Used workstation with 2 x xeon E5345 processors. Should I buy.

[robbybobson]

Hi all,

 

After a bit of advice.

 

I have seen a used HP XW6400 dual xeon workstation for sale for £599.

 

It has two xeon quad core processors, 4gb ram and dual quadro 285 graphics cards.

 

I guess this is about 3-4 years old maybe. It seems they cost quite a lot new.

 

Would this be a good buy or are there faster machines out there for similar prices now.

 

I was considering a system using an AMD 1055ST with 6 cores. These can be found quite cheaply.

 

I will be using it mostly for rendering using 3ds max/vray but might also use it for 2d and 3d cad.

 

I can only afford about £600 for a system and I currently use a dell dual core 2ghz laptop with 2gb ram. Its starting to struggle a bit as I try and improve my 3D work.

 

any advice welcome.

 

Cheers,

 

Paul

[AJLynn]

The dual Xeon you found and a 1055T are about equal at rendering. My concern with the Xeon is the 4GB, it's a bit weak by current standards, and RAM for a Xeon is more expensive than for a Phenom. BTW, a 285 is a Geforce, not a Quadro. And unless you were using CUDA I'd probably remove one to save electricity.

[robbybobson]

Thanks AJ,

 

I will go for an amd 1055t or 1090t then I think. Would like an i7 but they are a bit expensive in comparison. I know nothing about the current situation with gfx cards. What sort of card should I be looking for with a 1090t and how much ram is the minimum these days. I just work by myself and my 3d work is generally small scale so I just need a budget card that is adequate.

 

Thanks,

 

Paul

[AJLynn]

I'm not sure, in the UK market, how much budget you're going to end up with, but whatever you can get from the Radeon 5000 series or Geforce 400 series would be good options. E.g., a Geforce 450 or Radeon 5750 - those are roughly equal in power, price and energy performance.