How would you outfit a Photoworks rendering workstation?

- M
- Matt Schroeder
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Sep 19, 2007 8:34 PM

I'm curious what hardware people would choose if you were purposely building a workstation for rendering in Photoworks.

We typically buy HP or Dell workstations outfitted to our specifications for Operating System, video cards, RAM and hard drives and processors.

Does anyone have any great advice on these components as specifically meant for maximum Photoworks productivity?

Keeping in mind the new functionality in SolidWorks 2008, what would you recommend for the above mentioned components, including OS.

Thanks for the input!

--Matt Schroeder

My current system is configured as follows:

Processor Model : 2x Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 3.20GHz Speed : 3.19GHz Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s) Threads per Core : 2 Unit(s) Internal Data Cache : 8kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 4-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector L2 On-board Cache : 512kB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector L3 On-board Cache : 2MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 8-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 lines per sector

System System : Dell Computer Corporation Precision WorkStation 450 Mainboard : Dell Computer Corp. 0F1263 Bus(es) : X-Bus AGP PCI IMB USB i2c/SMBus Multi-Processor (MP) Support : 2 Processor(s) Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes System BIOS : Dell Computer Corporation A04 Total Memory : 2GB ECC DDR-SDRAM

Chipset 1 Model : Dell Computer Corp E7505 Host Controller Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 133MHz (532MHz data rate) Total Memory : 2GB ECC DDR-SDRAM Memory Bus Speed : 2x 133MHz (266MHz data rate)

Video System Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor Adapter : 3Dlabs Wildcat4 7110 Adapter : 3Dlabs Wildcat4 7110

Physical Storage Devices PERC Array (SCSI) : 102GB (C:) SONY DVD RW DW-Q120A (ATAPI) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices Hard Disk (C:) : 102GB (86GB, 85% Free Space) (NTFS) @ PERC Array (SCSI) CD-ROM/DVD (D:) : N/A @ SONY DVD RW DW-Q120A (ATAPI)

3.5" 1.44MB (A:) : N/A

Operating System(s) Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP (2002) Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2) Platform Compliance : Win32 x86

Network Services Adapter : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MTW Network Connection

- R
- robrrodriguez
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Sep 19, 2007 8:59 PM

I'd go with as many cores as possible (a quad core is nice), plenty of RAM (4 gigs for a 32 bit machine, more for a 64 bit) and an approved video card for SW 2008 since Realview and PW are now integrated.

You can read about my new system and how it pertains to rendering here

formatting link

- J
- jimsym
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Sep 19, 2007 9:52 PM

Reasonable cost:

Dell 390 or HP xw4400 Core2 Extreme QX6700 2.66GHz Quad Core

4GB RAM Dual SATA Drives Quadro FX1500 WinXP 64bit

Cost Not So Impt

Dell 490 or HP xw8400

1-2 Xeon x5355 or 5365 2.6 or 3GHz Quad Core 8GB RAM (4x2GB) 2-3 10k RAM SATA Drives Quadro FX3500 WinXP 64bit

If you are in a hurry, check out Dell's Outlet. There are some great deals there right now. If you must get new, negotiate on price.

If not in a hurry, wait a month. HP has announced new systems based on faster Core2 Duo CPUs (6x50 Series) that are much less expensive than current line. Dell can't be far behind. (You can get the new CPUs from XI and other "second tier" suppliers now.) Should be shipping soon.

Even faster systems will be shipping after 1st of year, but you can't wait forever.