The HP XW6200 workstation: HP's new mid-level workstation offers "Serious Pixel Processing Power."

Post, August, 2004 by Randall G. Simpson

In late June, HP introduced its newest family of workstations and I am lucky enough to have taken one for a test drive. To see how it handled, I took the HP xw6200 workstation out for a spin. The xw6200 is actually one of a new family a workstations that HP introduced. At the entry level is the Pentium-based xw4200; at the upper level is the xw8200, an Intel Xeon-based unit. The xw6200, while numerically in the middle of the group, is actually more closely related to the xw8200, as it is also a Xeon-based system.

BLEEDING EDGE

HP is always one of the first to market with systems that incorporate the latest industry advances in computer hardware. They do this by working closely with companies such as Intel, Nvidia, ATI and others to integrate their systems at the leading edge of technology. Looking at the components of the xw6200 gives you a good idea what I mean, First, at its core, it includes the new Intel E7525 chipset and next-generation Intel Xeon processors with Extended Memory 64 technology, meaning they can run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications. This is an important feature for those who want to transition to the 64-bit world but need support for legacy 32-bit applications. Also incorporated on the new Xeon is Hyper-Threading technology, enabling multi-threaded software applications to execute threads in parallel, meaning your multi-threaded applications will run faster and more efficiently. The xw6200 includes support for the new PCI Express (x16) graphics and PCI Express (x4) I/O. PCI Express graphics provide 4x the total peak bandwidth and 2x the unidirectional bandwidth of AGP 8X graphics. Finally, the new systems provide full support for SATA hard drives.

SMALL, BEAUTIFUL, QUIET

The system I tested had dual 3.4GHz Xeons and 2GB of ECC DDR2 SDRAM memory, a 36GB SATA system drive, a 250GB SATA secondary drive and an Nvidia Quadro FX 1300 graphics card. Most remarkable to me is that this high performance workstation is contained in a small form factor, coming in at just over 17 inches tall and deep, and about 6.5 inches wide. Even though it's small, I was impressed by that fact that it is a solidly-built, high-quality, tool-less chassis. I also noticed that the system was remarkably quiet. In fact, I barely heard the system running at all except when I put a strain on the graphics card for a test I ran, and what I think probably heard was the fan on the graphics card starting up, and even then it was still quiet compared to any other workstations I've tested. The quietness of the xw6200 was a pleasant surprise, as the HP xw4100 workstation I tested last year was much more noisy.

CHECKING FOR SPPP

What is SPPP? It's a term I made up just for this review. It stands for Serious Pixel Processing Power. After all, what most of us who are in the digital content creation business want to know is, "How fast can this machine move and manipulate data in the form of pixels?" Ultimately we make our living by moving around and manipulating pixels. Here's how I tested the xw6200's SPPP. This is hardly scientific of course, so if you want the actual specs on the xw6200, see www.spec.org. I've used this little test with other workstation reviews and I've found that it tells me quite a bit about the system's ability to move data and manipulate pixels. What's better, it's a test you can do yourself on your system and compare your results with what I found for the xw6200. Here's what I did: first, you need to have a large graphic file that is about 3,800 pixels by 3,800 pixels. It should be in the range of about 42MB in file size. The picture I've been using for the test is a classic high resolution picture of the Earth taken by Apollo 17. The image I use I found off a NASA Web site a while back. Take the picture into any compositing software you have. I chose Adobe After Effects. Create a new composition that is HDTV size, 1920-by-1080 pixels. Tilt the image back into the z-space direction, almost flat, and then create a camera and move the camera across the image very slowly in the positive z-space direction. I added depth of field to the camera motion to enhance the effect of creating what an orbiting satellite might see. I rendered out a 30-second composition as an uncompressed file. The xw6200 was able to complete the render in just under four minutes. More importantly, while I was experimenting and setting up my camera move, I was in full HDTV resolution, full quality mode. No hesitations, no pauses. Having tried the same test on many other systems, I can say this is the fastest performance I've seen yet

A GOOD VALUE?

The xw6200 is customizable for many different needs and budgets. Remember, this is a high-performance workstation and not just a computer. It's a serious piece of equipment. The dual-Xeon HP xw6200 I tested had a list price of $5,874 without monitor. Is it worth it? If you make your living manipulating pixels and want the reputation for quality products and customer service of that HP offers, I would say yes. It will get you into the 64-bit world with some major SPPP!