Computer Workstation

The workstation concept was introduced to note the difference between a standard desktop computer and a professional system. While desktops may be built with one high-performance processor, workstations usually incorporate one or more server processors that offer a huge advantage over simple desktop products. Nowadays desktop processors have somewhat caught up with server products, so there are some low-end workstations that use Intel’s Core i3, i5 or i7 processors instead of Xeons. Dell’s workstation lineup includes the Dell Precision T1500 that features Intel’s Core i3 and Core i5 processors, with the possibility to upgrade to Core i7 on customer request.

The cheapest Dell Precision T1500 workstation includes an Intel Core i3-530 Dual Core processor with HyperThreading technology, thus offering four threads (four cores from the operation system’s point of view). With HyperThreading Intel managed to squeeze out an additional ~30% performance out of the Core i3, making it faster than any Core 2 Duo processor. Another feature that improved performance is the integrated memory controller (idea copied from AMD) that supports dual channel 1066/1333 DDR3 memory up to 16GB. The integrated graphics chip doesn’t help much, workstations have little to no use for it, because of its low performance and lack of new DirectX compatibility.

Something has to be said about Dell’s marketing scheme with the DataBurst Cache for the hard drive. Basically it’s a lie, because all hard drives have such built-in cache in different sizes: 8, 16, 32 or 64MB. This way Dell tries to promote 8MB cache drives, although it’s proven that they are much slower than hard drives with 16MB, 32MB or 64MB of cache. Bottom line, Dell precision T1500 workstation all have standard (or below standard) 7200RPM hard drives. The final component that makes the difference between desktops and workstations is the graphics card. The cheapest Dell Precision T1500 comes with a 256MB ATI FireMV 2260 graphics card that offers a solid performance and is more flexible when it comes to workload type. The Dell Precision T1500 configuration with 250GB hard drive and 2 x 1GB 1066MHz DDR3 memory costs $600, making it a budget solution.

If the customer has more money to spend, Dell offers better configurations for up to $1006. The $400 price difference includes upgrades for the processor to Intel Core i5-750 (a true Quad Core processor that fits into the same LGA1156 socket as the Core i3), for the 250GB hard drive to 320GB and for the graphics card to more powerful one, nVidia’s 512MB Quadro FX 580, supporting two monitors simultaneously. Dell also throws in a professional 19” LCD monitor with both VGA and DVI inputs, making the $400 price difference more justifiable. Dell’s second workstation category (Dell Precision T3500) remains faithful to Xeon processors, because they clearly offer a much higher performance, but this comes at a higher price. Basically the same configuration as the cheapest Dell Precision T1500, but with a Xeon W3503 Dual Core processor (and corresponding motherboard) the price goes up by $187, although its performance is about the same in most situations, with 2.4GHz and 4MB of cache, lacking HyperThreading technology.

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