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How bad is our systems? Upgrade help needed

How bad is our systems? Upgrade help needed

How bad is our systems? Upgrade help needed

(OP)
We are currently looking at upgrading to NEW systems. We run SW2007 now & have 2008 but have not installed yet. Here is what I have now:
(taken from control panel/system/general)
Dell Precision 650 series CPU
XP Pro Version 2002, Service Pack 2
Xeon CPU 2.80 GHz
2.79GHz, 1.00 GB of Ram

Video Card:
NVIDA Quadro4 900XGL, 128MB

What specs should we look for for a "very good" system. We don't want the minimium.
PROCESSOR TYPE, SIZE, RAM, VIDEO CARD & SIZE ETC, the whole 9 yds.

Our modeling many times consists of imported stp files, shaped parts, assemblies & subassemblies & we experience many delays & crashes. We also run MS Office products & JobBoss V8 as well.
Any input would be appreciated so we get good systems.

Thanks,
Ken

RE: How bad is our systems? Upgrade help needed

Add 2.0 GB of RAM for a total of 3 GB which should improve performance.  Unless you want to go to a 64 Bit system.

Heckler   americanflag
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 4.0 & Pro/E 2001
      o
  _`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

This post contains no political overtones or undertones for that matter and in no way represents the poster's political agenda.

RE: How bad is our systems? Upgrade help needed

(OP)
Thanks, We could upgrade what we have but are also expecting to buy complete new CPU's & hand ours off to other users in the plant who have less demands than CAD. More Ram in our existing machines would no doubt help but would we have a top notch system? or should we look for all new hardware (the 64bit, better video etc) I have read about dual Xeon processers etc but just don't know enough to spec out great system.

RE: How bad is our systems? Upgrade help needed

I've just put in a req for a killer system, but am planning on using it for heavy animation and rendering. I've also tried to spec something that should hold up for more than 3 years.

HP xw6400
Processors - Xeon Quad Core 5345 2.33GHz (x2)
Memory     - 8GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Hard drive - 160GB 7200 rpm SATA 3.0-Gb/s
Opt Drive  - 16X/48X DVD-ROM
Video Card - Nvidia Quadro FX 5500 1GB RAM (x2 in SLi configuration)

I would recommend  something along these lines for what you are doing:

HP xw6400
Processor - Xeon Quad Core 5345 2.33GHz (x1)
Memory     - 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (or more, if budget allows)
Hard drive - 160GB 7200 rpm SATA 3.0-Gb/s
Opt Drive  - 16X/48X DVD-ROM
Video Card - Nvidia Quadro FX 1700 512MB RAM (or FX 3700, if budget allows)

You should be able to upgrade this tower with a better graphics card and more RAM down the line, making it a little
more scalable than the Dell you're running now.




"Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance." --Sam Brown
http://www.danielanderson.info

RE: How bad is our systems? Upgrade help needed

(OP)
OK,
the powers at be here are about to upgrade my system first to see the effects & then pass it on to another & get me a new unit.

with the above mentioned system, do you see any problem with:
1)bumping the Ram up to 2-3GB, maybe even 4GB
2)upgrading the video card to an Nvidia Quadro FX 3500
  (this is compatible with the Dell 650 isn't it?)

also I am curious about the NVidia cards. In doing a search for one I see there are PNY, HP, IBM, etc. Are all the same or is one better than the other?

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