Nick_f

Hi all,
I am almost ready to buy myself a workstation, my own copy of 3DS Viz, Vray and am looking for some expert advice on hardware. I have a budget of £2000 ($3,800) for hardware and I am looking at the following as a starting point:

Dell Precision 690

Processor:
Dual Core, 5130 Intel Xeon (2.0Ghz, 1333, 4MB) 750W

Operating System:
Win. XP Pro, Serv. Pack 2, 64-bit

Memory:
4GB DDR2 533 Quad Channel FBD RAM (2x2GB)

Graphics Card:
Nvidia Quadro FX3500 256MB

Hard Disc:
250GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive

Any advice on my choice of spec such as can I get more for less without buying a workstation made up of unreliable components and am I wasting money in certain areas. I have no experience of AMD processors so have chosen intel. I am really after a Dual, Dual core Intel Xeon workstation, but dell don't seem to allow that option on there website, why?

The Mac G5 allows this with faster processors and is a little cheaper from what I can see. I'd consider this if Boot Camp allows XP, Viz, Vray to use the hardware fully.

I would just like to say that I have been viewing this forum for some time and would like to say thank you all for all the tips I've picked up from here. This place is a gold mine!
Thanks
Nick

AJLynn

If you go with a Mac, make sure to get a Mac Pro and NOT a G5. A G5 will not be able to run Bootcamp, Windows or Viz. It will also have the limitation that 64-bit Windows is not currently supported, and likely will not be until there is a full release of Bootcamp with the next MacOSX version - so if you go this route, you may actually be better off with 2GB of RAM and hold off on the other 2 until you can get XP64 or Vista64 on it - by which time the FBDIMM RAM will be much cheaper.

The advantage to the Xeon series is that it can go dual-daul, so you're right - getting a single Xeon chip is almost completely pointless, it costs extra but is not better than a siilar Core2. Keep in mind that a Xeon 5100-series is based on the Core2 architecture, while anything other than a 5100-series is based on the Pentium4, and is much slower. That 2GHz 5130 is actually faster than a dual-core 3.4GHz from an older series, and there is nothing out there that is competitive with the 3GHz model.

Mat@MDI-Digital

id realy consider a macpro...Iv bought one (should arrive soon), and from what Iv read there very very good value when compared to Dell/box.

they also run xp64/vista as well as XP32. Sata drives are also very cheep at the moment (250gb for £45). So for a few £100 you could put 3 drives (+the one it comes with) and easly run 4 OS from the 4 drives, offering you loads of options.

Also, if you use max and vray, they run perfectly on it under xp.

if you do order a mac.....lower the harddrive size from 250cb to 160gb, this will save you £60. And for £45 from dabs you can buy an extra 250gb sata drive.

And dont add any extra ram to it, keep it at 1gb...adding another gb from apples site adds and extra £200. Instead, goto Crucials site and buy 2gb for £280.

Geoffc

I just checked the Dell site.

When you first customize the 690, its asks for the basic OS, chip and powersupply.

Then, on the second, longer page, the first box again asks you for which chip, then right below there is a pull down bar that says "2nd Processor", where you can add a second 5130 for $479.

BTW, I realize that macs are great and all, and can actually be had for the same or less than Boxx, perhaps even dell, but that still seems like a solution for someone that wants and could use the Mac OS in the first place. Otherwise you have a dual boot proprietary system with a basically unused OS installed.


edited to add: sorry, Im really not tryin to rip on Macs, but just give useful info. I just viewed the Macpro config and if you want a quadro vid card for Viz/Max, they only offer the 4500, which is very nice, but +$1650 to the price.

__________________

manta

I was going to say the same thing, if its going to be significantly cheaper or I was going to use OSX for something like video editing or compositing, then I might consider it, buying one to turn it into a PC doesn't make much sence, unless for the reasons stated, for me anyway...

__________________
DESIGN FORWARD
http://www.mantastudios.com

Nick_f

Thanks Geoffc, it seemed a little strange dell was not offering Dual, Dual.

The reason I have looked at the Mac Pro G5 is because I have Adobe Creative Suite for OSX which I use for technical illustration (old school!) and I guess there is a little bit of want in there too. Just to make sure, does anyone know of links to a benchmark test of bootcamp running max etc.

All that said, I think a PC is the wisest option from your advice.

Thanks all
Nick

PS is it me or is the Dell website down right now?

AJLynn

I've done a lot of testing, and a Bootcamp Mac performs the same as the same hardware from a PC vendor - you're booting Windows natively on an Intel box and you get full video drivers etc. I'm quite happy with it.

Also, make sure you get a Mac Pro and not a G5. They're different. A G5 can not run Bootcamp.

Nick_f

Thanks AJLynn,
As you have pointed out, I will now be considering the Mac G5 Pro and not the consumer G5 which would have been a costly mistake!
In your earlyer post, you mention that a Mac Pro G5 with bootcamp doesn't support 64-bit as yet. By this do you mean the beta version installed on the present OSX?
I'm a little sketchy on this, to have 64-bit support I would have to wait for OSX Lepard, which I think is out in the first quarter of 2007?
Thanks
Nick

AJLynn

No, what I am talking about is NOT a G5. There is no "G5" in the product name. If you buy a Mac that is a G5, whatever other nice things they say about it, it will not under any circumstances run Bootcamp or run Windows in anything but slow-ass VirtualPC emulation. The Macs that run Bootcamp have Intel Core or Xeon chips, not Freescale/IBM PowerPC G4 or G5.

XP64 is sketchy right now. You can Google this all, but I've seen posts by people who have done it and it requires a few manual steps to work around the lack of support by Bootcamp.

Mat@MDI-Digital

got my macpro now, setting up XP was very easy, max and vray both run fine.

2.66 dual dual core xeon. Renders in vray 3 times faster than my dual 3.2xeon