The new Dell Precision 3240 USFF (Ultra Small Form Factor) workstation looks to be an interesting proposition for architects, engineers and designers looking beyond CAD and BIM
Other tiny workstations, including the HP Z2 Mini G4 and Lenovo ThinkStation P330 Tiny, feature entry-level GPUs for 3D CAD, but Dell’s new 2.3 litre machine will offer the significantly faster Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000, which should be suitable for entry-level real-time viz, GPU rendering and VR.
Details are currently quite thin on the ground, but Dell has confirmed the Precision 3240 USFF will feature 10th Generation Intel Core-i9 and Xeon processors up to 8 cores, up to 64GB of RAM and up to 4GB of storage.
The machine can be VESA mounted on the back of a display or rack mounted in the datacentre which, like the HP Z2 Mini, should offer good density to serve architects and designers over a 1:1 remote connection. Dell will presumably use Teradici technology for this.
The Dell Precision 3240 USFF is due to launch in the Autumn.
Dell is also launching two other ‘affordable’ desktop workstations, the Precision 3440 SFF (Small Form Factor) and Precision 3660.
Both machines feature a choice of 10th Generation Intel Core-i9 and Xeon processors, including the ten core Xeon W-1290 (3.2GHz, 5.2GHz Turbo), up to 128GB of memory and a choice of M.2 SSDs and HDDs.
The main difference is is the choice of GPUs. The Precision 3440 SFF features up to the Nvidia Quadro P1000 while the Precision 3660 can take the much more powerful Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 or AMD Radeon Pro W5700.
Meanwhile, Dell has also updated its entire Precision mobile workstation family, including the new slimline 17-inch Dell Precision 5750, which we cover in more detail in this article.
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