New HP Z workstations aimed at content creators

Content creators are some of the biggest users of tech out there. Photographers, videographers, bloggers, vloggers, and everyone in between uses the power of technology to create their content. Whether it’s Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, or any one of the Adobe Creative Suite applications, these all take extra power to run.

Power that most basic consumer workstations just can’t deliver. This is where HP’s new line of Z workstations comes into play. The company is packing the performance content creators need into these workstations to give content creators the power they need for a fast and clean workflow.

The new workstations come in two SKUs: the HP Z6 and the HP Z8. Both are powered by Intel’s latest Xeon Scalable processors. HP says that designers, data scientists and artist workflows will accelerate, allowing more time for iteration as data is moved closer to the CPU with the adoption of Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory technology.

HP has also partnered with a few companies that content creators are familiar with including AVID, RED Digital Cinema and NVIDIA to optimize productivity.

We’ve seen great success in our high-end performance category with each of our workstation generations consistently introducing new ways to create and be more productive. Today, we are pushing the boundaries even further with the launch of Z6 and Z8 G4, the world’s first workstations demonstrating the power of Intel Xeon and Intel Optane DC, that offer accelerated performance with premium processor-architecture, so our customers can create, iterate and implement faster than ever before.

Xavier Garcia, vice president and general manager, Z by HP, HP Inc.

Intel Optane DC will allow users to dramatically improve system performance by moving large datasets closer to the CPU, plus making it persistent, and in an affordable manner. This will allow for no data loss after a power cycle or application closure. Once applications are written to take advantage of this new technology, workflows will be accelerated as downtime will be a thing of the past.

HP Z6 G4 Workstation

The HP Z6 G4 Workstation is a sleek powerhouse for demanding 8k video editing in real-time and rendering workloads, equipped with two next-generation Intel Xeon processors providing up to 48 total processor cores in one system, professional NVIDIA and AMD graphics and 384 GB of memory.

Content creators can also unlock performance for storage-bound applications by installing the fast, professional grade storage hardware, without sacrificing standard PCIe slots. With the flexibility to upgrade over time, the Z6 G4 is designed to grow with the user and provides the ability to scale up in the future with a broad range of configurations.

HP Z8 G4 Workstation

The HP Z8 G4 Workstation, the most powerful workstation on the planet1, powered by up to 56 processing cores and up to 3TB of high-speed memory, is capable of running complex 3D simulations, demanding VFX workflows and handling advanced machine learning algorithms. Certified for serious software like ANSYS, Autodesk Flame, and DaVinci Resolve, creators can ideate and iterate more to deliver better work in less time.

With 24 memory slots supporting the Z8 G4’s high-speed memory, developers can easily handle massive data sets. Featuring a modern and sophisticated design, the Z8 G4 offers a choice of 1125W, 1450W and 1700W and 90 percent efficient power supplies, firing up maximum levels of processing, memory, graphics, storage, and I/O configurability.

HP Industry Alliances Advance Productivity for Creatives

As global production teams and security concerns continue to rapidly increase, so does the need for centralized facilities, international collaboration, and remote working. HP’s Remote Graphics Software (RGS), included with all HP Z Workstations, raises the bar for demanding high-end workstation users like editors and VFX artists by enabling remote workstation access from any Windows, Linux or Mac device, wherever they are. With low latency, optimized visual fidelity and rock-solid performance, RGS is the ultimate remote-access and collaboration tool.

Recognizing RGS’s potential for digital media professionals, Avid is collaborating with HP to test RGS with Media Composer | Cloud VM. Initial tests have performed well and a demo of the technology will be at the NAB Show in Las Vegas at the Z by HP booth (#SL9724). With this remote editing solution, HP and Avid are providing creators with the performance they expect and the flexibility they need to create high quality, fast turnaround content from any location.

Additionally, working with 8K video is now easier and more accessible. Updating RED Digital Cinema’s REDCINE-X PRO software to harness NVIDIA’s CUDA technology, RED will release an SDK allowing third parties to develop software that offloads REDCODE RAW decoding and debayering to an NVIDIA GPU. Using a single-CPU HP Z4 workstation and accelerated by an NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 GPU, HP will demonstrate 8K REDCODE RAW (8192 x 4320) playback, editing and color grading in real-time at NAB Show 2019.

HP Press Release

The HP Z6 G4 Workstation with new Intel Xeon processors is available now for a starting price of US$2,372. The HP Z8 G4 Workstation with new Intel Xeon processors is available now for a starting price of $2,981.

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Last Updated on February 3, 2021.