MY WORKSTATION BUILD PLANS MAY HAVE CHANGED

Is an ARM Processor in the Running for My Workstation?

If you have read my previous post, you’ll know that I have recently moved my web server over to the ARM-based Ampere hardware on Oracle Cloud. That got me thinking: with Apple transitioning over to their own ARM-based Apple Silicon, is there an option out there for non-Mac workstations that I can use as a daily driver and home server?

Don’t get me wrong—I’d love to get my hands on an M1 Mac and see what I can do with it, but I can’t justify the price tag for a machine that isn't at least partly upgradeable.

This led to a not-so-quick Google search to see what is on offer in the ARM desktop and server market. Nearly everything I came across was either ridiculously expensive (£5,000+) or really underpowered unless I wanted to create a compute cluster (Raspberry Pi 4). While I would love to make my own cluster at some point in the future, that is something that is going to have to go on the back burner until I have a decent daily driver.

You can imagine my surprise when I came across a list of supported hardware for VMware’s ESXi Arm development and found a workstation motherboard for around $750: the SolidRun HoneyComb LX2. It is an ARM motherboard that can support up to 32GB of RAM, has a 16-core ARM Cortex A72 processor, and 64GB of eMMC storage to install the base operating system.

There are a few things that really excite me, such as the four SFP+ ports (giving me a 10Gb network connection on each), an open-ended PCIe X8 slot, an M.2 slot, and four SATA ports. The best part is that all of this would fit in the mini-ITX case my wife, Abi, bought me.

But the big question is how much will this all cost compared to my other workstation idea? Let’s compare the two.

ARM Workstation Setup

x86 Workstation Setup

As you can see, there is definitely a cost saving, and I’m hoping I can save a bit more, as by the time I get around to purchasing whichever workstation, graphics card prices will have hopefully come down. I wasn’t expecting a saving of £526, though. I am very, VERY tempted to switch over to the ARM setup, as I’d still have the same graphics power and memory, and it would be cheaper to run. The only downside I can see is that the i9-10850K has 10 cores/20 threads at 3.6 GHz compared to the ARM's 16 cores at 2 GHz.

The power savings alone are very tempting, and as the workstation's main use will be as a media streaming server with a bit of 3D graphics in Blender every now and then, the ARM-based workstation is starting to look more and more like my future workstation.

What do you think? Which setup would you go for? Let me know down in the comments below and don’t forget to check back soon for another one of my ramblings.