Designing a high-performance workstation takes more than just
throwing the latest components together and hoping for the best. To
guarantee high performance, it takes engineering, a careful matching of
components and precise assembly to bring forth a quality design.
SuperMicro has not forgotten those elements when it comes to
building workstations that even the most demanding of users will come
to love. The SuperWorkStation 7046A-3 is a behemoth that screams
performance and showcases quality while quietly going about its
business.
Some vendors think a workstation is little more than a PC on
steroids, while others treat any expensive PC as workstation-class
systems. SuperMicro takes a more straightforward approach and builds
workstations that are not to be confused with any run-of-the-mill PC or
other pretenders.
The company’s SuperWorkstations are large, black rectangular boxes
which aren’t designed to fit on the typical desktop. Weighing in at a
back-straining 60-plus pounds, no staffer is going to confuse a
SuperMicro workstation with the typical desktop PC. Installers will
need to plan accordingly for the weight and size of these units, which
measure 7-inches x 17.2-inches X 25.5-inches.
Why are these workstations so large? It all comes down to storage, cooling and expansion.
SuperWorkstations ship with eight SAS/SATA externally accessible
drive bays, making the units a storage maven’s dream. Large cases
provide plenty of pathways for heat exchange and cooling, all without
excessively noisy fans. SuperMicro’s Super X8DA3 motherboard also
demands a large case; the board’s expansion capabilities are
impressive. Those peeking inside the easy-to-open case will find that
the Super X8DA3 offers 16 DDR3 memory slots for a maximum of 96 GBs
RAM.
Peering deeper into the case reveals a pair of PCI-E (x16) slots,
ideal for the latest in high-performance dual SLI graphics cards; an
additional PCI-E (x4) slot and three PCI slots round out the board’s
expansion options.
The SuperWorkstation 7046A-3’s case has ample power connectors, a
disk drive backplane and a massive power supply, which incorporates
large, slow moving fans, which move massive amounts of air, while only
generating a barely perceivable level of noise.
Taking a page from the days of Henry Ford, SuperMicro offers the
7046A-3 in any color that you would like, as long as it’s black.
Our test unit came equipped with Dual Intel Xeon E5520 (2.26 GHz)
Processors, 12 GBs DDR3 RAM, NVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra Video Card and a
SAS raid array populated with Maxtor 3036RC SAS hard drives (click here for more detailed specifications).
While SuperWorkstation 7046A-3 uses high-end components, they’re not
the bleeding edge. Intel does offer faster Xeon processors and there
are more potent video cards on the market. Nevertheless, the
workstation as configured offered a Passmark rating of 3249.3 running
performance test v6.1 from Passmark Software. A score that readily
outpaced our previous performance champ, a $4,500 Hewlett-Packard XW6600 that scored 2892.6.
It’s obvious that SuperMicro was looking to bring as much value as
possible to a high-performance system by selecting less-expensive
components, yet giving up very little when it came to overall
performance. As configured, the SuperWorkstation 7046A-3 should retail
for about $3,200, which is both budget- and margin friendly. The
workstation should prove a perfect machine for users looking to do
CAD/CAM work, high end video editing or any processor and graphics
intensive chore.
The launch of the SuperWorkstation 7046A-3 could not come at a
better time for SuperMicro, while doubt surrounds its primary PC
workstation competitor, Sun Microsystems, leaving HP and Lenovo as the
only big names in the workstation market to contend with. SuperMicro
scores additional points with the channel by offering high margins and
almost unlimited customizability; two factors the big names are having
trouble with at the moment.