New Computer for Non-Tech Head

[funkman]

Hi all,

I have not much idea at all about hardware and associated componentry, and am asking for some advice from you smart ones out there. I am looking to buy a new system and looking at the following specs emailed to me.

I am unsure about the graphics card and whether that is a good. I have read other threads that seem to shout out the FX series are really good.

Also, are dual Xeons better than dual AMD's?

As my understanding of this stuff is extremely basic, could the replies be in similar please for this simpleton?

AMD 4200+ Dual Core System
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
2G (2x 1G) DDR400 PC3200 Kingmax RAM
2 x 200Gb 8m Buffer SATA Seagate HDD run in RAID Mode
ASUS EN6600/TD 256M GF6600 PCIE Card with DVI & TV out
16x Dual layer DVDRW +/- with software
500W ATX Tower Case with 3 Extra Colour Fan and front USB
Gigabit Lan, IEEE 1394, WiFi Built in On Board
2 x 19” Sony SDMHX93S LCD Silver Monitor with Speaker&DVI

[Roger Evans]

That seems like a huge spec ~ hope you have deep pockets
My understanding is limited & similar to yours so I will be interested in all replies

Dell have some good deals on 19 Ultrasharp & 20 Widescreen at moment
I would check number of USB's front & back
Cooling & fan noise would be my main concern

[Scott Hopkins]

I would go with a cheaper non-SLI motherboard and spend the difference to upgrade to the 4400+ processor. SLI which allows you to place two graphics cards side by side on one motherboard is kind of a no win technology. By the time you decide to get that second graphics card, either your current card will no longer be manufactured or one of the newer cards will be just a few dollars more for a whole lot more speed and features then the combination of the two older cards. Also remember that with an SLI motherboard you will have to get a more expensive power supply to run both of those energy hungry cards at the same time. Save your money and get a 4400+. The bigger L2 cache will come in handy and I have heard that they overclock quite nicely.

[mlgatzke]

2 x 200Gb 8m Buffer SATA Seagate HDD run in RAID Mode
Wow! Nice specs. The only suggestion I'd have is that Seagate has recently released a new 400GB drive. It has the same 8MB cache and 7200RPM. The great thing is that it's not much more in price, about $100US. I bought one this past weekend and it's very nice to have such vast space for my storage needs. Besides, you could spend $200US and double your storage. It also appears that you're using your RAID for mirroring. I'd recommend that you purchase a third drive and use RAID 5 for parity. You'll still be absolute assured as you are mirroring, but you'd gain a lot more storage space without slowing your save times as you do with mirroring.

http://www.tech-encyclopedia.com/term/disk_striping_with_parity_(raid_5)

[iru69]

I'd ask what you were paying for all this, but I don't understand Australian ;)

I second what Roger said about the displays and the PSU/fans. I believe those Sony's are last years models, so you better be getting a really good deal on them. I really recommend the Dell UltraSharp LCDs, but they might cost a little more. Also, all those "colour" fans sound over the top - i.e. loud! You don't need nearly so much wattage (though a high watt PSU can run more efficiently - but it has to be a good one). Does the case have a "window" in it?

I also second what Scott said about the SLI... Revit really has no need for it - so, if you can, save the $50 US that you're paying extra for it... The GF6600 is a pretty fast card - enough for Revit - but I would definitely recommend spending another $100 US for a nVidia Quadro FX540. It's a better card for a serious work station. Also, another $75 for the AMD 4400+ is also worth it if you can afford just a little more...

I don't disagree with what mlgatzke said, but obviously all this can really start to add up - so I wouldn't forgo anything else in order to get more and bigger hard drives.

All that being said, I get the impression that this is really being sold as a "gaming rig" - not a CAD workstation. However, except for the vague details on the PSU, all the parts appear to be pretty good quality (Asus, Seagate, Kingmax)...

[muttlieb]

I'm pricing out a new system to buy in a month or two. This is what I came up with today:

CPU: P4 670 3.8GHz 2MB L2 cache $618
CPU Fan: Zalman CNPS7700-ALCU $37
Motherboard: Intel 945PSN ATX $122
Graphics: nVidia QuadroFX 540 $245
RAM: Crucial 2GB $245
HDD: Seagate 7200.8 200GB Serial ATA $111
Case: Enermax Aluminum $45
PSU: Nexus NX-3500 350 Watt $65
CD/DVD: NEC-3540 DVD burner $47

Total: $1535
Windows XP Pro: $147

[Roger Evans]

The Seagate 400GB mentioned above is in the UK at around £195 GBP = $355 USD

How much is it in the States? & Aus?

[muttlieb]

The Seagate 400GB mentioned above is in the UK at around £195 GBP = $355 USD

How much is it in the States? & Aus?

Newegg.com has the Seagate 400GB Serial ATA - OEM for US$265

[funkman]

hey all - thanks all for your input. I have some questions:

Thanks for your advice Scott, I will go with the 4400+ and use the spare money for the graphics card as you suggest. It seems the best value for a pc-for-revit is in the graphics card - ie, you get more bang for your buck. If this is true is it best to go more top of the line grapics card? Is it worth spending the extra money on an even more powerful card? And then which should that be? FX1300 or FX1400?

Muttlieb, Irusun, thanks for the comments re the fan - is the Zalman CNPS7700-ALCU good for its purpose?

Finally with regards the monitors - is it worth getting 2 x widescreen monitorsand can anyone suggest a decent brand/model for under $1000 AU? ($700 US)

[muttlieb]

Funkman,

Based on other threads regarding video cards, the Quadro FX540 seems to be at a sweet spot for price/performance. But I'd like to hear from others if they feel significant performance gains can be had from stepping up to the mid-range Quadro FX cards.

I like the Zalman fans. I've used them in a few pc's I've built, and in silent mode, they truly are 'silent'. In the last few years I've become a big fan of silent pc parts. The primary offenders are the CPU fan, power supply fan, and hard drive. The nexus power supply I spec'd. is very quiet. And the new Seagate Barracuda hard drives are pretty quiet. As for monitors, I really like the Dell UltraSharp LCD's. I'm waiting for the price to drop on the 24" widescreen. HTH.

[funkman]

...I'd like to hear from others if they feel significant performance gains can be had from stepping up to the mid-range Quadro FX cards.
anyone with spec'd-up graphics cards care to answer this one?

[funkman]

Thanks for everyones comments. I have received the new computer and installed all the programs. What a task - ony took me 3 days! Everything seems to work great, so far.
That Zalman fan is the best buy I must say - the computer is whisper quiet, and I cant hear it at all. I can hear the other computers on the other side of the office but not the one right next to me.

I spec'd up all the compnenents and revit is very quick - openGL is working no problems and shadows are close to instantaneous.

The down side - some of my programs wont run on X64 and had to upgrade some apps notably the anti-virus had to be corporate edition. Not major apps so minor addiitonal expense. This was the system in the end:

CPU - AMD A64 4600+ dualcore (edited)
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
Support Raid 0,Raid 1 and Raid0+1 and RAID 5
4G (4x 1G) DDR400 PC3200 Kingmax RAM
3 x 200Gb 8m Buffer SATA Seagate HDD run in RAID 5 Mode - 1.44FDD
Microsoft PS/2 Media Keyboard & Optical Mouse
Leadtek Quadro FX1300 Card with DVI
16x Dual layer DVDRW +/- with software
Zalman ( cnps7700-ALCU) CPU FAN
400W Zalman Noiseless Power Supply
Tower Case with 2 front USB
Windows XP 64x (edited)
2 Viewsonic 191B LCD Monitor

[kpaxton]

Drool.. Droool... Drooooooool


(Nice specs my friend!) Happy Revit-ing!
Kyle

[iru69]

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
Support Raid 0,Raid 1 and Raid0+1 and RAID 5
4G (4x 1G) DDR400 PC3200 Kingmax RAM
3 x 200Gb 8m Buffer SATA Seagate HDD run in RAID 5 Mode - 1.44FDD
Microsoft PS/2 Media Keyboard & Optical Mouse
Leadtek Quadro FX1300 Card with DVI
16x Dual layer DVDRW +/- with software
Zalman ( cnps7700-ALCU) CPU FAN
400W Zalman Noiseless Power Supply
Tower Case with 2 front USB
Windows XP Pro
2 Viewsonic 191B LCD Monitor
Where's the CPU???

You didn't get Windows XP x64 (?) - so the OS isn't making use of the 64bit extensions on the cpu - so I wonder why you'd be having 64bit compatibility issues with some of your software... or maybe issues with dual-core? Just curious...

Thanks for providing an update - it's nice to hear that things turned out so well!

[funkman]

Where's the CPU???

You didn't get Windows XP x64 (?) - so the OS isn't making use of the 64bit extensions on the cpu - so I wonder why you'd be having 64bit compatibility issues with some of your software... or maybe issues with dual-core? Just curious...

Thanks for providing an update - it's nice to hear that things turned out so well!my bad, i did get XP x64, just copied down the penultimate quote.

CPU - AMD A64 4600+ dualcore

...the post is now edited
and thank you especially irusun for all your help!

[Les Therrien]

Nice specs!!!
How much did that set you back?

[blads]

hey all - thanks all for your input. I have some questions:

Thanks for your advice Scott, I will go with the 4400+ and use the spare money for the graphics card as you suggest. It seems the best value for a pc-for-revit is in the graphics card - ie, you get more bang for your buck. If this is true is it best to go more top of the line grapics card? Is it worth spending the extra money on an even more powerful card? And then which should that be? FX1300 or FX1400?

Muttlieb, Irusun, thanks for the comments re the fan - is the Zalman CNPS7700-ALCU good for its purpose?

Finally with regards the monitors - is it worth getting 2 x widescreen monitorsand can anyone suggest a decent brand/model for under $1000 AU? ($700 US)Funkman,

I'm in the final stages of upgrading my computer system (just the motherboard, cpu & video card) aust prices I got for the is
Nvidia Quadro FX 1400 PCIe x16 128MB 2x DVI Professional Graphics card @ $1,040.00
Nvidia Quadro FX 540 PCIe x16 128MB DVI + Analog Prof. Graphics card @ $470.00

as I wont be running two monitors (I'm extremely happy with sony 19" lcd) I've gone with the FX 540

hth


oops shouldve read the last post first..

[BWG]

Is that viewsonic a VP191b? I have the VP191s and it has a very clear and sharp screen at the highest resolution. My only problem with LCDs is most of them will require full resolution to look good. I have one program (ArchiOffice) that is hard to read at high resolutions. But for revit, which I am in most of the time, it is fine.

Are you sure you have the 1300 card. That card does not support SLI. You need the 1400 as a minimum for that, so the motherboard was a little overkill, unless it had features other than sli you needed and couldn't get without the sli option - which I guess you did for the RAID 5 configuration.

I think you did good getting 3 200s rather than 2 400s. Once those drives start filling up, you will take a perfomance hit with the larger capacity drives because it takes longer for seeks and retrieval. Defrag, formatting, etc. will take twice as long.

[funkman]

Les, the cost in oz dollars hard to figure out as I got the lump sum with print servers, flash cards, and another computer and monitor. The whole lot with all computers was around $8000. I would say the cost for that computer incl viewsonic monitors was around $6100. The viewsonics - extremely clear and crisp. I have had to scale down the brightness as it was getting hard on the eyes The resolution is fantastic. Viewsonics also have complete maneuverability. Very happy with that choice.