New Desktop, Notebook Systems Bring on PCIe 3.0 and Quad-Core Xeon Processors

HP released specs today on its new HP Z220 workstation and HP EliteBook lineups, upgrading the systems to Intel Ivy Bridge-based processors. The Z220s and the EliteBooks are slated to ship later this month.

WIth Ivy Bridge under the hood, the Z220 now supports PCI Express 3.0 x16, so they'll be ready as those cards become available, and has four USB 3.0 ports in both minitower and compact configurations. The Z220 can use up to 32 GB of DDR3 RAM and is configurable with a range of processors that includes quad-core Xeon E3 chips at clockspeeds of up to 3.7 GHz. For graphics, the high-end options in the minitower are aftermarket-only: the AMD FirePro V7900 and NVIDIA Quadro 4000. The most powerful cards shipped with the minitower are the AMD FirePro V5900 and the NVIDIA Quadro 2000. The top graphics cards supported by the small-form-factor version of the Z220 are the AMD FirePro V3900 and the NVIDIA Quadro 410 and 600.

Z220 quad-core configurations start at $699. From there, of course, the sky is the limit.

Meanwhile, the new EliteBook 8770w (17.3 inches), 8570w (15.6 inches) and 8470w (14 inches) have likewise been updated to Ivy Bridge, with choices of Intel Core i7 and i5 processors. The 8770w and 8570w are both configurable with DreamColor displays for critical color work, and can be outfitted with a quad-core i7 processor. (The smaller 8470w has no quad-core option.) For graphics, both the 8770w and the 8570w can be configured with the AMD FirePro M4000. Further options for the 8770w include the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M, K4000M, or K5000M; the 8570w offers a choice of the NVIDIA Quadro K2000M or K1000M. The 8470w has AMD FirePro M2000 graphics as the only configuration option. Users can put up to 16 GB of RAM in the 8470w, while its bigger brothers can hold 32 GB.

The 8770w, 8570w, and 8470w start at $1699, $1499, and $1329, respectively. Of course, high-end processing, graphics and display options will quickly eclipse those base prices.

For full specs on all of HP's new machines, visit the website or download the PDF datasheets here: Z220, 8470w, 8570w, 8770w