Although HP's beastly xw8600 / xw6600 machines don't yet have a definitive ship date, it's looking like the duo will indeed be sporting a couple of Intel's forthcoming
Penryn chips. Judging by the specifications list on HP's website, each workstation can be equipped with two of many Xeon 5200 (dual-core) or Xeon 5400 (quad-core) processors ranging from 1.86GHz to 3.33GHz. Additionally, the xw6600 features up to 32GB of DDR2 RAM, an internal DVD burner, a number of PCI / PCIe slots, seven USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, audio in / out, gigabit Ethernet, your choice of NVIDIA Quadro / ATI FireGL graphics cards and a 650-watt power supply to boot. As for the xw8600, it steps things up by supporting as much as 128GB of DDR2 RAM, making room for a few more 3.5- / 5.25-inch drives and PCI cards, and throwing in a more robust PSU. Not surprisingly, there are no pricing details available at the moment, but if we were bent over a barrel and forced to guess when we'd know more, we'd shoot for
November 12th.
[Via
Electronista]
Read - HP's xw6600
Read - HP's xw8600
posted November 7th 2007 4:17PM
Not enough power! I want more power!
Just signing up!
I'm just curious but....
128 GB OF RAM??????
I am going nuts here, or is the standard for most pcs 2-4 GB???
Is there something special about these being workstations, I thought that just meant a work place PC? What the @$%^ is going on with a jump to 128 GB??????
Please correct me if I'm wrong, I just don't seem to comprehend here. I mean is there enough physical space in a tower for that much RAM?
Sorry if I sound like an idiot here...
If the RAM modules come in high enough capacities then yes. So far, you can install up to 32GB of addressable RAM in the Mac Pro via 8x4GB modules, and it's speculated that when 8GB modules become readily available it will be able to handle up to 64GB. So yeah, it's definitely possible.
8600 is max 32GB RAM
8800 specs:
128 GB 667 MHz DDR2, 16 DIMM slots
Better have XP/Vista 64 on there.. 32 bit XP won't even see above 4 (minus your video card RAM)
We have HP work stations at my school and they are pretty bad. They aren't nearly as good as these ones but they are always causing problems.
Why have they installed floppy disk drives (which no one uses) on machines being touted as cutting edge?
XP RAID drivers perhaps?
That was what I was wondering. Who even uses 3.5's any more? Doesn't EVERYTHING come on a CD-ROM now or have downloadable software?
Too bad it's cheaper to buy a Mac Pro. Configure similar configs that are not bare bones and see for yourself.
When I configure an Apple computer verses a PC, the Apple is always more expensive for older tech. Now the towers are better matched, but the notebooks are way overpriced, and teh towers are just more reasonably over priced.
I rencently purchased 65 computers, and comparing retail to retail, the rack PCs were over a grand cheaper for the same specs.
You have to compare the same architectures.
M
I didn't know a Mac Pro could do 128 gigs of RAM or support a Quadro FX 5600 or was rackable or allowed you to configure less powerful graphics to save on costs without having to get a 7300 crap card. I also didn't know you could configure these for price yet.
Mac Pros do look nicer and offer a hell of a machine for the buck but tehir configirability is very lacking compared to most workstations like CAD2s which completely smoke Mac Pros as a workstation.
Actually you're full of crap, but whatever, the Jobs reality distortion field has you in it's grasp. I'd put up a price difference between this workstation and a mac pro, but as others have stated, prices aren't up for this HP yet, and they're quite different in their specs. Dell versus Mac pro however is another matter.
Hint - the Mac is much more expensive.
Here's some proof:
http://www.steveallwine.com/blog/?p=10
Yeah, but it's still running windows. Would you really want to rely production on that?
Retro is in.
I've actually already deployed one of these and can tell you the xw6800 with a single proc is $3000. That's without a GPU or more ram. Wholesale was less than that so you can probably expect prices to be lower.
It really is an amazing piece of hardware. Sexy as hell. Top quality workstation and cudos to HP.
Oh also, I did try to install OSX86 onto it but got a "still waiting on boot device" error. Oh well.
Liar
I have an 8 way XW8400 at work and it rocks, very stable and quick...now if only I could get the corporate IT guys to give me a 64 bit OS so I could actually use the 4GB of ram I have in it, let alone more...
Noanswer,
If you are trying to install OSx86 on this you may want to keep in mind that you will need some .kext files for the OS to see the sata ports. I do not know whcih version of the controller is running it but my guess woudl be ICH8, 8r or 7. Of course it depends on the chipset. This is of course assuming you actually have this.
Yeah I didn't have a lot of time to play with it.
This would make a screaming Mac system if a kext patch would fix it.
But can it play Doom?
Had to say it ;).
... no you didnt, its also not your 'can it blend' overlord either...
but if you must know, yes it can play doom, along with bioshock, call of duty, etc. etc.
And you get a floppy drive aswell, haha.
RAID tends to requires a floppy disc to pre load the driver... and if you are getting a high end system, you will want RAID.
So what if it is there? You would save about 10 bucks between hardware and install? $15 at most...
M
Uh, what? What ancient operating system are you using?
If the driver doesn't come with the OS (WinXP), then you need to install the driver while installing OS (If the OS is on a RAID to begin with.) Usually, this is done with a simple floppy. You cannot expect all the latest drivers to be on your OS disc.
M
I have an xw8400 with dual 3 ghz chips. It's rock solid and very fast. (I use it to run an Avid editing system) But I'll wait a few years until Avid begins supporting a 64-bit version of Windows in order to upgrade to this. Still, nice computer.
Apple can sometimes be cheaper if you happen to want one of the configurations they offer, but those options are pretty limited. I'm using a xw8400 at work right now, and it was configured with options that weren't, and still aren't, available on the mac pro. (3 15k rpm drives in raid 0, quadro fx 5500, etc.)
Emmell: agreed. And for the Avid, which was originally designed to ONLY run on a mac, it now runs much better on a PC. (Though they recently began supporting intel based macs)
I have an xw8400 with dual 3 GHz, 6 Gb RAM, 2 x 74 Gb SAS drives, DVDRW (LS) + CDRW, and a NVS560. I ordered it with FreeDOS on it (we use SLED SP1 x86_64 here). My total came to just over $3,200 to the door.
Best workstation I have ever used (to date).
Is it just me or on the Bigger PC does the Floppy drive look like the chevy logo?
LOL Great way to end the day! Thanks
awsome
SteveA, now go back and do the same for HP workstations in question (or for plain ole x8400 from which I type this email). Dells are crap. Also, you somehow forgot to include the high end RAID card on the Dell. And that card alone is $999.
And Apple Cinema Display wipes the floor with Dell's 24" display. I've upgraded from Dell to Apple. The thing with Dell is that within the same model number you may get a higher quality S-IPS or lower quality S-PVA display, and you never know which one you're going to get. My Dell had vertical viewing angle issues. Apple Cinema Dispays are all S-IPS.
So there you go, you forgot to throw in a high end RAID and chose a display that's not as good. Now you look like a mouth breather.
Don't get me wrong, I like HP workstations. I have a xw8400 and xw8200 under my desk here at work, but when I priced out my xw8400 about half a year ago, a comparable Mac came in about $400 cheaper. We didn't buy it because "HP is the corp standard" around here.
Apple and Dell use the same lcd panels in their widescreens.
Now both of them are nice. I don't see any drawbacks. Plenty of muscle and good design. Shame they can't run Leopard.
Noroom, are you a mouth breather too? How can 23" Apple monitor use the same panel as a 24" Dell?
Nano,
The Apple cinema displays and the Dell flatpanel monitors are both developed and manufactured by LG. As far as I am concerned they are both good bright monitors but if you are really doing this for any type fo photography or video they are both junk. You have to keep in mind that color correction and matching is very important and neither will do for a suitable reference. The both have a offwhite magenta hue to them. Now the advantage to apple is the built in color adjustments in the OS which can easily be used to help adjust such things when doing a product. There are third party apps that let you do this with a PC as well or even better.
There is no difference between the Dell monitor or the apple monitor any that you notice is purely fanboyism.
Yes, LG manufactures a ton of panels. Some of them are better than others. My point was that 23" monitor by definition doesn't use a 24" panel. And designers, also by definition, don't use Dell.
nano this is going to pointless but the 30in and 20in display are both the exact same screen used by Dell and Apple same part number and all. The 23 in and 24 in monitors are both LG produced screens are neither one is that great of a monitor even for LCDs if you want a great LCD get an NEC.
As for designers don't use dell well not only is that false it is also ignorant but also beyond what this article is about. I think we can both agree that Dell is not the best manufacturer and that there is better out there. At the same time there is better out there than a Mac Pro and many designers use them. CAD2 is one of the best and any serious 3D animator will be using Red Hat Linux simply because it supports more powerful structures than Mac can even dream of.
I am going to be just as ignorant as well. I am going to assume you are a recently graduated Art Institute or Acadamy of Arts grad(nothing wrong with either school they are both good)who doesn't understand that there is not only equivilent software or in some cases better software out there than what runs on a Mac. I edit videos(I prefer Avid though I do like the new color correction tools on FCP), master DVDs( I prefer Scenerist though it is overpriced) and encode quite a bit for my job. I tend to use PC because despite what people say PC OSs are very stable including OSs and they are also much faster for many things(Some jobs qare entirely CPU dependent and really aren't effeceted by the OS) outside of Itunes. I do like FCP pro. I do not hate on Mac. Hell I have 2 macs and even 2 hackintoshs.
However if you are designer who wants to limit themselves to only one platform go right ahead in the end it doesn't matter. All systems run just pretty damn fast on any 8 core system. But once again there is not Mac in existence running 128 gigs of RAM not Macs running 16 CPUs(in theory CAD2 is going to be releasing a 32 CPU workstation) very few Macs running 8 striped 15K SAS hard drives(though I suspect there are some)
The Mac Pro is nice machine it is not cheaper but it is very competively priced and as a Desktop it is phenominal but it has its drawbacks and being able to place it on a Rack is one big one. though admitely it is a nice looking machine and it is worth the money
The sooner this ends the better. What happened to caring about the consumer? The money is in our pockets. If they want it then they'll stop fighting, come together, and settle on one format. They'll both make more money and we'll be happy.
-- Karim Baz
Oops. Sorry--I thought I was commenting on the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray post.
-- Karim Baz
nano, haha apple screens suck and dell, get the samsung pebble
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130925
We have been running 4400, 6400, 8400 through the ringer and the biggest problem so far is:
PSU is way too small. They all only have ONE 6 pin plug for a Quadro/8800 class video card. Hell the GTX needs 2 alone. Ironically there are two PCIe Graphic slots. What the hell??
Combine that the the fact that the PSU is unique in size so you can't just run down to micro center and buy a larger one.. it won't fit.
Anyway they -say- more robust PSU... I hope it's really true.