winapon :
Hello, Due to Budget Constrains, I opt to buy used HP Z800 workstation with the specs given below:
2x2.66 GHz Hex-Core Xeon (X5650), 24GB - (12 x 2GB) - DDR3 ECC Reg - 1333Mhz,146GB - SAS - 15000RPM in Raid 10, nVidia Quadro 2000 - 1GB GDDR5 - 1 x Dual DVI.
Price: £816.98
I will be doing Part Modeling in SolidWorks and CFD analysis in Fluent.
Is it ok to buy this system for this price or buy a new desktop pc for the same price? My budget limit is 900 GBP.
Please help me in this decision!
Thank you in advance.
winapon,
I have had very good results with a two HP z420's, and the z800 was a very good dual CPU system. However, if you're open to a used system, I think you can have much better performance for a similar price by buying a system with a lower system specification and upgrading. Solidworks and rendering is a combination that needs a fast CPU core for modeling, and simulation / animation, but rendering also needs as many cores as possible. I feel that the X5620, while excellent and has six cores, the 2.4 / 3.06GHz is a bit under the desirable clock speed for Solidworks modeling. Also, the Quadro 2000 is a dangerous middle quality purchase- the bottom end of mid-level Quadros three generations back- too good for the rubbish bin but too expensive considering it would need replacing immediately even for student use.
For your uses my suggestion is to consider a Dell Precision T5500 or T7500 of which there are always many for sale in the UK and Germany. The T7500 is the equivalent of the z800 and the T5500 is similar to a z600- all of them using the excellent X5600- series LGA1366 Xeons and DDR3-1333 ECC RAM. I feel that in general Dell Precisions have a better deign, higher build quality, and support than HP.
For example a completed listing on ebay.de:
Dell Precision T7500 Workstation / Xeon X5670, 8 GB, Quadro FX3800 sold for EUR 245,44 or £172.46
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Dell-Precision-T7500-Workstation-Xeon-X5670-8-GB-Quadro-FX3800-/131550664892?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item1ea107d8bc&nma=true&si=w2ud5E3MPAM0RyrZKur3P3mDnbg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
The X5670 is 2.93 / 3.33 GHz. To this system you add a 2nd CPU riser / memory /Fan board , a second X5670, at least 24Gb o f RAM - the maximum is
192GB!, an SSD of 250GB or more, a 1 or 2TB mechanical HD, and a good Quadro like a K1200m K2200, or K4200. Add or add later a PERC H310 or H710 controller to change from a 3GB/s to a fast 6GB/s disk system. I think it would not be difficult to have a very good Solidworks / rendering system within your budget.
The T5500 is also very capable and less expensive. For example:
Dell Precision T5500 Workstation Xeon Quad Core 2.53GHz ( E5540 ) 8GB, 500 GB sold for EUR 164 (= 113 GBP) and for this one you buy 2X X5690 6-core @ 3.47 / 3.73GHz, 48GB RAM, a Quadro K4200. Starting with a less expensive version with a lower specification CPU means you can have the fastest CPU in that series, the X5690 and a better GPU. If necessary,at first buy only one CPU and portion of the RAM then add it later, but make a fast CPU and very good GPU a high priority.
I did this a few months ago with a T5500:
Purchased for $171:
Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Original): Xeon E5620 quad core @ 2.4 / 2.6 GHz > 6GB DDR3 ECC Reg 1333 > Quadro FX 580 (512MB) > Dell PERC 6/i SAS /SATA controller > Seagate Cheetah 15K 146GB > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating =
1479 / CPU = 4067 / 2D= 520 / 3D=
311 / Mem= 1473 / Disk= 1208]
Changing to:
Dell Precision T5500 (2011)(Revised) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating =
3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D=
3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15
> for a total of about $1000 or £710. A second CPU and more RAM would add about $350 (£224)- near your budget
By the way, if you should buy the z800 or a TX500, the RAM is triple channel so buy and install in sets of three.
The T5500 system runs Solidworks 2014 very well and in fact because it is capable of having a pair of 6-core X5690's, I have considered selling my HP Z420 (listed below) and using the T5500 as my main system.
Cheers,
BambiBoom
HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram