Use server as desktop PC?

[ME]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Guys Im in a quandary and need your advice

Im in market for e new PC

My uses would be the typical surfing and word
processing kinda stuff

But I also have an interest in making this PC a "media
center" of sorts by installing a Hauppauge TV/PVR card
in it to capture Tv shows and watch them later. see
link

http://tinyurl.com/4qp2e

Id also like to try using Dragon Naturally Speaking
software at some point to eliminate as much typing as
Im a HEAVY usenet user and type a LOT (use Agent news
reader). See link for Dragon software.

http://tinyurl.com/4oxqh

AND...... I currently make a living doing CAD (computer
aided drafting)..... so will want to run Autocad and
Inventor

I was considering buying a Dell 470 Precision work
station which is a computer designed for CAD work.

Thinking of a single xeon cpu and 1 gig ram and 80 gig
hard drive

However.... Im really wondering if a Dell server with
above specs would do what I want and cost less than the
work station?

Advice?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

me wrote ...
> Thinking of a single xeon cpu and 1 gig ram and 80 gig
> hard drive
>
> However.... Im really wondering if a Dell server with
> above specs would do what I want and cost less than the
> work station?

Of course you will check all the applications to confirm
that they will run on that hardware (particularly the CPU)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

you want to be really careful when picking a "server" as a workstation.

You often find that the video and sound cards are very low spec. After
all a server does not need high end sound and video. The upgrade costs
may well eat any savings otherwise.

A true server system should have high speed networking card(s) and a
high speed disk subsystem , probably RAID.