Workstation vs Gaming PC Best Review 2021 Update.
Workstation vs Gaming PC Best Review: Workstations are made for demanding computational tasks and are marketed to various professionals. They usually rely on hardware that is much more powerful and advanced than what is required by a gaming PC.
Choosing between a consumer and workstation PC can be tricky, especially in the mid-range, where the distinction isn’t so clear-cut.
But the main things to consider are power and reliability: do you require a powerful computer that’s working all day, every day, or do you really just need something to run Microsoft Office with occasional forays into a few creative apps?
Either way, you should always choose the most affordable computer that fulfills your needs – there’s little point in spending more on multi-core processors that will be running single-threaded tasks
Buying an expensive GPU that sits there twiddling its digits all day long. Conversely, you should always think ahead and make sure you get a machine that can expand and grow with you, your family, or your business
What is a Workstation?
The term “workstation” refers to a computer made specifically to suit the purposes of professionals, be it scientists, engineers, architects, graphic designers, or others.
Some companies sell pre-made workstation computers although anyone can put together a workstation just like they can a gaming PC.
Prebuilt vs Custom Gaming PC
Now, seeing as it can be used by some vastly different professions, workstations inevitably vary in regard to their specifications.
However, what every workstation will have in common are a powerful CPU and a larger-than-average amount of RAM.
Furthermore, workstations that are intended for the more demanding tasks are made with specialized components that are engineered for high-performance
Workstation vs Gaming PC
And now, to address the titular question: what is the difference between a gaming PC and a workstation? Honestly, it all comes down to the components.
The CPU
As mentioned above, workstations always have a very powerful CPU to be able to handle the complex computational tasks that they will inevitably face. CPUs found in a workstation can include the following:
- The most basic CPUs found in budget and mid-range workstations.
- Intel Core i9 or AMD Ryzen Threadripper – The most popular workstation CPUs that tend to be the sweet spot of price and performance for the majority of workstation users.
- AMD EPYC – Reserved only for the most powerful workstations, these CPUs are manufactured primarily to be used in servers and excel at multitasking and processing high volumes of data.
As you may already know, Intel Core i7 and Ryzen 7 processors are the most powerful processors that should be used in a gaming PC, with anything more powerful simply being overkill.
The Gaming GPU
Naturally, the GPU is the most important component in a gaming PC.
If that is the case, a workstation will utilize one of the following GPU brands:
- Nvidia GeForce or AMD Radeon RX – These are the names that you, as a gamer, are undoubtedly familiar with. High-end GeForce and Radeon cards are commonly used by some workstations, sometimes in multi-GPU configurations.
- Nvidia Quadro or AMD RadeonPro – These are pure workstation GPUs.
The RAM
People often overestimate the amount of RAM required by a gaming PC. The gaming PC will perform more than well with as little as 8 GB of RAM, and even 16 GB is usually overkill.
Workstations, on the other hand, need humongous amounts of RAM as compared to gaming PCs.
What’s more, workstations also commonly rely on ECC RAM which improves system/program stability and prevents data corruption.
The Storage
Modern workstations favor SSDs as a primary means of storing information due to their sheer speed which dwarfs that of HDDs.
However, seeing as a workstation user may also need to store large volumes of data
That said, workstations and gaming PCs don’t differ much in this regard
The Motherboard
Not much is different about a workstation motherboard apart from the fact that it may utilize a special chipset
However, some users may opt for motherboards that have additional RAM and/or PCIe slots based on their requirements. There are also dual-CPU motherboards, but those are also more common among servers.
Are Workstations Good For Gaming?
Seeing as workstations almost ubiquitously outclass gaming PCs, it is safe to say that any decent workstations will perform just as well as a high-end gaming PC
If it has a high-end Quadro or RadeonPro graphics card, then it will keep up with a high-end gaming PC with ease. However, if it is a more affordable model with limited VRAM, it may not perform quite as well.
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