Anyone using a Dell Precision 690?

[jguest]

Hi,

Is anyone using a Dell Precision 690 for Inventor and/or AutoCAD (Vanilla/Mech/Elec/ABS)?

A while back we bought five Precision 670's for this purpose and I must say I have been well less than impressed!

During the two years we have had them they have all shown inconsistent performance across the five units (when performing the same tasks), two out of the five have had motherboard failures (and one of those has been replaced twice), in fact one of the two mentioned above has literally had everything other than the case and the RAM replaced at some point in its life.

Completely aside from the hardware reliability issues, they have all performed well below expectations (especially for an $8000.00 system) right from the start. Though I must admit that at least a part of this seems to be due to 'corporate bloatware' (network /system monitoring etc).

The main reason I ask is because we have a need to purchase another workstation, and the corporate (read 'set in concrete') standard is to buy Dell, and therefore we are stuck with the Dell Precision 690. As such, I am hoping that there were some significant design improvements made to the 690. I'm not holding my breath though.

I may sound like I'm having a go at Dell here, I'm not. I still think they make some good laptops, and as a generic, cheap, basic office PC they seem to do OK. I'm just jaded from my expeerience with their supposed 'performance' workstation models.

I their favour, their warranty support is very good (apart from the use of 'remanufactured' parts). When my motherboard failed at about 3:00pm on Thursday a couple of weeks back, I had a new one installed and the system back up and running by about 11:00am on Friday.

[madcadder]

Now you have me concerned...

I spec'd myself an IBM Z PRO. What I originally wanted was dual 5160s; what I received was dual 5050 chips. Not as good a performer. The first arrival was DOA, second was 5050s, and in total the 10-day-to-two-week order took two months. That broke us from being an IBM "only" shop.

So, I ordered two 490s for a couple of beginner users.

Yesterday I finished setting up the second one.

[jguest]

Now you have me concerned...

Yeah, I hope they've learned from the 'x70' series.

[dzatto]

Wow, you spent $8,000.00 on a Dell???? Shipping must be ourtageous to Tasmania!!!

I use Dell Precision 370, P4, 3.4 Ghz. I've had it about 3 or more years and have never had a problem with it. It runs like a champ. I use it with ADT 2007 and Viz 2007.

Sorry you're having problems with your system.

[jguest]

Wow, you spent $8,000.00 on a Dell???? Shipping must be ourtageous to Tasmania!!!

Just a little over $8000, actually, and that was 'each'. (We have five of them. ) Remember, though, I'm talking Australian Dollars there, so it would only have been about US$6000 at the time. Add to that the (illogical) fact that here in Australia we pay about half as much again for all PC and consumer electronics items as one would in the US, and it starts to explain things a little.

I use Dell Precision 370, P4, 3.4 Ghz. I've had it about 3 or more years and have never had a problem with it. It runs like a champ. I use it with ADT 2007 and Viz 2007.

That's a relief!! I'm glad to hear that at least somebody has had a trouble free run from theirs.

I think, though, that there is not much that is common between the 370's and the 670's apart from exterior styling. (I may be wrong there though.) I thought the 370's were a (relatively) small form factor workstation, whereas my 670 stands almost 2 feet tall. Also, the 370's appeared to have a different motherboard (I think they could only take about a third to half the amount of RAM that the 670's could).

Sorry you're having problems with your system.

Not as sorry as I am!

In all fairness though, being on a corporate network with all it's associated monitoring apps etc. is likely a significant portion of the speed issues that I have with these machines. It doesn't account for the poor hardware reliability I have experienced.

I also noticed a significant speed/performance increase when we went to Inventor 11 too, so i can't blame it all on the hardware.

[dzatto]

Yeah, the 690's are way more advanced than the 370's. Maybe you've got too much machine!!!

[cadtag]

FWIW - an old rule-of-thumb I've encountered is that the majority of PC hardware problems result from 'dirty' power coming in. My experience somewhat backs that up; when I set up a job-site network in a heavy industrial area in Atlanta, the hardware issues were dramatically more common than the regular office in an office park setting.

You can probably get the local power company out to check your supply for spikes and low-voltage conditions, and see what the real-world conditions are there. We did that for that Atlanta job and the utility company verified a lot of current fluctuation.

In any event, I'd look at getting high quality UPS installed, rather than a power strip or basic surge protector.

[madcadder]

In any event, I'd look at getting high quality UPS installed, rather than a power strip or basic surge protector.

Excellent suggestion. Especially, if you live in an area of black/brown outs, or frequent storms, high winds, etc. The UPS keeps the power at a nice even supply

[Andre Baros]

Depending on how much expandability you need, the 490's are the same as the 690's but with less room for expansion. On our last round of upgrades with switched from the 670's to the 490's and haven't had a problem.

[jguest]

Depending on how much expandability you need, the 490's are the same as the 690's but with less room for expansion. On our last round of upgrades with switched from the 670's to the 490's and haven't had a problem.

So, am I to read into that comment that you did have problems when you had 670's?