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AMD has long dominated high-core workstations for a decade, with Threadripper PRO outperforming Intel’s previous-gen Xeon-W series capped at 60 cores. Intel’s new 600-series Granite Rapids-WS platform changes this, delivering up to 86 cores and 128 PCIe 5.0 lanes — powering HP’s new Z8 Fury G6i AI-focused workstation.
Positioned for AI workloads rather than traditional CAD tasks, the Z8 Fury G6i supports one Xeon 600-series CPU, up to four 300W RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Max-Q GPUs (384GB total VRAM) or a single 600W high-performance RTX PRO 6000 GPU. It accommodates 2TB DDR5-6400 ECC memory, multiple M.2 NVMe drives, nine PCIe slots in a 54L chassis, and optional 5RU rack mounting for centralized deployment.
The review unit features a 64-core Xeon 696X CPU, dual RTX PRO 6000 Max-Q GPUs (192GB combined VRAM), 128GB DDR5 RAM, and a four-NVMe storage setup (one Gen5 boot drive + three Gen4 data drives). Priced starting at $7,900 (base) and $74,878 (review configuration), it typically offers discounted corporate volume pricing.
Key Specifications
Powered by the Intel W890 chipset, the Xeon 600 series spans 18-core to 86-core models with 200–350W TDP, up to 4.9GHz boost and 336MB L3 cache. The system supports 2TB max DDR5-6400 ECC memory, 104TB total storage (eight M.2 NVMe + SATA HDDs), and full Blackwell-generation RTX PRO GPU options alongside data center-grade A800. I/O includes front/rear USB arrays, optional 20Gbps USB-C and Thunderbolt 5 ports, optional 10GbE/25GbE networking and Wi-Fi 7. It features ISV certification, HP Wolf security suite, 80 Plus Platinum power supplies, 60% recycled materials, and configurable 1350W–2700W dual redundant PSUs.
Design, Build & Expandability
Adopting HP’s matte black professional workstation design, the tower features a full-height mesh grille for airflow, tool-free drive bays and GPU latches, and a foldable rear carrying handle. The robust chassis supports high-power multi-GPU setups, with dual hot-swappable PSUs adaptable to 120V/240V power environments.
Storage includes four heatsink-equipped Gen5 M.2 slots and two 3.5-inch SATA HDD bays. Expansion covers nine PCIe slots (four Gen5 x16) for quad-GPU deployment, plus a dedicated MCIO connector for high-speed network upgrades without occupying PCIe slots. Premium front I/O with dual 20Gbps USB-C is optional and equipped on the review unit.
Benchmark Test Setup
Testing compares the Z8 Fury G6i against two platforms: a 24-core Xeon 658x system with RTX 4090, and a 96-core AMD Threadripper 9995WX Dell Precision 7875 with dual RTX PRO 6000 GPUs and 512GB RAM. Tests cover AI inference, 3D rendering, system performance, storage, professional graphics, and LLM serving workloads.
Core Benchmark Performance
AI Computer Vision (Procyon)
The G6i scores 207 in CPU AI vision (16.5% lower than Xeon 658x, 31.8% higher than AMD Dell) and 1151 in GPU AI vision (29% lower than Dell’s dual-GPU setup), delivering balanced professional AI inference performance.
Blender 3D Rendering
CPU rendering is 90% faster than the low-core Xeon platform but 50–66% slower than the high-core AMD workstation. GPU rendering is nearly identical to the Dell system, with marginal ±1.3% variance across all scenes.
System & Storage Benchmarks
PCMark 10 scores 7742, trailing both comparison systems in general desktop productivity. It excels in Blackmagic RAW media processing, topping rivals with 311FPS 8K CPU decoding and 650FPS 8K GPU decoding. The primary Gen5 NVMe drive hits 8911.5MB/s read and 8166.5MB/s write, slightly trailing the Dell’s storage speed. 3DMark CPU multi-threaded performance falls between the two competitors, while storage and ray-tracing LuxMark results are nearly on par with the Dell workstation.
Specialized CPU Workloads
Y-Cruncher mathematical testing shows the G6i outperforms both rivals on small-scale datasets, while the higher-core AMD system leads large-scale multi-billion-digit calculations. The G6i dominates 7-Zip compression/decompression, achieving 344.96 GIPS total rating for a 38% lead over the baseline Xeon platform. V-Ray rendering scores are 7% lower than the Dell system with near-comparable professional visualization performance.
Professional Graphics & AI Video
In SPECviewperf 15, the G6i matches Dell in Blender, Enscape, medical and energy visualization workloads, while the AMD system leads CAD-focused tasks like Creo, CATIA and Unreal Engine. For Topaz Video AI, the Dell leads most heavy upscaling tasks, while the G6i excels in specific slow-motion interpolation scenarios.
vLLM LLM Serving Performance (Key Advantage)
Testing across diverse LLMs under balanced, prefill-heavy and decode-heavy workloads reveals the G6i’s core strength. With identical dual RTX PRO 6000 GPUs and no NVLink support on either platform, the G6i’s full PCIe Gen5 x16 GPU slots and superior Xeon 6 CPU scheduling deliver clear advantages. It leads by 30–40% on small/quantized models at high concurrency, with gains narrowing to 3–10% on large MoE models where GPU compute dominates. The Dell’s asymmetric PCIe Gen5/Gen4 GPU layout and Threadripper CPU scheduling limit multi-GPU inference efficiency.
Conclusion
The HP Z8 Fury G6i re-establishes Intel’s competitiveness in high-end AI workstations. It outperforms lower-tier Xeon systems across most workloads and trades performance evenly with AMD’s flagship Threadripper workstation in GPU rendering and media tasks. Its defining strength is multi-GPU AI inference, outperforming the AMD platform heavily on common small and quantized LLMs thanks to full Gen5 PCIe bandwidth and optimized CPU-side scheduling.
While the higher-core AMD system remains superior for extreme multi-threaded CPU and memory-bound workloads, the G6i is a highly serviceable, enterprise-grade AI workstation. It serves as an ideal choice for enterprises standardizing on Intel platforms and prioritizing GPU-accelerated AI inference, content creation and professional visualization.
Beijing Qianxing Jietong Technology Co., Ltd.
Sandy Yang/Global Strategy Director
WhatsApp / WeChat: +86 13426366826
Email: yangyd@qianxingdata.com
Website: www.qianxingdata.com/www.storagesserver.com
Business Focus:
ICT Product Distribution/System Integration & Services/Infrastructure Solutions
With 20+ years of IT distribution experience, we partner with leading global brands to deliver reliable products and professional services.
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Sandy Yang/Global Strategy Director
WhatsApp / WeChat: +86 13426366826
Email: yangyd@qianxingdata.com
Website: www.qianxingdata.com/www.storagesserver.com
Business Focus:
ICT Product Distribution/System Integration & Services/Infrastructure Solutions
With 20+ years of IT distribution experience, we partner with leading global brands to deliver reliable products and professional services.
“Using Technology to Build an Intelligent World”Your Trusted ICT Product Service Provider!