New PC info

[Mitsu50]

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to build a new PC, and was wondering if anyone had any experience with SW and the athlon phenom quad core processors. Any stability issues? I have a athlon 2800= at home now, and SW runs good. I'm getting a quadro vid card, 4gb ram running SW 2008. thanks for any info

 

[Theophilus]

I just built a system that uses the Core 2 Duo e8400 chip (dual-cores at 3GHz per core--only $220). It ranks #3 (89 seconds) on Anna's Benchmark scale according to the last update I saw (not yet posted).

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pz7wTpIkC7LA28ybEyxyTPw

My previous system used a rather pricey AMD chip and I wasn't very satisfied with that. This new system was home-built, less expensive, and is very fast. I've not even overclocked it yet, but it seems by the results on forums I can obtain 4GHz with good stability.

Something to chew on. No point in being stuck on AMD unless they deliver great results--this doesn't appear to be their year so far...



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

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

 

[pdybeck]

Jeff,

How are you liking the ATI/AMD card on this machine?

 

[Mitsu50]

i was really wanting to go with quad core, as i use 3ds max for rendering and animations as well, and if i'm building a new system, might as go as good as i can afford.

yeah i heard rumors that they might be in financial trouble, and dell has stopped carrying them all together.

 

[Theophilus]

Mitsu, a quad-core system won't be as fast for general modeling as a dual-core (look at the clock-speed differences for your cores) since most of the modeling makes use almost exclusively of one processor. But their twice the price. So you'll see the difference when rendering (as you mentioned) but probably little elsewhere, unless software suddenly gets optimized for multiple cores in the next couple of years (could happen).

So far I like this ATI card. I previously used nVidia Quatro cards, which were OK. This card has support for DirectX and will perhaps work well not only as a CAD card, but OK with at least lower-end games (my FX-500 and FX-1400 were sort of lame with that sort of thing). We'll see--no games on this system yet--just "work" stuff.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

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

 

[StefanHamminga]

Search for AMD Phenom TLB bug and you'll get an Intel cpu in a hurry... I liked AMDs Athlon 64 products at the time, but their current (Phenom) offering can't even compete with the first gen Core 2 chips, let alone the improved 45nm versions (like the E8400).

Also, while a quad core sounds good in theory they don't 'feel' fast when using them. They only show muscle in specific tasks, where as a fast dual core (at much higher clock speed) will always feel responsive.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1074&model2=1095&chart=435

8% faster for twice the cores... Every Intel quad core is faster than the fastest Phenom. Take a look at the same CPUs in, for instance, the Photoshop benchmark.

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer
Searching Eng-Tips forums

 

[Mitsu50]

good info guys. Thanks! sound's like a real good duo might be the way to go. Guess i might of got a little to excited when i head quad core. I know that is wont run 4x as fast, but wanted to get the most bang for my buck.

I was planning on the quadro fx570 card, but i may look into ati as well. Unfortunately the next quadro jumps to over $450

 

[Mitsu50]

also i can get a quad core 2.4ghz for 250.00, and then a core duo is only like 30.00 cheaper. for a 30.00 difference, wouldn't that make sense? Thanks again

 

[Theophilus]

2.4GHz vs. 3.0GHz (E8400) right out of the box--so the dual-core is still faster for most things. Plus, you can overclock the dual-core with decent, stable results. Not quite as sure about the quad-core (may have some bad heat dissipation issues).

This probably really depends on whether you'll use those other two cores very often. If you render with ~50% of your time or so, you'll get some good use out of those other cores. If not, you'll have a hard time ever making use of those cores.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

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

 

[ren3of3]

I'd pick up the duo and toss the extra cash into a good graphics card. I've been having horrible performance with my ATI card at work, but love my new Quadro Card on my home workstation. Also, if cash is your bottom line, I'd check out HP's outlet center. They have several SW-approved Workstation models for under a grand.

A final note: look for a 64-bit OS if you ever want to use lots of RAM. XP Pro (32-bit) can only address 3.xGB of RAM.

"Never offend people with style when you can offend them with substance." --Sam Brown

http://www.danielanderson.info

 

[Theophilus]

Which ATI card are you using? I've got the Fire GLv5600 and it's doing very well.

Also, be careful when switching to something like XP64. Can cause lots of other problems with hardware/driver/software issues--make sure you know what you're getting into. Yes, using all your RAM is great, but there are some caveats to making such a switch.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

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

 

[Mitsu50]

i guess my time is spent split 50-50 with solidworks, and 3ds max. i also do video editing and making dvds. think i'll toss all this info around a bit then makea decision. Thanks guys!

Tony

 

[Mitsu50]

hi guys,

One other question. As far as power supply on the case i get, is there a recommended wattage i should go with minimum? I've been unable to find data that might tell me if the duo core/quad core processors need a real big PS. Thanks in advance!!!

 

[pdybeck]

You could add up the wattage of the components inside and pick a PS that is higher by a nice margin (150 - 200W). This could give you some breathing room if you add components later. I would advise to not skimp on the PS. Make sure you have a nice margin. The difference in price between the PS won't be justified if you run into problems later with not having enough high quality power...

 

[Mitsu50]

good idea, i looked up the specs on the quadro fx570 card I'm getting (would like a better card, but no more $$$) it says for rec 450W PS!

 

[rporter]

I would get nothing less than a 600 watt ps. not that much more in price.

 

[Theophilus]

Well, if you shell out for an efficient power supply, you won't need quite as much wattage. I've got an efficient Seasonic 550W power supply running three fast hard drives, two optical drives, a floppy, three case fans, and this ATI FireGL v5600 card--along with the main board and chip. It also has some power-saving features so it doesn't eat all that power when not necessary. It's also quiet (nice fans).



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

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