Another new rig

[Anonymous]

Well, I finally decided to upgrade a bit. The old PIII-600 w/Win98 was
getting a mite sluggish, and Betty's machine was beating the pants off me.
I started to build another one, but since I'm a bit behind the times I
decided to just buy one - a Dell Precision 650.

I could have used dual 2.4G processors instead of the 2.8G for another
couple hundred bucks, but made the decision to go this way. If I ever have
a reason for the dual processors I can always add another I suppose.

Intel® Xeon™ Processor, 2.80GHz, 533 FSB, 512K L2 Cache
E7505 Chipset with 533MHz FSB
2GB Dual Channel, ECC, DDR266MHz SDRAM Memory (4 DIMMS)
Integrated ATA/100 EIDE controller
Integrated U320 SCSI controller featuring high-performance RAID 0
nVidia, Quadro4 900XGL, 128MB, VGA/DVI (dual monitor capable)
80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
??X CD-RW
16X DVD-ROM and 48X/24X/48X CD-RW with Decode Solution, PWS
Enhanced Performance Keyboard, USB (8 Hot Keys)
Logitech, 2 button OPTICAL Mouse w/scroll, USB
56K, v.92 data/fax modem, PCI
HarmonKardon, HK395, High-End Speakers, 2.0, w/subwoofer
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP1, using NTFS
Hyper-Threading feature set to "ON."

I already have two 21" monitors to use with this rig. The nVidia card
lacks many features that the Matrox cards have that I've been using,
though.

Oh, yeah. This thing has a 460W power supply *under* the computer, with
two fans. It also has two processor fans in the rear and a card fan in the
front. It has an 8X AGP slot, 2-32-bit 33MHz slots, and 3-64-bit 100MHz
slots. For ports it has the usual keyboard and mouse, a 10/100/1000 NIC, 1
par, 2 ser, 6 USB 2.0 (2 front & 4 rear) 2 IEEE 1394a (1 front & 1 rear),
and the 3 rear audio ports plus a mic and earphone ports on the front.

The case doesn't *come* apart - it *swings* apart with the drives mounted
in the door. Too bad they didn't make the cables long enough to open the
door fully without unplugging something. Also, they connected both CD
drives to one channel and both HD's to the other channel. Looks like I
need to replace some cables. I'm gonna miss the SCSI drives, too. I could
boot from either drive with the old one.

Unaware that this thing included two CD drives, I also ordered a Sony
DRU-500a (on backorder). I think I'll cancel it though as I don't
currently have anything that will use DVD. Of course $305 wasn't a bad
price for it.

One last note: BeLarc Advisor ain't so smart. It says I have two
processors installed. Perhaps it sensed the hyperthreading.

Since the only thing I use it for beyond the usual stuff is plain vanilla
AutoCAD, it should make a good "home" system, don't you think?
--
Dave D (drop the dash to reply)
May you always find Peace, Love, and Happiness in all that you do!

[Anonymous]

Dave -

Nice sounding system. There is this amazing thing you can do with
that DVD - play movies. You do have a video/DVD rental place up
in the wilderness right? Movie on one screen, work on the
other?

Anne

David Doane wrote:
>
> Well, I finally decided to upgrade a bit.

[Anonymous]

>>Since the only thing I use it for beyond the usual stuff is plain vanilla
>>AutoCAD, it should make a good "home" system, don't you think?

Home system? (edited)... nice.
Are you using that SCSI controller?

[Anonymous]

>Since the only thing I use it for beyond the usual stuff is plain vanilla
>AutoCAD, it should make a good "home" system, don't you think?

Holy (edited), David - this is a HUGE system. This baby has to be running
you some serious $$$. I can't help think that you "overbought" unless
you are running 3Ds max, viz, or other high-energy graphics
application

And $305 for a DVD recorder is a fantastic price.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[Anonymous]

4K for a home system. Pardon me, but that's more dollars than sense. What do
you actually plan on doing with this beast?

The only reason I say anything is that I think this sort of thing is what
makes people (general consumers,) go out an buy a 3K or 4K system that
they'll never do anything more than watch a movie on or run Word. This is
like buying an H2 to go get milk.
--
James Wedding, P.E.
IT Manager
Jones & Boyd, Inc.
Dallas, TX
jwedding@*NOSPAM*jones-boyd.com

Search before you ask, it's been asked before.

[Anonymous]

But isn't it nice knowing you do not have to scrap your honda civic to go
get the milk in the one foot of snow that just fell! 🙂
Also it's more fun to burn cd's, download mp3, surf the web and chat all at
the same time


"James Wedding" wrote in message
news:BE26833E1C4B1555CB5CD02E4B530755@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> 4K for a home system. Pardon me, but that's more dollars than sense. What
do
> you actually plan on doing with this beast?
>
> The only reason I say anything is that I think this sort of thing is what
> makes people (general consumers,) go out an buy a 3K or 4K system that
> they'll never do anything more than watch a movie on or run Word. This is
> like buying an H2 to go get milk.
> --
> James Wedding, P.E.
> IT Manager
> Jones & Boyd, Inc.
> Dallas, TX
> jwedding@*NOSPAM*jones-boyd.com
>
> Search before you ask, it's been asked before.
>
>

[Anonymous]

Are you getting a T-1 line to go with it?

"David Doane" wrote in message >
> I could have used dual 2.4G processors instead of the 2.8G for another
> couple hundred bucks, but made the decision to go this way. If I ever
have
> a reason for the dual processors I can always add another I suppose.
>
> Intel® XeonT Processor, 2.80GHz, 533 FSB, 512K L2 Cache
> E7505 Chipset with 533MHz FSB
> 2GB Dual Channel, ECC, DDR266MHz SDRAM Memory (4 DIMMS)
> Integrated ATA/100 EIDE controller
> Integrated U320 SCSI controller featuring high-performance RAID 0
> nVidia, Quadro4 900XGL, 128MB, VGA/DVI (dual monitor capable)
> 80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
> 80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
> ??X CD-RW
> 16X DVD-ROM and 48X/24X/48X CD-RW with Decode Solution, PWS
> Enhanced Performance Keyboard, USB (8 Hot Keys)
> Logitech, 2 button OPTICAL Mouse w/scroll, USB
> 56K, v.92 data/fax modem, PCI
> HarmonKardon, HK395, High-End Speakers, 2.0, w/subwoofer
> Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP1, using NTFS
> Hyper-Threading feature set to "ON."
>
> I already have two 21" monitors to use with this rig. The nVidia card
> lacks many features that the Matrox cards have that I've been using,
> though.
>
> Oh, yeah. This thing has a 460W power supply *under* the computer, with
> two fans. It also has two processor fans in the rear and a card fan in
the
> front. It has an 8X AGP slot, 2-32-bit 33MHz slots, and 3-64-bit 100MHz
> slots. For ports it has the usual keyboard and mouse, a 10/100/1000 NIC,
1
> par, 2 ser, 6 USB 2.0 (2 front & 4 rear) 2 IEEE 1394a (1 front & 1 rear),
> and the 3 rear audio ports plus a mic and earphone ports on the front.
>
> The case doesn't *come* apart - it *swings* apart with the drives mounted
> in the door. Too bad they didn't make the cables long enough to open the
> door fully without unplugging something. Also, they connected both CD
> drives to one channel and both HD's to the other channel. Looks like I
> need to replace some cables. I'm gonna miss the SCSI drives, too. I
could
> boot from either drive with the old one.
>
> Unaware that this thing included two CD drives, I also ordered a Sony
> DRU-500a (on backorder). I think I'll cancel it though as I don't
> currently have anything that will use DVD. Of course $305 wasn't a bad
> price for it.
>

[Anonymous]

Is 2 GB really necessary for a home rig? I had a hard time convincing
myself that the 1 GB I just bought was not overkill...

in a home rig, you would get very little use out of the dual processor
rig...the proof is in the lackluster gains that hyperthreading is showing
(unless you look at benchmarks performed by Intel themselves, of course...)


"David Doane" wrote in message
news:1D377C0D658B00D27F2A7DE379E5B21A@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Well, I finally decided to upgrade a bit. The old PIII-600 w/Win98 was
> getting a mite sluggish, and Betty's machine was beating the pants off me.
> I started to build another one, but since I'm a bit behind the times I
> decided to just buy one - a Dell Precision 650.
>
> I could have used dual 2.4G processors instead of the 2.8G for another
> couple hundred bucks, but made the decision to go this way. If I ever
have
> a reason for the dual processors I can always add another I suppose.
>
> Intel® XeonT Processor, 2.80GHz, 533 FSB, 512K L2 Cache
> E7505 Chipset with 533MHz FSB
> 2GB Dual Channel, ECC, DDR266MHz SDRAM Memory (4 DIMMS)
> Integrated ATA/100 EIDE controller
> Integrated U320 SCSI controller featuring high-performance RAID 0
> nVidia, Quadro4 900XGL, 128MB, VGA/DVI (dual monitor capable)
> 80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
> 80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
> ??X CD-RW
> 16X DVD-ROM and 48X/24X/48X CD-RW with Decode Solution, PWS
> Enhanced Performance Keyboard, USB (8 Hot Keys)
> Logitech, 2 button OPTICAL Mouse w/scroll, USB
> 56K, v.92 data/fax modem, PCI
> HarmonKardon, HK395, High-End Speakers, 2.0, w/subwoofer
> Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP1, using NTFS
> Hyper-Threading feature set to "ON."
>
> I already have two 21" monitors to use with this rig. The nVidia card
> lacks many features that the Matrox cards have that I've been using,
> though.
>
> Oh, yeah. This thing has a 460W power supply *under* the computer, with
> two fans. It also has two processor fans in the rear and a card fan in
the
> front. It has an 8X AGP slot, 2-32-bit 33MHz slots, and 3-64-bit 100MHz
> slots. For ports it has the usual keyboard and mouse, a 10/100/1000 NIC,
1
> par, 2 ser, 6 USB 2.0 (2 front & 4 rear) 2 IEEE 1394a (1 front & 1 rear),
> and the 3 rear audio ports plus a mic and earphone ports on the front.
>
> The case doesn't *come* apart - it *swings* apart with the drives mounted
> in the door. Too bad they didn't make the cables long enough to open the
> door fully without unplugging something. Also, they connected both CD
> drives to one channel and both HD's to the other channel. Looks like I
> need to replace some cables. I'm gonna miss the SCSI drives, too. I
could
> boot from either drive with the old one.
>
> Unaware that this thing included two CD drives, I also ordered a Sony
> DRU-500a (on backorder). I think I'll cancel it though as I don't
> currently have anything that will use DVD. Of course $305 wasn't a bad
> price for it.
>
> One last note: BeLarc Advisor ain't so smart. It says I have two
> processors installed. Perhaps it sensed the hyperthreading.
>
> Since the only thing I use it for beyond the usual stuff is plain vanilla
> AutoCAD, it should make a good "home" system, don't you think?
> --
> Dave D (drop the dash to reply)
> May you always find Peace, Love, and Happiness in all that you do!
>
>
>

[Anonymous]

what i'd say is, when is it too much???.... i mean the system is going to be
outdated in 3 years or so anyway, so why not buy the biggest and best if you
can?... then, no updating is needed (or very little)..... great system,
David... are you using the RAID setup?

[Anonymous]

The controller is part of the system, but I wouldn't spend the bucks for
the SCSI drives. The PIII that I built is all SCSI, 2-HD's, 2-CD's and a
scanner. If I get a cable to go from the Mobo to a door I can connect the
scanner.

I'm going to miss the versatility of the SCSI where I could copy one
complete drive to another with System Commander, then boot from the second
drive if the first one crashed. Perhaps two smaller SCSI drives would have
made more sense.

"F. Gump" wrote in message
news:6F40C570205DA1762AE856D75EAC62A1@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> >>Since the only thing I use it for beyond the usual stuff is plain
vanilla
> >>AutoCAD, it should make a good "home" system, don't you think?
>
> Home system? (edited)... nice.
> Are you using that SCSI controller?

[Anonymous]

And I have absolutely no DVD stuff in the house. 😞

Now Anne. You know that while women can do several things at once, a man
can only do one thing at a time. I know this because Betty told me so.
(She'll never live it down, either)

"Anne Brown" wrote in message
news:3E105EEF.11527E95@autodesk.com...
> Dave -
>
> Nice sounding system. There is this amazing thing you can do with
> that DVD - play movies. You do have a video/DVD rental place up
> in the wilderness right? Movie on one screen, work on the
> other?
>
> Anne
>
> David Doane wrote:
> >
> > Well, I finally decided to upgrade a bit.

[Anonymous]

Nope. Not running anything. The only "games" I might play are slinging
elves with a pink brassier. I have saturated this Win98 system so
badly that it would suspend the elves in mid-air. Probably when I reformat
the drives it will be a passable machine again. I have the patience of
Jobe when it comes to tinkering, but I hate waiting on a darn computer.

Think I should keep the DVD recorder, eh? I don't like to buy anything
newly out on the market, but Jim Mimms seems to be enjoying his.

"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:75711v8e2hhbnjs3jrmg4u7af8qmk21uqt@4ax.com...
> >Since the only thing I use it for beyond the usual stuff is plain
vanilla
> >AutoCAD, it should make a good "home" system, don't you think?
>
> Holy (edited), David - this is a HUGE system. This baby has to be running
> you some serious $$$. I can't help think that you "overbought" unless
> you are running 3Ds max, viz, or other high-energy graphics
> application
>
> And $305 for a DVD recorder is a fantastic price.
>
> Matt
> mstachoni@comcast.net
> mstachoni@bhhtait.com
>
>
>

[Anonymous]

Yup. It's like buying a Cadilliac when a Chevy will carry you down the
road just as well, and a whole lot cheaper.

"James Wedding" wrote in message
news:BE26833E1C4B1555CB5CD02E4B530755@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> 4K for a home system. Pardon me, but that's more dollars than sense. What
do
> you actually plan on doing with this beast?
>
> The only reason I say anything is that I think this sort of thing is what
> makes people (general consumers,) go out an buy a 3K or 4K system that
> they'll never do anything more than watch a movie on or run Word. This is
> like buying an H2 to go get milk.
> --
> James Wedding, P.E.
> IT Manager
> Jones & Boyd, Inc.
> Dallas, TX
> jwedding@*NOSPAM*jones-boyd.com
>
> Search before you ask, it's been asked before.
>
>

[Anonymous]

I wish. The best I will ever be able to do out here in the boonies is
26,400 on a land line. I do use a Satellite system for downloads, though.

"Mr.X" wrote in message
news:C68C2EA8092ADC09C55849F30C81B9FF@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Are you getting a T-1 line to go with it?
>
> "David Doane" wrote in message >
> > I could have used dual 2.4G processors instead of the 2.8G for another
> > couple hundred bucks, but made the decision to go this way. If I ever
> have
> > a reason for the dual processors I can always add another I suppose.
> >
> > Intel® XeonT Processor, 2.80GHz, 533 FSB, 512K L2 Cache
> > E7505 Chipset with 533MHz FSB
> > 2GB Dual Channel, ECC, DDR266MHz SDRAM Memory (4 DIMMS)
> > Integrated ATA/100 EIDE controller
> > Integrated U320 SCSI controller featuring high-performance RAID 0
> > nVidia, Quadro4 900XGL, 128MB, VGA/DVI (dual monitor capable)
> > 80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
> > 80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
> > ??X CD-RW
> > 16X DVD-ROM and 48X/24X/48X CD-RW with Decode Solution, PWS
> > Enhanced Performance Keyboard, USB (8 Hot Keys)
> > Logitech, 2 button OPTICAL Mouse w/scroll, USB
> > 56K, v.92 data/fax modem, PCI
> > HarmonKardon, HK395, High-End Speakers, 2.0, w/subwoofer
> > Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP1, using NTFS
> > Hyper-Threading feature set to "ON."
> >
> > I already have two 21" monitors to use with this rig. The nVidia card
> > lacks many features that the Matrox cards have that I've been using,
> > though.
> >
> > Oh, yeah. This thing has a 460W power supply *under* the computer,
with
> > two fans. It also has two processor fans in the rear and a card fan in
> the
> > front. It has an 8X AGP slot, 2-32-bit 33MHz slots, and 3-64-bit
100MHz
> > slots. For ports it has the usual keyboard and mouse, a 10/100/1000
NIC,
> 1
> > par, 2 ser, 6 USB 2.0 (2 front & 4 rear) 2 IEEE 1394a (1 front & 1
rear),
> > and the 3 rear audio ports plus a mic and earphone ports on the front.
> >
> > The case doesn't *come* apart - it *swings* apart with the drives
mounted
> > in the door. Too bad they didn't make the cables long enough to open
the
> > door fully without unplugging something. Also, they connected both CD
> > drives to one channel and both HD's to the other channel. Looks like I
> > need to replace some cables. I'm gonna miss the SCSI drives, too. I
> could
> > boot from either drive with the old one.
> >
> > Unaware that this thing included two CD drives, I also ordered a Sony
> > DRU-500a (on backorder). I think I'll cancel it though as I don't
> > currently have anything that will use DVD. Of course $305 wasn't a bad
> > price for it.
> >
>
>
>

[Anonymous]

No, the 2 GB isn't necessary today, but what about a year from now? I feel
much more comfortable buying all of the memory at once rather than adding
later.

I agree on the dual processors as to any one program. There might be an
advantage to have two if I were running two intensive programs at once.
However, I wouldn't go the extra 1200 bucks for the second one, although I
could have dropped back to 2.4 gig and got dual procs for another 200
bucks.

"Jon Rizzo" wrote in message
news:718C77135C511DD0BEBD930C331E4EC6@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Is 2 GB really necessary for a home rig? I had a hard time convincing
> myself that the 1 GB I just bought was not overkill...
>
> in a home rig, you would get very little use out of the dual processor
> rig...the proof is in the lackluster gains that hyperthreading is showing
> (unless you look at benchmarks performed by Intel themselves, of
course...)
>
>
> "David Doane" wrote in message
> news:1D377C0D658B00D27F2A7DE379E5B21A@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > Well, I finally decided to upgrade a bit. The old PIII-600 w/Win98 was
> > getting a mite sluggish, and Betty's machine was beating the pants off
me.
> > I started to build another one, but since I'm a bit behind the times I
> > decided to just buy one - a Dell Precision 650.
> >
> > I could have used dual 2.4G processors instead of the 2.8G for another
> > couple hundred bucks, but made the decision to go this way. If I ever
> have
> > a reason for the dual processors I can always add another I suppose.
> >
> > Intel® XeonT Processor, 2.80GHz, 533 FSB, 512K L2 Cache
> > E7505 Chipset with 533MHz FSB
> > 2GB Dual Channel, ECC, DDR266MHz SDRAM Memory (4 DIMMS)
> > Integrated ATA/100 EIDE controller
> > Integrated U320 SCSI controller featuring high-performance RAID 0
> > nVidia, Quadro4 900XGL, 128MB, VGA/DVI (dual monitor capable)
> > 80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
> > 80GB ATA-100 IDE, 1 inch (7200 rpm)
> > ??X CD-RW
> > 16X DVD-ROM and 48X/24X/48X CD-RW with Decode Solution, PWS
> > Enhanced Performance Keyboard, USB (8 Hot Keys)
> > Logitech, 2 button OPTICAL Mouse w/scroll, USB
> > 56K, v.92 data/fax modem, PCI
> > HarmonKardon, HK395, High-End Speakers, 2.0, w/subwoofer
> > Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional, SP1, using NTFS
> > Hyper-Threading feature set to "ON."
> >
> > I already have two 21" monitors to use with this rig. The nVidia card
> > lacks many features that the Matrox cards have that I've been using,
> > though.
> >
> > Oh, yeah. This thing has a 460W power supply *under* the computer,
with
> > two fans. It also has two processor fans in the rear and a card fan in
> the
> > front. It has an 8X AGP slot, 2-32-bit 33MHz slots, and 3-64-bit
100MHz
> > slots. For ports it has the usual keyboard and mouse, a 10/100/1000
NIC,
> 1
> > par, 2 ser, 6 USB 2.0 (2 front & 4 rear) 2 IEEE 1394a (1 front & 1
rear),
> > and the 3 rear audio ports plus a mic and earphone ports on the front.
> >
> > The case doesn't *come* apart - it *swings* apart with the drives
mounted
> > in the door. Too bad they didn't make the cables long enough to open
the
> > door fully without unplugging something. Also, they connected both CD
> > drives to one channel and both HD's to the other channel. Looks like I
> > need to replace some cables. I'm gonna miss the SCSI drives, too. I
> could
> > boot from either drive with the old one.
> >
> > Unaware that this thing included two CD drives, I also ordered a Sony
> > DRU-500a (on backorder). I think I'll cancel it though as I don't
> > currently have anything that will use DVD. Of course $305 wasn't a bad
> > price for it.
> >
> > One last note: BeLarc Advisor ain't so smart. It says I have two
> > processors installed. Perhaps it sensed the hyperthreading.
> >
> > Since the only thing I use it for beyond the usual stuff is plain
vanilla
> > AutoCAD, it should make a good "home" system, don't you think?
> > --
> > Dave D (drop the dash to reply)
> > May you always find Peace, Love, and Happiness in all that you do!
> >
> >
> >
>
>

[Anonymous]

No, on the RAID system. From what I have heard around here, when something
crashes the whole thing is down the drain anyway. Of course I understand
very little about RAID.

My solution is to frequently back up to a second machine, and /or the
second drive. What I'd like to do is make an identical copy of the first
HD on the second HD after installing something. I could do it with System
Commander, but since this is formatted NTFS with no DOS partition I doubt
that it would work. More investigating, I guess.

"Steven Eric Ondrias" wrote in message
news:D1C0E7D2DE7A2351CDAFD4FD5DF6012D@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> what i'd say is, when is it too much???.... i mean the system is going to
be
> outdated in 3 years or so anyway, so why not buy the biggest and best if
you
> can?... then, no updating is needed (or very little)..... great system,
> David... are you using the RAID setup?
>
>

[Anonymous]

On Mon, 30 Dec 2002 13:38:58 -0800, "Jon Rizzo"
com> wrote:


>in a home rig, you would get very little use out of the dual processor
>rig...the proof is in the lackluster gains that hyperthreading is showing
>(unless you look at benchmarks performed by Intel themselves, of course...)

That's patently untrue. The "lackluster" gains in Hyperthreading are
due to a couple of things:

1. Benchmarks that do not appropriately stress dual CPU rigs
2. The fact that Hyperthreaded systems share internal CPU resources,
whereas dedicated dual-CPU systems do not.
3. Software that has as of yet not been compiled using Intel's new
compilers that enable better performance gains via Hyperthreading.

I've seen several benchmarks using apps that use and stress SMP (3ds
max), that show HUGE gains in rendering using HT, especially when the
system is performing other tasks like encoding MP3s and so on. In
other benchmarks, the performance gains were nil or, in some cases, in
the negative numbers (the machine performed worse with HT enabled). In
most cases this was simply because of lousy benchmarking software
tests.

You simply cannot judge SMP based on Hyperthreading, because it's
basicaly like a system with 1-1/2 CPUs, not two.

I've run dual CPU machines for several years, and I would have a hard
time recommending a single CPU machine for anyone who uses more than
one power hungry app at a time. Unless they are gamers jumping from a
1GHz PC or slower, because moving to a 2.53GHz single P4 CPU machine
will blow their minds anyway.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[Anonymous]

> I've seen several benchmarks using apps that use and stress SMP (3ds
> max), that show HUGE gains in rendering using HT, especially when the
> system is performing other tasks like encoding MP3s and so on. In
> other benchmarks, the performance gains were nil or, in some cases, in
> the negative numbers (the machine performed worse with HT enabled). In
> most cases this was simply because of lousy benchmarking software
> tests.

I know that you always have to get the last word in, so I'll stop here - he
built a "home" system. Of course 3ds Max will benefit from multiple
processors, but most people don't consider 3ds Max to be standard fare on a
"home" system. Even if you wanted to model on it (and had a legal copy of
it), it would be far better to render to your company's farm than the best
single workstation you could build. There is a point when a home system is
just a work computer that happens to be in your house, but that's not what I
was referring to. Personally, I can't say that I've ever had the need to
encode MP3's while playing Mech Assault while simultaneously filing my taxes
and surfing the internet.

[Anonymous]

On Tue, 31 Dec 2002 04:50:20 -0800, "Jon Rizzo"
com> wrote:

>I know that you always have to get the last word in, so I'll stop here - he
>built a "home" system. Of course 3ds Max will benefit from multiple
>processors, but most people don't consider 3ds Max to be standard fare on a
>"home" system.

You'll get no arguments from me on this - I think David's system is
WAY outside the realm of a typical "home" system, especially if it's
not doing any serious grunt work.

Not that there's anything worng with that,though.

>Even if you wanted to model on it (and had a legal copy of
>it), it would be far better to render to your company's farm than the best
>single workstation you could build.

Well, that's assuming you _have_ a farm (and a job) to begin with 🙂
However, I somewhat disagree - I've found that my home system performs
much better than my work machine on many tasks, if nothing else than
because the network starts to become a serious bottleneck in overall
performance with larger files.

>Personally, I can't say that I've ever had the need to
>encode MP3's while playing Mech Assault while simultaneously filing my taxes
>and surfing the internet.

But that's not my point - I was stating that to diss dual-cpu systems
based on the (early) performance benchmarks of Hyperthreading systems
is wrong.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

[Anonymous]

How did you two not meet at AU? I'd have bought the drinks just to watch the
fur fly...

*snark*

--
James Wedding, P.E.
IT Manager
Jones & Boyd, Inc.
Dallas, TX
jwedding@*NOSPAM*jones-boyd.com

Search before you ask, it's been asked before.