Dell just launched its new Precision workstations in San Francisco. The updated line of computers culminates with the Dell Precision T7600, which features updated internal components such as the dual Intel Xeon E5-2600 CPUs, up to 512GB of RAM, up to Three NVIDIA Quadro and Tesla GPUs and up to 8 internal drives. You can imagine what kind of number crunching such machines can do.
From a consumer standpoint, what really caught our attention is the design of the chassis: the Precision T7600 model has been built to have all the components easily accessible. This is a functional design quality that aims at making maintenance as easy as possible, but it is clear that most PC enthusiast love to have a neatly packed PC.
One side features the CPUs, RAM and GPUs
At the very core, this is made possible by the two-sided architecture of the chassis. Unlike a typical computer where all the components sit on one side, the Dell Precision T7600 has the motherboard, RAM and GPUs on one side, while the storage and power supply sit on the other side. This effectively allows a very clean layout of the components, and a separation for different cooling needs. The same chassis can also be mounted on a rack, for customers who want to build a space-efficient “computer farm”.
The other side contains the storage array and power supply
The power-supply (PSU) is connected to the electric system by a hard, flat, connector which reminds me of an ISA bus. Because of that, replacing it does not involve disconnecting a single cable and can be done in less than 10 seconds. Try that on your typical PC PSU…
Look the the Power Supply connector. It's extremely easy to replace/upgrade
And while this is a “work-oriented” computer, we would love to see some design elements, such as the dual-side layout and the power-supply connector, adopted by consumer-oriented products. To be fair, there are PC cases that try to do this, but this is an idea worth spreading. I’m actually surprised that the PSU industry hasn’t pushed something like this. If components were easier to replace/upgrade, that would be better for the whole PC industry.
I don’t know for you, but from my point of view, the idea of having a cleanly assembled computer is something that I find beautiful.
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