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The Armari Magnetar V25R-RA750G2 really shows the rejuvenation in AMD's CPU and graphics. Although the Ryzen 7 1800X is pitched in price against Intel's quad-core processors, it actually matches Intel's eight-core offering fairly closely on performance, for half the cost. As a budget workstation option, Ryzen 7 1800X is clearly a brilliant option, and not even much of a budget choice, just a sensible one. Why pay twice as much for not much more performance?
The AMD Radeon Pro Duo isn't quite such an obvious win. NVIDIA's latest Quadros still have the edge when modelling. But this isn't what the Radeon Pro Duo is really for. It's capable enough for modelling, but (like Ryzen 7) it packs a huge amount of grunt for the money, in this case for OpenCL. If you use an application for which a ProRender plugin is available, the rendering performance available makes the choice a no brainer.
All this and we haven't even mentioned the Armari system within which the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X and Radeon Pro Duo arrived. This tiny little box is a highly accomplished piece of engineering too. The fact that you can fit an eight-core processor and dual-GPU graphics inside, plus up to four storage devices, in a box this big, is amazing. Build quality and attention to design detail are exemplary too.
Overall, with a price a little over three grand this still isn't exactly a cheap system. But when you consider how much more you would spend to get similar performance from the Intel / NVIDIA route, it's actually quite wallet-conscious. The AMD options make this a great workstation for the money, and with both Threadripper and Vega just around the corner too, there's even more AMD goodness to come in the near future.
Price: £3,118.80 inc VAT & Delivery (Buy from Armari HERE)
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Pros:
- Amazing CPU rendering for chassis size and price.
- Superb OpenCL / AMD ProRender performance.
- Excellent build quality.
- Tiny, cleverly designed chassis.
- Decent modelling performance.
Cons:
- AMD graphics not quite up to NVIDIA's for pure modelling.
- 32GB limit on system memory.
Kitguru says: The Armari Magnetar V25R-RA-750G2 showcases what AMD's Ryzen 7 1800X and Radeon Pro Duo have to offer. There's great rendering on offer for the money, and amazing performance with AMD ProRender. And all that in a ludicrously small but well designed chassis.
It’s very expensive for a ryzen based system. You can build a standard sized mini tower with a 1070 core at 1000€ less !
Taking ~£ prices:
1800x: £450
Mobo: £110
Ram: £250
nvme: £240
Cooler: £60-95 (unsure if it’s a h60 or h90 140mm from the pics)
SFF plat 750w psu: £150
32gb Radeon pro duo: £999
Windows 10 pro: £150
Case: ?? (50-75 conservative estimate? sff cases tend to be pricey.)
Total: ~£2400 (€2700 or so)
Actual price: ~£3100 (about €3500)
Then whatever you value build / 3 year warranty at. I’m not sure I value them at over £700/€800 though. Price seems excessive for a weak motherboard (biostar aren’t exactly top tier) and no large storage.
And that’s just off the shelf prices from ocuk, I’m sure I could go bargain hunting and get everything a little cheaper, probably settle around £2200 for the same components. Hell, you can grab windows 10 pro keys on the likes of reddit for about £20, that’s over a £100 saving alone. Then factor in how much cheaper buying bulk components with no retail tax / vat on them is, I’d say they’re charging well over the cost per unit for these.
I’d say it’s close on £1000 overpriced with its current components, with a gpu less than half the cost of the one it comes with, I’d say it’d be more like £1500 cheaper.
Armari’s systems are expensive, but take a look at that chassis. It’s a custom design that’s better than what the blue chip workstation manufacturers have to offer. The company also offers support for professional applications, which you definitely won’t get buying the components yourself. I think one thing in particulary you have wrong in the pricing above is the PSU. It’s actually pretty pricey because getting the kind of industrial strength PSU in 750W form and that small is expensive – it’s a server PSU. That’s an area I know Armari is looking into. You also forgot to add VAT! The price quoted is inc VAT. It’s £2,599 ex VAT, so you’re only paying a £200 premium ex VAT for the chassis, server PSU, and 3D content creation-focused service and support. Professionals would pay that premium to have a system they can trust.