4 minute read
HP Z240 SFF
The Z240 SFF can sit flat on the desk or upright with the optional tower stand
HP Z240 SFF
With competition hotting up in the Small Form Factor workstation sector, HP looks to differentiate itself with the powerful AMD FirePro W4300 GPU.
HP first introduced its Z240 Small Form Factor (SFF) workstation back in September 2015, but has just given it a new lease of life with a significantly more powerful GPU. The optional AMD FirePro W4300 should open up this entry-level desktop to a much wider audience. More demanding 3D CAD users, who previously needed a tower for sufficient 3D performance, should now get everything they need from the much smaller HP Z240 SFF.
Most SFF workstations are limited to low-profile graphics cards. With the Z240 SFF’s slimline chassis, you simply can’t fit in a full-height board.
In years gone by, these compact GPUs were very much entry-level – only really suitable for part and small-assembly modelling. Ramp up the model size, turn on anti-aliasing (to remove jagged lines) or enable realistic shadows and textures, and 3D performance would suffer.
Nvidia upped the ante last year with the Quadro K1200, a low-profile graphics card that provided a significant step up from the entry-level Quadro K420 and K620. Now, with the AMD FirePro W4300, we are getting to true mid-range levels of performance, the sweet spot for most 3D CAD software.
We tested the HP Z240 SFF with 3D CAD software from SolidWorks and Creo. Benchmark scores were almost identical to what we’d expect from the full-height AMD FirePro W5100 and close to those of the Nvidia Quadro K2200.
Beyond the GPU, the specifications of the Z240 SFF are pretty much identical to the Z240 Tower we reviewed in February (tinyurl.com/Z240-AEC). With a clock
speed of 3.4GHz (Turbo to 4.0GHz), our test machine’s Product spec SATA drives – a 128GB 2.5inch Solid State Drive (SSD) Intel Core i7-6700 is a great ■ Intel Core i7-6700 and a 3TB 3.5-inch Hard Disk choice for CAD. With four (3.4GHz up to Drive (HDD). This combinaCPU cores, you have the power 4.0GHz) (Quad Core) processor tion gives the performance for occasional rendering or ■ 8GB (2 x 4GB) benefits of an SSD and the simulation, as demonstrated DDR4 2,133MHz ECC memory capacity and low cost per GB by a decent showing in our 3ds Max rendering test. ■ 128GB 2.5-inch SSD + 3TB SATA HDD of an HDD. The 128GB SSD will likely fill up quickly, so
Machine acoustics were ■ AMD FirePro it’s probably worth considerimpressive. Even when W4300 (4GB GDDR5) GPU (15.201 driver) ing a 256GB model. If you hammering all four CPU ■ Microsoft need even more storage, you cores, fan noise never went Windows 10 Pro can add a second 3TB HDD. above a gentle hum, though it ■ 338mm x 381mm x With such a compact chasincreased a little when both 100mm (w) (d) (h) sis, access to drives for serCPU and GPU were used in ■ 3 years parts, labour & onsite vice or upgrades could be a tandem. service (3/3/3) chore, but this is made easy
If you need to increase CPU standard limited warranty by a drive cage that hinges performance a touch, or if ■ On application through 90 degrees. This Error Correcting Code (ECC) hp.com/go/z240 also gives ready access to the memory is important to you, four DIMM memory slots. there are some slightly more With 16GB DDR4-2133 MHz powerful CPUs on offer, up to the Intel modules now available, this means a Xeon E3-1280v5 (3.7GHz to 4.0Ghz). maximum of 64GB, making our test
While the HP Z240 SFF is capable of machine’s 8GB (2 x 4GB) look a little supporting two fast NVMe HP Z Turbo lightweight. Even if your current memoDrives (one on the motherboard and one ry requirements fit this memory enveon a PCIe add-in board), our test lope, we’d recommend 16GB to give you machine’s storage is made up of two room to grow, although with two spare slots, an upgrade could be done later.
The chassis is nicely designed with HP’s trademark grill, giving the 338 x 100 x 381mm box its strong identity. Four USB ports punctuate the front, although only two are USB 3.0. One is always-on, so you can charge your mobile devices even with the machine powered down. Six USB 3.0 ports at the rear and optional Thunderbolt 2 means no shortage of highbandwidth I/O.
Conclusion With a mid-range GPU, plenty of storage (performance and capacity) and up to 64GB of memory, the Z240 SFF gives mainstream 3D CAD users little reason to go for a larger desktop tower. Why lose valuable desk space if you don’t need to?
As far as we know, HP is currently the only Tier One workstation manufacturer to offer the new AMD FirePro W4300 GPU, giving it an advantage over Dell and Lenovo. However, Fujitsu does boast similar 3D performance in its Celsius J550 SFF, thanks to support for a full height AMD FirePro W5100 or Nvidia Quadro K2200 GPU.
Greg Corke
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1 Low profile AMD FirePro W4300 GPU 2 The drive cage rotates 90 degrees for easy access 3 The optional removeable filter helps minimise dust build up and keep the workstation running at full speed 4 The Z240 SFF pictured alongside its bigger brother, the Z240 Tower
