FAO computer people

[Hos]

I have a good few ??? to spend on a super computer for my office. We need it to run 3D Studio Viz and Max, CAD applications, Advanced computational software including finite element analysis.

I am stuck with Dell, but have two options, can anyone advise me which option to take. I don't know much about Xeon processors.

OPTION 1

-* Dell Precision Workstation 670 MiniTower *-
==============================================
Quantity : 1
Total excl.VAT : ?2,739
Total incl.VAT : ?3,218.33


Standard Features
=================
MiniTower with 3.5" Floppy Bay, 3 External 5.25" Bays & 4 Internal Bays (504.7 x 225.8 x 502.9 mm)
Microsoft? Windows? XP Professional (Microsoft? Windows? 2000 Professional also available)
Outstanding and reliable WS application performance due to ISV certifications and the Intel? Xeon? architecture
Intel? E7525 chipset with Intel? EM64T supporting up to 16GB of DDR2 memory
PCI-Express technology for outstanding graphics and interface bandwidth
64bit PCIx bus with integrated U320 SCSI controller with RAID 0 and Gigabit Ethernet for outstanding I/O performance
3 Years On-Site Next Business Day is Included within the Price

Operating System
================
Microsoft? Windows? XP Professional (Service Pack 1) WITH Media using NTFS

Base Unit
=========
Single Intel? Xeon? Processor (3.4GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB cache) (+ GBP ?410)

Dell System & Operating System Media Kits
=========================================
System Drivers & Resource Recovery Kit

Gold Technical Support
======================
Not Included (-GBP - ?80)

Hyper Threading
===============
Processor Hyper-Threading

Energy Star?
============
Energy Star not enabled

Systems Management
==================
Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation

Memory
======
2.0GB (4x 512MB DIMM) 400MHz DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory (+ GBP ?510)

HDD Configurations
==================
Not Included

1st (Boot) Hard Drive
=====================
Boot HDD NOT in RAID: 40GB (7,200 rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with DataBurst Cache?

2nd Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

3rd Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

4th Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

SCSI HDD Controller Options
===========================
Not Included

External SCSI HDD Storage Options
=================================
Not Included

External Storage
================
Not Included

Graphics Card
=============
256MB PCIe x16 (DVI/VGA) nVidia Quadro FX 3400, Dual Mon DVI or VGA Graphics Card (+ GBP ?590)

Sound
=====
Choose your upgrade below

1st Monitor
===========
Dell? 17" Value Flat Panel TCO'99 Monitor (+ GBP ?120)

Additional Monitor
==================
Not Included

CD-ROM, DVD and Read-Write Devices
==================================
12x DVD+RW/+R Drive + Software Decode Solution (+ GBP ?60)

Modem
=====
Choose your upgrade below

Keyboard
========
Enhanced Quietkey? (Spacesaver) keyboard

Mouse
=====
Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Mouse

3D Motion Controller
====================
Not Included

Mouse Pad
=========
Choose your upgrade below

AntiVirus Software
==================
Choose your Upgrade Below

Security Accessories
====================
Choose your Upgrade Below

Support Service
===============
3 Year Onsite Service with Next Business Day Response

Asset Tagging Service
=====================
Asset Tag not included

Anti-Theft Device + Asset Tagging
=====================================
Choose your upgrade below

OPTION 2

-* Dell Precision Workstation 670 MiniTower *-
==============================================
Quantity : 1
Total excl.VAT : ?2,939
Total incl.VAT : ?3,453.33


Standard Features
=================
MiniTower with 3.5" Floppy Bay, 3 External 5.25" Bays & 4 Internal Bays (504.7 x 225.8 x 502.9 mm)
Microsoft? Windows? XP Professional (Microsoft? Windows? 2000 Professional also available)
Outstanding and reliable WS application performance due to ISV certifications and the Intel? Xeon? architecture
Intel? E7525 chipset with Intel? EM64T supporting up to 16GB of DDR2 memory
PCI-Express technology for outstanding graphics and interface bandwidth
64bit PCIx bus with integrated U320 SCSI controller with RAID 0 and Gigabit Ethernet for outstanding I/O performance
3 Years On-Site Next Business Day is Included within the Price

Operating System
================
Microsoft? Windows? XP Professional (Service Pack 1) WITH Media using NTFS

Base Unit
=========
Dual Intel? Xeon? Processor (3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB cache) (+ GBP ?610)

Dell System & Operating System Media Kits
=========================================
System Drivers & Resource Recovery Kit

Gold Technical Support
======================
Not Included (-GBP - ?80)

Hyper Threading
===============
Processor Hyper-Threading

Energy Star?
============
Energy Star not enabled

Systems Management
==================
Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation

Memory
======
2.0GB (4x 512MB DIMM) 400MHz DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory (+ GBP ?510)

HDD Configurations
==================
Not Included

1st (Boot) Hard Drive
=====================
Boot HDD NOT in RAID: 40GB (7,200 rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with DataBurst Cache?

2nd Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

3rd Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

4th Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

SCSI HDD Controller Options
===========================
Not Included

External SCSI HDD Storage Options
=================================
Not Included

External Storage
================
Not Included

Graphics Card
=============
256MB PCIe x16 (DVI/VGA) nVidia Quadro FX 3400, Dual Mon DVI or VGA Graphics Card (+ GBP ?590)

Sound
=====
Choose your upgrade below

1st Monitor
===========
Dell? 17" Value Flat Panel TCO'99 Monitor (+ GBP ?120)

Additional Monitor
==================
Not Included

CD-ROM, DVD and Read-Write Devices
==================================
12x DVD+RW/+R Drive + Software Decode Solution (+ GBP ?60)

Modem
=====
Choose your upgrade below

Keyboard
========
Enhanced Quietkey? (Spacesaver) keyboard

Mouse
=====
Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Mouse

3D Motion Controller
====================
Not Included

Mouse Pad
=========
Choose your upgrade below

AntiVirus Software
==================
Choose your Upgrade Below

Security Accessories
====================
Choose your Upgrade Below

Support Service
===============
3 Year Onsite Service with Next Business Day Response

Asset Tagging Service
=====================
Asset Tag not included

Anti-Theft Device + Asset Tagging=====================================
Choose your upgrade below

FIXED

[Kamal]

so the primary configurations stand like this


OPTION 1

-* Dell Precision Workstation 670 MiniTower *-
==============================================
Quantity : 1
Total excl.VAT : ?2,739
Total incl.VAT : ?3,218.33


Standard Features
=================
MiniTower with 3.5" Floppy Bay, 3 External 5.25" Bays & 4 Internal Bays (504.7 x 225.8 x 502.9 mm)

Operating System
================
Microsoft? Windows? XP Professional (Service Pack 1) WITH Media using NTFS

Base Unit
=========
Single Intel? Xeon? Processor (3.4GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB cache) (+ GBP ?410)

Hyper Threading
===============
Processor Hyper-Threading

Energy Star?
============
Energy Star not enabled ?

Memory
======
2.0GB (4x 512MB DIMM) 400MHz DDR2 ECC? SDRAM Memory (+ GBP ?510)

1st (Boot) Hard Drive
=====================
Boot HDD NOT in RAID: 40GB (7,200 rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with DataBurst Cache?

2nd Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

3rd Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

4th Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

SCSI HDD Controller Options
===========================
Not Included

External SCSI HDD Storage Options
=================================
Not Included

External Storage
================
Not Included

Graphics Card
=============
256MB PCIe x16 (DVI/VGA) nVidia Quadro FX 3400, Dual Mon DVI or VGA Graphics Card (+ GBP ?590)

Sound
=====
Choose your upgrade below

1st Monitor
===========
Dell? 17" Value Flat Panel TCO'99 Monitor (+ GBP ?120)

CD-ROM, DVD and Read-Write Devices
==================================
12x DVD+RW/+R Drive + Software Decode Solution (+ GBP ?60)

Keyboard
========
Enhanced Quietkey? (Spacesaver) keyboard

Mouse
=====
Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Mouse

Support Service
===============
3 Year Onsite Service with Next Business Day Response

Asset Tagging Service
=====================
Asset Tag not included


OPTION 2

[quote]-* Dell Precision Workstation 670 MiniTower *-
==============================================
Quantity : 1
Total excl.VAT : ?2,739
Total incl.VAT : ?3,218.33


Standard Features
=================
MiniTower with 3.5" Floppy Bay, 3 External 5.25" Bays & 4 Internal Bays (504.7 x 225.8 x 502.9 mm)

Operating System
================
Microsoft? Windows? XP Professional (Service Pack 1) WITH Media using NTFS

Base Unit
=========
Single Intel? Xeon? Processor (3.4GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB cache) (+ GBP ?410)

Hyper Threading
===============
Processor Hyper-Threading

Energy Star?
============
Energy Star not enabled?

Memory
======
2.0GB (4x 512MB DIMM) 400MHz DDR2 ECC SDRAM Memory (+ GBP ?510)

HDD Configurations
==================
Not Included

1st (Boot) Hard Drive
=====================
Boot HDD NOT in RAID: 40GB (7,200 rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with DataBurst Cache?

2nd Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

3rd Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

4th Hard Drive
==============
Not Included

SCSI HDD Controller Options
===========================
Not Included

External SCSI HDD Storage Options
=================================
Not Included

External Storage
================
Not Included

Graphics Card
=============
256MB PCIe x16 (DVI/VGA) nVidia Quadro FX 3400, Dual Mon DVI or VGA Graphics Card (+ GBP ?590)

Sound
=====
Choose your upgrade below

1st Monitor
===========
Dell? 17" Value Flat Panel TCO'99 Monitor (+ GBP ?120)

CD-ROM, DVD and Read-Write Devices
==================================
12x DVD+RW/+R Drive + Software Decode Solution (+ GBP ?60)

Keyboard
========
Enhanced Quietkey? (Spacesaver) keyboard

Mouse
=====
Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Mouse

Support Service
===============
3 Year Onsite Service with Next Business Day Response



in all honesty, between the two computers, I dont see any differences (dont bust me for it, it's still 6:35 in the morning here now

-e-

[Hos]

um, yeah my bad, update is on it'w way :oops:

your more awake than i am

[Hos]

ok fixed now

[Kamal]

so the only difference between the 2 is the intel processor (i.e. 3.4 ghz / 3.0 ghz) ?? also why do you have ECC RAM on a workstation ?? IMO, ECC is more expensive and you will nearly never use its full potential on a workstation ESPECIALLY on a SINGLE USER WORKSTATION with 40 gigs of HD space

-e-

[Hos]

well one has a dual xeon and the other is single xeon but faster processor, the RAM option can be changed on both, but there will be lots of jobs running off our network drives.

[Kamal]

if the only comparison is a dual 3.0 ghz and a single 3.4 ghz, the choice is easy.... go for the dual machine....... since you are getting a workstation, its obvious you're going for multi-tasking and NOT multi-media...... you CANNOT go wrong with dual processing

-e-

[turban]

That's some fucking hardware! ?3000 on a PC these days.

What is it that you do?

[arielus]

DUAL XEON :RockOn:

Specially for your job, you can take advantage of those 2 processors for rendering faster in 3d Studio (if you know how to do that).


Is 40gb enough for the kind of work you do?

[LoUiS]

Dual Intel? Xeon? Processor (3.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB cache) (+ GBP ?610).Dual is better than single.The difference between the prices is very small so my advice:go for the second one!

[fumanchu182]

Think of it this way. The cpu works on a first come first serve basis on the interrupt channels. You need to run many threads from those programs so if you get the correct drivers from intel, when one interrupt on cpu1 is busy, cpu2 says: "give me some love" and does the work that would of been done on cpu1. At the end of the computation if cpu2 is not done before cpu1 is done, then cpu1 sits in wait mode, stores the info, and processes another thread in the meantime. CPU2 finally finishes then cpu1 gets an interrupt request and bang! done processing multiple threads in those programs.

Just put it this way, a year down the road you will be thinking to yourself thank god I got a dual processor system.

For those in the know, this is called the Fetch-Execute cycle...

[Civic_Zen]

How about this.

Screw Intel altogether and go with the AMD Opteron. You would still want a dual processor setup, (I recommend the Tyan Dual Socket 940 board) but AMD Opteron's are cheaper, faster, and 64-bit. So you will be MUCH better off in the future.

Right out of the box, Opteron's absolutely murder Xeon processor's, which are actually slower then a regular Pentium 4 at the same clock speed, but are much more stable of course which are why they are used in servers. With Opteron, you have the same stability and more power. Being that its 64-bit, its really an all around better choice for longevity.

[MJDub]

Agreed with Civic. Also, you might want to get a better monitor that actually has DVI input since you're getting a card with dual DVI IMO.

[fumanchu182]

Does dell support the AMD opteron?

[Hos]

Thanks for the responses guys. :wink:

Dual Xeons it is then. I can't wait to see this beast.

Dell don't do AMD :(

[willietwotooth]

you can order me up one too

[palmer]

What you AMD guys don't understand is.......

All of discreets modeling/3d applications are optimized for hyperthreading. And mental ray (a renderer packaged with their 3d applications) is optimized for dual processors (two buckets instead of one = twice as fast) Not to mention the quadro drivers produced for max. That thing will run the shit out of viz and max.

It may not run Halflife 2 as sweet as your opterons and ati cards but it will fucking own in production.


Hos you are very lucky my friend. The second setup is pretty close to what I'm building right now. Except I'll, hopefully, be running duals and another gig of RAM.

:Bingo:

[Kamal]

It may not run Halflife 2 as sweet as your opterons and ati cards but it will fucking own in production.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

-e-

[TheOutsider]

For a start DONT TOUCH anything from dell
Cpu: Dual Xeons or P4's is a must for 3d production belive me makes life alot easier.
Ram: 1gig is quite enough.. u could always get more (make sure they are dual matched pairs i.e. 2x512)
Vid Card: Maxtor make a card just for 3d production etc.
HDD: No need for a SCSI there over priced and overrated imo, Western Digital make a 10k rpm SATA hd 32gig and 74gig i belive.

[audiotherapy]

you could build like a few computers for a renderfarm...

[Neo]

HDD: No need for a SCSI there over priced and overrated imo, Western Digital make a 10k rpm SATA hd 32gig and 74gig i belive.

I believe it's the Raptor. Yeah if you really do the numbers price per gig per performance. I'd still go with SATA than SCSI.