking about 45% to 60%. power the full sized Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada DLSS 3 Frame Generation has been In KeyShot it was as much as 89%. card consumes when rendering in those implemented in Nvidia Omniverse, Of course, most workstation users don’t applications. In Unreal Engine, it uses Autodesk VRED, Chaos Vantage, D5 have the luxury of upgrading their GPU close to its maximum 130W. In KeyShot Render and others. every two years. Many will be looking and V-Ray, however, it uses considerably In Omniverse USD Composer 2023.2.2, to make the move from 2019’s ‘Turing’ less (100W), much closer to the 70W we tested out the feature with the Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000. Those on maximum of the SFF version. It could also Brownstone building sample model. tight budgets may perceive better value be that core count is in the Nvidia RTX more important than A4000, which is still frequency in those available for £812 Normally with a new pro GPU, one would be very applications (as a Ex VAT or the AMD reminder, the chip in happy with a 25% to 41% performance improvement Radeon Pro W7700 both cards is identical, over the previous generation. The problem is, Nvidia (16 GB) (£833+VAT) it’s just clocked higher (read our review on has set expectation levels very high in the RTX 4000 page WS30), but this Ada), or that the SFF could end up being version can maintain a false economy higher boost frequencies in those tests. In ‘RTX – Real-Time’ mode with DLSS over the lifetime of the card.

Without having a SFF card at our disposal, enabled the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada was First, you get 4 GB less memory, and as it’s hard to tell. a substantial 2.24 times faster than the datasets continue to swell, applications Nvidia RTX A4000. However, there’s a and operating systems become more Deep Learning Super Sampling case of comparing apples with pears here memory hungry, and multi-application The Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada Generation as the Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada uses DLSS 3 workflows more prevalent, that 4 GB also brings other technical advancements while the Nvidia RTX A4000 use DLSS 2 could be extremely important. to the table. One of those is the Frame (see earlier on). In saying that, we saw Second, you get access to technologies Generation feature in Nvidia’s Deep no visual difference between the two. In exclusive to Ada Generation GPUs, Learning Super Sampling 3 (DLSS) ‘RTX – interactive (path tracing)’ mode, which can deliver real benefits. Frame technology, which is supported exclusively which doesn’t take advantage of DLSS, the Generation in DLSS 3, for example, can on Nvidia Ada Generation GPUs. Nvidia RTX 4000 Ada was 41% faster, increase frames rates quite considerably.

Nvidia DLSS has been around for which is closer to what we saw in other Of course, the RTX 4000 Ada several years and with ‘Ada’, it is now on applications.

Generation is only one of many new Ada its third generation. It uses the GPU’s AI Generation workstation GPUs from Tensor cores to boost frame rates in real The verdict Nvidia. To push performance higher, time applications.

Normally with a new pro GPU, one there’s also the Nvidia RTX 4500 Ada With Nvidia’s previous generation would be very happy with a 25% to 41% (24 GB) (£2,099), Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada ‘Ampere’ GPUs, DLSS 2 took a low- performance improvement over the (32 GB) (£3,699) and, if your pockets are resolution current frame and the high- previous generation. This is what you’ll really deep, the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada resolution previous frame to predict, typically get if upgrading to the Nvidia (48 GB) (£6,700). All three powerful dual on a pixel-by-pixel basis, what a high- RTX 4000 Ada Generation from the slot GPUs should significantly boost resolution current frame would look like.

Nvidia RTX A4000 — although in some real time interactivity and cut render With Frame Generation in DLSS 3, the workflows the boost is much smaller. times, especially at higher resolutions, Tensor cores generate entirely new frames The problem is, Nvidia has set and if visualisation is a critical part of rather than just pixels. The technology expectation levels very high. In 2021, when your workflow, they should be under is used to process the new frame, and the it went from the ‘Turing’ Nvidia Quadro serious consideration.

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Remote possibilities: Lenovo targets the cloud With its ThinkStation workstations now fully-optimised for racks as well as desktops, Lenovo is focusing on complete solutions for remote workstations, with an agnostic approach to software, writes Greg Corke

I

n the early days of the cloud, a simple explanation was that it was someone else’s computer, accessed remotely. This might be true, but when it comes to cloud workstations, you’re typically sharing that computer with many other users through a technology called virtualisation.

Virtualisation carves up CPU, memory and sometimes graphics resources from a single computer to create multiple Virtual Machines (VMs). The processors that are typically used in cloud workstations have lots of cores but run at relatively low frequencies. And as we showed in our May 2023 Workstation Special Report, this can mean considerably less performance, when compared to the fastest desktop workstations. With an operational expense (OpEx) model, instead of a capital expense (CapEx) model, cloud workstations can also cost more over several years.

This has presented a big opportunity for the major workstation OEMs. HP, for example, has built an integrated remote workstation solution around its HP Z desktop workstations and HP Anyware, the remote workstation or digital workspace software. The idea is that users can remote into powerful desktop workstations, typically stored in racks in a server room or datacentre. As with cloud workstations, all processing, including graphics, is done remotely, with only pixels streamed to the end user, wherever they may be.

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really started to become vocal about its plans for the datacentre with the launch of the ‘Sapphire Rapids’ Intel Xeonbased ThinkStation P7, P9 and PX in Spring 2023, followed by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro-based ThinkStation P8 in Autumn 2023 (read our review on page WS22). These powerful tower workstations sit pretty on any desk, but were also purpose-built for racks. The ThinkStation PX comes with a redundant power supply, front accessible storage, a rear power button, and an out of band baseboard management controller (BMC) for server level control.

In the main, however, these machines still require virtualisation when part of a remote workstation solution. Only the most demanding users need all the resources of a single machine. And while their Intel Xeon and AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro processors are specifically designed for workstations and are more modern and powerful than those typically used in cloud workstations, they still have lots of cores and lower all core frequencies than the fastest CAD-focused workstations.

To deliver a true desktop experience, remotely, that feels familiar to users The ThinkStation P3 delivers impressive performance for CAD over a 1:1 connection and with a compact form factor, seven workstations can fit in a 5U rack space

of CAD and BIM software, you need a different type of machine. With a high frequency Intel Core processor and powerful Nvidia RTX GPU, the ThinkStation P3 Ultra delivers exceptional performance for CAD-centric workflows over a 1:1 connection. The chassis is extremely small, so you can get seven units in a 5U rack space for that all important server room density. But, importantly, there’s still room for a BMC add-in card for remote monitoring and systems management.

Lenovo’s cloud / remote workstation play isn’t just about hardware, however.

It’s about delivering comprehensive remote workstation solutions, as Mark Hirst, Lenovo’s workstation solutions manager for remote graphics + hybrid cloud, explains, “We can’t just talk about the CPU and the GPU in these [our workstations]. If we’re going to educate our customers and educate our partners and educate ourselves, we’ve got to do a much better job about talking about the entire technology stack around it.

“Our customers don’t just want to talk workstations, they want to talk datacentre, they want to talk data management, they want to talk remote protocols, they want to talk networking, security, all this kind of stuff,” he says.

In order to best support its customers on their remote workstation journey, Lenovo is developing a Remote Centre of Excellence at its workstation HQ in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. The centre will act as a hub for research and as an educational and developmental resource for customers, who can test solutions remotely.

“We want people to really understand that there’s an alternative to cloud and we want our customers and our partners to try these systems out. If they want to learn about different protocols, then we’ve got the expertise in house to be able to educate them on that and on other things in the stack as well.”

In the Remote Centre of Excellence, Lenovo is racking all of its different desktop workstations and configuring them with various different remote graphics software protocols. In the past, Lenovo had a big focus on Mechdyne TGX, but now it’s also testing its kit with Nice DCV from AWS, Splashtop, Parsec, Microsoft Remote Desktop, and even HP Anyware (formerly Teradici CAS), www.develop3d.com

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workstation special report

despite HP being a major competitor.

The interesting thing about Back in Raleigh, Lenovo is With front-accessible storage, a redundant “We wanted to talk about all of these IMSCAD’s offering, is that working closely with ISVs power supply and many different protocols, because some are customers have huge choice. to help find the right fit for other features, the better than others in different aspects. For a managed service in the many different tools and ThinkStation PX has Some have got better Wacom support, IMSCAD’s private cloud, strong rack credentials workflows of its customers. some have got better 3D mouse support, customers can either buy the There’s an initial focus on some are better for high resolution workstations outright or push everything the AEC market, which presents Lenovo displays, all that kind of stuff. over to a OpEx subscription model. with the biggest opportunity in terms of “There’s no one protocol fits all. Some Meanwhile, for on-premise, workstations volume. The company will also draw on have got their own integrated connection can either be deployed in a dedicated server the expertise of its R&D labs, which tests a brokers. Do we look at third parties, room, or just kept on desks in the office. The huge range of professional workloads when like a Leostream [broker] or something idea here is that firms can carry on working developing ThinkStation workstations. like that, that has a lot more extensive in a way that many are familiar with, but Meanwhile, one of the biggest challenges capabilities when facing Lenovo for it comes to things remote workstations like management is not of a technical We want to get people to think about how they’re using nature. and monitoring?”

The Lenovo is not must their workstations. A workstation is not just that box at company only relying on the desk anymore. All of these things are rack mountable work out how its workstation get the message Mark Hirst, workstation solutions manager, Lenovo division to drive over to customers its Remote Centre that cloud is not of Excellence. It the only way and can also bring in experts from its server access their workstation resource remotely traditional workstations can offer a real and storage business unit, as well as when required, simply streaming pixels to a alternative. “We don’t want to be a cloud workstation partners, such as IMSCAD, remote end device. basher, but we do want to get people a pioneer of workstation-focused Virtual That’s not to say a remote workstation to think about how they’re using their Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions. solution built around Lenovo ThinkStation workstations,” says Hirst. “A workstation IMSCAD is providing Lenovo technology renders the cloud redundant. is not just that box at the desk anymore. with global consulting and a route IMSCAD also offers a desktop disaster All of these things are rack mountable. to market, offering on-premise or recovery solution in Microsoft Azure They [customers] might love their private cloud hosted solutions built that provides companies with a virtual workstation, but if it makes sense to move around the ThinkStation P3 Ultra workstation and data resource on-demand. it over in that room next to your data, and the ThinkStation P8. From its UK Here the cloud acts as an insurance policy if then you’ve already started improving datacentre, customers can have a free 48- physical on-premise workstations go down, that experience.” hour trial with up to five apps. perhaps due to fire, theft or a power cut.

■ www.lenovo.com ■ www.imscadservices.com

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Inevidesk: flexible virtual workstations Inevidesk’s flexible and transparent approach to virtual workstations should resonate with UK firms that want to enable their staff, wherever they are based, to work off the same infrastructure, writes Greg Corke

O

ne of big unknowns of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) or cloud workstation solutions is how much they cost. With no one size fits all approach, few service providers publish clear pricing. There can also be hidden charges along the way.

Compared to buying desktop workstations outright, and typically keeping them for three to five years, cloud workstations can also end up being very expensive.

London-based Inevidesk has built its CAD-focused virtual desktop business around transparency, putting pricing up front and centre on its website (see table right).

Typically, customers buy the hardware up front, just as they would with desktop workstations, then pay an annual service fee on top. This includes the virtualisation platform, access to the administration portal, as well as support and service updates.

Inevidesk builds its solution around pods, bespoke rack mounted servers that can host up to seven GPU-accelerated virtual desktops, known as vdesks. Each vdesk gets a dedicated GPU. Customers can choose to keep their pods on premise, in their own server room. Alternatively, as the majority choose to do, pay a fee to have them hosted in Inevidesk’s London datacentre, which is powered by 100% renewable energy.

Buying hardware outright is fine if you know exactly where your business will be in a few years, but few firms these days do.

To make things more flexible, Inevidesk recently introduced its Flexidesk service. This allows firms to burst up and scale down in increments of one or more vdesks, without having to buy the hardware. Well, that’s not 100% correct.

In order to use the Flexidesk service, customers must own at least one pod and it must be hosted with Inevidesk.

With the Flexidesk service, the commitment can be for as little as one month, although it works out cheaper to sign up for a year. Prices start at £99 per month and include the vdesk, service and hosting fees.

Buying pods is more cost efficient, so firms can strike a balance between renting www.develop3d.com

WS41_42_D3D_FEBMARCH24_Inevidesk.indd 41

Inevidesk Mid-spec pod (CAD/BIM)

Inevidesk High-spec pod (CAD/BIM and viz)

Inevidesk CPU rendering pod (multithreaded workflows)

No. vdesks

7

7

2

Virtual CPU

4 vCPU

8 vCPU

31 vCPU

RAM

32G

64G

120G

SSD

500G

500G

900G

GPU

Nvidia T1000 (8G)

Nvidia RTX A4000 (16G)

Nvidia RTX A4000 (16G)

Chassis

2u

3u

3u

Purchase price (Ex VAT)

£9,974

£16,565

£12,145

Price per vdesk (Ex VAT)

£1,425

£2,366

£6,073

Service fee

£1,720 (ex VAT) (per pod per annum)

Inevidesk hosting service

Fee (ex VAT) (per month)

Mid-spec pod hosting

£165

£230

£230

Server storage

£75 / TB

£75 / TB

£75 / TB

4 vCPU bolt on

£25

£25

£25

and owning hardware. There’s a fine line standard offering (see review on page WS36). here. Rent too much and it’ll cost more in As is common with most VMs, both of the long run. Buy too much and it could sit these vdesks are overprovisioned, which idle during downturns. means they are allocated more resources than there physically are in the server.

Inside the pod Overprovisioning is based on the idea Inevidesk pods are custom rack mounted that not all users are hammering all servers built around the AMD Ryzen resources all the time.

Threadripper Pro 5000 Series processors.

In the mid-spec system, which has a Inevidesk plans to introduce the new Threadripper Pro 5955WX processor with AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 16 physical cores, each of the seven vdesks Series (as reviewed on page WS8) once is allocated four vCPU, which makes 28 motherboards with enough PCIe slots for vCPU in total. seven GPUs become available.

To find the right balance between cost and A ‘mid-spec pod’ is designed for performance, Inevidesk keeps an eye on the CAD and BIM workflows to support resources its customers use, as Inevidesk’s applications like Revit and Rhino. The Mark Adams explains. “In general, pretty compact 2U chassis includes seven much all of our clients hang around 50 vdesks, each with four virtual CPU to 60% utilisation, so even though we’re (vCPU), 32G of RAM, 500G SSD and a provisioning 28 cores, they only ever dedicated Nvidia T1000 GPU (8G). actually use half of what’s available.”

A ‘high-spec pod’ is designed for Of course, that statistic relates to typical GPU-centric visualisation workflows to modelling workflows, which tend to be support applications like Enscape and single threaded or lightly threaded.

Twinmotion. The 3U chassis includes “[With the mid-spec and high-spec seven vdesks, each with eight virtual CPU pods] we specifically state you can’t do (vCPU), 64G of RAM, 500G SSD and a CPU rendering on every virtual desktop dedicated Nvidia RTX A4000 GPU (16G), at the same time, but nobody does,” adds which has hardware ray tracing built Adams. “They’ve got a dedicated graphics in. N.B. Inevidesk doesn’t currently see card, so render away on that. It’s more sufficient value in the new Nvidia RTX common nowadays, anyway.”

4000 Ada Generation GPU to make it a For some, CPU rendering or other February / March 2024

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highly multi-threaded workflows such as latency. Users are encouraged to play with The verdict simulation, is an important part of their these settings to get the best experience.

It’s refreshing to see a company bring real workflows. For these users, Inevidesk To test out the system Inevidesk clarity to virtual workstations – not just in also offers a CPU rendering pod, with provided a vdesk for real time viz with terms of pricing, but the specifications of the two vdesks, each with 31 vCPU, 120G 8 vCPU (from a virtualised AMD Ryzen VMs, how much they’re overprovisioned of RAM, 900G SSD and an Nvidia RTX Threadripper Pro 5955WX) and a and the options for hosting.

A4000 GPU. dedicated Nvidia RTX A4000 GPU. Buying hardware outright and having Unlike the mid-spec and high-spec We connected to the hosted VM from it hosted in Inevidesk’s datacentre might pods, Inevidesk guarantees access to London, over AC3000 WiFi using a go against the grain, but for many firms all CPU resources all of the time, as standard home Internet connection. Our it can provide more certainty and remove Adams explains, “In that one, it’s the end device was an HP ZBook Firefly G10 the need to accommodate bulky hardware [Threadripper Pro] 5995WX and we with AMD Ryzen 9 Pro 7940HS processor — servers and workstations — in an only allow half of the cores to each and Windows 11 Pro. It’s a pretty expensive office. vdesk so they can use 100% of what’s powerful laptop, although Inevidesk says The other notable benefit of the been assigned to them. There’s no connecting computers only need a modern Inevidesk solution, that its pods use overprovisioning essentially.”

Intel processor (2015 and up) or Nvidia/ Threadripper Pro processors, which are The three vdesks described are just the AMD graphics card to take advantage of designed specifically for workstations. ‘defaults’, and Inevidesk stresses that the Parsec’s optimisation capabilities which For CAD workflows, while Inevidesk’s platform is fully customisable in terms of utilise h265 decoding of the video stream. vdesks won’t keep pace with the vCPU which can fastest desktop be reassigned in workstations, the admin portal. you’ll get Buying hardware outright and having it hosted in GPUs and RAM much closer Inevidesk’s datacentre might go against the grain, but for performance than allocations can also be mixed and many architectural practices it can provide more certainty you would with a matched. Higher traditional VDI and remove the need to accommodate bulky hardware spec processors / cloud solution. can be added, if And with pods required, and based on the double slot GPUs can be accommodated in Our experience at 4K resolution was AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 the CPU rendering pod. impressive. BIM software Autodesk Series coming soon, this gap will close.

Revit and viz software Enscape felt very At a time when momentum is growing The technology responsive, with complex models loaded. for remote solutions based around IT administrators access their pods There was no visible compression in the compact desktop workstations like the through Inevidesk’s web-based viewport, as we’ve sometimes seen with HP Z2 Mini and Lenovo ThinkStation administration portal. The first step is public cloud workstations.

P3 Ultra (see page WS38) this will put to create a template for all the required To get an idea of relative performance, Inevidesk in a comparatively good CAD, viz and productivity software. we ran a few benchmarks. Single threaded position when the conversation turns to Once complete, the template is simply performance, which is important for CAD performance. cloned to create all the vdesks. and BIM, was pretty much exactly where To access the vdesks themselves, end we expected it to be.

Inevidesk offers a free trial for its hosted pods. users simply download the Inevidesk In the Cinebench R23 single threaded test, ■ www.inevidesk.uk client application (available for Windows it edged out a desktop workstation with a and Mac), punch in their credentials, and 64-core Threadripper Pro 5995WX. This they will be shown which vdesks they is because the pod’s 16-core Threadripper have access to. This is typically one that’s Pro 5955WX has a higher base frequency. been assigned to them specifically. For However, compared to the fastest current Inevidesk is developed by London-based added security, firms can enable multi CAD workstation with an Intel Core i9Inevitech. Following the official launch in factor authentication.

14900K processor (see review on page WS28), 2020, Inevidesk has attracted a broad range of By default, the Inevidesk client it only delivered 62% of the performance. customers, predominantly in the AEC space, application uses remote desktop software When Inevidesk brings the new from relatively small architectural practices Parsec, which needs to be licensed, along Threadripper Pro 7000 Series processors to larger firms including Hawkins Brown, with Windows. However, users can also on board, this gap should close dramatically.

Western Williamson, Allies and Morrison and choose their own way of connecting to Importantly, our vdesk was significantly Hopkins, which has around 150 to 160 vdesks. their vdesk via other protocols such as faster than the public cloud workstations Customers are typically in and around Windows RDP, Logmein, HP Anyware, we tested last year (see 2023 Workstation London, although some of the practices Splashtop and others.

Special Report - www.develop3d.com/ have offices around the UK. Some are even The Inevidesk virtual desktop can magazines). Both AWS and Microsoft Azure international, in mainland Europe or East launch Windowed or full screen and use server-class processors, where the Coast America, although as with all remote it’s possible to use dual displays up to focus is on the number of cores rather than workstations, the further you are away from 4K resolution. The system offers three frequency. In contrast, Threadripper Pro is the datacentre, the more latency you get, which different display modes — 3D, 2D or specifically designed for workstations, so negatively impacts the experience. balanced — depending on application and frequency and cores are a priority.

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