ThinkStation S20

[wolfman]

Hello All,

I'm considering a ThinkStation S20 with a XEON W3520 processor (quad hyper-threaded cores, 2.66 ghz) and pretty much stock otherwise with DOS and the nVidia NVS290 dual DVI graphics (I'll upgrade the RAM from 2x1 gb myself).

I'll be using this machine primarily for software development, replacing the Opteron 185 system in my sig. I'm curious for feedback from folks who have used the S or D series workstations in the past and their thoughts on whether or not they are a good buy - they appear to be extremely price competitive to the DELL T3400 and the Apple Mac Pros. Thanks.

[erik]

after having used a thinkstation D10 for nearly a year, i can't think of any other system i'd want.   thinkstations are easy to work on, quiet, fast, reliable, expandable, and laid out better than any other workstation system i've seen.

in fact, i might be upgrading from the D10 to a D20 soon.   i definitely wouldn't consider buying another if i didn't think the first one was good.

[maurizio.dececco]

I am considering using a ThinkStation S20 for music production and software development.

The noise level become a (the) primary concern; Lenovo declare 27dB idle, how noisy it can become fully loaded (cpu-wise) ?
How the noise compare to the main competitors (Dell T3500 and HPZ400) ?

Thanks,
Maurizio De Cecco

[erik]

when running back-to-back cinebench R10 benchmarks on my D10, it never pushes the fans past idle.   there's a setting in the BIOS to force the fans into "quiet" mode, too, to prevent them from exceeding the 26~27db idle sound whenever possible.   the only noise i ever get from my D10 is from the 15K RPM SAS drives and the FX 4800 when its fan goes above 30%.   otherwise, these systems are extremely quiet.