Lenovo ThinkStation P5 Review A Fast Intel Xeon Workstation

If you do not know what that is, Microsoft has a special Windows version for Xeon-based workstations. This Windows 11 Pro for Workstations has features like ReFS, SMB Direct RDMA networking, and NVDIMM-N persistent memory support. In a system like we have, we are not using ReFS, we do not have a high-end 25GbE or 100GbE (or faster) adapter where the SMB Direct RDMA networking would make a big difference, and we do not have NVDIMMs installed.

Didn't know there was Windows Pro for Workstations; that only runs on Xeon CPUs. Seems like a dumb move, but what do I know.

They actually put a decent number of PCIe slots in there. It's nice they didn't just put a bunch of m.2 slots in it like most PCs these days.

My last PC was a 4th-generation Xeon build. It lasted ten years. I ran Cyberpunk on it.

I use Macs now, but I will always be proud of that build.

Honestly didn't think they were still making Xeon chips. The deal back then was, you were getting i7 power at less price because it didn't come with an iGPU. Back then, gamers wanted Xeon because it was more bang for your buck than i5 or i7 and we were gonna use a GPU anyway. So it sounded like a great deal.