Ivy Bridge, the codename for Intel’s third generation Core architecture, may have been available for over six months now, but specialist system builders are still relying on the previous generation Sandy Bridge chips to drive their the top-end single CPU workstations.
The Sandy Bridge Core i7 3930K at the heart of this WSX6 V2 offers similar single threaded performance to the Ivy Bridge Core i7 3770K, but trumps the newer chip due to the number of cores on offer.
Six versus four won’t make much difference to the average CAD user, but bring a ray trace rendering application into the design pipeline and you’ve cut 50% off your render times in one fell swoop.
Workstation Specialists has turbocharged the Core i7 3930K and, by giving it its ‘workstation enhanced’ treatment, clocked it up from 3.2GHz to 4.3GHz.
Supported by a whopping 32GB of RAM it’s clear this high-end CAD workstation has large assembly modelling in its sights.
For graphics the WSX6 V2 sports Nvidia’s brand new Kepler-based Quadro K5000. This double height board certainly delivers, but its highend specification will possibly be wasted on most CAD-centric workflows.
At the moment it’s the only Kepler-based Quadro in existence, but we expect Nvidia to extend the family up and down the range in 2013, introducing some more CAD-focused cards along the way.
With Kepler, Quadro is all about graphics, but with three spare PCI Express slots there’s also plenty of scope for adding multiple Tesla GPU compute boards, transforming the WSX6 V2 into high-performance Maximus compute workstation for simulation and rendering.
To view comparative scores from other workstations please click here
For details of all our specific CAD/CAM/CAE benchmarks click here
Specifications
»Intel Core i7 3930K (workstation enhanced to 4.3GHz) (6 cores)
» 32GB (8 x 4GB) PC3-1600MHz Quad Channel DDR3
» Nvidia Quadro K5000 (4GB)
» 240GB Intel 520 Series SSD + 2TB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7,200RPM
» Workstation Specialists motherboard (Intel X79 Express chipset)
» Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition (64-bit)
» 3 year full parts & labour system warranty
CPU benchmarks
(secs – smaller is better)
CAD (SolidWorks 2010) – N/A
CAM (Delcam PowerMill 2010) – 1) 134 2) 172 3) 229
CAE (SolidWorks 2010 Simulation) – 75
Rendering (3ds Max Design 2011) – 151
Graphics benchmarks
(bigger is better)
CAD (SolidWorks 2010) – N/A
CAD (SolidWorks 2013) – 78
CAD (PTC Creo 2.0) – 7.07
Intel Core i7 3930K (workstation enhanced to 4.3GHz) (6 cores)
32GB (8 x 4GB) PC3-1600MHz Quad Channel DDR3
Nvidia Quadro K5000 (4GB)
Workstation Specialists motherboard (Intel X79 Express chipset)
240GB Intel 520 Series SSD + 2TB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7,200RPM
3 year full parts & labour system warranty
N/A
134
172
229
75
151
N/A
