Multimedia
Blogs
Forum
Affordable HD
Whitepapers
Newsletters
Events
Advertisers
Blogcast
MillimeterReview: HP Z800
Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer
Workstation integrates the Intel Nehalem processor into a brand-new toolless chassis.
Table 1. Autodesk 3ds Max benchmarks.
Benchmarks
I tested the Z800 against three other computers: a dual-processor (DP), quad-core (QC) 2.83GHz HP xw6600 workstation running 32-bit Windows XP with 3GB of RAM and a Nvidia Quadro FX1700 graphics card with 512MB of memory; a DP, QC 3.33GHz HP xw8600 workstation running 64-bit Windows Vista with 16GB of RAM and a Nvidia Quadro CX with 1.5GB of memory; and a new single-processor, QC Z400 workstation running 64-bit Windows XP with a 3.2GHz Xeon W3570 processor, 6GB of memory, and a Nvidia Quadro FX4800 with 1.5GB of memory. To repeat, the Z800 came with two QC Nehalem processors running at 3.2GHz, with 18GB of memory running 64-bit Vista and the same Quadro FX4800 with 1.5GB as the Z400.
I started my tests with Autodesk 3ds Max 2009, hoping to run the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) benchmark, but it didn’t appear to be updated for the latest version of 3ds Max. And the benchmark crashed on each workstation. So I went freelance and loaded some individual projects from the SPEC benchmark and started previewing and rendering. Table 1 shows the results.
In general, the harder the task, the more the Z800 excelled—especially against the single-processor Z400. The Z800 didn’t impress in the realÂtime preview or in the first single-frame rendering trial, but it more than held its own otherwise—with an impressive 32 percent edge over the xw8600 in the longest-running test.
To be honest, I’m not a 3ds Max user, and I wasn’t really counting on the SPEC benchmark to present a useful result. Still, even in the limited tests that I performed, the Z800 proved to be a very worthy upgrade from the xw8600 workstation that it replaces.
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.