Hardware Review: Lenovo P700

This article was originally published on: http://www.engineering.com/DesignSoftware/DesignSoftwareArticles/ArticleID/10850/Lenovo-P700-Workstation-Review.aspx

Last fall, I had the opportunity to try out the Lenovo ThinkStation P300 for a few days (see full review). In the section below, where I post benchmarking results, I compare the new P700 (Figure 1) to both the P300 I tested last year and the Dell OptiPlex 790, which is still my stock daily-use computer at the office.

For Lenovo, the model number is an indication of the performance, with the P300 and P900 spanning the full performance range from lowest to highest. If you'd like to see the way the specifications differ across the range, head to their website.

Figure 1. The P700 tower workstation from Lenovo. (Image courtesy of the author.)

Out of the Box

Lenovo’s packaging is consistently good. This machine was easy to unbox, and it was simple to conserve the foam inserts and other materials for reuse when I send it back following my review. Some packing materials open up okay, but trying to fit them back in as they came is never quite as easy as it would seem, especially the hard Styrofoam buffers that break and leave particles everywhere. Thankfully, that was not the case this time.

The tower measures 6.9 in. x 17.3 in. x 18.5 in. In addition to the case, it included a power cable, USB mouse, USB keyboard, and setup guide (which includes safety and warranty information), but no Windows media discs. Manufacturers rarely include recovery disks anymore; usually, you need to make your own after starting up the computer for the first time. There was a pamphlet inside explaining Lenovo’s conservation efforts with regard to shipping unnecessary materials, such as Windows installation discs, along with instructions for obtaining Windows 8 disc.

Specifications

The configuration of the ThinkStation P700 sent to me for testing was as follows: 

CPU: 2.60GHz 8-core 16-thread Intel® Xeon® E5-2640 v3

RAM: 32GB (Samsung 1600Mhz)

Graphics Card: NVIDIA Quadro K5200

Drive: Intel 1500 Series SSD 240GB

Power Supply: 850W

In addition to these specs, there are multiple options available from Lenovo for individual configurations, and the tower has plenty of space to add more hard drives and RAM. Of the customization options, the most popular ones are likely to be processors (1.6GHz or 2.6GHz), monitors (choice of 23 in., 24 in. or 28 in. LED), power supply (650W or 850W) and a media card drive (9 in 1 media card reader or 29 in 1).

Higher capacity power supplies are required to run newer, more energy hungry elements, such as very high end graphics boards, so starting with 650W is a good move by Lenovo and I was pleased to see the 850W installed for my review. The majority of users would hardly be impeded if a workstation came with only a 450 watt power supply, as the P300 does, but it pays to go the extra mile when you’re looking at investing in a good workhorse that otherwise meets all your requirements. Plus, it’s nice to have options.

The P700 arrived with Windows 7 x64 Service Pack 1 installed. While I really would have liked to try a touchscreen monitor with Windows 8 or higher, Windows 7 is a known quantity for both AutoCAD 2014 and me.

Before looking at workstations, know what OS and programs you plan to run on them and try to ensure compatibility. Since I am testing Autodesk software, I checked the approved devices. Not only is this a good idea with regard to performance and troubleshooting, it might be necessary to convince your IT department to spring for "non-standard" hardware.

In this case I am a bad reviewer for using 2014 software, as the NVDIA 5200 is certified for 2016 but not for 2014.

The Workstation

Some users look for an HDMI port that lets them use a television in place of a monitor. Luckily, I still had the DVI cable I'd purchased for my last Lenovo review, so I was able to hook up the workstation to the monitor in our home office with no trouble. I’ll admit that DisplayPort is superior to HDMI, due to its ability to handle higher resolutions and more monitors at once. Should you wish, you can customize your build and have an HDMI dongle included for around $30.

There are four USB ports on the front, as well as four USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports on the rear (Figure 2), which should be more than enough for all of your peripheral needs. Audio inputs and outputs are available on both the front and back.

Figure 2. The back panel of the Lenovo tower. (Image courtesy of the author.)

The P700 case is even easier to access than the P300. There are no screws to deal with; you just pull a lever to release the side of the case. There is plenty of room inside for airflow and additional components (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Inside the Lenovo P700. (Image courtesy of the author.)

Last fall, I had the opportunity to try out the Lenovo ThinkStation P300 for a few days (see full review). In the section below, where I post benchmarking results, I compare the new P700 (Figure 1) to both the P300 I tested last year and the Dell OptiPlex 790, which is still my stock daily-use computer at the office.

For Lenovo, the model number is an indication of the performance, with the P300 and P900 spanning the full performance range from lowest to highest. If you'd like to see the way the specifications differ across the range, head to their website.

Figure 1. The P700 tower workstation from Lenovo. (Image courtesy of the author.)

Out of the Box

Lenovo’s packaging is consistently good. This machine was easy to unbox, and it was simple to conserve the foam inserts and other materials for reuse when I send it back following my review. Some packing materials open up okay, but trying to fit them back in as they came is never quite as easy as it would seem, especially the hard Styrofoam buffers that break and leave particles everywhere. Thankfully, that was not the case this time.

The tower measures 6.9 in. x 17.3 in. x 18.5 in. In addition to the case, it included a power cable, USB mouse, USB keyboard, and setup guide (which includes safety and warranty information), but no Windows media discs. Manufacturers rarely include recovery disks anymore; usually, you need to make your own after starting up the computer for the first time. There was a pamphlet inside explaining Lenovo’s conservation efforts with regard to shipping unnecessary materials, such as Windows installation discs, along with instructions for obtaining Windows 8 disc.

Specifications

The configuration of the ThinkStation P700 sent to me for testing was as follows: 

CPU: 2.60GHz 8-core 16-thread Intel® Xeon® E5-2640 v3

RAM: 32GB (Samsung 1600Mhz)

Graphics Card: NVIDIA Quadro K5200

Drive: Intel 1500 Series SSD 240GB

Power Supply: 850W

In addition to these specs, there are multiple options available from Lenovo for individual configurations, and the tower has plenty of space to add more hard drives and RAM. Of the customization options, the most popular ones are likely to be processors (1.6GHz or 2.6GHz), monitors (choice of 23 in., 24 in. or 28 in. LED), power supply (650W or 850W) and a media card drive (9 in 1 media card reader or 29 in 1).

Higher capacity power supplies are required to run newer, more energy hungry elements, such as very high end graphics boards, so starting with 650W is a good move by Lenovo and I was pleased to see the 850W installed for my review. The majority of users would hardly be impeded if a workstation came with only a 450 watt power supply, as the P300 does, but it pays to go the extra mile when you’re looking at investing in a good workhorse that otherwise meets all your requirements. Plus, it’s nice to have options.

The P700 arrived with Windows 7 x64 Service Pack 1 installed. While I really would have liked to try a touchscreen monitor with Windows 8 or higher, Windows 7 is a known quantity for both AutoCAD 2014 and me.

Before looking at workstations, know what OS and programs you plan to run on them and try to ensure compatibility. Since I am testing Autodesk software, I checked the approved devices. Not only is this a good idea with regard to performance and troubleshooting, it might be necessary to convince your IT department to spring for "non-standard" hardware.

In this case I am a bad reviewer for using 2014 software, as the NVDIA 5200 is certified for 2016 but not for 2014.

The Workstation

Some users look for an HDMI port that lets them use a television in place of a monitor. Luckily, I still had the DVI cable I'd purchased for my last Lenovo review, so I was able to hook up the workstation to the monitor in our home office with no trouble. I’ll admit that DisplayPort is superior to HDMI, due to its ability to handle higher resolutions and more monitors at once. Should you wish, you can customize your build and have an HDMI dongle included for around $30.

There are four USB ports on the front, as well as four USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports on the rear (Figure 2), which should be more than enough for all of your peripheral needs. Audio inputs and outputs are available on both the front and back.

Figure 2. The back panel of the Lenovo tower. (Image courtesy of the author.)

The P700 case is even easier to access than the P300. There are no screws to deal with; you just pull a lever to release the side of the case. There is plenty of room inside for airflow and additional components (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Inside the Lenovo P700. (Image courtesy of the author.)

On startup, the machine quietly hummed with very little noise. In order to emulate my everyday experience, I installed Autodesk Design Suite Premium 2014, with all software packages selected (including the programming tutorials, but only the Imperial template files for each). It took me five minutes to walk through the installation configuration, and then another 40 minutes to install the 61 components.

The Numbers

I will be comparing this new workstation with my daily-use desktop computer, a Dell OptiPlex 790 that also runs 64-bit Windows 7, but with 4GB RAM, and the Lenovo ThinkStation P300, with 8GB of RAM. All three have AutoCAD 2014 installed with the same options on Windows 7. While this is not an apples-to-apples comparison — obviously the specs span a wide range — it should give you a good idea of how the components affect performance.

The simplest way to compare systems is through the Windows Experience Index. When looking at the WEI, it is important to keep in mind that the given number reflects the lowest scoring category, so be sure to click for more details (Table 3). The scale runs from 1.0 to 7.9, the higher the score the better the performance.

Workstation	WEI
Dell	5.4 (see Table 1)
P300 P700	5.9 (see Table 2) 7.8 (see Table 3)

Table 1: Windows Experience Index for Dell OptiPlex 790
Component	Details	Subscore
Processor	Calculations per second	7.4
Memory (RAM)	Memory operations per second	7.2
Graphics	Desktop performance for Windows Aero	5.4
Gaming graphics	3D business and gaming graphics performance	6.7
Primary hard disk	Disk data transfer rate	5.9

Table 2: Windows Experience Index for Lenovo P300
Component	Details	Subscore
Processor	Calculations per second	7.8
Memory (RAM)	Memory operations per second	7.8
Graphics	Desktop performance for Windows Aero	7.6
Gaming graphics	3D business and gaming graphics performance	7.6
Primary hard disk	Disk data transfer rate	5.9

Table 3: Windows Experience Index for Lenovo P700
Component	Details	Subscore
Processor	Calculations per second	7.8
Memory (RAM)	Memory operations per second	7.9
Graphics	Desktop performance for Windows Aero	7.9
Gaming graphics	3D business and gaming graphics performance	7.9
Primary hard disk	Disk data transfer rate	7.9

In workstations these days, I prefer to see solid-state drives, even in mid- to high-range laptops. (If not a full SSD, then at least a hybrid drive, where a small-capacity SSD speeds up the operating system to improve startup performance, and then a standard "spinning" hard drive for the remainder of your storage needs.) Unfortunately, cost is usually a consideration, and some options translate to much higher price tags, so you'll have to balance your priorities against your budget. If you need to be convinced, however, check out the difference in disk data transfer rates in the tables above.

As far as I know, Revit does not have any internal testing capabilities, so I do not have any specific numbers to compare for that application. If you want to try a Revit benchmark yourself, there is one available for download on RevitForum (there are older versions available on the same forum site, if you aren’t using 2016 yet).

AutoCAD, however, does have some internal testing capability. There is an undocumented application that accompanies the AutoCAD family of products, called GsTest.arx. Use the AppLoad command to load it, and then type “GsTestBenchmark.” It only takes a moment to run, then displays the results in the Command Line interface.

Lower milliseconds and higher frames-per-second indicate better results. Don’t forget to set the performance tuner in AutoCAD. It could improve your results by a noticeable amount. If you haven’t done this yet, right click the Hardware Acceleration button on the Status Bar. That will bring up the Graphics Performance dialog box where you can turn on Hardware Acceleration and experiment with different graphics settings.

Benchmark	Dell OptiPlex 790	Lenovo P300	Lenovo P700
3D Wireframe	919 milliseconds	125 ms	174 ms
	198 frames per second	1,460 fps	1,044 fps
Hidden Line Removal	934 ms	126 ms	173 ms
	195 fps	1,447 fps	1,049 fps
Flat Shading	818 ms	125 ms	172 ms
	223 fps	1,462 fps	1,055 fps
Gouraud Shading	859 ms	116 ms	170 ms
	212 fps	1,575 fps	1,064 fps

You might notice that the P300 has slightly better numbers than the P700. Both machines perform really well, and their results only vary 5-6 percent in relation to the OptiPlex’s slower numbers, so I am not too concerned about the difference.

For those folks who perform renderings and want some assurance on the more robust workstation’s performance in that area, I used Maxon's Cinebench Version 15.0 benchmark to compare capabilities. The P700 is clearly the better performer in terms of rendering capability (independent of AutoCAD).

Workstation	CPU Score	OpenGL (FPS)
Dell OptiPlex 790	439	28.77
Lenovo P300	769	119.24
Lenovo P700	1134	174.42

Summary 

I happily endorsed the Lenovo P300 workstation last year. It was a solid machine with good performance, even if it did leave a few of my personal preferences unfulfilled. But the P700 more than delivers on everything that I consider essential in performance and flexibility, and I am much more enthusiastic and unreserved about my recommendation this time around.

Melanie Perry is a freelance technical editor and an ARCHIBUS system administrator for the facilities group of a financial services firm. She also blogs about AutoCAD with facility management and conducts the annual salary survey for AUGIWorld Magazine. She can be found on Twitter at @MistresDorkness.

Hardware Review: Lenovo ThinkStation P300

This product review originally appeared on CADdigest: http://www.caddigest.com/exclusive/cad_hardware/110314_lenovo_thinkstation_p300_review_perry.htm

While I have used Lenovo workstations a few times in the past, unfortunately the only thing our campus' IT department ever granted me was the power to specify a graphics card. (At that, it took years of convincing to gain that concession for the Engineering department’s equipment.) While the computers we were provided with always performed reliably, I was pretty excited at the opportunity to review a proper workstation, and not just a stock office machine with a better graphics card.

In my case, the workstation was the ThinkStation P300 tower workstation from Lenovo (see figure 1). The company changed its naming scheme this year; no more C and S and D models: just P for performance. The number, such as 300, indicates the performance level, kind of like BMW's model numbering does. And so the P300 is their lower-end workstation. Just by being a workstation, however, it already is more powerful than most regular desktops.

Figure 1: The P300 tower workstation from Lenovo

I have to compliment Lenovo on its packaging. The machine was easy to unbox, and it was simple to conserve the foam inserts and other materials for reuse when I send it back following my review, or if I had to have it transported across the campus to a user. (Some packing materials from other companies open up okay, but then trying to fit them back in as they came? Not quite so simple.) Everything arrived in good condition and functioned immediately upon startup. I have had workstations in the past that sounded like jet engines revving for takeoff, so it was a relief when firing up this powerful machine that it hummed along quietly.

The tower measures just under 7"x17"x17". In the box came the power cable, USB mouse, USB keyboard, setup guide (which includes safety and warranty information), and Windows Recovery Media discs. It is rare today to have recovery disks included; usually, we need to make our own after starting up the computer for the first time.

Specifications

The ThinkStation P300 sent to me for testing was set up as follows:

CPU: 3.60GHz 4-core 8-thread Intel Xeon E3-1276v3
RAM: 8GB (Samsung 1600Mhz)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA Quadro K4000 (PCIe and SSE2)
Drives: 1TB hard drive
Power Supply: 450W

In addition to the specs you see listed here, there are multiple options available from Lenovo for individual configurations, from operating system to processors, and the tower has space to insert additional storage devices inside. Of the customization options, the most popular ones are likely to be monitors (choice of 22", 24" or 30" LED), hard drives (500GB, 1TB, or 2TB SATA HDD), and sets of memory (2GB, 4GB, or 8GB). The motherboard has four slots available for memory.

Regarding the power supply, if a significant hardware component upgrade will be in your future, you might find 450 watts to be lacking. Higher capacity power supplies are required to run newer, more energy hungry elements, such as very high end graphics boards. Granted, this is otherwise a good system, and for most users 450W will not be a limitation at all.

The P300 arrived with Windows 7 installed and with Windows 8 provided on a disc. While I really would have liked to have tried a touchscreen monitor with Windows 8, I ultimately decided to use the out-of-the-box setup, because I wanted the Lenovo configuration to match as closely as possible the machine to which I am comparing it.

For those who are looking for Autodesk approved workstations or graphics cards, be sure to check www.autodesk.com/graphics-hardware, which is the only justification my IT department would accept for springing for "nonstandard" (to them, anyhow) components. Autodesk has not yet completed evaluations for its 2015 line of software, and so the computer I am reviewing shows up as approved hardware for vanilla AutoCAD 2015, but not yet for the Design Suite. (The older ThinkStation E32 is supported for both.) The graphics card in the P300 is certified for AutoCAD, so no worries there.

The Workstation

My first, and only, disappointment came when I instinctively attempted to hook the tower up to my high-def television, using an HDMI cable which I keep handy for this purpose. Perhaps I have been a laptop worker at home for too long, because the lack of an HDMI port on the Lenovo box startled me. Instead, it has VGA and two DisplayPort ports. (There are two more DisplayPorts ports on the motherboard, as well as a punch out for an HDMI port, if you order it.)

To solve this, I had to go out and overpay for a DVI cable from a big box store, no matter how that made me shudder. The cable allowed me to attach the computer to a monitor I borrowed. Once I did get everything hooked up, I had no complaints at all about the picture; DisplayPort does a better job than HDMI, because it handles higher resolutions as well as more monitors than HDMI.

I considered critiquing the fact that one quarter of the USB ports are located at the rear of the machine. This is an issue, because most cube farms on my campus store the towers under the desk in order to maximize the work surface. But then I realized that most users who are aware only of the front-facing ports, would not be the type of user provided with a workstation like this, anyway.

At any rate, there are two USB 3.0 ports on the front, four USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports on the rear (see figure 2). Audio inputs and outputs are available both front and back.

Figure 2: The back panel of the Lenovo tower

To get inside the case is very simple. There are two screws at the back of the left panel, large enough for most people to turn by hand. Once loosened and removed, the side of the panel slides opens at the push of the release button, to allow us easy access. It was obvious that the components are placed to allow maximum airflow (see figure 3).

Figure 3: Inside the Lenovo P300

Software OOTB

The preloaded software installed along with Windows 7 operating system consists of Adobe Acrobat Reader, CyberLink Power DVD, Cyberlink Create, Microsoft Office 2013 (trial only), Norton Internet Security 2014 (trial only), Skype, ThinkVantage System Update, Rescue and Recovery (ready to install), Lenovo Reach (only for those machines purchased in the US or Canada), Lenovo Solution Center, and PC Device Experience.

As I said, everything appeared to fire up just fine. Though, just to be on the safe side, I did start out by running the Lenovo Solution Center, because this software scans the hardware for problems. It took five minutes to complete this scan and all of the components checked out just fine.

In order to best emulate my experience, I installed the Autodesk Design Suite Premium 2014, with all software packages selected (including the programming tutorials, but, only the Imperial template files for each). It took me five minutes to walk through the installation configuration, and then another 44 minutes to install the 61 components.

I couldn't resist checking the boot time with all this Autodesk software in place. The computer's startup time increased from 24 seconds to 68 seconds.

The Numbers

I decided to compare this new workstation with my daily-use desktop computer, a Dell OptiPlex 790 that also run 64-bit Windows 7, but with 4GB RAM instead of the 8GB the Lenovo possesses. Both have AutoCAD 2014 installed with the same options. It is not an apples to apples comparison, but I wanted a starting point from which to provide some perspective.

The fastest way to compare systems is through the Windows Experience Index. When looking at WEI, it is important to keep in mind that the given number reflects the lowest scoring category, so be sure to click for more details. The scale runs from 1.0 to 7.9.

Workstation	WEI
Dell	5.4 (see table 1)
Lenovo	5.9 (see table 2)

Table 1: Windows Experience Index for Dell Optiplex 790
Component	Details	Subscore
Processor	Calculations Per Second	7.4
Memory (RAM)	Memory Operations Per Second	7.2
Graphics	Desktop Performance for Windows Aero	5.4
Gaming graphics	3D Business and Gaming Graphics Performance	6.7
Primary hard disk	Disk Data Transfer Rate	5.9

Table 2: Windows Experience Index for Lenovo P300
Component	Details	Subscore
Processor	Calculations Per Second	7.8
Memory (RAM)	Memory Operations Per Second	7.8
Graphics	Desktop Performance for Windows Aero	7.6
Gaming graphics	3D Business and Gaming Graphics Performance	7.6
Primary hard disk	Disk Data Transfer Rate	5.9

The Lenovo clearly performs better, scoring near top marks every category, save for the disk data transfer rate. That is the same for both computers. In workstations these days, I do prefer to see solid state drives, even in mid to high range laptops. (If not a full SSD, then at least a hybrid drive, where a small-capacity SSD speeds up the operating system to improve startup performance, and then a standard "spinning" hard drive for the remainder of my storage needs.) Unfortunately, cost is usually a consideration, and some options translate into much higher price tags, so you'll have to balance your priorities against your budget.

As far as I know, Revit does not have any internal testing capabilities, so I was unable to test it. If you want to try a Revit benchmark yourself, there is one available for download on RevitForum.

AutoCAD, however, does have some internal testing capability.There is an undocumented application which accompanies the AutoCAD family of products, called GsTest.arx. Use the AppLoad command to load it, and then type GsTestBenchmark. It only takes a moment to run, then displays the results in the Command Line interface.

When compared to my desktop, the numbers speak for themselves. Lower milliseconds and higher frames-per-second indicate better results. The Lenovo won every benchmark, running about 7x faster than my machine.

Benchmark	Dell Optiplex 790	Lenovo P300
3D Wireframe	919 milliseconds	125 ms
	198 frames per second	1,460 fps
Hidden Line Removal	934 ms	126 ms
	195 fps	1,447 fps
Flat Shading	818 ms	125 ms
	223 fps	1,462 fps
Gouraud Shading	859 ms	116 ms
	212 fps	1,575 fps

For those folks in the audience who perform renderings and want some more assurance on the Lenovo's performance I also ran Maxon's Cinebench Version 15.0 benchmark.

Workstation	CPU Score	OpenGL (FPS)
Dell Optiplex 790	439	28.77
Lenovo P300	769	119.24

Again, the Lenovo clearly outperforms my daily machine.

Summary

While the lack of an HDMI port made me sad initially, and I would have preferred to see 16GB RAM and an SSD as the baseline for a workstation out of the gate, the solid configuration and ease of use make this sturdy machine quite suitable for the kinds of daily engineering tasks I would undertake with AutoCAD MEP and Revit MEP.

I like a tower that is easy to work with, is quiet, expandable and has accessible ports. The improvements I experienced and benchmarked over my existing workstation earn the ThinkStation P300 an endorsement from me.

Additional Information

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/workstations/thinkstation/p-series/


About the Author

Melanie Stone is a freelance Technical Editor and an Archibus System Administrator for the Facilities group of a financial services firm. She also blogs about AutoCAD with Facility Management and conducts the Annual Salary Survey for AUGIWorld Magazine. She can be contacted via mistressofthedorkness@gmail.com or found on Twitter as @MistresDorkness