Workstation Suggestions

[Anonymous]

Hello All,

I am a new member to this forum and to inventor and am looking for some help. The company I work for is about to purchase workstations and laptops intended to run Inventor. I have been researching build-it-yourself sites like dell or IBM to create the workstations and laptops, but do not know if that is a good idea. The possibility or using SGI workstations has recently been considered.

I was wondering what everyone would recommend we purchase and why. We value power, reliability, and support more than cost so feel free to suggest any system.

Thanks in advance.

Raul

[Anonymous]

From what I heard, HP has workstations that were tested by Autodesk and are very good for Inventor. Alon "rescutia" wrote in message news:10367401.1077430938255.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > Hello All, > > I am a new member to this forum and to inventor and am looking for some help. The company I work for is about to purchase workstations and laptops intended to run Inventor. I have been researching build-it-yourself sites like dell or IBM to create the workstations and laptops, but do not know if that is a good idea. The possibility or using SGI workstations has recently been considered. > > I was wondering what everyone would recommend we purchase and why. We value power, reliability, and support more than cost so feel free to suggest any system. > > Thanks in advance. > > Raul

[Anonymous]

Does SGI make Windows workstations? I haven't seen one. Inventor is a Windows app. AFAIK, no *nix port is available. I wouldn't really call Dell and IBM "build-it-yourself." I buy Dell Precision workstations, and yes, you specify several of the components but the pc arrives fully assembled and tested. They're ready to go out of the box. For specifications, all of Peter's advice is good. I would add: - Inventor doesn't use dual processors anymore. If you won't be doing heavy multitasking and don't have other apps that need it, go with a single P4 with the faster front side bus instead of dual Xeon. - Digital flat panel LCD's are worth every penny. - Dual monitors are a user preference, not a necessity. If you're unsure, I'd try a single monitor on a dual-capable video card. You can always plug in a second monitor to try it out. And like Peter said, definitely get a Spaceball or other 3D input device. George "rescutia"wrote ... > Hello All, > > I am a new member to this forum and to inventor and am looking for some help. The company I work for is about to purchase workstations and laptops intended to run Inventor. I have been researching build-it-yourself sites like dell or IBM to create the workstations and laptops, but do not know if that is a good idea. The possibility or using SGI workstations has recently been considered. > > I was wondering what everyone would recommend we purchase and why. We value power, reliability, and support more than cost so feel free to suggest any system. > > Thanks in advance. > > Raul

[Anonymous]

Peter, How exactly do you keep your OS/programs, IV data and swap file on separate hard drives? That means the machine should have 3 hard drives???? What kind of hard drives are best? Is a SCSI necessary or is something like a 10K SATA ok? I am needing to put together a new workstation and have been talking to Xi Computer Corp about their AMD 64 workstations. Many Thanks, Bill w.geissele at pandrolusa dot com "Peter Blazejewicz" wrote in message news:403886aa_1@newsprd01... > I know a lot of people here can give you better and more qualified advice > than I can, but to give you something to start on: > > Laptops: > There seems to be a general consensus on the Dell M60 being the choice > beyond dispute. > Hint: On the Dell website you'll find this particular laptop in the > Workstation area. > > General recommendations: > Plenty of RAM, and the fastest RAM / Bus you can get. > Choose your graphics adapter from the nVidia Quadro line, the FX3000 being > the ultimate choice. > Fast harddisks. Fast data access is crucial to Inventor. It is a good idea > to keep your OS / programs, your swapfile and your Inventor data on separate > disks. > If you are going to keep your Inventor data on a network server, make sure > to use a dedicated server for this purpose only, and use a 1 Gb/s network. > Consider a dual monitor setup (the nVidia Quadro cards handles this nicely). > Get yourself a 3D input device of some kind. > > > (Anne/Kent: Sorry for posting this message in two NG's) > > -- > Peter Blazejewicz > > > Hardware: > Custom built box > MoBo: ASUS A7V333-RAID (VIA KT333 chipset) > CPU: AMD Athlon XP2000+ > RAM: 1,5 GB (3x512 MB DDR333 (PC2700) Kingston) > Swapfile: 4 GB (fixed size) on C: > Disks: 2x80 GB IDE 7200 rpm (in RAID-0 configuration) > CD: Samsung RW 24-10-40 > Floppy: 1,44 MB 3½" > LAN: 10/100 Mb/s PCI-card > Wacom Graphire ET-0405-R Tablet > LogiCad 3D Controller (Magellan SpaceMouse Classic) > Graphics: nVidia Quadro 4 XGL700 (6.14.10.4403 driver) > Dual monitor setup: > 1) ViewSonic GS815, 21", 1600x1200, 32-bit, 85 Hz > 2) Compaq MV900, 19", 1280x1024, 32-bit, 85 Hz > > Software: > Windows XP Pro (DK) > Internet Explorer 6.0 (DK) SP1 > Norton System Works 2003 > Autodesk Inventor Series 7.0 SP1 > MS Office 2000 Developer > Mathcad 2000 Pro > Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Pro > ...and loads of other stuff.... > >

[Anonymous]

By (3) different drives, you can accomplish this with several partitions on one hard drive. The WD Raptors (36GB 10K) are good reliable solution. A pair of them in a striped RAID is even faster - like 60-80% faster yet - but if one goes your done. They're around $135 each on newegg.com for comparison. I don't know what Xi would sell them for. A second choice is a pair of the Seagate 7200.7 SATA's in striped RAID 0. SCSI is a more reliable solution to the above IMO. It depends on what the workstation is doing. If you don't care if you walk in one day and your drive is dead, I'd do the pair of Raptors. Kickasssss. Of primary consideration - you almost MUST have an nVidia Quadro video card put in. "William H. Geissele pandrolusa.com>" wrote in message news:40f6a6f8$1_1@newsprd01... > Peter, > > How exactly do you keep your OS/programs, IV data and swap file on separate > hard drives? That means the machine should have 3 hard drives???? > > What kind of hard drives are best? Is a SCSI necessary or is something like > a 10K SATA ok? > > I am needing to put together a new workstation and have been talking to Xi > Computer Corp about their AMD 64 workstations. > > Many Thanks, > > Bill > > w.geissele at pandrolusa dot com > > "Peter Blazejewicz" wrote in message > news:403886aa_1@newsprd01... > > I know a lot of people here can give you better and more qualified advice > > than I can, but to give you something to start on: > > > > Laptops: > > There seems to be a general consensus on the Dell M60 being the choice > > beyond dispute. > > Hint: On the Dell website you'll find this particular laptop in the > > Workstation area. > > > > General recommendations: > > Plenty of RAM, and the fastest RAM / Bus you can get. > > Choose your graphics adapter from the nVidia Quadro line, the FX3000 being > > the ultimate choice. > > Fast harddisks. Fast data access is crucial to Inventor. It is a good idea > > to keep your OS / programs, your swapfile and your Inventor data on > separate > > disks. > > If you are going to keep your Inventor data on a network server, make sure > > to use a dedicated server for this purpose only, and use a 1 Gb/s network. > > Consider a dual monitor setup (the nVidia Quadro cards handles this > nicely). > > Get yourself a 3D input device of some kind. > > > > > > (Anne/Kent: Sorry for posting this message in two NG's) > > > > -- > > Peter Blazejewicz > > > > > > Hardware: > > Custom built box > > MoBo: ASUS A7V333-RAID (VIA KT333 chipset) > > CPU: AMD Athlon XP2000+ > > RAM: 1,5 GB (3x512 MB DDR333 (PC2700) Kingston) > > Swapfile: 4 GB (fixed size) on C: > > Disks: 2x80 GB IDE 7200 rpm (in RAID-0 configuration) > > CD: Samsung RW 24-10-40 > > Floppy: 1,44 MB 3½" > > LAN: 10/100 Mb/s PCI-card > > Wacom Graphire ET-0405-R Tablet > > LogiCad 3D Controller (Magellan SpaceMouse Classic) > > Graphics: nVidia Quadro 4 XGL700 (6.14.10.4403 driver) > > Dual monitor setup: > > 1) ViewSonic GS815, 21", 1600x1200, 32-bit, 85 Hz > > 2) Compaq MV900, 19", 1280x1024, 32-bit, 85 Hz > > > > Software: > > Windows XP Pro (DK) > > Internet Explorer 6.0 (DK) SP1 > > Norton System Works 2003 > > Autodesk Inventor Series 7.0 SP1 > > MS Office 2000 Developer > > Mathcad 2000 Pro > > Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Pro > > ...and loads of other stuff.... > > > > > >

[Anonymous]

These guys will build you some screamin' machines, and their customer service is second to none. Enhanced Technologies Group, Inc. 4875 E. La Palma Ave, suite 605 Anaheim, CA 92807 (tel) 714-970-9330 We use them, and we're located in a suburb of Chicago. "rescutia" wrote in message news:10367401.1077430938255.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > Hello All, > > I am a new member to this forum and to inventor and am looking for some help. The company I work for is about to purchase workstations and laptops intended to run Inventor. I have been researching build-it-yourself sites like dell or IBM to create the workstations and laptops, but do not know if that is a good idea. The possibility or using SGI workstations has recently been considered. > > I was wondering what everyone would recommend we purchase and why. We value power, reliability, and support more than cost so feel free to suggest any system. > > Thanks in advance. > > Raul