New Comp Quad Core Intel Xeon E5430 2.66ghz

[jonofj]

Hi all,

 

If anybody could check if this Comp. spec will be adequate for our needs.

 

Dell Precision T5400

-Quad Core Intel Xeon E5430 (2.66ghz)

- Integrated 12mb L2 Cache, 1333Mhz

- 4GB 667Mhz, ECC Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM Memory

- 512 MB PCIe x16 NIVIDIA QUADRO FX1700, Dual Monitor DVI Cable

- 250 GB Sata HDD

- Intel E5400 Chipset

- Integrated Broadcom 5754 Gigabit Ethernet Controller

- Windows XP SP2

- Dell 22inch Widescreen Flatpanel LCD Monitor

 

I'm so excited that my boss is finally agreeing to buy us faster computers. )Im currently running Pentium4 CPU 3.0 ghz , 1GBRam, RaedonX300/550.

 

We are a medium architectural firm using Archicad, Artlantis, Photoshop. I was trying to use Cinema4D but it was crashing and so slow rendering.

 

Do you think we should ask Dell to overclock the 2.66ghz to 3.0ghz? will this make any difference?

 

Any advice please.

 

thanx

[AJLynn]

Dell won't overclock anything for you, except for certain series of gamer PCs that are sold overclocked. OC'ing is pretty much only for people building their own PC or buying from specialty companies that let you choose your parts by brand.

 

Otherwise, sure, looks nice. It's going to be maybe 12x-15x as fast at rendering if your renderer multithreads efficiently, a hell of a lot faster in Cad, and in C4D it will corner like it's on rails.

[jonofj]

Hi Andrew,

 

thanx for quick reply.

 

much appreciated...funny thing though I just talked to Dell and he rechecked the quote and found out its the wrong price...and its going to cost a lotmore than what was priced...crazy. now waiting if we can afford it.

[AJLynn]

Did he give you the original quote in writing or email or something that gives you a clear record? If so, press Dell to honor it. I've found in the past that although their agents stick to the book, if you keep them on the phone long enough, repeating ad nauseum your belief that justice can only prevail when they start to see the situation your way, eventually you will speak with a super-agent who will be able to do something for you.

 

For example, I had an Inspiron notebook way back in the day, a P3-700 that can with 128MB, 10GB, a CD-ROM drive, no networking, a 16MB video card and a UXGA screen. When it was about 2.5 years old, on a 3 year service contract, the LCD housing started developing cracks. This had happened before and I had seen the inside when the service guy had fixed it and knew what the design flaw was, so I insisted that it be replaced with a new one with a different case design and a UXGA screen. After 3 hours on the phone with a call center guy in India I was finally put through to somebody in Texas who was very rude but transferred me back to a manager in India who agreed to the replacement, sent me a new model with a P4-2.2, 512MB, 40GB, DVD/CDR, networking, UXGA and a 32MB video card that modded easily to a softquadro. But since I had originally bought a refurb, the new one also had to be a refurb

[Slinger]

Only thing i dont like about the Precision line is the 667 ram timing.

[jonofj]

667 Ram timing...?? you mean I should go for a higher Ram speed on this?

[AJLynn]

What do you mean? The RAM speed on any standard manufacturer's PCs is set to CPU default. All major brand PCs with that generation of Xeons run the RAM at the same speed.

 

Don't get confused. Some manufacturers advertise computers with faster RAM than the CPU default, but unless they're selling you a box with an overclocked CPU the RAM might be spec'ed to be able to run at more than, say, 667MHz, but it's actually running at the standard 667.

 

The CL timing numbers don't have much effect on rendering performance.

[wtango]

Jonofj-

Just out of curiosity, what were the original and "Revised" price quotes?

 

Our firm is looking to add 2 workstations, and we'd probably look at very similar setups.

 

Thanks.

[SandmanNinja]

hard drives are pretty cheap now-a-days. You should be able to upgrade that hard drive to 500 gigs for next to nothing.

 

I got a 2nd 500-gig hd for my new computer and had them set it up in a RAID0 configuration. Boots very quickly and if you should need to hit the hard drive for virtual ram, it's be a lot quicker.

 

Other than that, it looks like a great system.

[Slinger]

What do you mean? The RAM speed on any standard manufacturer's PCs is set to CPU default. All major brand PCs with that generation of Xeons run the RAM at the same speed.

 

Don't get confused. Some manufacturers advertise computers with faster RAM than the CPU default, but unless they're selling you a box with an overclocked CPU the RAM might be spec'ed to be able to run at more than, say, 667MHz, but it's actually running at the standard 667.

 

The CL timing numbers don't have much effect on rendering performance.

More miss information by you again....you are able to OC ram without OCing your cpu.

Second, CasLatency timings DO make a difference on renderings..think about it dude....or better yet, go do some research before you give out more computer hardware advice.

[AJLynn]

First off, spell "misinformation" correctly if you're going to use the word to live up to your nick. Second, do your own research if you're going to have that sort of attitude here.

 

He's talking about a Dell Precision. There is nothing he can do relative to the RAM speed with that. It's not an enthusiast motherboard that lets you change the dividers and ratios and this isn't a thread about tweaking gamer hardware, so don't confuse the issue with a tangent that doesn't apply. Should somebody buying a Precision for the dual-quad config to render on be concerned with Dell's statements as to their RAM speed? No.

 

Now, RAM timings - I'm on a P5K with XMS RAM, I've tested it, tried different settings, run Cinebench exhaustively and come up with no way of making RAM timings a significant factor in rendering. A couple seconds shaved off a 10 minute render isn't significant - it's not even outside the margin of error. Don't think about it, test it.

[F J]

More miss information by you again....you are able to OC ram without OCing your cpu.

Second, CasLatency timings DO make a difference on renderings..think about it dude....or better yet, go do some research before you give out more computer hardware advice.

 

if the CPU is the responsible factor for calculating renderings i dont see how better RAM timings can 'tell' the CPU to work even faster

 

in fact, depending on the CPU + RAM combination, u could probably increase the RAM timings (to an extent) without affecting the final render time.. dude

[jonofj]

Jonofj-

Just out of curiosity, what were the original and "Revised" price quotes?

 

Our firm is looking to add 2 workstations, and we'd probably look at very similar setups.

 

Thanks.

 

 

The Price orginally was totally wrong they mucked it up...this is the Fiji islands so we still 3rd A 3RD WORLD developing country.

 

the Final Price for this system is $6.4K Fiji currency. (3yrs warranty parts & labour)

 

hope this helps

[shaneis]

I got a 2nd 500-gig hd for my new computer and had them set it up in a RAID0 configuration. Boots very quickly and if you should need to hit the hard drive for virtual ram, it's be a lot quicker.

 

RAID0 huh... the perfect way to double your HDD costs while halving your stability. Make sure you back up regularly (ie daily)

[SandmanNinja]

If hardware is going to fail, it'll fail. I've seen cheapie hard drives last for a decade and expensive ones die in a month. The warranty will cover free replacement and I got it thru a local company here in town.

 

I've got an external HD storage that is kept switched off until I do my backup operation. I back up my entire HD once a week, and My Documents every night. Spyware and AntiVirus running as well.

 

[Slinger]

First off, spell "misinformation" correctly if you're going to use the word to live up to your nick. Second, do your own research if you're going to have that sort of attitude here.

 

He's talking about a Dell Precision. There is nothing he can do relative to the RAM speed with that. It's not an enthusiast motherboard that lets you change the dividers and ratios and this isn't a thread about tweaking gamer hardware, so don't confuse the issue with a tangent that doesn't apply. Should somebody buying a Precision for the dual-quad config to render on be concerned with Dell's statements as to their RAM speed? No.

 

Now, RAM timings - I'm on a P5K with XMS RAM, I've tested it, tried different settings, run Cinebench exhaustively and come up with no way of making RAM timings a significant factor in rendering. A couple seconds shaved off a 10 minute render isn't significant - it's not even outside the margin of error. Don't think about it, test it.

Sorry spelling/grammer police...at least your not calling someone stupid this time.

Next, can you please point out where your comment was in regards to the Precision he was discussing about? You were making generalizations about parts not specific to the Dell.

BTW, you can overclock the majority of newer Dells by using ClockGen. My old Precision 650 was not supported on the PLL chip to do so however but teh newer ones should be.

[Slinger]

if the CPU is the responsible factor for calculating renderings i dont see how better RAM timings can 'tell' the CPU to work even faster

 

in fact, depending on the CPU + RAM combination, u could probably increase the RAM timings (to an extent) without affecting the final render time.. dude

Because you use your ram for data transfer to the cpu....the quicker the ram can be transferred to the cpu the better...but like yahoo said, its only seconds worth...however my point is still correct...tighter timings make quicker renders.

[shaneis]

...If hardware is going to fail, it'll fail...

 

....I back up my entire HD once a week, and My Documents every night...

 

Good to see you're a backup person. Hope I didn't sound cheeky, thought I'd bring it to your attention because RAID0 is nearly impossible to fix when one of the HDD fails or corrupts data. I've heard some sad RAID0 stories over the years...it is good for video work but for "normal" performance HDD's a 10/15000 rpm primary drive with SATA II secondary drives would usually suffice - you could have them mirrored (RAID1) if you needed, then back up to an external location and you're super safe!

[shaneis]

Because you use your ram for data transfer to the cpu....the quicker the ram can be transferred to the cpu the better...but like yahoo said, its only seconds worth...however my point is still correct...tighter timings make quicker renders.

 

If I was a motherboard, I'd be feeling a little left-out right about now.

[SandmanNinja]

Good to see you're a backup person. Hope I didn't sound cheeky, thought I'd bring it to your attention because RAID0 is nearly impossible to fix when one of the HDD fails or corrupts data. I've heard some sad RAID0 stories over the years...it is good for video work but for "normal" performance HDD's a 10/15000 rpm primary drive with SATA II secondary drives would usually suffice - you could have them mirrored (RAID1) if you needed, then back up to an external location and you're super safe!

 

 

Naw, you didn't sound cheeky at all, mate. I saw the so I know it was all in good spirit.

 

Yeah, I told the guy if one of the drives fails, I want both replaced.

 

I lost all of my data and windows and settings last year - not to a HD crash but to a windows XP corruption. First thing I did was go out and get a USB 2.0 external HD.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Cheers mate

[AJLynn]

Sorry spelling/grammer police...at least your not calling someone stupid this time.

Next, can you please point out where your comment was in regards to the Precision he was discussing about? You were making generalizations about parts not specific to the Dell.

BTW, you can overclock the majority of newer Dells by using ClockGen. My old Precision 650 was not supported on the PLL chip to do so however but teh newer ones should be.

 

If it would make you happy, I could stop being patient with you and call you stupid instead.

[F J]

A couple seconds shaved off a 10 minute render isn't significant

 

...but like yahoo said, its only seconds worth...however my point is still correct...tighter timings make quicker renders.

 

[Slinger]

If it would make you happy, I could stop being patient with you and call you stupid instead.

Thanks asshole, thats much better

[AJLynn]

Glad to help.