Product Listing

HP Z1 All-in-One Workstation - The Stylish & Upgradeable Workhorse

By Kenny Yeo - 12 Jul 2012

Test Setup

Test Setup

Our Z1 test unit came with workstation-class specifications and it is as follows:

  • Intel Xeon E3-1245 (3.3GHz)
  • Intel C206 chipset
  • 16GB DDR3-1600MHz ECC memory
  • 1TB 7200rpm HDD
  • NVIDIA Quadro 4000M

With the specifications in mind, we are going to evaluate the HP Z1 from a couple of standpoints. Firstly, we are going to see how the HP Z1 performs against against a comparable DIY system with completely standard, easy to find off-the-shelf products. Next, we are going to ramp things up a little by pitting the Z1 against that same DIY system but with an NVIDIA Quadro card instead.

However, bear in mind that this is by no means a direct comparison, because a) the Z1 comes in an entirely different and unique form factor and b) support and warranty (crucial for workstations) for the two are completely different as well. Rather, we are doing this to ascertain the Z1's performance and also to provide a bigger picture of what you can expect if you are buying a workstation right off the shelf as opposed to building one yourself.

Here’s the specifications of our DIY system.

  • Intel Core i7-2600K (3.4GHz)
  • Intel DZ77GA-70K (Intel Z77 chipset) motherboard
  • 4 x 2GB DDR3-1600MHz
  • 1TB 7200rpm HDD
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 1GB GDDR5 / NVIDIA Quadro 4000

 

The Pricing Equation

Configured to the specifications of our Z1 AIO test unit, the Z1 will cost around US$4932. Our DIY system, including a similar 27-inch IPS display, keyboard, mice and a decent casing comes up to around US$2300, which is less than half the price of our Z1 test unit. Here's a breakdown of the cost of our DIY system.

Component Price (USD)
Intel Core i7-2600K / Intel Xeon E3-1245  $300
Intel DZ77GA-70K motherboard  $229
8GB DDR3-1600MHz memory  $50
NVIDIA Quadro 4000  $749
1TB 7200rpm HDD  $100
700W PSU  $100
Casing  $100
27-inch IPS display  $660
Keyboard & Mouse  $40
 Total  $2328

While it is true that the DIY system is considerably more affordable, we must not forget that the Z1 comes packaged as an upgradeable AIO system and that in itself is why the Z1 commands a considerable premium. Whether or not the premium is justified, we'll find out soon in the coming pages where we report the results.

 

Benchmarks

The benchmarks we are running can be divided into two broad categories - CPU and GPU. The CPU benchmarks will pit the workstation-class Xeon E3-1245 processor against a suitable consumer desktop equivalent - in this case, a Core i7-2600K. Both are quad-core processors with HyperThreading and both run at nearly comparable clock speeds, so it should be interesting to see the results.

The GPU benchmarks will see the Z1’s Quadro 4000M GPU going against the closest desktop equivalent we could find - in this case, a GeForce GTX 560. The GeForce GTX 560 has the same number of CUDA processors as the Quadro 4000M but has significantly higher clock speeds. We expect the GeForce GTX 560 to get the upper hand in games, but for workstation-related tasks, the Quadro 4000M should have the advantage. To make thing more interesting, we will also swap out the GeForce GTX 560 for a desktop-class NVIDIA Quadro 4000 graphics card to see how it fares.

The list of benchmarks used are as follows:

CPU

  • SPEC CPU2000 v1.3
  • Black Scholes v3.5
  • SunGard Adaptive Analytics v3.5
  • Lightwave 3D 9.0 (64-bit version)
  • Cinebench 11.5

GPU

  • Cinebench 11.5
  • 3DMark 11
  • Cadalyst Systems Benchmark 2011
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8.0
  • Design 9
  • Features 8
  • Performance 8
  • Value 6.5
The Good
Sleek, lovely-looking form factor
Gorgeous 27-inch IPS display
Upgradeable
Flexible stand
The Bad
Very expensive
No Thunderbolt interface
Quadro cards will only perform if software and drivers are optimized for it
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