2017 Lenovo Internal. All rights reserved.

Smart Guidance for the Best BIM & 3D Workstations Jeffrey POON Regional Product Manager Workstation Business, Lenovo Central Asia Pacific

Boring

Expensive

Depreciates

But a Hugely Important Part of ANY Digital Workflow!

Who has control, input or Influence over their companies IT investments?

Who spends <HKD10,000 on their Workstation?

HKD15,000 - HKD25,000?

HKD25,000+ ?

It’s not what you spend, but how you spend it!

Hardware…..

3

Making the Right Choice….. Not as Simple as is Sounds….

Windows Operating System

The Basics of Computer Hardware

Software Components/Plug-Ins CAD Application

Kernel Display/UI

UEFI = Unified Extensible

Firmware Interface

System Hardware

System

Drivers

101110001111000011100010101010001

Basic Input Output System

Graphics

Graphics

Driver

Open GL or

Direct X

Looks simple, ONLY H/W box + OS

BUT it is COMPLICATED

Not All Software is Created Equal

Software is Single or Multi-Threaded (Sometimes Both)

Single Threaded – CANNOT Scale/Thread onto Multiple CPU Cores

Multi-Threaded – CAN Scale/Thread onto Multiple CPU Cores

CPU Spec/Detail is Important

Clock Speed/GHz, Core Count, Cache Memory, Turbo Boost etc

Memory can be the 2nd Largest Bottleneck (Behind the CPU)

Not Just Capacity, But Bandwidth, Clock Speed & Latency

Graphics are more important than ever!

Not Just for Displaying Graphics……

Cheap Can Become Very Expensive!

Facts….

6

Configuring a Workstation Processors

Always Choose Intel Xeon Processors

Faster ‘Turbo’ Clock Speeds, More Cache, More Cores, ECC Memory

Choose Between One or Two Processors Per Workstation

Dual 6C CPUs @ 2.5GHz = 30GHz / 3.2GHz (Boost)

Single 8C CPU @ 3.2GHz = 25.6GHz / 4.0GHz (Boost)

Choose The Right Balance of CPU Clock Speed & Core Count

Consider Intel Turbo Boost & $$$ Cost Per GHz For Maximum ROI

Rule-out Adding a 2nd CPU Later

Matched CPU Stepping, High Cost (Option), Availability, Downtime

Processors

Always Choose Intel Workstation Processors

Faster ‘Turbo’ Clock Speeds, More Cache, More Cores, ECC Memory

3.00GHz

3.20GHz

3.40GHz

3.60GHz

3.80GHz

ALL/FOUR Cores Active TWO Cores Active ONE Core Active

Power & Thermal Headroom Dependant

Turbo Boost Max 3.0

Intel Turbo Boost/Max

4.00GHz

ONE Core + Driver

Choose One or Two Processors Per Workstation Single Processor – High Clock Speed GHz

first

CAD Software is a single threaded application

High-frequency CPUs are much more

favorable for 2D and 3D design/modeling work

Dual Processors – High No. of Cores count,

for Engineering Simulation

Run multi threaded applications, rendering,

finite-element analysis, computational fluid

dynamics

10

Configuring a Workstation Memory

Capacity

More The Merrier - Minimum of 4GB Per Core (Ideally 8GB+)

Type

Dual Data Rate 4 (DDR4) Is The Current Highest Standard

Size/Rank

Single-Rank (SR), Dual (DR) or Even Quad (QR) Modules Available

Speed

Clock Speed, Much Like a CPU – 2400MHz Current 2S Standard

Channels

More The Merrier – Quad-Channel (4) Per CPU is Best

ECC Memory

Detects & Fixes single bit errors, reduces system crash

Memory

12

Configuring a Workstation Storage & I/O

Two Different Types of Data Storage Technology

Spinning Platter & Solid State Drives

Seven Different Types of Data Storage Interface/Sub-System Technologies

SATA HDD (Spin) – 7.2K & 10K – Low Cost & High Capacity

SATA SHHD (Hybrid) – 7.2K + SSD Cache – “Above“ + Good Performance

SAS HDD (Spin) – 15K ~ Aging Standard, Good Performance & Full Duplex

SATA SSD (Solid State) – Standard Workstation Technology

PCI-E SSD (AHCI) – Cutting Edge Technology

PCI-E SSD (NVMe) – Bleeding Edge Technology

Storage

HDD vs. SSD Performance Data

Performance: 3.5” SATA

7.2Krpm

2.5” SAS

15Krpm

2.5” SATA

SSD

M.2 PCIe

NVMe SSD

Sequential Read Max (MB/s) 190 220 500 1450

Sequential Write Max (MB/s) 180 300 550 850

Performance Gain: 1.2x 2.6x 7.6x

1.7x 3.1x 4.7x

Good

$

Better

$$

Best

$$$

Exceptional Storage Performance

Lenovo ThinkStation workstations support M.2 PCIe SSDs, the fastest storage

solution available. ThinkStations offer a wide variety of implementation paths and

upgrades to help users take advantage of this blazingly-fast storage.

M.2 PCIe SSD ThinkStation Quad

M.2 Adapter

ThinkStation Flexibility Storage Maximum Speeds

SATA Drives – 6Gb/s

SAS – 12Gb/s

PCIe/M.2 Drives – 20Gb/s

Easy to Install M.2 drives connect directly to the

motherboard

Easy to Upgrade No custom carrier required, adding

in or upgrading drives is a snap

Easy to Expand Using the ThinkStation Quad M.2

Adapter, users can house up to six

M.2 drives within a single system*

System Base - Operating System

Solid State – SATA or PCI-E

Application - Cache/Scratch Disk

PCI-E/SATA SSD – RAID 0

RAW Data - Project Archive/Storage

7.2K HDD (SATA)

RAID 1 or 5

16

Optimized Storage

17

Configuring a Workstation Graphics

How Large or Complex are your 3D Models?

No. of Parts per Assembly, Polygons, Textures etc.

Screen Resolution / No. of Pixels – 4K?

No. of Monitors – Total Desktop Real Estate?

Frequent Model Rotation?

Colour Accuracy - 8 or 10Bit Colour?

High Frame Rates (VR)?

Ray Tracing & GPU Rendering?

Advanced Lighting Effects?

How Many Different Software Apps?

Graphics – How to choose….

AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor

Solidworks, NX, Creo, Catia

Office, Sketchup

Small/simple CAD models, video, Entry PLM

Medium size/complexity CAD models, Basic DCC, Medical Imaging, PLM

Large/complex CAD models, Advanced DCC, Medical Imaging

Large/complex CAD models, Seismic exploration, complex DCC effects, 3D Medical Imaging Recon

Largest CAD models, CAE, Photorealistic rendering, Seismic exploration, GPGPU compute

Most demanding rendering and GPGPU compute applications

Adobe CC Photoshop, Illustrator Adobe CC Premiere Pro, After Effects, Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, Mari, Nuke

Solidworks Visualize, DeltaGen, Catia Live Rendering PACS/Diagnostics

Ansys, Abaqus, Simulia

+ 2GB Memory

+ ECC Memory

P5000 16GB

P6000 24GB

P4000 8GB

P2000 5GB

P1000 4GB LP

P600 2GB LP

P400 2GB LP

GP100 16GB

HBM

NVIDIA Desktop Quadro Products

80%

20%

AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor

Solidworks, NX, Creo, Catia

Office, Sketchup

Small/simple CAD models, video, Entry PLM

Medium size/complexity CAD models, Basic DCC, Medical Imaging, PLM

Large/complex CAD models, Advanced DCC, Medical Imaging

Large/complex CAD models, Seismic exploration, complex DCC effects, 3D Medical Imaging Recon

Largest CAD models, CAE, Photorealistic rendering, Seismic exploration, GPGPU compute

Most demanding rendering and GPGPU compute applications

Adobe CC Photoshop, Illustrator Adobe CC Premiere Pro, After Effects, Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, Mari, Nuke

SolidWorks Visualize, DeltaGen, Catia Live Rendering PACS/Diagnostics

Ansys, Abaqus, Simulia

+ 2GB Memory

P5000 16GB

P4000 8GB

P3000 6GB

M2200 4GB

M1200 4GB

M620 2GB

M520 2GB

NVIDIA Mobile Quadro Products

80%

20%

21

Configuring a Workstation Beyond Hardware

Lenovo Performance Tuner

0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50

Graphics Composite

CPU Composite

I/O Composite

SPECapc – Single Threaded

Improve your Performance Experience

Customize Resources Affinity by SW Application

Customize Graphical Settings

Manage your Power Settings

Monitor your Resources

No more bottlenecks holding you back! 20%

better*

Lenovo Workstations Are Unique With GREENGUARD

Indoor air is 2 to 5

times more polluted

than outdoor air *

People spend 90 % of

their time indoors*

GreenGuard uses performance based, field validated

standards to define products with low chemical and particle

emissions to ensure the better indoor quality

* Source: The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute Media Kit

* *All ThinkStation P Series and ThinkPad P Series have been certified according to the

GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Certification Program for Low Emitting Products.

Lenovo is the ONLY workstation vendor that has

been certified with GreenGuard Certification**

High Efficiency For You And The Earth

2015 Lenovo Internal. All rights reserved.

100% OF PLATFORMS

ThinkStations Are

Designed To Maximum

A wide range of environmental certifications

25

Configuring a Workstation Lenovo Recommendations

Lenovo Workstation for AEC Market SINGLE PROCESSOR DUAL PROCESSOR

2D & ENTRY 3D

MID RANGE 3D

HIGH END 3D

SIMULATION AND RENDERING

2D modeling 3D entry-level CAD

ThinkStation P320

ThinkPad P51

Compact Performance

ThinkPad P71

Mobile Powerhouse

Mainstream Rendering, Analysis & Simulation

ThinkStation P720

New

Extreme Power for High-end

Simulation, Analysis &

Rendering

ThinkStation P920

New

Basic Rendering, Analysis & Simulation, 3D CAD Design

ThinkStation P520c/ P520

Workstation Performance

Ultrabook Mobility

New

ThinkPad P52s

AEC Development Cycle Technology

Architect Engineering Engineering Simulation Builder

• 3ds Max

• Autodesk Revit Architecture

• Autodesk Showcase

• Bentley MicroStation

• AutoCAD Architecture

• Revit Structure

• Revit MEP

• Bentley MicroStation

• AutoCAD

• Entry-Level Simulation software

• AutoCAD Design Suite

• Bentley MicroStation

Simulation

• ANSYS Structural

• Energy Simulation Apps

• Lighting Analysis Apps

• Autodesk CFD

• AutodeskDWF Viewer

• Autodesk NavisWorks

• Bently MicroStation

• AutoCAD

Visual Multithreaded

Applications

P720 – 2 processors

Mid/high end graphics

Min 64 GB Memory

SSDs

2 x 27” Monitors

Single threaded

Applications

P520– Near top GHz

Mid range graphics

Min 32 GB Memory

SSDs

2 x 27” Monitors

Lightly-threaded

Applications

P720– Near top GHz

Mid range graphics

Min 64 GB Memory

SSDs

2 x 27” Monitors

Limited power

Applications

P320 – 1 processors

Entry- Mid graphics

Min 8 to16 GB Memory

SSDs

2 x 27” Monitors

AEC Development Cycle Technology - H/W Configuration Workflow Architect Engineering Engineering Simulation Builder Applications 3ds Max

Autodesk Revit Architecture Autodesk Showcase

Bentley MicroStation AutoCAD Architecture

Revit Structure Revit MEP

Bentley MicroStation AutoCAD

Entry-Level Simulation software AutoCAD Design Suite

Bentley MicroStation Simulation ANSYS Structural

Energy Simulation Apps Lighting Analysis Apps

Autodesk CFD

AutodeskDWF Viewer Autodesk NavisWorks Bently MicroStation

AutoCAD

DTWS ThinkStation P720 ThinkStation P520 ThinkStation P920 ThinkStation P320 CPU 2x Intel® Xeon® Gold 6152 (2.1GHz/22

cores) Intel® Xeon® W 2125 (4.1GHz / 4 cores) 2x Intel® Xeon® Gold 6140 (2.3GHz/18 cores) Intel® i7-7700K

( 4C/ 4.2 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 4.5 GHz)

Memory 96GB ECC memory DDR4 (2666MHz) Minimum 32GB ECC memory (2666 MHz) 128GB ECC memory (2666 MHz) (8GB RDIMMS x 16 slots)

32GB memory DDR4 (2133 MHz)

Storage 1 TB M.2 PCIe SSD 1x 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD + 1TB SATA Drive

1x 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD 1x 512GB FLEX Drive (M.2 PCIe Name SSD) 1TB SATA Drive

GPU NVIDIA Quadro P4000 with 8GB of memory

NVIDIA Quadro P2000 with 5GB of memory 2 x NVIDIA Quadro GP100 for compute and NVIDA Quadro P2000 or better for display

NVIDIA Quadro P2000 with 5GB of memory

PSU 900W (92% efficient) 690W (90% efficient) 1400W (92% efficient) 450W (92% efficient)

Visual 2 ThinkVision P27u 27" UHD ( 3840x2160) IPS monitors

2 x ThinkVision P27q QHD (2560 x 1440) IPS 2 ThinkVision2 ThinkVision P27u 27" UHD ( 3840x2160) IPS monitors

2 x ThinkVision P27q QHD (2560 x 1440) IPS

MWS ThinkPad P71 ThinkPad P51 ThinkPad P71 ThinkPad P52s CPU Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 Intel Xeon E3-1535M v5 Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 Intel® Core™ i7-8650U

Memory 64GB DDR4 ECC 64GB DDR4 ECC 32GB DDR4 ECC 32 GB DRAM

Storage 2 x 512GB FLEX Drive (M.2 PCIe SSDs) in RAID + 1 TB 5400 rpm drive

2 x 512GB FLEX Drive (M.2 PCIe SSDs) in RAID + 1 TB 5400 rpm drive

2 x 512GB FLEX Drive (M.2 PCIe SSDs) in RAID + 1 TB 5400 rpm drive

512GB FLEX Drive (M.2 PCIe SSDs) in RAID + 1 TB 5400 rpm drive

GPU NVIDIA Quadro P4000 NVIDIA Quadro M2000M NVIDIA Quadro P5000 NVIDIA Quadro P500 2GB GDDR5

Visual 17" 4K IPS Display with 92% color gamut 15.6" FHD, IPS,1920x1080, 250nit, Display 17" 4K IPS Display with 92% color gamut 15.6" FHD, IPS,1920x1080, 250nit, Display

Today’s Takeaway

Tips for CPU/ Memory/ Graphics/ Storage Consideration

Performance Boost Up by Lenovo Performance Tuner

GREENGUARD & High ENERGY Efficiency PSU Availability

Lenovo Recommendations for AEC Industry

Lenovo Contact: Jeffrey POON (poonjkl@lenovo.com)

https://www.thinkworkstations.com/