DIY Core i3 vs Dell Precision 670 w/ 2x Xeon 3.6GHz

[liuzx]

Hi experts,
I am going to buy components to build a desktop, thinking of Core i3, Asus/Gigabyte mobo, and 4GB RAM. Limited budget ~$400.-

Usage is allround SOHO: Photoshop for photo editing, will learn Premier in a few months. Leisure time will listen/burn some CDs/DVDs, watching internet TV, e-mail,....but do little gaming.

However, in the second hand market there is a Dell Precision 670 with 2x Xeon 3.6GHz,4GB Registered ECC RAM, and Quadro 1300 PCIe display card. The whole machine is 2/3 of my budget. This monster eats 680W. I'm not sure whether I can shut down one xeon during my leisure to save some electric charges.

Could somebody give some recommendations please. Thank you!

 

[Shadow703793]

For a $400, you probably want to look in to an Athlon II and a good AM3 board.

Anyways, if I read the specs right, that is a old Netburst era CPU. A modern day Athlon II or Phenom II or i3 should pwn the Dell in performance, esp. in multithreaded apps.

Imo, go DIY.

 

[ksampanna]

I think you could find the video card & dual CPU setup useful in Photoshop & Premier

 

[liuzx]

Thanks for the above replies.

I can now get $100-200 more on my budget. That is totally $500-600. If I go for Core i3-530, what mother board do you recommend? Should I get one with USB 3.0? I'm going to use it for 3-5 years.

I want to overclock to about 4GHz, what brand of RAM is better for this use?

 

[Shadow703793]

Imo, go with an AM3 build:

AMD Phenom II X4
ASUS AM3 EVO
GSkill Ripjaws 2*2GB DDR3 1600
Samsung F3 500GB or 1TB
Cheap DVD RW
ATI 4350 (if no gaming or light gaming, ie CSS, HL2) else a
OCZ 500W
Any decent case (ie Antec 300,etc)

HD 4850 OB - 77.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

Beware that that is an open box item. I do not recommend you getting open box items.

 

[liuzx]

I think you could find the video card & dual CPU setup useful in Photoshop & Premier

Thanks for your advise!! Should be the right choice for some old software. If I get new softwares i'll go to core i3.

 

[liuzx]

Best answer selected by liuzx.

 

[Timop]

Thanks for your advise!! Should be the right choice for some old software. If I get new softwares i'll go to core i3.

WHAT?
Im sorry, but regardless of old software and new software. an i3/Athlon X3 is going to destroy dual Pentium 4-based Xeons.
1*2 is still less than 5.

 

[sysjpa]

Thanks for the above replies.

I can now get $100-200 more on my budget. That is totally $500-600. If I go for Core i3-530, what mother board do you recommend? Should I get one with USB 3.0? I'm going to use it for 3-5 years.

I want to overclock to about 4GHz, what brand of RAM is better for this use?

Just had to add my 2cents worth, the old server based machine will most
probably blow the newer desktop based machine to the weeds for throughput
(Actual large transfers of multiple files or data to and from anywhere to anywhere)
and will be infinitely more stable, if using the onboard SCSI raid controller in a nice striped array of some kind, then hd performance is phenomenal on these babies, not for gaming, but for everything else.
P.S. The machines power supply does not denote how much it actually uses, most server based systems use far less than the rated capacity.

 

[fyasko]

why recommend a phenom? an intel i5 2400 will destroy a phenom and it's cheap. amd fanboism is crazy... i love me some amd but right now they don't have the best price/performance.