TL;DR
Dell's GB10 mini workstation addresses several practical issues found on Nvidia's DGX Spark—adding a power LED, a larger 280W PSU, and a less constrained thermal design. Priced above $4,000 and aimed at developers in Nvidia's ecosystem, the GB10 pairs a 20-core Grace Blackwell Arm CPU with a Blackwell GPU and built‑in high‑speed ConnectX‑7 networking, but it is not positioned as a mainstream gaming or value LLM desktop.
What happened
A reviewer tested a single Dell GB10 mini workstation (part of two units provided) and compared it to Nvidia's DGX Spark and other Arm and x86 systems. The GB10 resolves some DGX Spark complaints by including a power LED, equipping the system with a 280W power supply, and improving front‑to‑back airflow to reduce thermal throttling and noise. The box uses Nvidia's Grace Blackwell 10 configuration—20 Arm cores paired with a Blackwell GPU that share 128 GB of LPDDR5X—and runs Nvidia's DGX OS (an Ubuntu‑based distribution). Built‑in ConnectX‑7 QSFP ports provide very high bandwidth for Infiniband/RDMA workflows, though the reviewer notes real‑world limits tied to PCIe lane configuration. The system shows solid prompt processing and inference results for models tested, and the reviewer also explored Arm Linux gaming via Steam/Proton, finding playable frame rates but reiterating Dell's position that the GB10 is not a gaming product.
Why it matters
- Integrated ConnectX‑7 networking lowers the entry cost for developers replicating Nvidia’s clustered setups, avoiding separate expensive NIC purchases.
- Thermal and power improvements make the GB10 more practical for sustained AI workloads compared with the DGX Spark.
- Shared 128 GB LPDDR5X memory and the Grace Blackwell SoC combine to favor prompt processing, an important step in hybrid compute workflows.
- Limited DGX OS support and specialized hardware focus mean this machine targets Nvidia developers rather than general consumers or budget LLM users.
Key facts
- Retail price is north of $4,000 for the GB10 configuration reviewed.
- Dell added a power LED and a 280W internal power supply (vs. 240W on DGX Spark).
- Thermal design favors front‑to‑back airflow and was observed to be quieter with less thermal throttling on the 'AI Superchip.'
- The system uses a Grace Blackwell 10 configuration: 20 Arm CPU cores (10 Cortex‑X925 + 10 Cortex‑A725) fused with a Blackwell GPU sharing 128 GB of LPDDR5X.
- DGX OS is the shipping operating system (Ubuntu‑based); DGX OS updates are guaranteed for two years per the reviewer, while standard Ubuntu LTS options have longer optional support.
- Built‑in ConnectX‑7 QSFP ports support Infiniband/RDMA and can exceed 200 Gbps in the right configuration; Ethernet throughput can top 100 Gbps when using multiple TCP streams.
- Each ConnectX‑7 port is limited by its connection to a x4 PCIe Gen5 link, which constrains per‑port real‑world throughput and prevents simple 400 Gbps operation.
- High Performance Linpack (FP64) testing delivered about 675 Gflops on the reviewed system; Nvidia’s petaflop claim applies at lower FP4 precision, not FP64.
- Idle power draw measured around 30 watts, with CPU consumption peaking near 140 watts, leaving headroom for GPU and I/O.
What to watch next
- Results from the reviewer's cluster testing of two GB10 nodes, including model training and multi‑node networking (testing is ongoing and expected next year).
- Detailed comparisons of GB10 clustering and performance versus Framework and Mac Studio clusters promised in future coverage.
- Longer‑term software and hardware support for DGX OS and GB10 systems, given the reviewer’s note of a mixed historical support record.
Quick glossary
- ConnectX‑7: A family of high‑speed network adapters used for Ethernet and Infiniband connectivity, often employed in data center and AI cluster environments.
- QSFP: Quad Small Form‑Factor Pluggable, a physical transceiver module format used for high‑speed network links such as 100GbE or 200Gb/s connections.
- Infiniband / RDMA: A networking technology and set of protocols that enable low‑latency, high‑throughput remote direct memory access, commonly used for HPC and distributed AI workloads.
- LPDDR5X: A low‑power, high‑bandwidth DRAM standard used in mobile and integrated systems to provide fast, energy‑efficient memory access.
- FP64 / FLOPS: FP64 refers to 64‑bit floating‑point precision; FLOPS measure floating‑point operations per second, a common performance metric that varies with numeric precision.
Reader FAQ
Is the GB10 a good gaming machine?
The reviewer ran Windows games via Steam/Proton on Arm and saw playable frame rates, but Dell says the GB10 is not intended as a gaming product.
Do the built‑in ports deliver 200 Gbps per port for Ethernet?
The ports can exceed 200 Gbps under Infiniband/RDMA in the right configuration; for Ethernet over TCP, multi‑stream tests exceeded 100 Gbps, and PCIe lane limits constrain peak throughput.
How long will DGX OS be supported on the GB10?
DGX OS updates are guaranteed for two years according to the reviewer; broader or longer‑term support was described as uncertain.
Is Nvidia’s ‘petaflop’ claim accurate for this hardware?
The reviewer notes Nvidia’s petaflop figure applies at FP4 precision; measured FP64 HPL performance was around 675 Gflops, so the high‑precision claim does not match that metric.
December 26, 2025 Dell sent me two of their GB10 mini workstations to test: In this blog post, I'll cover the base system, just one of the two nodes. Cluster…
Sources
- Dell's version of the DGX Spark fixes pain points
- Dell's version of the DGX Spark fixes pain points
- NVIDIA DGX Spark Review The GB10 Machine is so …
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