The ThinkStation P3 Extremely Small Type Issue (SFF) is one among Lenovo’s entry-level desktop workstations, accessible in a conventional tower case or two smaller fashions—a P3 Tiny model barely seven inches sq. and the P3 Extremely SFF shoebox seen right here (begins at $934.45; $2,549.25 as examined). The downsized system clearly cannot match the ability and expandability of a full-size mannequin, however it matches nearly anyplace whereas nonetheless packing loads of efficiency for demanding skilled apps. It is surprisingly loud underneath stress (blame three blower-style cooling followers), however it’s a extremely configurable and succesful compact workstation.Design: A Petite Chassis With Ample AirflowWe weren’t kidding about “extremely configurable”: The ThinkStation P3 Extremely comes with any one among 20 processors and eight graphics choices. Our assessment unit groups Intel’s vPro-enabled Core i9-13900 CPU with 64GB of DR5-4000 reminiscence, a 2TB NVMe solid-state drive, and Nvidia’s RTX A2000 skilled GPU from the earlier “Ampere” technology. (Two present RTX Ada graphics playing cards can be found as effectively.) The compact can maintain as much as 192GB of RAM (with error-correcting-code reminiscence accessible), two M.2 SSDs, and a 2.5-inch SATA onerous drive.
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(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
The conservative black-powder-coat aluminum case (no RGB bling or glass facet panel for this workhorse) offers loads of airflow via its honeycomb-patterned entrance and high (or facet, relying on how you might have it oriented) and out the rear. The three.9-liter (inside house) chassis measures 7.9 by 3.4 by 8.7 inches—solely small-form-factor graphics playing cards will match—and is MIL-SPEC 810H licensed. The laptop-style 300-watt exterior energy brick is bulkier than I anticipated however simply hidden underneath your desk.The I/O panel in entrance has two 40Gbps USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, one 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 Sort-A port, a 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack, a storage exercise LED, and a round energy button. The Thunderbolt ports can cost your different gadgets and are perfect for creatives who want a quick exterior drive array.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Swinging round to the again of the diminutive chassis, you will not see a bigger desktop’s lineup of enlargement slots however loads of connectivity: 4 extra 10Gbps USB-A ports, three DisplayPort 1.2 video outputs, and two Ethernet ports (1Gbps and a pair of.5Gbps). 5 USB Sort-A (one in entrance and 4 within the again) and two Sort-C ports (additionally in entrance) needs to be sufficient for many customers.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Lenovo does a superb job sustaining a clear Home windows 11 Professional set up (Ubuntu Linux is a configuration possibility). You get Lenovo Business Vantage, which shows system info, together with BIOS model, guarantee dates, storage, and RAM use; it additionally handles Wi-Fi safety and system updates. Lenovo Service Bridge auto-detects your configuration and serial quantity for improved assist, whereas ThinkShield safeguards your information and vPro-enabled CPUs.The Inside: Every little thing You Want, Tightly PackedA easy lever on the again unlocks the chassis from the body to entry the internals. The latter slides off simply. As soon as inside, two SO-DIMM reminiscence sockets and one of three blower-style coolers (this one is for the M.2 storage) shall be instantly seen. Flipping over the unit exposes the opposite two followers tasked with cooling the processor and graphics card. Each the RAM and storage are readily accessible.Configuring the Extremely with two M.2 drives lets you implement RAID 0 or 1. As talked about, CPU decisions vary from the common-or-garden Intel Core i3-13100 to Intel’s mighty Core i9-14900K, with each plain and vPro chips accessible. Graphics choices vary from built-in to the SFF model of Nvidia’s 20GB RTX 4000 Ada. A generic USB keyboard and mouse got here with our system.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Testing the Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Extremely SFF: Small and Speedy EnoughComparisons with the ThinkStation P3 Extremely SFF workstation are restricted as we’ve lately up to date our benchmarking suite and are gathering new datasets. We at the very least have two comparative workstations within the Dell Precision 3680 ($9,132 as examined; nonetheless in assessment at publishing time) and the 2024 Apple Mac mini with M4 Professional ($2,199 as examined). To spherical off the record, we have now two pro-grade mini PCs, the MSI Professional DP21 14MQ ($1,049) and the Asus NUC 14 Professional (beginning at $869). Whereas these aren’t workstations a lot as business-class desktops, they’re the closest information units we at the moment have. You possibly can see the entire system specs within the desk under.
Productiveness and Content material Creation TestsOur major general benchmark, UL’s PCMark 10, assessments a system in productiveness apps starting from net looking to phrase processing and spreadsheet work. Its Full System Drive subtest measures a PC’s storage throughput. (Macs don’t assist this check.)Three extra assessments are CPU-centric or processor-intensive: Maxon’s Cinebench 2024 makes use of that firm’s Cinema 4D engine to render a posh scene; Primate Labs’ Geekbench 6.3 Professional simulates common apps starting from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine studying; and we see how lengthy it takes the video enhancing software HandBrake 1.8 to transform a 12-minute clip from 4K to 1080p decision. Lastly, workstation maker Puget Techniques’ PugetBench for Creators charges a PC’s picture enhancing prowess with a wide range of automated operations in Adobe Photoshop 25.
Our check topic proved a reliable machine for productiveness and content material creation for the put in {hardware}, holding relative tempo with a a lot bigger workstation within the Precision 3860 in Cinebench (and fewer so in Geekbench). Whereas these numbers clearly present that the P3 Extremely is simply in a distinct, smaller class, that actuality did not actually cease the brand new M4 Professional Mac mini from a dominant show of efficiency. Should you’re not married to Home windows or Linux, you will get much more out of the miniature Mac for sure functions (particularly multimedia enhancing) and for much less money. Regardless, the skilled graphics card and extremely threaded processor are loads able to the various ranges of productiveness that these assessments measure.Graphics TestsWe problem every laptop computer’s and desktop’s graphics with a quartet of animations or gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark check suite. Wild Life (1440p) and Wild Life Excessive (4K) use the Vulkan graphics API to measure GPU speeds. Metal Nomad’s common (4K) and Mild (1440p) subtests give attention to APIs extra generally used for recreation improvement, like Metallic and DirectX 12 along with Vulkan, to evaluate gaming geometry and particle results. A fifth check, Photo voltaic Bay, emphasizes ray-tracing efficiency utilizing Vulkan or Metallic APIs at 1440p decision.
Our graphics assessments present some stark variations between these machines and put every as an alternative. The ThinkStation P3 Extremely carried out decently, simply beating the mini PCs’ built-in graphics choices. Nevertheless, within the assessments the place the Mac mini might take part, its M4 Professional GPU gave the ThinkStation’s RTX A2000 GPU a hearty combat, outpacing it in two of three assessments solely to lose to the Precision 3680’s Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada, naturally, on ray-tracing efficiency.In fact, the far more highly effective (and costlier) RTX 6000 Ada graphics ran circles round all of those machines by important margins. That is exactly what you pay for when selecting the newest Nvidia graphics.Right here we’re once more, nevertheless, with the Mac mini edging out the ThinkStation in some key graphics duties for much less funding. If cash is extra necessary to you than the working system, and you do not work in high-level ray-traced graphics, then these outcomes are compelling.Workstation TestsOur first check for measuring workstation-grade efficiency is Blender, an open-source 3D content material creation suite for modeling, animation, simulation, and compositing. We file the time it takes for Blender 4.2 to render three distinct scenes to measure CPU and GPU rendering efficiency.Then, we run an automatic PugetBench extension in Adobe Premiere Professional that assessments real-world video enhancing duties like dwell playback, file export, and high-res encoding with completely different codecs, processing and decoding several types of supply media, and making use of GPU-accelerated particular results.Lastly, we additionally use PugetBench for Creators to check DaVinci Resolve Studio 18 video editor efficiency on techniques appropriate for that difficult app. As with Adobe Premiere, these automated duties and options push the CPU and GPU, letting us gauge real-world media creation speeds.
These extra intense assessments paint an analogous image to the opposite units in a distinct context. Right here, we noticed the ThinkStation P3 Extremely line up on the backside of this efficiency totem pole, with the Mac mini typically outpacing the Lenovo desktop and, in flip, getting stomped by the full-size Precision 3680. (Nevertheless, the Blender CPU check was a lot nearer between the 2 main desktops.) If it weren’t for these pesky numerous OS variations, we would extra simply suggest the Mac mini, because it’s merely a greater deal performance- and- price-wise.Verdict: A Shoebox-Dimension Station With Only a Little SizzleLenvo’s ThinkStation P3 Extremely Small Type Issue workstations current you with a small footprint however comparatively aggressive efficiency from the desktop-class processor and pro-grade graphics. Nevertheless, we have now some minor quibbles: The ThinkStation’s fan noise will get loud underneath heavy masses, and the 300W energy brick is bigger than anticipated (however the wire is lengthy sufficient to cover the brick simply).Whereas our P3 Extremely SFF mannequin sees some critical competitors from the surprisingly extra reasonably priced Mac mini, Lenovo offers a variety of efficiency inside its small chassis. From a full vary of thirteenth and 14th Gen Intel processors and graphics as much as an Nvidia RTX 4000 SFF Ada, you may undoubtedly get extra oomph out of this superpowered shoebox. It’s a succesful machine, and its space-saving small chassis and honeycomb entrance panel look slick on a desk. Should you want a potent workstation however have minimal house and are married to Home windows or Linux, then Lenovo’s ThinkStation P3 Sequence Extremely SFF workstation needs to be in your shortlist.
Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Extremely SFF Workstation
The Backside Line
Lenovo’s entry-grade ThinkStation P3 Extremely SFF workstation can get so much executed in a bit little bit of house, with a complete stack of pro-grade element choices, loads of ports, and quick access for repairs and upgrades.
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About Joe Shields
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From my first PC within the mid-Eighties (a Tandy TR-86) to immediately’s productiveness, gaming, and LED-laden monster in use now, I’ve all the time been concerned with electronics and computer systems. My gaming days began with early consoles (suppose Intellivision, Atari 2600/5200) and finally moved on to PC as my controller expertise diminished and age crept up. I received again into PCs when AMD was the quickest CPU round (learn, earlier than the Intel Core days), and from there, it’s historical past. Overclocking, sub-ambient/excessive and aggressive overclocking: If it needed to do with benchmarking, I needed to be part of it.
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