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Which would be a better SW system for the money?

Which would be a better SW system for the money?

Which would be a better SW system for the money?

(OP)
Precision Workstation 690 Tower: Quad Core Intel Xeon Processor E5345 2.33GHz, 2 X 4MB L2,1333 (750W)
Genuine Windows XP Pro
 
Operating System - Genuine Windows XP Pro

Memory - 2 GB DDR2 ECC SDRAM 667MHz (2 DIMMs)

Hard Disk Drive - 73 GB SAS Hard Drive 3.5 in(15K RPM)

Video - 256MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX 3450

$1,119.00

------------------------------------------------------------
OR
------------------------------------------------------------

Precision Workstation 690 Tower: Dual Core Intel Xeon Processor 5080 3.73GHz, 2 X 2MB L2,1066(750W)

Operating System - Genuine Windows XP Pro

Memory - 4 GB DDR2 ECC SDRAM 533MHz (4 DIMMs)

Floppy Drive - 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive

Hard Disk Drive - 250 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)

Video - 512MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX 4500

$1,639.00

Thanks for the input,
BB

 

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

(OP)
Soory, forgot to add that I do NOT typically do assemblies of more than 500 unique components.  Also, most of my rendering is done with Hypershot which only uses the CPU for rendering and not the VC.

BB

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

I would take neither. Use the money and get a new system for the same price. Check the FAQ for system requirements.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

Time is money.  Speed is time.

I'd go w/ more memory, better card, faster processor.  SW doesn't care if you have quad or dual core, it uses only one.

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

(OP)
When determining speed which of these specs would be the more critical.  The GHz (2.33 / 3.73) or the FSB (1066 / 1333)speed?

Quad Core Intel Xeon Processor E5345 2.33GHz, 2 X 4MB L2,1333 (750W)

or

Dual Core Intel Xeon Processor 5080 3.73GHz, 2 X 2MB L2,1066(750W)

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

The fastest car can only go as fast as the car in front of it.   More lanes (faster FSB) help.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

(OP)
MadMango - Thanks

CBL - The PC's are Dell refurbs and the options are set as is.  Top limit cost wise - as little as possible as I quit my job a few weeks ago to do the SW thing full time.  The work has been overwhelming so far (12-14 hrs/day) which is good.  I know the 1GB of RAM is killing me but I do not want to put more money into this system when I could put it toward a better one.  I would like to upgrade from my current unit:

Dell Precision 670
3.0GHz Xeon (single core)800 FSB
1GB (2 x 512) DDR2-3200
NVIDIA Quadro FX1400
80GB HD

Thanks in advance,
BB

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

Um, given that SW is single threaded and your processor is a 3 GHz single core I think you might be very disappointed when you switch to a more modern, multithreaded, processor. My 1.5 Ghz single core Xeon is just about as fast as a modern multicore CPU for my single threaded application.




 

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIG:Please see FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

BodyBagger,
Have you run Anna Woods Punch Holder benchmark on your current system?

If you don't have the benchmark files, you can request them from Anna via her email address in http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pz7wTpIkC7LA28ybEyxyTPw
You will see from the spreadsheet that the majority of top scores are attained with homebuilt core 2 duo cores, with the best of the best being overclocked.

cheers

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

(OP)
CBL - Thanks for the link, I forgot about that spreadsheet.  It's very good info.

BB

RE: Which would be a better SW system for the money?

Anna hasn't updated that in a while.  I just got an 89.75 with a non-overclocked Core2-Duo E8400 chip (only $219 when I bought it in February).  That places my system in third in the outdated spread sheet (probably not really ranking that high right now with other peoples' new system results).

My specs:

I can overclock from 3.0GHz up to 4GHz with nice stability (haven't yet figured out exactly how to do that):

The machine:
SW 2007 SP5
Homebuilt (with Stefan's advice) from newegg.com
~$2,000 without the rebates cashed in--perhaps ~1,800 when rebates are returned
Windows XP Pro, 32-bit, SP2
ATI FireGL v5600
Intel Core 2 Duo e8400, no overclocking (yet), 2 cores
45nm, Wolfdale, methinks
(Not bad for a $220 chip, right after release--much better than my $1,000 AMD FX-60 from two years ago.)
4GB DDR RAM, Gigabyte Main Board, Scythe Ninja Air Cooled, Dual WD Raptors (160GB, 10K RPM, RAID 1)

I highly recommend this chip--GregLocock is right about going for a fast single-thread chip--although this chip can do up to 4.0GHz when overclocked and it's dual-core.  Amazing value.

 

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
What did you dream?  It's all right--we told you what to dream.
    --Pink Floyd, Welcome to the Machine

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