HP Z2 Mini G3: tiny workstation

[Kaido]

It looks like the HP Z2 Mini G5 line is being discontinued & is being replaced by the G9 series (new chassis design). Review here:

HP Z2 Mini G9 Workstation Review

The HP Z2 Mini G9 is a noticeable update to HP's compact professional workstations and is a system that can tackle most pro workloads.

www.storagereview.com

I picked up a well-loaded version to test out for work:

HP G9 87D94UT#ABA Replacement for HP G9 6J0M4UT#ABA | B&H Photo Video

Shop B&H's in stock, large inventory for fast shipping, great service and everyday low prices on HP G9 87D94UT#ABA Replacement for HP G9 6J0M4UT#ABA. For more info, please call 800-947-4415

www.bhphotovideo.com

* 16-core Intel Core i9-12900 12th Gen (2.4 to 5 GHz Performance 8-Core & 1.8 to 3.8 GHz Efficiency 8-Core)
* 32GB Memory (upgrading to 64GB DDR5 RAM, ECC optional)
* 8GB GDDR6 NVIDIA T1000 GPU
* 1TB NVMe PCIe (2x PCIe 4.0 slots for like 7,000 MB/s or something stupid, available in up to 8TB per chip, and it looks like RAID is available!)
* 280w PSU

Pretty close to the previous-gen in size, but with a new design:

 

[Woodmoto]

Only the Z2 Mini G4 & G5 have MXM slot for upgrading graphics card. And the G9 has more than necessary arrays of DP & mini-DP ports...

 

[Kaido]

Following up, they did the HP Z2 Mini G3, G4, G5, and then skipped to Mini G9. Latest top model is p/n 87D94UT#ABA for just under $2,400:

• 24-core Intel i9-13900 CPU
• 8GB NVIDIA Quadro T1000 GDDR6 GPU
• 32GB RAM (max 64GB)
• 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD (one Gen4 slot in use, one available; currently goes up to 8TB if needed, so up to 16TB of NVMe onboard)
• 4x Mini Displayport 1.4 ports (4x 4K 120hz monitors, or 4x 5K 60ghz monitors, or dual 8K displays)

Kinda looks like a cheese grater:



The power supply is about half the size of the computer lol. The computer themselves are about the size of a shoebox. Really crazy what you can fit into such a compact envelope these days!

They also sell a 16-core version (87C21UT#ABA) with a beefier 12GB NVIDIA RTX A2000 GPU, which is pretty awesome for such a small package! My DCC clients really like these...they're pretty quick, small, power-efficient (280w max), and stupidly fast with the Gen4 NVMe slots (you can add aftermarket drives that hit like 7,000 MB/s). I still build DCC towers once in awhile (especially if they need REALLY beefy GPU or 128GB+ of RAM or a ton of internal storage or whatever), but it's pretty rare!

I'm always amazed at how technology changes over time. I can download a 3-gig ISO online in 3 minutes these days...slow Internet is no longer an issue. Computer hardware used to be a problem too in terms of cost vs. performance, but pretty much since they hit the magic combination of quad-core CPU's, 8GB RAM, and SSD boot drives, the majority of consumers don't really think about specs outside of gaming rigs these days. And now with stuff like these HP MIni workstations, where you can get oodles of performance in a tiny package for a pretty dang reasonable price, even hardware isn't much of an issue, and there are NAS devices & render farms available if you need something more outside of that!