Newbie on workstations

[mosquitooth]

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

 

[sweetpants]

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

 

[moward]

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.