aligrafix Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Hi, i need to buy a workstation (modelling, animation, rendering) all in one. I am wandering either boxx workstation is better or dell or IRB intellistation Zpro. I have heard about Dell precisions that IBM Zpro are better than Dell Precision. Also, there is no outlet in my area for Boxx. So, i have to purchase through credit card and there is no dealer in my town for it. Well, Dell and IBM are available here. What you guys advise me about it. My budget is US $5800. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm07 Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Hello, I can't speak for the Boxx equipment but I have had both Dell and IBM workstations. My Z Pro was far superior to the dell in quality and workmanship. For the same money, I would go IBM. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Mann Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 I can't speak for the IBM as I have never had one but if you can afford a Boxx system then I would recommend that you get that. I have had Dell workstations in the past and the build quality, support and general operation are awful in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 OTOH, you're talking about a substantial price difference. I'm using a Precision 380 right now, we have probably a hundred of these in this office and only one has broken down in the last 3 months. The build quality is more than good enough for a computer to sit under a desk so long as you resist the urge to defenestrate it, and I don't know about Dell in Pakistan but in the US the service isn't great, but it's not bad enough to justify using a much more expensive vendor. If there's a local dealer for Dell the service you get may actually be better than Boxx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 We've been using Dell's in our office since the beginning, and have not had a single problem with them. I am typing this on a 6 year old Workstation 420 that the only problem I have ever had is the graphics card that I replaced the original with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtothec Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 My shop runs on BOXX. We've used Dell's in the past and the difference in quality and support has been striking. So much so, that when it came time for me to buy a machine for home... I bought a BOXX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aligrafix Posted August 18, 2006 Author Share Posted August 18, 2006 guys. thanks. i am actually talking about the quality and performance. Surely the boxx is expensive but now i going to differentiate b/w dell precisions and IBM Zpro. Please! tell me about the results (modelling to rendering) with vray, max, maya lightwave etc etc. I am going to use it for both architectural and movie projects as well as presentations. Again thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Matthews Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Just find a computer solutions company where you live and have them build you a beast. Then have them warranty it and have onsite tech support if needed. You will save money and have a reliable machine. This is my experience at least and we have no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I doubt you'll find the kind of in-depth comparisons you're looking for, but I don't have to do the tests to tell you: there will be no significant difference in performance between IBM and Dell machines that have the same CPU, RAM and video card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Mann Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I'm using a Precision 380 right now, we have probably a hundred of these in this office and only one has broken down in the last 3 months. I think I must have been cursed. Out of four Dells, one (laptop) had to go back to the factory because the keyboard failed after six months; one needed a visit from the engineer because the motherboard and graphics card failed after a week; the most expensive one, a precision 650 has never worked properly and Dell don't want to know. I had been buying Dell's because the company I worked for previously had about 12 Dell workstations that ran for a year without a hitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 Sorry to hear that. I've also had bad experiences with Dell laptops, they're often poorly built and some of the components they use are inferior - there were a couple of generations that used DVD drives that were almost guaranteed to fail after a year of regular use, and I've had two that had memory fail and one that had a poorly designed hinge that made the plastic screen casing crack. (With that one I was able to get them to acknowledge the design flaw after four repairs and replace it with a newer model, but it took 2 hours on the phone.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 I've had every type of laptop fail or suddenly die. Macbooks, Dell's, Gateways, HP's, IBM's, Toshiba's, and Sony's. The worst of this bunch was sony...vaio's are just horrific to work with...if you ever want to piss off your IT administrator, buy a sony VAIO. To replace the harddrive on one, I had to remove 32 screws, remove the keyboard, remove the touchpad/palm rest, remove some card, then remove the harddrive bracket itself...buried all the way in the corner. To replace a harddrive on a dell? 1-2. Generally its the power supply that blows, usually taking some internal electronic components with it. I've also seem some shotty setup with the heatsink and fans, which result in less then optimal contact between the cpu, gpu, and cooling devices. This tends to result in fans running at higher speeds, and excessive cpu temps, which results in instability, and eventually full system failure. If you find your laptop fans are running excessively...either take it off the shag carpet/bed, or you might have a hsf problem. In one case, I found a glob of solder/weld on the corner of the hsf, actually lifting it off the cpu on one side. Took awhile to file it down, but afterwords, no more instability or fan noise. So whats my advice? Don't get a sony, and if you get any laptop, make sure it was a 3 yr warranty with some sort of complete care package (especially if its an apple or dell). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aligrafix Posted August 19, 2006 Author Share Posted August 19, 2006 Ok, fine. I was talking about workstations not about laptops. Well, i shall look forward to IBM instead of Dell coz Dell users have many compliants about the services as well as workstations. I will try to get IBM intellistation or Zpro. THanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Ah sorry, I thought the discussion was on laptops. In regards to workstations, I'd go boxx or build my own. Boxx uses high quality retail components which are not only supported by boxx, but by the companies producing those components. You're far more likely to see a problem get addressed in a boxx machine, then you are in a dell or other major brand workstation. Of course it is possible to never run into any problems, it just depends on what you're doing, and the overall market. I still remember a few years ago when the discreet forum was run by kate and darv, when one of the members purchased a dual athlon mp boxx workstation. He took it home and had issues running a particular high end capturing device on the system. Boxx bought the card he was using, tested it in their systems at their home base, and found that there was a compatability problem between the AMD chipset and the particular card in question. The solution? Boxx replaced his dual athlon MP with a dual xeon, at no charge to him. That's service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 Ah sorry, I thought the discussion was on laptops. In regards to workstations, I'd go boxx or build my own. Boxx uses high quality retail components which are not only supported by boxx, but by the companies producing those components. You're far more likely to see a problem get addressed in a boxx machine, then you are in a dell or other major brand workstation. Of course it is possible to never run into any problems, it just depends on what you're doing, and the overall market. I still remember a few years ago when the discreet forum was run by kate and darv, when one of the members purchased a dual athlon mp boxx workstation. He took it home and had issues running a particular high end capturing device on the system. Boxx bought the card he was using, tested it in their systems at their home base, and found that there was a compatability problem between the AMD chipset and the particular card in question. The solution? Boxx replaced his dual athlon MP with a dual xeon, at no charge to him. That's service. I don't think I've ever seen boxx not resolve an issue with a workstation problem. Sometimes it takes them a bit of time, but they get it done. The only complaints I've ever really heard about a boxx product resolves around the goboxx's using the desktop hardware...but thats more a byproduct of desktop laptops then boxx themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Kam Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 One of the benefits we've had with running Dell workstations is their next-business-day turnaround on fixing problems (had a mainboard with bad capacitors on it in a Precision 670MT) and believe me - downtime hurts! Also have a few Alienware workstations and while they're ok I won't be buying any more. Just a quick note - I know it all seems pretty redundant now, but make sure your workstation has a floppy drive. The extra $15 spent on putting one in more than pays for itself when you find yourself trying to reinstall Windows and it can't detect your SATA RAID drivers without a driver disk!! We've used IBM's in the past but they haven't been of workstation-class, so I can't really comment on those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creasia Posted August 21, 2006 Share Posted August 21, 2006 Just find a computer solutions company where you live and have them build you a beast. Then have them warranty it and have onsite tech support if needed. You will save money and have a reliable machine. This is my experience at least and we have no problems. I agree. Buy a Tyan motherboard (Tyan.com) and build from there. I hear they have up to 8 slots for the AMD dual core processors! Thats the power of 16 cpu's in one machine!!! You could start with a 2 or 4 slot board and cut the budget down. This must be what boxx purchases to build it's machines anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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