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Dual AMD or Dual Xeon?


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Okay, I'm sure everyone is tired of this same old debate, but I'm gonna' bring it up again! :)

 

Here are some specs for 2 systems. If anyone has suggestions/modifications, please advise, and help me to figure out which system would be better for me. Most of what I do is Autocad2000, VIZ 4, and Photoshop/Illustrator, and my boss told me to find the best system I can. Neither system is priced with a monitor.

 

SYSTEM 1:

Tyan Thunder K7 (S2462) Motherboard

(2) AMD MP 2400 processors

1GB 266MHZ DDR ECC Registered RAM

ATI Radeon 9500 128MB AGP

Seagate 73.4GB U160 scsi HD

DVD+RW+R

MS XP Professional

10 Bay Tower Case - 400W

4(I think) Cooling Fans

(Other stuff not listed)

Total price ~$3,250

 

SYSTEM 2:

DELL Precision Workstation 650

(2) Intel Xeon 2.4GHz, 512K Cache

1GB DDR266 SDRAM ECC

nVidia Quadro4 900XGL, 128MB

36GB Ultra 320 SCSI 1 inch (15,000 rpm)

MS XP Professional

48x/24x/48x IDE CD Read-Write

(Other stuff not listed)

Total price $3,797

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Dual Xeon if you have the money, although I opted for a dual MP bc they give you significant performance, which you really wont see a difference unless your making then next FF, for much much less. I've ine for 6months now, and I love it. I propertly tweaked MP box is great!

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Its hard to decide on your two quotes, because each one is leaving out components.

 

For example. Why does one have a radeon 9500 and the other a quadro 900XL? Thats a huge price difference right there, and well as performance. The 900XL is far superior to the 9500 in 3d apps.

 

Secondly, the Dual athlon system seems extremely overpriced. I priced out a dual 2400+ MP vs a Dual 2.4B Xeon just the other day, and the xeon system was around 400-500 USD more expensive. (The 2.4B Xeon's Socket 604 are around 275 USD, while the 2400+ MP's are 220 USD, The Dual xeon board's also start in the 500's, while the dual mp's start in the 200's) Remember with both systems you need to use Registered DDR, which carries its own price premium.

 

Here's some quotes direct from dell, and boxxtech.

 

Boxx

 

Dual XEON DP 2.4GHz, 512k cache, 400MHz FSB 1

1GB 800MHz ECC RDRAM (2 - 512MB RIMMS) 1

NVIDIA Quadro4 900 XGL 128MB 4X AGP 1

18GB 10,000 rpm U160 SCSI drive 1

120GB 7200 rpm ATA133 hard drive 1

16x DVD 48x CDROM (black bezel) 1

Windows XP Professional Edition

 

 

$3,890.00

 

 

3DBOXX S5i

 

Qty

Dual XEON DP 2.4GHz, 512k cache, 533MHz FSB 1

1GB PC2100 ECC Reg DDR (2- 512MB DIMMS) 1

NVIDIA Quadro4 900 XGL 128MB 4X AGP 1

40GB 7200 rpm ATA133 hard drive 1

120GB 7200 rpm ATA133 hard drive 1

16x DVD 48x CDROM (black bezel) 1

Windows XP Professional Edition 1

Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical 1

Black 104 key keyboard 1

 

*Total Price: $3,570.00

 

Dell Workstation

 

Intel® Xeon™ Processor, 2.40GHz, 512K Cache 533MHz FSB

Intel® Xeon™ Processor, 2.40GHz, 512K Cache 533MHz FSB

1GB,DDR266 SDRAM Memory,ECC (2 DIMMS)

nVidia, Quadro4 900XGL, 128MB, VGA/DVI

120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive

36GB Ultra 320 SCSI, 1 inch (10,000 rpm)

Windows® XP Professional

8X/24X/48X IDE CD Read-Write

 

$3,985.00

 

I'd suggest calling or contacting boxxtech directly, to see if you can get a decent quote on a similar system price.

 

Though I think you need to decide what you actually want in the computer first :) .

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Well, I don't know what I want in the box! I just want whatever is fast and cheap! If I go with the Dell, I am probably going to drop down the video card to a lower (cheaper) card.

 

Actually, word was just handed down that I can't spend much (if any) money on a system, so I'm probably going to either be stuck with my current system, or upgrade some of the components.

 

So, I guess this thread is basically void. :(

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Too bad, but in any case, check out Dell's Workstation 450. I don't know the difference between it and the 650 (expansion?), but the difference for the same system was about $300. A big deal!

 

I spec'd a 450:

 

Dual 2.4 Xeons

1 GB SDRAM

80 GB Hard drive

ATI Fire GL E1 64 mb Graphics card

Windows XP Prof

DVD+RW

3 Year Warranty

 

$2704.00 That's pretty sweet for a dual 2.4 (although I am not sure about the graphics card)

 

For the 650:

 

Same specs for the 650

 

$3054.00 still not bad, but where's the $300 go?

 

Just thought I'd toss those up (similar systems to what I am looking at, and have been for some time...)

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