Hands-on: 3XS GWP A1-TR64 Scanning Review

This review first appeared in issue 361 of PC Pro magazine.

Scan is the second manufacturer this month to take advantage of the return of the non-Pro AMD Ryzen Threadripper processor. However, Scan has opted for a smaller model than the Armari, which provides stronger graphics acceleration and therefore a different balance of performance for this workstation.

In particular, Scan chose the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7970X. This is a 32-core variant offering 64 threads and a base clock speed of 4GHz, boosted to 5.3GHz. Of course, on AMD processors with Precision Boost Overdrive enabled, the actual frequency will dynamically depend on power and temperature. Otherwise, the specifications are the same as the Armari processor, with support for quad-channel memory and 48 5-lane PCI Express plus 24 4-lane PCI Express.

With a cheaper processor than Armari, Scan used some of its savings to double the memory. There are four 64GB GDDR5 DIMMs providing quad-channel bandwidth and operating at 4000MHz. These are also ECC modules to improve stability. The Asus PRO WS TRX50 Sage WiFi motherboard supports a maximum of 1TB, but you probably won’t need more memory over the life of this system.

Another area where Scan has spent its CPU savings is on graphics acceleration. We’ve previously seen Nvidia RTX 6000 series GPUs at the higher price point for workstations, but Scan has moved down a notch to the 5000 Ada generation. It has a whopping 12,800 CUDA cores and a 32GB GDDR6 frame buffer with ECC support, delivering 576GB/s of bandwidth.

However, the Scan hasn’t completely ruled the boat when it comes to storage, as it only includes one drive. However, it is still relatively large and very fast. The Corsair MP700 NVMe M.2 4TB device runs at PCI Express 5 speeds, delivering sustained read speeds of 12,354 MB/s and sustained write speeds of 11,758 MB/s when we tested it in CrystalDiskMark.

Scan 3XS GWP A1-TR64 - 2

(Image credit: Future)

If you need more, the beautiful Fractal North XL chassis offers two 2.5-inch mounts and two 2.5/3.5-inch mounts, so you can easily add more. The North XL’s timber slatted façade bears more than a passing resemblance to a free-standing heater created by a leading Swedish interior designer. The Scan also includes a 1000W Corsair RMx1000 power supply, which should handle all the high-powered components with aplomb.

With half the cores of Armari’s high-end model this month, the scanning system could never come close to it in CPU tests where it was a key aspect. General PC Pro The Media Test score of 867 is still the second highest this month, with scores of 281 in image editing, 816 in video encoding, and 1,096 in multitasking being excellent. Maxon’s Cinebench 2024 multi-GPU test score of 3,459 is slightly behind PCSpecialist’s Zircon Extreme, which finished third in the lab. The scan took 155 seconds to complete rendering the gooseberry in Blender, which is the second fastest result.

Scan 3XS GWP A1-TR64 - 3

The Fractal North XL chassis contains a Corsair RMx1000 1000W power supply. (Image credit: Future)

While the scan engine can’t compete with Armari’s 64 cores, its more powerful GPU makes it one of this month’s best performers for real-time viewport acceleration and GPU computing. The Nvidia RTX 5000 Ada Generation delivers very competitive SPECviewperf 2020 3D animation results: 255 in 3dsmax-07 and 814 in maya-06. CAD and engineering tasks do even better: 202 in catia-06, 222 in creo-03, an incredible 1210 in snx-04 and 609 in Solidworks-07. But in 3D animation the W7900 is much faster.

The GPU produces an impressive 27,069 output score using Geekbench ML and 20,282 with LuxMark 3.1 OpenCL. To highlight the power of this GPU, when rendering on CUDA, a Blender Gooseberry frame took just 75 seconds to render, the second fastest GPU result we’ve seen.

The Scan GWP A1-TR64 is a more balanced system than Armari’s £10,000 offering. It’s also around £500 cheaper. However, the Armari isn’t as far behind in graphics acceleration as it is ahead in CPU tasks, which gives it the win overall. Scan still earns five stars and a “Recommended” award for good reason: if your workflow is more focused on intensive real-time browsing and GPU-accelerated computing, it’s a better choice. And it looks great too.

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Hands-on: 3XS GWP A1-TR64 Scanning Review

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