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Newbie on workstations

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  • Dell
  • Workstations
  • Computers
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May 11, 2008 6:10:38 AM

Hi everyone,


I'm quite new to workstations (actually this would be the first one I buy), so please excuse trivial questions:


I'm thinking about buying a DELL Precision T7400 (Intel 5400) workstation....but I do have some questions before :


- Is it possible to use a mainstream graphics card (like nvidia 9800GX2) in this workstation? Could I get such a configuration directly from DELL or do I need to exchange the cards myself?


- Is it possible to add a second CPU afterwards? Or does the first CPU need to be special in a way to support this?


- I'm quite impressed by the DELL XPS line: quality of assembling and noise reduction seem to be just fine. Is this the same with the Precision workstations? Does anyone have some experience with this?


- General questions: Is it possible to extend this system with the usual standard components (like add HD, NICs,...)? Could I ran into any problems?


- Are there any limitations to the XPS line? Is the performance comparable?



Best wishes,

Peter

More about : newbie workstations

May 25, 2008 1:42:31 AM

mosquitooth said:


- Is it possible to use a mainstream graphics card (like nvidia 9800GX2) in this workstation? Could I get such a configuration directly from DELL or do I need to exchange the cards myself?


Absolutely you can put that in. The motherboard does support PCI-e x16 slots. Though you may want to check support.dell.com and search for system type to see if it does support PCI-E 2.0.

mosquitooth said:

- Is it possible to add a second CPU afterwards? Or does the first CPU need to be special in a way to support this?

If you wish to add a second CPU, your best bet is to buy it from Dell because there will be a VRM (Voltage Regulator Module). The VRM controls voltage going to the second socket, so if that's not in place and you add a second CPU, you will not see it at all.

mosquitooth said:

- I'm quite impressed by the DELL XPS line: quality of assembling and noise reduction seem to be just fine. Is this the same with the Precision workstations? Does anyone have some experience with this?

I know that some people have complained about the fan noises. I know it's a monster of a machine, and keeping it in an enclosed space is the worst thing you can do for it. However I wouldn't say they are built to be super quiet.

mosquitooth said:

- General questions: Is it possible to extend this system with the usual standard components (like add HD, NICs,...)? Could I ran into any problems?

You can add your own parts, though, that won't be covered under any warranty. If you throw some funky configuration in other than what Dell sends you, their tech's can do their best to help, but are sometimes limited.

mosquitooth said:

- Are there any limitations to the XPS line? Is the performance comparable?


I wouldn't say their performance is comparable because honestly I think they'd be used for two different situations entirely.


June 8, 2008 11:50:29 AM

I think I can help you, i just received my Dell Precision T7400 in the past week!

mosquitooth said:
- Is it possible to use a mainstream graphics card (like nvidia 9800GX2) in this workstation? Could I get such a configuration directly from DELL or do I need to exchange the cards myself?
The T7400 has 2x PCI-e x16 slots so you are ok here. You would have to add this yourself though as I think Dell can only configure you a system with Quadro graphics. One point to note is that the T7400 case is HUGE, it has the most space I have ever seen in a desktop/workstation case by far, and comes with graphics card centre and end supports which would be useful for massive cards.

mosquitooth said:
- Is it possible to add a second CPU afterwards? Or does the first CPU need to be special in a way to support this?
The T7400 motherboard has an Intel 5400 chipset, this means you get 2x socket 771s. You could purchase any Xeon with the system now and as long as the second is the same you can pop another straight in with a second cooler, with maybe a setting in the bios to change to enable 2 CPUs?

mosquitooth said:
- I'm quite impressed by the DELL XPS line: quality of assembling and noise reduction seem to be just fine. Is this the same with the Precision workstations? Does anyone have some experience with this?
The quality is second to none, the case is rock solid and very quiet. The front panel is actually metal which I wasn't expecting. All cable are routed very neatly. There is a well built tunnel channeling air past the CPU sockets and then past the memory slots. I could post a few pics if you like. The only thing I would have like to see was integral dust filters like on my old HP xw8600. That thing is quite old now but it's still absolutely spotless inside.

mosquitooth said:
- General questions: Is it possible to extend this system with the usual standard components (like add HD, NICs,...)? Could I ran into any problems?
It's possible to add boards but I'm not sure what slots there is, I didn't pay too much attention to them to be honest. I know I can put my SCSI card I need in there because I saw a PCI slot, I'll check what it has later on. Ditto on SATA connectors etc.

mosquitooth said:
- Are there any limitations to the XPS line? Is the performance comparable?
Are you going to be using the system for work? I use Autodesk Autocad, Inventor and Revit and I wanted the stability and performance of Xeon + ECC memory + Quadro. Depending on what you are using it for would really determine if you want a Xeon over a Core 2 based system. How much memory will you be needing? I know my 4GB is not going to last long, the T7400 has 8x memory slots so it's easier to upgrade to great amounts. Also how many cores do you need? Can you see yourself needing 8 cores in the not too distant future? If so a Xeon system is the way to go until Nehalem, ignoring the ridiculous Skulltrail. Going off the performance I've seen so far I was definitely right to go with a CPU nudging 3GHz (E5440 2.83GHz 1333FSB quad core).

Dan
November 3, 2008 8:27:12 AM

You do not state what software the workstation is to be used for. This will determine what hardware is best suited.

For 2D CAD A dual core processor is all that is needed along with a 32bit OS and 2-4Gb of RAM, and a basic graphics card.

for 3D work a dual core is again fine for modelling, when it comes to rendering then more cores = greater speed.

A 64bit OS is better suited to 3D work as well, as it allows for more memory to be installed. At home I am currently using a Core2 dual core system will 8Gb of Ram and Vistax64 and I can vouch for its speed when handling large files.

Do not fall into the trap of believing that workstation components are faster than standard components, clock for clock Xeon processors perform the same as the standard Core2 parts, in fact due to Xeon CPUs needing to use ECC RAM the Xeon CPUS cannot always match the standard Core2 cpus in memory intensive tasks.

The other side of the coin is that you can have 2 Xeon processors of course.

Choice of graphics card is not as important as it used to be, Quadros / FireGL's are still needed if your software does not play nicely with DirectX (Autodesk Revit is a good example of this, Maya to a smaller extent).
However a lot of software such as AutoCAD, Inventor, 3DS Max all support DirectX fully, this means they run fine on a Geforce / Radeon card.

Dell machines are OK, I use a quad core XPS 420 at work and it handles 3D work without too many problems, one downside with Dell machines is that the BIOS options are very limited, making tweaking settings or overclocking difficult or impossible. Some Dell machines may also still use the BTX form factor which is garbage. Although I believe Dell has ditched it and moved to ATX.

IMO the best 'off the shelf' 3D workstations are made by BOXX I have used one of these a few times and they are really nice machines.


!