What exactly is a "workstation" computer as opposed to a Home or Gaming system?

Workstation (to me at least) usually means a high-end PC geared specifically for a few work-focused tasks like CAD or Excel. Often they use high-end and multi-socket server class processors, large amounts of error correcting RAM, "workstation" class graphics cards from the Nvidia Quadro and AMD Firepro series, high-end SSDs and fast connections to backup servers.

As to why you would buy one, this kind of kit can let you do your work faster/better and time is money. If you don't plan to do work on them then steer clear of them - they are not suited for home/gaming systems and generally very expensive.
 
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Essentially, you will not be watching movies nor playing video games on a workstation computer. It is primarily for crunching numbers or doing a few specific tasks on excel or CAD.
A significant segment of the desktop market are computers expected to perform as workstations, but using PC operating systems and components. PC component manufacturers will often segment their product line, and market premium components which are functionally similar to the cheaper "consumer" models but feature a higher level of robustness and/or performance. Notable examples of this are the AMD Opteron, Intel Xeon processors, and the ATI FireGL and Nvidia Quadro graphics processors.

A workstation class PC may have some of the following features:

support for ECC memory
a larger number of memory sockets which use registered (buffered) modules
multiple processor sockets, powerful CPUs (for Intel CPU it will be server derived Xeon instead of typical for PCs Core)
multiple displays
run reliable operating system with advanced features
high performance graphics card
Click to expand...
 
cmndr_andi said:
Workstation (to me at least) usually means a high-end PC geared specifically for a few work-focused tasks like CAD or Excel. Often they use high-end and multi-socket server class processors, large amounts of error correcting RAM, "workstation" class graphics cards from the Nvidia Quadro and AMD Firepro series, high-end SSDs and fast connections to backup servers.

As to why you would buy one, this kind of kit can let you do your work faster/better and time is money. If you don't plan to do work on them then steer clear of them - they are not suited for home/gaming systems and generally very expensive.
Click to expand...

Aw cool.. Thanks.. I wasn't planning on buying one, I've just built my own gaming PC, I just happened to come across them while browsing around on the OC store..
 
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