New Workstation

[Anonymous]

Looking into a new system for running Inventor and EdgeCAM. Through my research of previous posts and everywhere else I could think of I put together the following. If you wouldn't mind, take a look and let me know what you think. Don't mean to be a pain, just have to make sure EVERYTHING is right.

Dell Precision 650
3.06GHz Xeon, 1 MB L3 Cache
3GB, DDR266 SDRAM, ECC (4 DIMMS)
Quadro FX 1000
73GB Ultra 320 SCSI 15,000 RPM
Windows XP SP1

Thanks for your time
Todd

[MechMan_]

I assume you're working with large data sets since you've chosen to install 3GB of RAM? Note that Windows will only allow Inventor to access 2GB of that per process unless you plan to incorporate MicroSoft's 3GB switch option. The 3GB will do you good if you run a lot of software along with the large IV dataset. Otherwise the extra 1GB won't get you very far.



I think a P4 CPU would do you better rather than a single Xeon since P4's have much higher bus speeds. Xeon will do you good if you do the dual CPU setup.



MechMan

[MechMan_]

Let me also add that if you are doing large IDW's a dual Xeon setup will allow you to take advantage of Inventor's dual CPU support for IDW drawing views.

MechMan

[Anonymous]

You may want to look at the new pentium fours that
have hyper threading, they may be cheaper and more powerful then the xeon
processors,

of course i could be wrong

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"MechMan" <mechman> wrote in message
href="news:f18b0af.1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f18b0af.1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

Let
me also add that if you are doing large IDW's a dual Xeon setup will allow you
to take advantage of Inventor's dual CPU support for IDW drawing
views.

MechMan

[rllthomas]

I don't know how long you intend for this machine to last nor what your approval process is and whether you lease or buy but here goes my spiel.



Don't buy at the high end of the performance curve. Convince managment that is is better to buy a $3000 PC and replace it every 12-18 months than to buy a $6000 PC and replace it every 30-36 months.



As for the system you spec'd, if you are going to spend big bucks get the dual channel memory architecture witih DDR400 ram.

[Anonymous]

Mech,

I dread trying to install the switch for the extra GB of RAM (heard it's a pain) so I more than likely will just go with 2GB. I assume 2 DIMMS would be preferable over 4 DIMMS...?

I know the P4 FSB is 800MHz, do you know what the Xeon's is? I kinda thought it was actually faster than the P4. (I'm NO hardware expert)

I've heard that Hyper-Threading can actually slow things down. Has anybody heard different?

[MechMan_]

Yes, do the 2 DIMMS so that you can upgrade in the future if you need (it may cost you a bit extra though).



The Xeon is a 533MHz bus.



I too have heard some issues with Hyperthreading but I don't have any experience with it.



MechMan

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input everyone...back to the drawing board for me(not literally)

But i'm THIS close to going back to my Atari 800XL 😠

[Anonymous]

Not to add more confusion, but you may want to look
into some new hard drives

I have been hearing about. I know the SCSI 15k RPM
are very good, but these

supposedly, due to the added on board cache, may do
more for you.

7200 RPM with 8MB on board
cache/buffer

I really don't know if these are better or equal to
SCSI, but maybe you or someone on the board could comment

on this.

Good luck,

Peter

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"ToddG" <
href="mailto:tgammeter@canaldover.com">tgammeter@canaldover.com> wrote
in message
href="news:f18b0af.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f18b0af.-1@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

Looking
into a new system for running Inventor and EdgeCAM. Through my research of
previous posts and everywhere else I could think of I put together the
following. If you wouldn't mind, take a look and let me know what you think.
Don't mean to be a pain, just have to make sure EVERYTHING is
right.

Dell Precision 650
3.06GHz Xeon, 1 MB L3 Cache
3GB, DDR266
SDRAM, ECC (4 DIMMS)
Quadro FX 1000
73GB Ultra 320 SCSI 15,000
RPM
Windows XP SP1

Thanks for your
time
Todd