Small is beautiful… we can say that about many things in life. Dell looks to put the beauty of a Precision workstation into an eight-liter chassis.
When space is at a premium, but workstation performance and reliability is in demand, you might turn to a Dell Precision 3430. Its small form-factor can be appealing, but what is this workstation capable of?
It’s tiny, what gives?
If it is possible to build a powerful desktop replacement in a mobile workstation, then how big and where are the trade-offs in a small form-factor workstation? The easy answer is “a little bit, … everywhere”, … but let’s qualify that one issue at a time.
The level of processor performance is trimmed-back. The Precision 3430 takes up to a six-core CPU with a max Turbo frequency of 4.9 GHz. If your applications include 3D modeling, interactive VR, or many video applications, then a speedy 6-core CPU is fine for you. If your workflow includes applications that truly utilize parallel processing, then this CPU won’t be the best choice.
Total RAM is limited to 64 GB. For a power user, that can be a hard limit, For other users, like many of those users not limited by the 6-core CPU, 64 GB is enough.
The maximum storage is limited as well. The specification supports up to 1 TB of SSD storage and 12 TB of HDD storage. A single SSD at 1TB may be a significant limitation for some users.
The Precision 3430 needs a half-length graphics card. This limits the GPU power to a Quadro P1000 GPU and below. This may be the most severe limitation for many. If you need to do VR, this is not your workstation. If you use the GPU a lot, for example with DaVinci Resolve, then this is not your workstation.
What is in the test system?
The system under test has NVIDIA Quadro P1000 graphics, a six-core Intel Core i7 8700 running at 3.20 GHz with a Turbo frequency of 4.60 GHz, 16 GB of 2666 MHz RAM, and a 500 GB SSD. This configuration can be scaled-up in places.
It is possible to increase the speed on the four-core CPU by switching to a Xeon E-2174G, although this sacrifices two cores. If your work is mostly interactive - 3D modeling, for example – the trade of will probably be a net improvement.
The Precision 3430 supports 64 GB of RAM running at 2666 MHz. It supports both ECC and non-ECC RAM. It also supports Intel Optane with up to 32 GB as a cache between RAM and storage. As for storage, the Precision 3430 can be configured with 1 TB of SSD storage and 12 TB of HDD storage.
Connectivity on this workstation includes an SD card reader, an optional smart card reader, four USB 2.0 connectors, one USB Gen 3.1 Type-C connector (Thunderbolt), five USB Gen 3.1 ports, and an RJ-45 connector.
How does it perform?
The Core i7 with a max Turbo frequency of 4.6 GHz and the Quadro P1000 provide reasonably balanced system performance for such a small workstation. The 16 GB of RAM suffices for most benchmark. For daily work, increasing RAM to 32 GB is a reasonable upgrade.
Viewperf 13 delivered perfectly reasonable performance for the Quadro P1000. The Quadro P1000 is positioned as a mid-range professional GPU. For Viewperf 13, the results match that mid-range position.
The system ran the Premiere Pro tests reasonably well with several test rendering faster than real-time. In the 4K video encoding with color correction test, the workstation rendered in 55% of real-time.
In other words, if the clip were 100 seconds long, the workstation would need only 55 seconds to render the clip. The ability to achieve this performance is due to a balance between the Core i7 CPU and the Quadro P1000 GPU. The 12 threads on the Core i7 are all running well over 50% capacity and feeding the Quadro P1000 fast enough to keep the GPU pegged at 100%.
But it is clear that a faster GPU would perform better on the video tests. If your work involves running Premiere Pro on a daily basis, or even on a weekly basis, then take a look at the 3430’s big brother, the Precision 3630.
A Final Perspective
Given its size, Dell packs a lot into this 8-liter workstation. While the limitations imposed through its size are significant, the Precision 3430 is a tiny, … very tiny desktop workstation. For anyone looking for a workstation with a small footprint and decent 3D modeling and CAD performance, the Precision 3430 can be a good choice. Especially if you need a fatter graphics card, then take the next step up to a Precision 3630.
The Precision 3430 starts at 720€ plus VAT.