Serious power PC spec required....
Discussion
Thought I'd pop this on here for the PH computer geek society to proffer their opinion on what's a good PC to look at.
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p...
In case non-members can't read that, here's the text:
"The computer is used for EM simulations in the main: computationally intensive, and memory intensive. Its also used for 3d design work, using Autocad and Inventor (Autodesk) which are also intensive on computing power. Ideally, the computer can run Windows XP rather than Vista, as XP has proven stable with the software I run on the machine, not sure how Vista would compare but the software manufacturers support XP. Also, the computer is typically left on for a week, even two weeks at a time doing just one simulation so it has to be happy to be left on indefinitely!
Does anyone have any good recommendations?? The computer I know will have to be pretty highly specced, especially when it comes to RAM, where the more the better..."
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.p...
In case non-members can't read that, here's the text:
"The computer is used for EM simulations in the main: computationally intensive, and memory intensive. Its also used for 3d design work, using Autocad and Inventor (Autodesk) which are also intensive on computing power. Ideally, the computer can run Windows XP rather than Vista, as XP has proven stable with the software I run on the machine, not sure how Vista would compare but the software manufacturers support XP. Also, the computer is typically left on for a week, even two weeks at a time doing just one simulation so it has to be happy to be left on indefinitely!
Does anyone have any good recommendations?? The computer I know will have to be pretty highly specced, especially when it comes to RAM, where the more the better..."
Edited by PJ S on Tuesday 8th January 12:24
Have to agree, something based on the newer Intel Xeons (which share the same architecture as the Core2Duo's), the newer AMD operon's are still quite handy too. Also depending of the 3D element, it's importance and your software's support for hardware accelleration maybe a graphics card from the nVidia Quadro range? All of these products should be available in workstations form the usual big names.
qube_TA said:
Something Intel Xeon based, Core2 CPU's are for domestic apps really, if I was doing some serious design work I'd be looking at a Mac Pro anyway.
Macs are crap for AUTOCAD type wrk but for DTP they are better then microshaft... But for serious desgn work i would go with either a Sun of SGI platformFor memory intensive an AMD system would have big advantages, the new quad-core "Barcelona" based systems are looking pretty impressive. As has been said above a server core based system is probably going to be the best bet. But if it is to be a "desktop" machine, the PC I use at work really is very good-
QX6850 @ stock 3.0GHz
DDR2 1066 RAM
and fast HD's that were specced for RAID (although currently aren't in an array)
a server based system would piss on that though....
QX6850 @ stock 3.0GHz
DDR2 1066 RAM
and fast HD's that were specced for RAID (although currently aren't in an array)
a server based system would piss on that though....
CAD and 3D editing used to be really hard work for PCs, but to be honest editing can be done with the crappiest PC World machine, with even a relatively low-spec (but non integrated) graphics card now. For running simulations, I would install a cluster / render farm. Possibly a rack of 8 dual-core Opterons. Quad core Intels are fine, but good old clock speed can of course limit single thread software. Put it in a nice airconditioned room away from the engineers, because big fast machines not only kick out heat, but are really noisy.
Sorry, Macs just aren't in the game when it comes to engineering solutions. They have many good features, and are great for 3D, but the engineering world tends to work on rather growlier platforms. SGI seem a long way behind in the power game now, Sun are definitely the ones to go for if you need mahoosive horsepower and cost isn't that much of a consideration.
Sorry, Macs just aren't in the game when it comes to engineering solutions. They have many good features, and are great for 3D, but the engineering world tends to work on rather growlier platforms. SGI seem a long way behind in the power game now, Sun are definitely the ones to go for if you need mahoosive horsepower and cost isn't that much of a consideration.
Zad said:
CAD and 3D editing used to be really hard work for PCs, but to be honest editing can be done with the crappiest PC World machine, with even a relatively low-spec (but non integrated) graphics card now. For running simulations, I would install a cluster / render farm. Possibly a rack of 8 dual-core Opterons. Quad core Intels are fine, but good old clock speed can of course limit single thread software. Put it in a nice airconditioned room away from the engineers, because big fast machines not only kick out heat, but are really noisy.
Sorry, Macs just aren't in the game when it comes to engineering solutions. They have many good features, and are great for 3D, but the engineering world tends to work on rather growlier platforms. SGI seem a long way behind in the power game now, Sun are definitely the ones to go for if you need mahoosive horsepower and cost isn't that much of a consideration.
Tend to agree in general but £ for £ performace the SGI setups are very cheap in comparison to SUN. Sorry, Macs just aren't in the game when it comes to engineering solutions. They have many good features, and are great for 3D, but the engineering world tends to work on rather growlier platforms. SGI seem a long way behind in the power game now, Sun are definitely the ones to go for if you need mahoosive horsepower and cost isn't that much of a consideration.
I have a rack full of altix 4700 at work for use in out modeling package!!!! Thats pure number crunching not rendering
Zad said:
Sorry, Macs just aren't in the game when it comes to engineering solutions. They have many good features, and are great for 3D, but the engineering world tends to work on rather growlier platforms. SGI seem a long way behind in the power game now, Sun are definitely the ones to go for if you need mahoosive horsepower and cost isn't that much of a consideration.
Hadn't considered Sun boxes, makes sense thinking about it.Uh, it sounds like the OP wants a *workstation*, not something to sit in a DC doing computation. SGI have been well and truly out of the workstation game for a number of years now, as have Sun to a similar degree.
FWIW, I used to love Silicon Graphics' workstations (I still have an Indigo with SI graphics) and I've worked for Sun a number of times in the past. These companies lost the battle on the desktop a long, long time ago - SGI faring far worse than Sun of course, given that the latter is at least still relevant in the marketplace.
My recommendation? Echoing previous comments really.... Buy a machine with a couple of the new quad-core Xeons in place, as well as a decent chunk of RAM (2GB per core would be nice) and some fast local storage, and run Vista x64 or some flavour of GNU/Linux if you have the application support. That's an awful lot of horsepower to have on the desktop.
FWIW, I used to love Silicon Graphics' workstations (I still have an Indigo with SI graphics) and I've worked for Sun a number of times in the past. These companies lost the battle on the desktop a long, long time ago - SGI faring far worse than Sun of course, given that the latter is at least still relevant in the marketplace.
My recommendation? Echoing previous comments really.... Buy a machine with a couple of the new quad-core Xeons in place, as well as a decent chunk of RAM (2GB per core would be nice) and some fast local storage, and run Vista x64 or some flavour of GNU/Linux if you have the application support. That's an awful lot of horsepower to have on the desktop.
yankcrime said:
Uh, it sounds like the OP wants a *workstation*, not something to sit in a DC doing computation. SGI have been well and truly out of the workstation game for a number of years now, as have Sun to a similar degree.
FWIW, I used to love Silicon Graphics' workstations (I still have an Indigo with SI graphics) and I've worked for Sun a number of times in the past. These companies lost the battle on the desktop a long, long time ago - SGI faring far worse than Sun of course, given that the latter is at least still relevant in the marketplace.
My recommendation? Echoing previous comments really.... Buy a machine with a couple of the new quad-core Xeons in place, as well as a decent chunk of RAM (2GB per core would be nice) and some fast local storage, and run Vista x64 or some flavour of GNU/Linux if you have the application support. That's an awful lot of horsepower to have on the desktop.
At the moment, the cheapest option given the spec is the new Mac Pro. If you realy need XP or Linus, just run it under bootcamp. FWIW, I used to love Silicon Graphics' workstations (I still have an Indigo with SI graphics) and I've worked for Sun a number of times in the past. These companies lost the battle on the desktop a long, long time ago - SGI faring far worse than Sun of course, given that the latter is at least still relevant in the marketplace.
My recommendation? Echoing previous comments really.... Buy a machine with a couple of the new quad-core Xeons in place, as well as a decent chunk of RAM (2GB per core would be nice) and some fast local storage, and run Vista x64 or some flavour of GNU/Linux if you have the application support. That's an awful lot of horsepower to have on the desktop.
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff