Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 15, 2018. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Suppose you were the IT manager responsible for the workstations of 50 engineers in development. Where would you buy the 50 workstations? From a PC manufacturer with two and a half employees who are not sure when they can deliver the devices or whether they can even source the same components in sufficient quantities for all devices? Where you cannot be sure whether the company will survive the workstations’ quoted warranty period?
Or from a large, established manufacturer that can readily deliver 200 units by next week and offers long-term warranty services and maintenance contracts? One that resolves problems on site during the warranty period, without the workstation travelling around the country for a week? Fine, but then you have to give up quiet operation, performance and an optimally configured operating system. The Lenovo P520c is different.
Case
Although this is a case from a major manufacturer, it includes several features otherwise expected only from boutique workstations. Such as the two rubber-mounted case fans, which reduce the transmission of fan-borne structure noise to the case. Or the four thick rubber feet on which the P520c’s case stands securely without transmitting resonances to the desk.
Interesting detailed solutions can also be found inside the case: the fan at the front of the case has a deflector that additionally directs the airflow downwards and upwards, where the two hard-drive cages are located. The cable routing inside bothered us somewhat. Instead of running almost invisibly through the case, shortened to the required length, a colourful pile gathers in the centre of the case. If you wanted to install a long graphics card, you would first have to change the cable routing to create enough space at all. There would only be room for a second large graphics card, however, if the lower hard-drive cage were removed.
The ThinkStation case has an additional security feature, the so-called “Intruder Alert”. What sounds like high tech is nothing more than a contact switch fitted behind the removable case cover which, when the case is opened, interrupts a circuit that activates the “Intruder Alert” sensor on the mainboard. We liked the two passively cooled M.2 slots, which are easily accessible through a twist lock.
Equipment
Together with the Wacom Cintique Pro, the Lenovo P520c is the only workstation in the test field with an Intel Xeon processor and the associated ECC RAM error correction. The pairing of an Intel Xeon W-2125 processor and Nvidia Quadro P2000 graphics card is not regarded as the very fastest CPU-GPU combination,
but it offers high stability and, above all, ISV certification for professional applications in CAD, engineering, finance and biotech. For mass storage, Lenovo put a fast 256 Gbyte SSD into the M.2 slot, supplemented by a mechanical HDD with one Tbyte of capacity and an optical DVD±RW drive. For RAM, users can choose a single 16 Gbyte or two 8 Gbyte configuration; the price difference is 40 euros. We chose the two-times-8-Gbyte variant for the test model.
The Lenovo P520c has almost all currently relevant interfaces. The front offers two USB 3.0 connections plus an SD card reader for media import and audio I/O for headphones and microphone. The rear offers 4x DisplayPort, 1x Thunderbolt 3/USB Type-C, 2x USB 2.0, 4x USB 3.0, analogue audio I/O, plus the old acquaintances PS/2 and COM port.
Performance
With 954 points in Cinebench 15’s multi-CPU test, the Intel Xeon W-2125 is in the performance range of the i7 7700 used in the Shuttle Cube XPC and Dell Precision 5720. In the V-Ray CPU rendering test, the P520c at 2:13 minutes is significantly ahead of the Dell Precision’s 2:24, but only two seconds behind the Shuttle Cube XPC’s 2:11. With 128.33 frames per second in the Cinebench 15 OpenGL benchmark and 2:57 minutes in the V-Ray GPU rendering test, the Nvidia Quadro P2000 places in the upper middle field among normal workstations.
The 256 Gbyte SSD in the M.2 slot also appears to perform its work without restraint, reaching a write rate of 1,166 and read rate of 2,558 Mbytes per second in the AJA system test with 4K Full. The HDD with one Tbyte of capacity delivers 177 Mbytes per second when writing and 176 Mbytes per second when reading data – not bad for a mechanical disk.
Lenovo has apparently configured the Windows 10 Bit Pro for Workstations installed on the P520c well, something the somewhat high latency figure of 343 microseconds does not initially suggest. This value occurred only once during each of the three measurements, shortly before the end of the five-minute measurement. Otherwise, latencies were in the green range at 100 to 130 microseconds. That is an unexpectedly good result for one of the major manufacturers.
The combined stress test of all components – CPU, GPU, SSDs and HDDs – with Aida 64 showed that the Lenovo P520c’s cooling concept works completely. It is a good sign when the case initially becomes two degrees cooler under full load and this temperature remains stable over long periods. CPU temperature rises by just 10° C under full load. At idle, the P520c’s fans can hardly be heard at all. Even under synthetic torture on a summer day, ventilation noise always remained low and bearable despite enormous cooling reserves. Apparently, installing the somewhat more expensive mounted fans paid off.
Conclusion
With the ThinkStation P520c, Lenovo offers an interesting workstation for the middle performance range. It remains largely quiet even under load and cools so well that it should run without throttling in the corner beneath the desk even on the hottest summer days.
Its price-performance ratio cannot readily be compared with boutique workstations without including additional services such as ISV certification and the three-year on-site warranty.
This is also about the assurance that the 50 workstations actually function with the purchased software. If an engineer’s workplace fails for one or more days, the resulting costs can quickly reach the price of a workstation.
A three-year manufacturer’s warranty with on-site service is highly interesting, particularly for customers managing larger quantities or without their own internal IT department. But the ThinkStation P520c is also an attractive workstation for all other users who value ISV certification and do not actually want to deal with computers.
