Take this with a grain of salt since this is mostly the marketing and what I've gotten in my own experiences. Of course, this can differ wildly from box to box so take that into account as well.
>> Does the number of cores affect general performance or only helps in multitasking and data science
More cores means more data can be processed at the same time. For a gamer, even if you have 20 cores, it doesn't help you because they're after speed. For myself, it's being able to run several Adobe products doing video editing, photo editing, and graphic design, on all the same machine, at the same time. Think of it as workload vs. speed. Workstations are more powerful and built for heavy workloads, whereas gaming PC's are mainly built for speed.
And yes, the main application is in crunching big data sets, CAD design, or anything heavy on the graphical side of things. I definitely saw a big swing in stability when I switched to a workstation with the myriad of Adobe products I use.
>> Is ECC memory worth it (in practice, not in theory)
So in theory this is the advantage of ECC:
ECC (which stands for Error Correction Code) RAM is very popular in servers or other systems with high-value data as it protects against data corruption by automatically detecting and correcting memory errors. Standard RAM uses banks of eight memory chips in which data is stored and provided to the CPU on demand. ECC RAM is different as it has an additional memory chip which acts as both error detection and correction for the other eight RAM chips.
In practice, I can say it for sure helps your system to be a lot more reliable and stable. I've been running my workstation for several years without a power cycle and its been rock solid, no issues, no hiccups, no nothing. As such, this is the main advantage of workstations is their reliability. I also like the idea in some models of stuffing up to 128GB of RAM or running dual video cards.
In the end, with so many people opting for laptops and gaming systems, you can get your hands on a hell of a workforce PC for under $500. The processors and video card are still dirt cheap (around $100). The only mildly expensive stuff is the RAM. I've really good luck with the HP workstations, but that's just me. I'd say dig around and see what you can find. It's also pretty easy to build one of these from scratch since the parts are so widely available.
Thanks a lot. This was a very detailed experience you provided. Also, is there something I might miss from a workstation focused motherboard compared to a workstation one? Like dedicated audio cards, SLI etc.
I do plan to research before spending but want to get a general feel before going in.
>> Does the number of cores affect general performance or only helps in multitasking and data science
More cores means more data can be processed at the same time. For a gamer, even if you have 20 cores, it doesn't help you because they're after speed. For myself, it's being able to run several Adobe products doing video editing, photo editing, and graphic design, on all the same machine, at the same time. Think of it as workload vs. speed. Workstations are more powerful and built for heavy workloads, whereas gaming PC's are mainly built for speed.
And yes, the main application is in crunching big data sets, CAD design, or anything heavy on the graphical side of things. I definitely saw a big swing in stability when I switched to a workstation with the myriad of Adobe products I use.
>> Is ECC memory worth it (in practice, not in theory)
So in theory this is the advantage of ECC:
ECC (which stands for Error Correction Code) RAM is very popular in servers or other systems with high-value data as it protects against data corruption by automatically detecting and correcting memory errors. Standard RAM uses banks of eight memory chips in which data is stored and provided to the CPU on demand. ECC RAM is different as it has an additional memory chip which acts as both error detection and correction for the other eight RAM chips.
In practice, I can say it for sure helps your system to be a lot more reliable and stable. I've been running my workstation for several years without a power cycle and its been rock solid, no issues, no hiccups, no nothing. As such, this is the main advantage of workstations is their reliability. I also like the idea in some models of stuffing up to 128GB of RAM or running dual video cards.
In the end, with so many people opting for laptops and gaming systems, you can get your hands on a hell of a workforce PC for under $500. The processors and video card are still dirt cheap (around $100). The only mildly expensive stuff is the RAM. I've really good luck with the HP workstations, but that's just me. I'd say dig around and see what you can find. It's also pretty easy to build one of these from scratch since the parts are so widely available.