Lenovo ThinkStation P720 Workstation Tower

Description

The Lenovo ThinkStation P720 Workstation Tower is Lenovo’s second most powerful workstation behind the top of the line ThinkStation P920. It provides powerful performance and versatility, enabling users to configure the system to their unique workstyle with a wide selection of optional components. The Lenovo P720 Workstation can support one or two processors, a maximum of 384 GB of memory, and up to 60TB of storage plus M.2 storage devices!

Performance

One or two of Intel’s Xeon Scalable processors from the Bronze Silver, Gold, or Platinum families can be installed. Turbo Boost 2.0 technology delivers extra performance by increasing the clock speed under heavy use. Each Scalable processor has 6 memory channels, each of which will support only a single memory module for increased throughput. There are two power supplies to choose from, a 690W or 900W depending on system configuration.

Storage

With support for up to 60TB using six 10TB 3.5-inch HDDs, this system has the potential for massive storage. Options include two onboard M.2 PCIe solutions, which mount directly onto the system board using a proprietary M.2 cartridge with heatsink. 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch SAS/SATA HDDs and SSDs are supported along with M.2 NVMe drives. Up to 9 m.2 NVMe drives are supported on this system with two in special onboard carrier with heat sink. Four M.2 drives can also go in a quad PCIe card that can be RAIDed. The remaining three M.2 drives, assuming you need all nine, go into separate PCIe cards that hold a single M.2 drive each. Certain configurations support eight drives in the four internal bays using either 2x 2.5-inch drives per tray or a combo 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drive in the same carrier. You can also install a single 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drive in each of the 5.25-inch FlexBays. With dual HDD trays in all four internal storage bays supporting eight drives, two drives in the FlexBays, and the two onboard M.2 drives, this system can support a total of 12 drives—and that doesn’t even count the other seven M.2 drives supported!

Memory

There are 12 DIMM slots total, with 6 slots allocated to each processor. Newer, faster 2666MHz DDR4 memory modules provide the speed and up to 384GB of memory with dual processors. Each memory module occupys a single memory channel from the processor, ensuring peak performance. Error correcting code (ECC) is built into the memory modules to help detect and correct the most common types of internal data corruption.

Expansion

The system is equipped with 3 PCIe x16, 1 PCIe x8, 1 PCIe x4, and 1 PCI slot. With a single processor all of those slots are active, except a single PCIe 3.0 x16 slot. A total of eight USB 3.1 slots, along with two USB 2.0 slots are divided between the front and back of the system. Optional eSATA and Firewire slots can be added at the rear of the chassis next to the two PS/2 slots. There’s also a microphone and headphone jack in front. A ThinkStation Quad M.2 adapter can be added for increased, super-fast storage and can be outfitted with up to four M.2 storage devices. The P720 also supports high-end GPUs such as the Radeon Pro WX7100 and the Nvidia Quadro P6000. If you plan on installing a GPU, you can install a single NVIDIA Quadro P6000 or a maximum of two Quadro P5000s, two Quadro P4000s or two NVS 810. You can also install up to 3 graphics adapter cards under 75W. Implementations using more than a single GPU may require the 900W PSU.

Management

ThinkStation desktop workstations are designed with built-in hardware-based monitoring that notifies you in real-time of hardware related events. There are several ways to access this information including desktop software, mobile applications, and a USB port. Lenovo's performance desktop workstation feature Intel Active Management Technology (AMT), which is a separate microprocessor designed to monitor, maintain, update, and repair the system. ThinkStation Diagnostics for Windows is integrated with the system and checks the health status of the components. The Lenovo Thinkstation performance Tuner helps you get the most out of ISV certified applications with your specific configuration.

Summary

The Lenovo ThinkStation P720 workstation is very powerful and can easily be adapted to address specific user needs. Fast memory and an impressive storage capacity, supported by Intel Xeon Scalable processors, give this system the ability to power through complex workloads. This platform is used in a number of different settings including, engineering, architecture, media, entertainment, finance, and medical industries.