Competition: ViPC Workstation - V-Squared/v2-How-to-DIY-Mini-PC GitHub Wiki
Table of Contents
Summary
Comparison
| Features | ViPC Pro Workstation | Apple Mac Pro | HP Z230 | HP Z1 | Dell Precision Tower |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 100% | 218% | 217% | 188% | 130% |
| Similar Performance | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| All In One Conversion | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| 3 Chamber Airflow or better | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Portable | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Surge Protection | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Clean Desk Cabling | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Intel Generation | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Open Configuration | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| DIY Option | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| I Fixit Option | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Flat Fee Assembly Service | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Flat Fee Repair Service | Yes | No | No | No | No |
In general Pro Workstations are about twice as expensive from the major brands, with the notable exception of Dell, who is only 30% more expensive. All Workstations are louder, with the notable exception of again, the Mac Pro, who is actually even more quoet than ViPC. No workstation featured Surge Protection or Clean Desk Cabling. As for style, the Mac Pro is the clear winner, followed HP Z1 and ViPC while the rest are regular Desktop tower. In terms of portability ViPC is the clear winner, due to its flat size and integrated cable management, followed by Mac Pro. All others are not portable at all. ViPC stands out again for safety as being the only PC with integrated Surge Protection.
Open Configuration
You can negotiate with the V²PC Community Store to also install PC parts of your choosing for you, such as special PCI Express Card that you need and which is not included in the V²Configurator. Basically, what you can buy we can assemble into your PC for you, as long as the parts are compatible.
DIY Option
For the Budget conscientious. Shaves off another $100 US.
I Fixit Option
Whereas other manufacturers will void your warranty when you try to fix it yourself, we are empowering you to do:
- We will publish our repair instructions on I-Fixit
- In case you need additional assistance, we have the Flat Fee Repair Service
- We believe that with proper maintenance and upgrading you should get more than 10 years service life from your workstation.
Flat Fee Assembly Service
Our V² Community Stores offer a Flat Fee Assembly Service. Now you can have the best of both worlds:
- Fine control over what parts go into your PC
- Very cost efficient solution versus a custom build workstation
- Very time saving versus you build the PC yourself
Flat Fee Repair Service
If you bought your ViPC in one of our V² Community Stores or with Village Tronic, then you have the option to use the Flat Fee Repair Service in case you can not fix it by yourself. The fee includes labor, parts are extra. Most computer parts in your PC will come with a 3 year warranty.
Comparison
ViPC-620 vs HP Z230
| Features | ViCase-620 | HP Z230 |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Win 10 Pro | Win 10 Pro |
| CPU | i5-6400 (Gen 6) | i5-4690 (Gen 5) |
| Boot Disk | 256 GB SSD NVME | 256 GB SSD NVME |
| Data Disks | 256 GB SSD SATA | 256 GB SSD SATA |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR 4 | 16 GB DDR3 |
| GPU | K620 | K620 |
| AiO Conversion | Yes | No |
| Portable | Yes, 6L | No, 30 L |
| Power Distribution | Yes | No |
| Surge Protection | Yes | No |
| Total | 1200 USD | 2600 USD |
| Over Price | 100 % | 217 % |
Comment
Even though the HP Z230 is categorized as Small Form Factor it is still a full Desktop Tower.
Reference
- http://www8.hp.com/us/en/workstations/z230.html
- Press Shop Now button, then configure as per below
- http://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/workstations/z-turbo-drive.html
- http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA4-7618ENW.pdf
- http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA4-7343ENW.pdf
ViPC 1200 vs HP Z1
| Features | ViCase-1200 | HZ Z1 |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Win 10 Pro | Win 10 Pro |
| CPU | i7-6700 (Gen 6) | i7-4790 (Gen 5) |
| Boot Disk | 512 GB SSD NVME | 512 GB SSD SATA |
| Data Disks | 256 GB SSD SATA | 256 GB SSD SATA |
| RAM | 32 GB DDR 4 | 16 GB DDR3 |
| GPU | K1200 | K2100M |
| Memory | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Cuda Cores | 512 | 640 |
| AiO Conversion | Yes | Yes |
| Display | No | No |
| CPU Unit Portable | Yes, 6L | Not easy removeable |
| Power Distribution | Yes | No |
| Surge Protection | Yes | No |
| Total | 1946 USD | 3665 USD |
| Over Price | 100 % | 188 % |
Comment
The HP Z1 is the only Workstation other than ViPC that can be converted into an All-In-One.
Reference
ViCase 970-T vs Mac Pro
| Features | ViCase-970T | Mac Pro |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Win 10 Pro | Win 10 Pro |
| CPU | i7-6700 (Gen 6) | 3.7 GHz Quad Core |
| Boot Disk | 512 GB SSD NVME | 512 GB SSD NVME |
| Data Disks | 2 TB | — |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR 4 | 16 GB DDR3 |
| GPU | GTX 970 4 GB | Dual D300 4 GB |
| GPU Cores | 1664 | 1280 |
| AiO Conversion | Yes | No |
| Portable | Yes, 9L | Yes, 7 L |
| Power Distribution | Yes | No |
| Surge Protection | Yes | No |
| Total | 1600 USD | 3500 USD |
| Over Price | 100 % | 218 % |
Comment
The Mac Pro is the only Workstation in this comparison which is smaller and quieter than ViPC. It is a very cool design in every sense and we adore it. You pay for it of course with a 218% higher price.
Reference
ViCase vs Dell
| Features | ViCase-1200-T | Dell Precision Tower 3000 |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Win 10 Pro | Win 10 Pro |
| CPU | i7-6700 (Gen 6) | i7-4790 (Gen 5) |
| Boot Disk | 512 GB SSD NVME | 512 GB SSD SATA |
| Data Disks | 2 TB RAID 0 | 2 TB RAID 0 |
| RAM | 32 GB DDR 4 | 32 GB DDR 4 |
| GPU | K1200 | K1200 |
| Memory | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| Cuda Cores | 512 | 512 |
| AiO Conversion | Yes | No |
| Display | No | No |
| CPU Unit Portable | Yes, 6L | No, 30L |
| Power Distribution | Yes | No |
| Surge Protection | Yes | No |
| PSU Power | 300 W | 240W |
| Total | 1946 USD | 2532 USD |
Comment
Dell is the only vendor besides ViPC offering the latest Intel Generation 6. It is also significantly lower proce than its competitors and only 30% more expensive than ViPC. It also offers the lest features in terms of joy to use / creative use or stylish design.
Reference
i7 versus Xeon
Reason of being for Xeon in Workstations
Xeon can go to much higher performance versus Desktop CPUs and they can use more than 64 GB of memory.
Why ViPC is build with Desktop CPUs
ViPC is aimed to build the smallest, most powerful and most cost efficient workstation for under 3000 USD. In this price and size region Desktop Processors simply provide significantly better value and smaller size.
Comparison
| Feature | 1151 (i3-i5-i7) | 2011-v3 (Xeon) |
|---|---|---|
| Cores | 2 … 4 | 4 … 12 |
| Max CPU / Motherboard | 1 | 2 |
| Max Cores / MoBo | 4 | 24 |
| Max Memory / Board | 64 GB | 1536 GB |
| On CPU GPU + On MoBo Graphics | Yes | No |
| MoBo Cost | 70 … 170 USD | 200 + USD |
| Smallest Motherboard | Mini-ITX | Micro-ATX |
| MoBo Workstation Features | Yes | No |
| MoBo Server Features | No | Yes |
| Performance per core per clock | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| ECC Memory | No | Yes |
i7 wins < 3000 USD Workstation
Under 3000 USD the i5 / i7 Core CPU family simply allows you to build faster and smaller computer on the same budget than when comared with Xeon PCs. Not only the motherboards are lower cost, they also have more features integrated, such as M.2 sockets, sound chips, integrated graphics, etc, that on a 2011 server board you would need to add extra, increasing cost and size.
A 4 core i7 is same performance as a macthing Xeon, but it is lower cost and so is its Motherboard. The Xeon has no extra features or benefits over i7. The Xeon will come in on its own, once you want more than 8 cores and more than 64 GB of memory!
Xeon wins > 3000 USD Workstation
When spending > 3000 USD you can benefit from more cores and more memory. Xeon can simply go into heights of performance where i7 can not follow.
Reference
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Intel-CPUs-Xeon-E5-vs-Core-i7-634/