Summary: The HP xw8600 Workstation contains two of the latest Intel Quad-core Xeon processors. Code-named "Harpertown," the processors use a new 45nm Penryn architecture that runs cooler while flexing more muscle than any of Intel’s previous chips. This eight-way workstation sports the fastest Xeon processors currently available, a pair of 3.16 GHz chips, and, coupled with fast disks, more cache and a faster front-side bus, this HP xw8600 workstation blows the door off anything we’ve seen yet.
What It Costs You
$8,551 (as configured here)
Target Apps
Video editing, After Effects production, 3D animation— anything that requires rendering
What's Cool
The xw8600 workstation runs After Effects significantly faster than any computer we’ve tested, has plenty of ports for SAS and SATA drives, a chassis that makes it easy to swap out components, and is as quiet as a church mouse.
What's Missing
This is a costly workstation, with top-end processors adding $1,550 each to the price of the basic model. You’ll pay even more than this if you want to add extra terabytes of fast storage, up to 128 GB of RAM, or a second graphics card.
Specs
Dual Intel Harpertown Quad Core (3.16 gHZ)
4GB memory (can install up to 128 GB when 8GB memory modules are available any day now)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 (can install two PCIex16 cards)
DVD+/-RW Double Layer Burner
1x73GB (15Krpm) SAS drive (bays for 5 drives)
1x250GB SATA drive
Windows XP (32-bit)
Smart Advice
Already running AE CS3? After Effects CS3 has an ability to render multiple frames simultaneously, further speeding up your work by blasting out frames using all eight of the cores within this beast.
Inside sources tell us Microsoft is working on that disk writing sowness inside Vista with the upcoming Vista service pack 1 (SP1), which may be avaliable as you read this.
Your high-end workstation felt so fast a year ago. It was the best of the bunch, the fastest in the world— but maybe now you’re itching for even more speed. How much difference would a new workstation make, running the fastest, shiniest, brand-newest processors? Is it worth it to upgrade, even if you had last year’s finest? To answer those questions, we decided to compare the previous-generation HP xw8400 dual quad-core 2.66 GHz workstation we reviewed a few months ago (www.studiodaily.com/studiomonthly/8853.html) with HP’s newest eight-core xw8600 workstation running a pair Intel’s fastest 3.16 GHz quad-core "Harpertown" 45nm Penryn processors. What a difference a year makes!
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A quick look at XP's performance monitor shows you that all eight cores are working on this After Effects comp, and none are even breathing that hard. It's good to see that After Effects is so multi-core aware.
Comments (2) for "HP xw8600 Eight-Core Workstation"
1.
I don't see a workstation with this config on the HP web site. Could you please provide the HP submodel number (i.e. like: RB454UT) so it can be found on the HP site? Thanks!
Posted by Dwaine on Friday, March 14, 2008 @ 08:34 PM
2.
Looks like a screamer of a PC, though one thing stood out... in this day and age, why would a pc that costs $8,500 include a Floppy drive. Just seems odd to me.
Posted by john reed on Monday, March 30, 2009 @ 03:56 PM
