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Home WorkStation Part 2

Question asked by Chris Champions on Apr 2, 2009
Latest reply on Apr 10, 2009 by Chris Champions

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Please see the below specs, one based on T3400 and other on T3500
The price diff. is about $400

For those who already tested the new intel processor, the question is, how fast the T3500 (W3503 ) compared to the T3400 (e8400)? I tried to find W3503 spec from Intel but couldn't find it? Not sure if the name is corrected???

I guess DELL tested very hard on FX580; however, I'm just wondreing if any of you here had a chance to play with it?
Is it worth to spend $400 more for the T3500???

Thx, Chris

T3500

Dell Precision T3500, CMT, Standard Power Supply
Genuine Windows Vista® Business Service Pack 1, with media, 64, ENG
No Energy Star
Dual Core Intel® Xeon® W3503 2.40GHz, 4M L3, 4.8GT/s
Mini-Tower Chassis Configuration
1GB, 1066MHz, DDR3 SDRAM, NECC (1 DIMM)
3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
512MB NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 580, DUAL MON, 2 DP & 1 DVI
C1 All SATA drives, No RAID for 1 Hard Drive
Integrated Intel chipset SATA 3.0Gb/s controller
80GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 8MB DataBurst Cachetm
16X DVD-ROM with Cyberlink Power DVDtm

T3400

Genuine Windows Vista® Business Service Pack 1, with media, 64, ENG

Inteltm Core®2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz/1333MHz/6MB L2/375W)
Mini-Tower Chassis Configuration
1GB, 667MHz, DDR2 SDRAM Memory, NECC (2 DIMMS)
3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
256MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX570, Dual Monitor DVI Capable
C1, All SATA, NO RAID for 1 Hard Drive

80GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 8MB DataBurst Cachetm
16X DVD-ROM with Cyberlink Power DVDtm

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Anna Wood Apr 2, 2009 3:48 AM
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Check out this from Wikepedia....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X...ries_.22Bloomfield.22

I would suspect that both workstations would be close for speed.

The new 2.4 ghz Bloomfield core will probably be in the range of the older 3.0 ghz C2D. They are both dual core, with the Xeon having hyper threading enabled.

You will suffer a bit with the memory on the T3400, being slower at 667mhz to the 1066 mhz on the T3500.

The FX580 is a very capable card. It compares with the old FX1700 for performance.

Is the T3500 worth $400 more then the T3400 you have spec'ed. Hard to say without running some benchmark tests on both machines.

We will not know until some folks get the new Xeon's and start to publish their benchmarks.

Cheers,
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- Chris Champions @ Anna Wood on Apr 2, 2009 1:35 PM
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  Thx for a quick response, Anna.
  You've been very useful around here!
  
  If I decide to get the T3400 system, I'm thinking of upgrading to about 6Gb (800Mhz cards) of memory - and I guess I can speed it up a little bit !
  
  if the speed is not very much diff and with $400, I'd get nice dual monitors
  Chris
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  - Anna Wood @ Chris Champions on Apr 2, 2009 2:44 PM
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    Chris,
    
    I do not entirely know if overall speed will be different. I am not sure the new Xeon is fast enough to make up the 2.4 ghz to 3.0 ghz clock speed differance. Until some folks do some testing it will be impossible to know for sure.
    
    My guess though is they will be close for performance
    
    With the machine costing $400 more I am not sure if I would take that risk without some hard numbers.
    
    That was the point I was trying to make.
    
    Cheers,
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    - Jim Zink @ Anna Wood on Apr 2, 2009 6:44 PM
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      Chris -
      
      On memory, even from third pary suppliers, DDR3 ECC memory is almost twice as expensive as DDR ECC RAM. (2GB ECC = ~$50 for DDR3 and ~$30 for DDR2 at crucial.)
      
      As for the dual core Xeon 3500s, they do not support either Hyperthreading or Turbo Boost. Turbo Boost is important for SolidWorks users. If only one or two cores are required, the system will cut power to the idle cores and boost the speed of the active core(s) by up to 266GHz.
      
      The quad core Xeon 3500s are great performers and arguably worth the extra cost compared to high end Core2s. I'm not sure you can make the same case for the low end dual core Xeons vs the midrage Core2s.
      
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      - Chris Champions @ Jim Zink on Apr 7, 2009 2:53 PM
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        So what you guys think about this system?
        I guess I need to replace a quadro video card then it's good to go for Solidworks?
        Thx, Chris
        
        http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16883107910
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        1-70W0UV @ Chris Champions on Apr 7, 2009 5:06 PM
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        As far as the hardware, if you swap the GeForce for a Quadro it should be good.
        
        However Vista Home Premium is not a SW supported OS. SW website lists system requirements as "Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise editions only."
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        Chris Challinor @ 1-70W0UV on Apr 7, 2009 5:59 PM
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        Daniel Herr wrote:
        
        As far as the hardware, if you swap the GeForce for a Quadro it should be good.
        
        However Vista Home Premium is not a SW supported OS. SW website lists system requirements as "Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise editions only."
        
        Might not be supported, but works fine for me on my laptop with 64 bit version
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        Chris Champions @ Chris Challinor on Apr 7, 2009 7:47 PM
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        That's what I thought
        The diff. between the home and business versions have nothing to do with SW
        Chris
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        Jeff Holliday @ Chris Champions on Apr 7, 2009 7:58 PM
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        Just be careful - if you need help from a VAR, they may not give it if the system does not meet the requirements (i.e.- the correct VISTA version).
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        1-70W0UV @ Jeff Holliday on Apr 8, 2009 10:16 AM
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        Daniel Herr wrote:
        
        However Vista Home Premium is not a SW supported OS. SW website lists system requirements as "Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise editions only."
        
        You're looking at an off the shelf HP computer so you don't have much choice what OS is on it. Vista Home Premium 64bit with 6GB of RAM will probably run SW better then XP 32bit. But as Jeff said and I was meaning, if you need help, tech support will probably say you have an unsupported OS.
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        Oliver Raymond @ 1-70W0UV on Apr 8, 2009 3:10 PM
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        vista home is the same thing as business , it just does not have some features unlocked.
        
        you can do an any time upgrade of vista from home-business-ultimate
        
        so if you need to get these features of vista to run solidworks (which you don't) it will not be a problem.
        
        http://www.microsoft.com/windo...-upgrade-overview.aspx
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        Chris Champions @ Chris Champions on Apr 8, 2009 7:05 PM
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        Compare the HP computer ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/...Item=N82E16883107910), to the below spec from DELL, it's better or very much the same?
        
        T3400
        
        Genuine Windows Vista® Business Service Pack 1, with media, 64, ENG
        
        Inteltm Core®2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz/1333MHz/6MB L2/375W)
        Mini-Tower Chassis Configuration
        1GB, 667MHz, DDR2 SDRAM Memory, NECC (2 DIMMS)
        3 Year Basic Limited Warranty and 3 Year NBD On-Site Service
        256MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX570, Dual Monitor DVI Capable
        C1, All SATA, NO RAID for 1 Hard Drive
        
        80GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 8MB DataBurst Cachetm
        16X DVD-ROM with Cyberlink Power DVDtm
        
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        Anna Wood @ Chris Champions on Apr 8, 2009 10:16 PM
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        The Core 17 machine will run the punch holder benchmark in the 65 second range, the E8400 in about 80 seconds.
        
        Depends on what you definition of better is.... :-)
        
        Both will work well for you.
        
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        Chris Champions @ Anna Wood on Apr 9, 2009 4:24 PM
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        Anna,
        Wow .... I havent known your benchmark test until now
        The table is very helpful
        Good work, Anna
        Chris
        
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        Chris Champions @ Chris Champions on Apr 10, 2009 2:08 PM
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        Here is the spec I ended up with. I'm thinking of adding another monitor soon in the future
        How much power I need for this system. 300W is enough? I guess not but how much more I need?
        Thx, Chris
        
        Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit (will upgrade to business version in the near future)
        Intel® Coretmi7-920 Processor(8MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz)
        6GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 6 DIMMs
        PNY VCQFX570-PCIE-PB Quadro FX570 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Workstation Video Card
        640GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
        16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
        Dell 23 inch Consumertm S2309W Flat Panel, Adjustable Stand
        SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
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Jim Zink Apr 2, 2009 1:15 PM
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I can't imagine you'd be running SolidWorks with only 1GB of RAM. Once you factor in an upgrade to 4GB, I think you'll find the delta is a bit greater.

If the system is for home use, I'd recommend a refurbished system from the Dell Outlet. Inventory changes daily, but there have been some incredible deals on there lately. For example, today there are two with the C2D 3.0 GHz CPU and the FX 570 graphics. One has 2GB RAM and an 80 GB hard drive for $599 and the other has 8 GB RAM and 160GB drive for $939.
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- Chris Champions @ Jim Zink on Apr 2, 2009 1:22 PM
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  I'm not running these systems with 1 GB. I'll upgrade the memory from other sources since it's very expensive to get even 2GB from Dell. I'm thinking of at leat 6Gb
  Chris
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Home WorkStation Part 2

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