Workstation can be configured with a wide range of AMD processors from 12 to 96 cores to cater to a wide range of workflows.
Lenovo has launched the ThinkStation P8, a new desktop workstation that puts AMD’s new Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series processors front and centre.
The new machine shares the exact same chassis as the ThinkStation P7, which launched earlier this year with a choice of Intel Xeon W-3400 Series processors up to 56-cores (read our review).
Both workstations feature an Aston Martin-inspired black and red design, which is the result of a collaboration with the legendary automaker. The front grill, thermodynamics and side panel flush handle, for example are heavily influenced by the UK sports cars.
The ThinkStation P8 probably gets its elevated status because it can offer significantly more CPU cores than the ThinkStation P7 (96 versus 56), and on paper it looks like it will perform better in a whole range of workflows. It comes with a choice of AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series processors with 12, 16, 24, 32, 64 or 96-cores.
The new processors not only offer buckets of cores to accelerate highly multi-threaded applications like ray trace rendering, video editing and simulation but they can also hit high frequencies to cater to single threaded applications like CAD. For example, even with 96 cores, the top-end Threadripper Pro 7995WX processor boasts a boost frequency of 5.1GHz, which is only 0.6 GHz behind AMD’s top-end consumer processor, the 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. Read our Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series preview to learn more.
Elsewhere, the ThinkStation P8 can be fitted with up to three dual slot pro GPUs, including the Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada Generation (read our review), or up to four single slot GPUs. It can be configured with up to 1 TB of DDR5 memory (up to 5,200 MHz). The machine delivers maximum memory bandwidth when all eight DIMM slots are filled.
For storage, the ThinkStation P8 supports a variety of form factors – M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs up to 4 TB, U.3 PCIe NVMe SSDs up to 15.3 TB and 3.5″ SATA HDDs up to 12 TB. It comes with two RJ-45 Ethernet ports (Gigabit and 10 Gigabit) and the WiFi antenna is built into the chassis.
The ThinkStation P8 was built from the ground up to be ‘rack optimised’ and offers several features to transform the 4U desktop machine into what Lenovo describes as a ‘hybrid cloud workstation’, with remote management capabilities like those found in rack servers. This includes an optional Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) card that gives IT managers ‘full remote management’, such as the ability to monitor the workstation, cycle on and off, perform BIOS or firmware updates and re-image the machine if necessary.
The ThinkStation P8 follows on from the ThinkStation P620, which was the first workstation to be powered by AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro processors.
Dell and HP have since launched Threadripper Pro workstations and you can learn about the Dell Precision 7875 and HP Z6 G5 A in our Threadripper Pro 7000 WX-Series preview
