Review: Lenovo ThinkStation C20 – Dual CPU Xeon Power ISV Certified
The Lenovo ThinkStation C20 ($4,618 immediate) is becoming touted because the smallest dual-CPU expert workstation desktop Computer. Following seeing huge workstations like the Apple Mac Professional ($3,499 checklist, three.five stars) and Lenovo ThinkStation S20 ($3,665 immediate, 4 stars), I can confirm that this dual Intel Xeon E5640-powered behemoth is as compact as being a run-of-the-mill company desktop. The program doesn’t appear too small on first flush, but it is uncommon to determine this much power and expandability on something but the largest desktop chassis.
The C20 is compact for a workstation (you can fit fourteen C20 methods inside a 42U rack). It’s certainly compact in contrast with complete sized workstation systems like the Apple Mac Professional (Xeon E5620) and Lenovo ThinkStation S20, which may fit about 6 to ten systems in a 42U rack. The system is mostly black, and fairly attractive with a perforated mesh entrance panel, and also the ThinkStation logo even rotates to maintain the ID constant when mounted in a server-style rack. When mounted inside a rack, you are able to maintain your workstations collectively in a server closet for servicing comfort, safety, cooling, and/or noise manage.
The C20′s inside is somehow each spacious and compact at the same time: the chassis has growth space for 2 additional internal tough drives, two PCI cards, two PCIe x16 cards (one is electrically x4), a PCIe x1 card, and four memory DIMM slots. The system is densely packed: airflow is intelligently designed and plentiful, but there is not a great deal of wiggle room about elements inside a maxed-out configuration. What is notable is that to save a few bucks on the motherboard fabrication and also to differentiate between this design along with a higher-end model, there is actually physical area for 6 more memory slots, but they aren’t put in. High-end 3D CAD/CAM customers or DCC customers operating with file sizes that need up to 96GB of memory, can upgrade to the ThinkStation C20x that’s geared much more towards their requirements. For the two PCIe x16 slots, you are able to have as much as two PCIe x16 cards running in SLI, however the 3rd slot (x16 physically, x4 electrically) is there primarily for co-processing (like an additional Quadro for PhysX) or for multiple keep track of support. If you max out the desktop, it’ll help up to 8 monitors at as soon as. The system also supports Nvidia’s Tesla C1060 GPU compute card in 1 with the PCIe x16 slots. It arrives with a sturdy PCI/PCIe card retention bracket covering all of the slots, so that the graphics cards don’t arrive free. The retention bracket comes out in one piece, a a lot much more convenient arrangement than the individual brackets observed on some über-gaming rigs. The desktop has three tough drive bays (two totally free) in the bottom with the unit, with removable tool-less drive sleds for simple swapping. You will still need to wire the hard drives manually, as there is no backplane system installed, as on systems such as the Apple Mac Pro. Two free internal SATA ports on the motherboard are prepared to accept your upgrades.
Externally, the C20 is well connected, with 10 USB two.0 ports and an eSATA port for exterior hard drive connections. The desktop also has a pair of SPDIF-in and SPDIF-out ports (one port each), for professional-quality digital audio connections. The system’s Nvidia Quadro FX 1800 graphics card has a dual-link DVI port (with support for 30-inch LCD panels) and two DisplayPort jacks. I’d like to see USB 3.0 and FireWire as well, for graphics experts that use these connections on their hard drives. The C20 includes a build-to-order FireWire option, but you will require to put in a PCIe USB 3.0 card if you use faster USB three.0 drives. The desktop has a recessed deal with on the leading: It is amusingly becoming touted as “spill-resistant” in situation you are the kind of graphics artist or engineer who will use the top with the desktop to hold your drinks.
The C20 arrived with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, however the C20 also supports Red Hat Linux, as well as XP Professional 32 and 64-bit if these are what your workplace uses. The system arrives with Lenovo’s ThinkVantage utilities, which consist of hardware administration and rescue/recovery utilities. The system also has Microsoft Workplace 2010 starter pre-loaded, software program for the DVD burner, and an installer for a trial of Norton Internet Safety. In the event you work out a offer together with your Lenovo product sales rep, you are able to customise the system’s software build to your specs.
The workstation has superb efficiency, due to its two Intel Xeon E5640 processors and 512MB Nvidia Quadro FX 1800 graphics card. The closest system we’ve recently reviewed that compares will be the Apple Mac Professional (Xeon E5620). The Mac arrived with two somewhat slower Xeon E5620 processors (2.4GHz vs. 2.67GHz), and a more consumer-oriented 1GB ATI Radeon High definition 5770 graphics card. As expected, the C20 performed quite a little quicker on the multimedia benchmarks. The C20 took two minutes 6 seconds to complete the Handbrake video clip encoding check and four:09 to complete the Photoshop CS5 check. It received 9.53 factors on the Cinebench R11.5 test for 3D rendering. The Mac Pro trailed (two:22 Handbrake, 4:42 CS5, and 8.62 Cinebench) around the multimedia tests due to its slower processors. It was, however, quicker on all of the 3D exams, like 3DMark Vantage (4,733 points at Intense settings for the Mac Pro, vs. two,500 for the C20) and the Crysis test. Each systems couldn’t finish the DX11-powered Misplaced Planet 2 tests. Since your workstation order will depend on which apps you employ (for instance, you’d want a Quadro for AutoCAD, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Following Results use), the 3D prowess is less essential in this horse race.
One benefit with the Quadro graphics card was obvious when we hooked the C20 as much as a large Dell 30-inch keep track of: The screen quality was nearly sharper than actuality, much better than what you’d see from a consumer-level card. You’ll definitely notice the distinction, for instance, if you are drawing architectural plans to get a construction that holds thousands of people. Vague visuals in this situation could lead to a catastrophic occasion when those ideas are translated into a actual world constructing.
So within the horse race in between the Lenovo ThinkStation C20 and Apple Mac Pro, who wins? The C20 is certainly your choice in the event you need to use ISV-certified applications like AutoCAD, Maya, PRO/Engineer, or SolidWorks. The C20′s Quadro FX 1800 (and the entire workstation) are licensed to function with these programs, so your IT manager won’t need to test them post-purchase. The Mac doesn’t have ISV certifications on its hardware, though one can argue they’re not essential on the Mac since there’s only one supply for Mac hardware-Apple. These certifications are frequently published into contracts, so not having the certifications can cost you some bids. On the hardware aspect, the Mac Pro does have much more convenient hard drive upgrades, thanks to its pre-wired backplane. Though the C20 is a lot more compact, it does not skimp on expandability: Full-sized PCIe x16 cards will match. Overall, in case your users are cross-OS trained or Windows-exclusive, the C20 is the better general option. Although the Lenovo ThinkStation E20 continues on as our entry-level workstation Editor’s Choice, the Lenovo ThinkStation C20 joins it as our new mainstream/high-end workstation Editor’s Choice.
Specifications
- Type Workstation, Business
- Processor Family Intel Xeon
- RAM 4 GB
- Storage Capacity (as Tested) 500 GB
- Graphics Card nVidia Quadro FX 1800
- Primary Optical Drive Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
- Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
The Lenovo ThinkStation C20 ($4,618 immediate) is becoming touted because the smallest dual-CPU expert workstation desktop Computer. Following seeing huge workstations like the Apple Mac Professional ($3,499 checklist, three.five stars) and Lenovo ThinkStation S20 ($3,665 immediate, 4 stars), I can confirm that this dual Intel Xeon E5640-powered behemoth is as compact as being a run-of-the-mill company desktop. The program doesn’t appear too small on first flush, but it is uncommon to determine this much power and expandability on something but the largest desktop chassis.
The C20 is compact for a workstation (you can fit fourteen C20 methods inside a 42U rack). It’s certainly compact in contrast with complete sized workstation systems like the Apple Mac Professional (Xeon E5620) and Lenovo ThinkStation S20, which may fit about 6 to ten systems in a 42U rack. The system is mostly black, and fairly attractive with a perforated mesh entrance panel, and also the ThinkStation logo even rotates to maintain the ID constant when mounted in a server-style rack. When mounted inside a rack, you are able to maintain your workstations collectively in a server closet for servicing comfort, safety, cooling, and/or noise manage.
The C20′s inside is somehow each spacious and compact at the same time: the chassis has growth space for 2 additional internal tough drives, two PCI cards, two PCIe x16 cards (one is electrically x4), a PCIe x1 card, and four memory DIMM slots. The system is densely packed: airflow is intelligently designed and plentiful, but there is not a great deal of wiggle room about elements inside a maxed-out configuration. What is notable is that to save a few bucks on the motherboard fabrication and also to differentiate between this design along with a higher-end model, there is actually physical area for 6 more memory slots, but they aren’t put in. High-end 3D CAD/CAM customers or DCC customers operating with file sizes that need up to 96GB of memory, can upgrade to the ThinkStation C20x that’s geared much more towards their requirements. For the two PCIe x16 slots, you are able to have as much as two PCIe x16 cards running in SLI, however the 3rd slot (x16 physically, x4 electrically) is there primarily for co-processing (like an additional Quadro for PhysX) or for multiple keep track of support. If you max out the desktop, it’ll help up to 8 monitors at as soon as. The system also supports Nvidia’s Tesla C1060 GPU compute card in 1 with the PCIe x16 slots. It arrives with a sturdy PCI/PCIe card retention bracket covering all of the slots, so that the graphics cards don’t arrive free. The retention bracket comes out in one piece, a a lot much more convenient arrangement than the individual brackets observed on some über-gaming rigs. The desktop has three tough drive bays (two totally free) in the bottom with the unit, with removable tool-less drive sleds for simple swapping. You will still need to wire the hard drives manually, as there is no backplane system installed, as on systems such as the Apple Mac Pro. Two free internal SATA ports on the motherboard are prepared to accept your upgrades.
Externally, the C20 is well connected, with 10 USB two.0 ports and an eSATA port for exterior hard drive connections. The desktop also has a pair of SPDIF-in and SPDIF-out ports (one port each), for professional-quality digital audio connections. The system’s Nvidia Quadro FX 1800 graphics card has a dual-link DVI port (with support for 30-inch LCD panels) and two DisplayPort jacks. I’d like to see USB 3.0 and FireWire as well, for graphics experts that use these connections on their hard drives. The C20 includes a build-to-order FireWire option, but you will require to put in a PCIe USB 3.0 card if you use faster USB three.0 drives. The desktop has a recessed deal with on the leading: It is amusingly becoming touted as “spill-resistant” in situation you are the kind of graphics artist or engineer who will use the top with the desktop to hold your drinks.
The C20 arrived with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, however the C20 also supports Red Hat Linux, as well as XP Professional 32 and 64-bit if these are what your workplace uses. The system arrives with Lenovo’s ThinkVantage utilities, which consist of hardware administration and rescue/recovery utilities. The system also has Microsoft Workplace 2010 starter pre-loaded, software program for the DVD burner, and an installer for a trial of Norton Internet Safety. In the event you work out a offer together with your Lenovo product sales rep, you are able to customise the system’s software build to your specs.
The workstation has superb efficiency, due to its two Intel Xeon E5640 processors and 512MB Nvidia Quadro FX 1800 graphics card. The closest system we’ve recently reviewed that compares will be the Apple Mac Professional (Xeon E5620). The Mac arrived with two somewhat slower Xeon E5620 processors (2.4GHz vs. 2.67GHz), and a more consumer-oriented 1GB ATI Radeon High definition 5770 graphics card. As expected, the C20 performed quite a little quicker on the multimedia benchmarks. The C20 took two minutes 6 seconds to complete the Handbrake video clip encoding check and four:09 to complete the Photoshop CS5 check. It received 9.53 factors on the Cinebench R11.5 test for 3D rendering. The Mac Pro trailed (two:22 Handbrake, 4:42 CS5, and 8.62 Cinebench) around the multimedia tests due to its slower processors. It was, however, quicker on all of the 3D exams, like 3DMark Vantage (4,733 points at Intense settings for the Mac Pro, vs. two,500 for the C20) and the Crysis test. Each systems couldn’t finish the DX11-powered Misplaced Planet 2 tests. Since your workstation order will depend on which apps you employ (for instance, you’d want a Quadro for AutoCAD, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Following Results use), the 3D prowess is less essential in this horse race.
One benefit with the Quadro graphics card was obvious when we hooked the C20 as much as a large Dell 30-inch keep track of: The screen quality was nearly sharper than actuality, much better than what you’d see from a consumer-level card. You’ll definitely notice the distinction, for instance, if you are drawing architectural plans to get a construction that holds thousands of people. Vague visuals in this situation could lead to a catastrophic occasion when those ideas are translated into a actual world constructing.
So within the horse race in between the Lenovo ThinkStation C20 and Apple Mac Pro, who wins? The C20 is certainly your choice in the event you need to use ISV-certified applications like AutoCAD, Maya, PRO/Engineer, or SolidWorks. The C20′s Quadro FX 1800 (and the entire workstation) are licensed to function with these programs, so your IT manager won’t need to test them post-purchase. The Mac doesn’t have ISV certifications on its hardware, though one can argue they’re not essential on the Mac since there’s only one supply for Mac hardware-Apple. These certifications are frequently published into contracts, so not having the certifications can cost you some bids. On the hardware aspect, the Mac Pro does have much more convenient hard drive upgrades, thanks to its pre-wired backplane. Though the C20 is a lot more compact, it does not skimp on expandability: Full-sized PCIe x16 cards will match. Overall, in case your users are cross-OS trained or Windows-exclusive, the C20 is the better general option. Although the Lenovo ThinkStation E20 continues on as our entry-level workstation Editor’s Choice, the Lenovo ThinkStation C20 joins it as our new mainstream/high-end workstation Editor’s Choice.
Specifications
- Type Workstation, Business
- Processor Family Intel Xeon
- RAM 4 GB
- Storage Capacity (as Tested) 500 GB
- Graphics Card nVidia Quadro FX 1800
- Primary Optical Drive Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
- Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
