The tower-based Xenon Nitro Z5 Visual Workstation is the first system to cross our test benches featuring Intel's new Xeon 5500 series processors. It packs a hell of a punch.

The machine

Xenon's Nitro Z5 includes two Intel Xeon 5560 quad-core processors running at 2.8GHz, with a 6.4GT/s Quick Path Interconnect (QPI), and 8MB of L3 cache, accessible by all cores. Based off Intel's Nehalem technology, the memory controller has been included on-die, hyperthreading is back, and "TurboBoost" technology is here too, automatically overclocking individual cores within specified heat limits. Intel is pushing its power-saving benefits as well, with a quoted 95W Thermal Design Point (TDP) per processor. The Xeon 5500 series is indeed a fierce contender.

The Xenon Nitro Z5 Visual Workstation (Credit: Enex Testlab)

The Nitro Z5's mainboard is a Super Micro X8DA3, based on the Intel 5520 chipset and supporting DDR3 memory, along with PCI-E 2.0. It has the ability to handle up to six SATA 3Gbps devices, while networking is catered for with two gigabit ports. On-board it also provides FireWire and HD Audio support.

Nvidia's powerful Quadro FX 5800 graphics card is present, with a 650MHz core and a whopping 4GB of 512-bit DDR3 memory operating at 1632MHz. With a TDP of 189W and support for true 10-bit colour, it offers two dual-link DVI connectors, a DisplayPort connector, and a quad-buffered stereo port for 3D devices, essentially making it the pinnacle of graphics workstation cards.

Unfortunately, the size of this card renders two of the three available PCI slots useless due to its bulk and effectively covers the chipset heatsink fan. It also makes up the bulk of the Nitro's AU$14,685 price, although you can spec down to a starting price of AU$5585.

Storage is addressed with two RAID 1-configured Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB drives, a Pioneer DVR-215 optical drive, and yes, a 1.44MB floppy disk drive. Perfect for those who remember how to use the DOS SPAN command, so for 6GB of data files, you'd only need, oh, around 4267 disks.

The chassis is Xenon's 330 medium tower workstation case in black. Internally, all the edges were rounded, ensuring technicians' fingers are spared when it comes to servicing. The steel itself is of a hefty grade and more solid than many of the OEM cases that come through the lab.

The front of the bezel is plastic with a steel grille. It has a small silver flip-out panel at the bottom that conceals one FireWire port, two USB ports and microphone and audio jacks. Supplied with an 800W EPS12 power supply unit and seven fans, noise levels are nonetheless relatively low after initial start-up, when the fans cycle to their fastest speed.

It is all covered with a warranty of two years, next business day service on-site, with a third year optional for an extra AU$185 — a good deal considering the value of this machine.

How we tested

We performed a series of performance tests and the results were as follows:

Analysis

Overall performance in a word — stunning; but with specifications such as these and the price tag you would certainly expect so. Cinebench render times and Sungard number-crunching times are faster than anything we have seen before in the lab. Cinebench in particular was up to 40 per cent faster than a four-way quad-core (16 cores total) AMD Opteron 8250-based workstation tested in early 2008. Crysis was thrown in for good measure, and although this is not a gaming machine, it is certainly capable. Crysis is more heavily dependent on the GPU than the CPU, and the results are similar to the much cheaper GTX280 on which the FX 5800 is based.

Verdict

If you are in a processing/graphics-intensive role and your employer wants to increase your productivity, then start your purchase requisition for a Xenon Nitro Z5 Visual Workstation.