New workstation opinions

[jmfrank]

Got a new workstation on order with the following components.

 

HP XW8200 Workstation

3.4 Ghz Xeon w/1MB cache, 800 Mhz FSB, 2GB of DDR2 Mhz ECC RAM 6 open slots, 36.4 GB Ultra 320 10K RPM Hard Drive, 16X DVD, Nvidia Quadro FX1400 Video PCI Express video with 128 MB of Video RAM, integrated audio, Integrated Intel 10/100/1000 ethernet

 

 

36GB Ultra320 SCSI HD

 

 

Add on CPU Xeon 3.4Ghz

HP - 1 x Intel Xeon 3.4 Ghz (800 Mhz FSB) - L2 2 MB

 

 

Kingston 1GB DDR2 mem module

(2) 1GBx1 - DIMM 184 pin - DDR - 400Mhz ECC Registered ( MUST BE ADDED IN PAIRS)

 

 

Whata yall think about this setup for running Mastercam? I seem to remember from previous post Mastercam being a little finicky with certain video cards or drivers. Just curious if the above components are good for a Mastercam box. Anything you would change?

 

Matt

[Ray H.]

No Xeon Procs!!!!

 

Mcam has had issues with this proccessor

[Ocean Lacky™]

Dual Xeon here......No Problems

[chowquoe^]

Running a 3.4GHz Pentium D here 2GB ram and the fx 3400 card 256mb of ram. No problems here, I actually think that it kick a$$.

[Carl Hessig]

Dual Xeon 64bit here no problem

[beej]

dual xeon here no problems

[Colin Gilchrist]

Dual Xeon here, and Lovin it.

[Ray H.]

Alright then,

Perhaps CNC fixed the issue.

so do those xeons really clip or what?

[Steve Zirtzman]

Matt,

Nice system, but I would upgrade the graphics card to at least the FX 3500 256MB.

[jmfrank]

Thanks for the input. I see computer specs and it might as well be in another language. The primary software here is UG so the workstations are geared to work well with UG. Just didn’t know for sure about Mastercam.

 

Thanks Matt

[heavychevy2155]

Everything looks good but the hard drive, to small. I would go with 2 36gig in raid 0, or 2 74gig in raid 0. They also have a 150gig 10000 rpm model also, I think it has a larger memory buffer for faster performance.

[Mcam Nut]

Would I notice any performance diference if i was to go from my 80 gig 7200 rpm to a 74 gig 10k drive? would it be worth changing my drive?

[heavychevy2155]

I remeber that someone had a test file time your computer, it was a mc file and you had to refresh the tool paths and record the time. The computers with the 10000rpm raptor drive were faster with the refresh, some alot faster. Im not saying that the hard drives made all the difference in the world, but the combination of high speed parts as a whole made the difference. It sound like you have an awsome system on the way, but for a small amount more you could wring out just some more performance from the combo. I would hate to get the computer and say I wish I had bought this or that for it. Most people forget that this is a tool, and you want the best tool to do the job, a workstation is alot less than a new seat of MCX level 3, or that new Yasda machining center . Hope this helps.

[gcode]

quote:

---

a 74 gig 10k drive

---

The 10K Raptor is a very nice hard drive.

Its a nice compromise between a plain jane

hard drive and a full blown SCSI drive.

The Raptor has about 80% of the SCSI's performance

at 1/3 the SCSI's price.

If you work with large files, you will notice adifference

[Steve Zirtzman]

Matt,

Are you going to run dual monitors on the new box?

[jmfrank]

Steve

 

Not using dual monitors only single.

 

Matt

[cadcam]

I am totally surprised by this the comment about the issue with Xeon. I have never had a call or found an issue on them.

 

The setup is good real good compared to what I see out there.

Most of you would be surprised how cheap people go on computers.

I spend hours on the phone trying to explane that they should not go to best buy and get the Emachine or the $399 special from dell for the month.

[Jack Neelands™]

tell that to my IT guy ...swear he pockets the budget cash for what he doesnt spend