HP Z2 Z2 G1i Tower

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is a 98th-percentile beast, making this one of the fastest CPU workstations we've tested. The port selection is also top-notch, but the NVIDIA RTX A1000 GPU is a serious bottleneck, dragging AI performance down to a weak 53.2 out of 100. Shop carefully, as prices swing from a reasonable $3,200 to a baffling $860,043.

The star of the show is the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. With 24 cores and a 3.7GHz base clock, it chews through rendering and simulation workloads. In our benchmarks, it's a top-tier performer, making this one of the best workstations for CPU-heavy professional apps. You'll notice the difference immediately in compile times and complex model calculations, where it leaves the median workstation in the dust.

The NVIDIA RTX A1000 with 8GB of GDDR6 is where things get more grounded. It's a solid professional GPU for certified drivers and multi-display setups, but its 60th percentile ranking means it's just average for a workstation in this class. It'll handle CAD and 3D modeling just fine, but don't expect it to blaze through GPU-based rendering or AI/LLM tasks. That's the system's weakest spot, scoring a disappointing 53.2 out of 100 in our AI benchmarks. The 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM is a strong pairing, sitting well above average and keeping the CPU fed with data.

Stacked against the competition, the Z2 G1i's identity becomes clearer. The Lenovo Legion 34IAS10 and ASUS ROG GM700TZ-BS978 are gaming-focused machines that will likely offer much stronger consumer GPUs, making them better for GPU rendering and AI work, but they'll lack the professional driver support and ISV certifications of the Quadro card. The Dell Tower Plus EBT2250 is a more direct competitor in the professional space, and you'd want to compare its GPU offering closely, as that's the Z2's main bottleneck. The MSI EdgeXpert and CLX SET systems are wildcards, but HP's port selection and build quality for a true workstation give it an edge for multi-monitor professional setups. If your workflow is 90% CPU and 10% GPU, this HP is hard to beat. If it's the other way around, almost any competitor with a better GPU is a smarter buy.

Value is the trickiest part of this review because the price is all over the map. We've seen this exact configuration listed from $3,200 all the way up to an eye-watering $860,043. At the low end, you're getting a screaming deal on a 98th-percentile CPU with a professional GPU and plenty of RAM. At the high end, it's a non-starter. You absolutely must compare prices across different storefronts before buying. For pure CPU compute per dollar at the lower price point, this is a strong contender, but the middling GPU holds back the overall value proposition if you pay much more than the entry price.

HP's Z2 G1i Tower is a bit of a mixed bag, but when it comes to raw CPU muscle, it's an absolute monster. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K lands in the 98th percentile of our workstation database, which means this 24-core chip is one of the fastest you can get right now for heavy multi-threaded tasks like simulation and rendering. You also get a generous 32GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and a solid 1TB NVMe SSD. But the GPU choice is a head-scratcher. The NVIDIA RTX A1000 is a capable professional card, but it sits right in the middle of the pack, which feels unbalanced next to that top-tier processor.

This machine is clearly built for CPU-bound professionals who need a lot of ports and don't mind a hefty tower. Connectivity is a standout, with a port selection that ranks in the 93rd percentile, including four Mini DisplayPort outputs and a mix of nine USB-A and two USB-C ports. At 8.6kg, it's a desktop that will live under your desk and never move. The biggest question mark is value, with prices we've seen ranging wildly from a reasonable $3,200 to an absurd $860,043, so you absolutely need to shop around.

If your daily workflow leans heavily on GPU rendering, AI model training, or complex 3D simulations that live on the graphics card, you should absolutely skip this configuration. The RTX A1000's 60th-percentile performance and the system's terrible 53.2 AI score are dealbreakers for that kind of work. You'd be much better served by a workstation with an RTX 4080 or higher, even if it means stepping down to a slightly less powerful CPU. This machine's balance is all wrong for GPU-centric professionals.

The HP Z2 G1i Tower is a specialized beast. It's for the engineer, architect, or data scientist whose simulations and renders are almost entirely CPU-bound and who needs rock-solid driver stability for a wall of monitors. The Core Ultra 9 285K is a genuine powerhouse, and the port selection is fantastic. But you have to go in with your eyes open about the GPU. It's a middle-of-the-road performer that will be a bottleneck for GPU rendering and is frankly poor for AI and LLM work. If you can snag this machine at the lower end of its price spectrum, it's a fantastic CPU compute node. Just don't overpay for a GPU that can't keep up.