Does anyone recommend a Dell Precision Tower 7810 Workstation?

[jillballard]

Hello,

I am getting back into architectural visualization and need a new computer for 3DS Max, VRay, Photoshop, Sketchup and Autocad. I am wondering if the Dell Precision Tower 7810 Workstation would be suitable. Rendering high quality images with ease and speed is my biggest need.

 

The computer I'm looking at offers:

 

-Intel Xeon Processor E5-2620 v3 (6C, 2.4 GHz, Turbo, HT, 15M, 85W)

-Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (includes Windows 8.1 Pro Licence)

-16GB DDR at 2133 MHz

-1TB 3.5" Serial-ATA (7200 RPM) Hard Drive

-NVIDIA Quadro K4200 4GB (2 DP, DL-DVI-I) (1 DP to SL-DVI adapter)

 

Would this be a good setup for what I need to do? Ordering a computer from Dell seems like a simple solution as I am still learning about the latest technology. Thank you for any advice you have.

 

Jill

[dmitriyyemelianenko]

No, it is not a good choice. If you are novice in this theme- try ro read some recent topics about hardware. It's almost every week somebody starts new thread about building pc. As for suggestions Dimitris's variants are best bang for the buck http://pcfoo.com/2014/12/cg-workstation-the-pro-q4-2014/

Good luck

[alexanderbong]

Xeons are very expensive and it only starts to make sense economically if you are planing to build a render farm. Dollar / Ghz wise, they start to match up at 5 sets of i7 with 64GB ram.

 

16GB is too little RAM for rendering heavy geometries. You don't need a high speed one (2133). The benefits are not worth the added cost.

Getting more slower RAMs is a better choice.

 

Quadro cards are also very expensive. You pay more for accuracy and thus, stability. But it's a lot of added cost. Go for Geforce gaming cards, I understand they perform very well in view-port performance. Note that rendering with Vray does not utilize graphics power, only processor.

So this investment is strictly for a smooth view port performance.

 

 

I use Dell systems, they cost more but it comes with 3 years onsite warranty which makes sense for a business investment since you can claim the bulk cost as capital allowance.

[Dimitris Tolios]

It is funny, cause I do have a very similar Workstation @ my current office, typing this post from it !

 

T5810 / E5-1650 v3 / 32GB DDR4 2133 / K4200 / 256 SSD.

 

Employers didn't want the "gamble" of me building it myself, lost few $K in the process. It is an ok machine, but no Xeon or ECC or Quadro will help you with "Stability"...trust me, if Revit, 3DS or Sketchup wants to crash, it will! It is random and silly and the machine you are running them into, are indiferent. I swear that my home 3930K @ 4.7GHz / 32GB DDR3 non ECC / GTX 970 / 500GB EVO doesn't seem more unstable the slightest bit. Just faster, and it is quite a bit old these days.

 

Also not that the 3y warranty is not a "given", you pay dearly for it. Normal warranty is 1y, you don't get to touch anything inside the box (ok, they are not paranoid about it, but that's the rule) and if it breaks they will mail you a replacement. They are pretty cool and fast with the latter, but you won't be able to be online again after a short visit to a computer store.

[Tim in Hollywood]

I recommend the Dell Precision Workstation product line. The next business day on-site repair/replacement is fantastic. Also, you get access to "real" tech support, not just someone reading from a script. That is also extremely helpful.

 

For example, when something went wrong, I was able to call Precision support and tell them what I had done to diagnose the problem. After hearing that, they immediately said, "yes, if you have done that, it's definitely the XXXXX that isn't working. We'll get someone out there tomorrow with a replacement." No formatting your drive, no nonsense tests from someone reading from a script.

 

You can likely get a better home-made system for price/performance, but Dell Precision Workstations are our system of choice.

 

That said, we have upgraded the RAM and video cards in them, but they have performed very well for us. 16GB of RAM is plenty for the 3ds max files we use. For some, perhaps 16GB would be insufficient. You'll know your 3ds max scenes better than we will.

[jillballard]

Thank you very much for your advice. You have helped me to get an overall view of the components and what I need and do not need. I think I will go to the local computer store and see what they would build for me and compare it to the Dell. Thank you for steering me in a direction.