Best Out-Of-The-Box Workstations?

[Corey Beaulieu]

Hey All,

 

Inspired by the Lenovo W530 review from the CGArchitect homepage I started looking at the Lenovo stuff in general. I found that the "ThinkStations" are really not all that bad (http://tinyurl.com/pu3fkbo This one in particular), especially with a few of the availible upgrades. I use a fully-loaded Dell T3500 at work which is great, but both of these machines are $2,000+.

 

Trying to do a little better than these on price, what are your picks for the best out-of-the-box solutions? Power for dollar.

 

I know a build your own is better price-wise, but this all has me curious.

[anejo]

Have you looked at Lenovo Outlet? I bought my W520 from that site last year. Saved about $500.

[Jonathan Fantucchio]

I second that. If you are somewhat patient you will get a great deal on the lenovo. They always have offers running at different times.

[Dimitris Tolios]

People have a fascination with labels and ofc companies take advantage of that...

"Workstation", "Xeon", "2P/2x CPUs", "Professional" etc. Words that in themselves mean nearly nothing, yet get abused so often.

 

Trying to get a new 2P system at

E5-2603 Xeon - Quad core 1.8GHz with no Hyperthreading, no turboboost, no support for faster than 1066 DDR3...

A chip that retails for $215 and should be embarrassingly slower than most 2nd and 3rd gen i7 laptops...

 

Quadro 400...no comments. Decent card if you buy it @ retail price for 2D CAD, but that's it.

 

For around $1800 you could get Lenovo or other brand laptops with i7 CPU and a mobile Quadro card that outperforms this "Workstation" in everything: from absolute performance in single thread, in multithread, in viewport acceleration, in energy consumption, in noise, in heat generation...

 

Just no.

[beestee]

Some of the best preconfigs for our industry will come from Boxx. They are made very specifically for working in our applications, but they also have a price tag to match their capability.

 

When you start breaking down preconfig costs and compare the price to what you could get by sourcing out the parts and building your own you could end up with a $3,000+ preconfig comparable machine for $2,000.

[Justin Hunt]

After getting a bunch of Lenovo thinkstations a few years back for our renderfarm I will never touch them again. Probably the worst built, unstable brand machines I have ever dealt with. I talking blue screens of death on a daily basis, especially when logging in. Bad Ram chips and other things.

 

Having said that they have done their job over the past few years, we have finally retired them.

 

jhv

[Devin Johnston]

I've purchased all the name brand machines out there including Boxx, none of them performed any better or experience fewer problems than the locally built PC's I've been buying. As long as you're putting in quality parts the machine will be just as good as any of these mass produced systems.

[Dimitris Tolios]

I have the same experience in the most part, thus advocating in favor of cherry picking your components, but many people simply are afraid or too busy to reach in the PC with a screwdriver. BoXX is marketed as "the cream" of PC workstations, still all the vital components are commercially available parts that enthousiasts use for building their own high-end machines. Nothing proprietary other than the case (which in itself is far from special).

[Ernest Burden III]

BoXX is marketed as "the cream" of PC workstations, still all the vital components are commercially available parts...

 

I usually buy BOXX machines, but that recent visit to their site for a workstation quote has made me re-think my brand loyalty. Though they have always been fantastic machines and the support is top. The insides of the machines are spotless, wires bundled, layout and power lines for eight extra drives, etc. So if I have the cash to spare, I'm still buying BOXX.

 

I looked at HPs workstations and there were a range of them but only one dual CPU, and I could not find a way to configure, it seemed to be a pre-built only. Dell, no thank. They come with 'Dell Inside'. Apple only makes a few variations on dual six-core and are pretty expensive, too. So who, then?

[Tommy L]

I usually buy BOXX machines, but that recent visit to their site for a workstation quote has made me re-think my brand loyalty. Though they have always been fantastic machines and the support is top. The insides of the machines are spotless, wires bundled, layout and power lines for eight extra drives, etc. So if I have the cash to spare, I'm still buying BOXX.

 

I looked at HPs workstations and there were a range of them but only one dual CPU, and I could not find a way to configure, it seemed to be a pre-built only. Dell, no thank. They come with 'Dell Inside'. Apple only makes a few variations on dual six-core and are pretty expensive, too. So who, then?

 

Like all the best stuff, go local. Find a local PC builder who will be your personal goto guy instead of a phone help line.

I personally build my own. If Im not building my own then I buy from a company in Cleveland (there's me not following my own advice), an ebay custom builder called AllPCZone. Ive had only good experiences with them, Ive bought 11 pc's from them over the last 6 years. I still use all those machines...

They even repaired a machine for free that was out of warranty. Wouldnt get that from Dell.