Looking to update our Computers 3

[markmm7]

We have wrestled our budget money back from our IT department and are looking to get our own new computers. I have been searching for hardware that will last for about 2 to 3 years with the minimum amount of upgrading during that time (RAM will probably be the only thing that will need to be added to). Here is what I have come up with. We do some complicated modeling and are getting into some animations and Photoworks. Any help I can take to my manager is very welcome.

MB: Supermicro X7DA8
HD: 2 WD1500ADFD RAPTORS (10k RPM)
Video card: Quadra FX6500
RAM: 8 Gigs pc2-5300 (2 4 Gig sticks)
CPU: 2 xeon 5365 Quad core
OS: Win XP64 SP2
Case: TT Armor LCS
Monitor: 2 Samsung Syncmaster 204B 20.1 WS
Power supply: Antec TPQ-1000

Thanks

 

[Theophilus]

Consider multiple cores if you do renderings/rendered animations.

Also, whatever you do, stick with some version of Windows XP.

Looks like what you've got above will be fairly good if you're prepared to deal with the headaches that come with a 64-bit operating system from Microsoft. I know people with a similar set-up and they've been able to work out most of the bugs in getting peripherals to work properly.

You may get Stefan to comment on this thread, too, which would be a good thing.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[mx2street]

We had a pretty good thread about this a while back:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=190312

Tony

HP NW9440
2 GB RAM
Quadro FX 1500M (84.88)
Solidworks 2006 SP5.0
Solidworks 2007 SP4.0

 

[Eltron]

Can I have one too?

The most important part of a new system is the processor speed...Processor speed and the video card...The two most important parts of a new system are processor speed and the video card...and RAM...The three most important parts of any new system are processor speed, video card, RAM...and an almost fanatical devotion to the operating system...The four...No...amongst the most important...I'll come in again...

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

I believe Stefan had mentioned in a previous post that it is better to have 4x2GB RAM modules instead of 2x4GB ... something to do with the quad cores having individual access??? I will try to find the thread.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Here it is;
thread559-194992

 

[CFinley]

Make certain the hard disk drives are SATA II Professional grade (3-year warranty) to ensure long life. Otherwise you will get stuck with standard 'junk' class hard disk drives, and they will be a big PITA. I'm speaking from experience.

 

[markmm7]

OK so far i'm seeing some really good things that i missed. I have changed my RAM to 4 2 gig sticks and looked into the warranty for the hard drives...its a 5 year one. These are going to be leased machines so I'm not to worried about the warranty alot. Thanks for everyones help so far.

Mark

 

[looslib]

One thing to consider is hardware/software compatibility. Since I am guessing these machines are NOT from a top 5 manufacturer, will you have issues with finger pointing when something doesn't work the way it should. Most CAD vendors have a list of 'approved' systems, not components. While your components may be found in various 'approved' systems, the fact that they are not in an 'approved' system may cause issues.
UGS and PTC will both tell you that if you have an issue with the software, be sure you can duplicate the error on an approved system or they will write the error off as hardware related.
Just something to keep in mind.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[CFinley]

We could not find a Dell or Gateway which met our specs. However, we contacted CDW who provided the workstations we needed with the RAM, Professional series SATA hard disks, etc.

You will most likely end up with the HP Personal Workstation, which appears to be from the old COMPAQ company. Very nice.

Stay away from Dell if you want your machine to last for 5 years or more.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

markmm7 ... you listed a Quadra FX 6500 video card. Did you mean Quadro FX 5600? The 6500 only applies to the GeForce series ... which you would not want.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

See also Stefan's posting at thread559-194439.

I'm not sure I agree with the SAS hard drives. I would probably stay with a SATA raid setup. But Stefan is far more informed than I am on this stuff.

 

[StefanHamminga]

Well, the idea of SAS (and SCSI) drives is they basically suck when it comes to (caching) desktop stuff. The reason for this is that they are meant to be used with a proper RAID controller (who does the caching and read/write strategies). Problem is that Areca is the only one I know of who actually optimizes their RAID controllers for workstation use. So while in general the WD Raptor SATA drives are faster, there are exceptions like the Areca SAS controller I named.

When the budget is a little less I would definetly go for the ARC-1680 with 2GB, BBU (needed for safe use of writeback cache) and 4 74GB WD Raptors (SATA drives).

CBL is right on the dimms, always use a minimum of 4, since the memory controller can access 4 simultaniously.

Looks like a pretty good config otherwise.

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer
Searching Eng-Tips forums

 

[markmm7]

When I go and look at the hard drives it says that the Hard Drives I listed are SATA drives.

CBL you are correct thats supposed to read Quadra FX 6500 video card. Was a typo on my part.

Stefan The problem for me is that my company dosent want to even acknowledge that we need more then a single 40 - 60 Gig HD. To get them to go for 4 would take a miracle. What is the difference between SATA 0, 1 and 10?

We use CDW to lease our machines but they have never even gotten the right equipment in them, and then we have to wait for it to either get sent or just live with it for 3 years.

 

[StefanHamminga]

spending that much on a pc and using a single low-end drive is just plain stupid...

Here is a RAID explanation from a previous post I made in a different forum:

RAID is a way of using multiple hard drives in your pc to increase performance, reliablility and storage space.

The drives used for RAID disappear from windows sight as the RAID chip in your PC hides them. The RAID volume you create can be used as any single drive.

RAID has a couple of forms:

RAID0: This is combining 2 or more drives, performance will improve to about 180% of a single drive using 2 drives. Storage is that of both drives combined. Lose one drive you lose all data!

RAID1: The data gets written to both drives. Read performance is double that of a single drive, write performance similar to a single drive. Storage is that of one drive. Lose one drive and only notice degraded performance no data loss. Realworld workstation performance is actually very close to RAID0.

RAID5: Takes minimum of 3 disks. Read performance is 2-3 times that of a single drive. Write performance is equal or lower than a single drive. Storage is about 2 drives worth. Having a good RAID controller makes or breaks this one. You can lose 1 drive without much concequence.

RAID 10 and 01 combine RAID 1 and 0 and thus need 4 drives.

I would opt for at least 2 drives in RAID 1, if not for performance than for ease of use... You will know what I mean when your single drive crashes...

After you located the backup, found out the assembly you worked on all day is corrupt and the new hard drive wasn't in stock you think "I wish I could have just plugged in a new drive in my 5 minute coffee break..."

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer
Searching Eng-Tips forums

 

[markmm7]

So would this be better then what my spec started out at? (changed the HD's to 4 74 gig drives for the raid 10 and added the controller). Also do you think I need the LCS case or would a regular case be ok. Is the xeon 5565 at 3.0 GHz worth the price over the xeon 5355?

MB: Supermicro X7DA8
HD: 4 SATA WD740ADFD RAPTORS (10k RPM)in Raid 10 config
Video card: Quadra FX5600
RAM: 8 Gigs pc2-5300 (2 4 Gig sticks)
CPU: 2 xeon 5365 Quad core
OS: Win XP64 SP2
Case: TT Armor LCS
Monitor: 2 Samsung Syncmaster 204B 20.1 WS
Power supply: Antec TPQ-1000
Areca ARC-RMD22G Raid Controller

 

[StefanHamminga]

Allmost ;-)

You would want to have:

MB: Supermicro X7DA8
HD: 4x SATA WD740ADFD RAID 10
Video card: Quadro FX5600
RAM: 8 Gigs pc2-5300 (4x 2GB)
CPU: 2 xeon 5365 Quad core
OS: Win XP64 SP2
Case: TT Armor LCS
Monitor: 2 Samsung Syncmaster 204B 20.1 WS
Power supply: Antec TPQ-1000
Areca ARC-1680 SATA RAID Controller (actually can use SAS and SATA drives, but priced better than their high end SATA controllers)
Areca ARC-RMD22G Cache upgrade (2BG)
Areca ARC-6120 Battery backup (you can do without the 2GB upgrade, but you should always use a battery backup)

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer
Searching Eng-Tips forums

 

[markmm7]

Thank you all. Now lets see what my company will do.