Computers configured for Mastercam

[Mike DeButts @ MLC CAD Systems]

Working as a Mastercam A.E. I get asked all the time what computer do I need to buy for running Mastercam? Well www.mySolidbox.com is offering a answer to to that question.

Just click on TEAM MASTERCAM.

Check them out and let me know your comments.

 

Thanks

Mike DeButts

[kkominiarek]

I like the website design.

 

This site could be another tool in the selection process for purchaseing an computer.

[MotorCityMinion]

Perhaps loading up Mastercam and posting the benchmark results would give the forum users a better idea of what your machine is capable of.

 

Solidbox Carbide Desktop is a Dell Precision T5500. Key Features:

Quad-Core E5520, 2.66GHz Processors

12GB RAM, DDR3

2 x 320GB SATA 3.0Gb/s

768MB Quadro FX 1800 Graphics Card

SolidBox Price: $2,356.00

 

Assuming that the comp listed above has 2 cpu's installed, it's a decent price.

 

If I had to have that dual XEON CPU setup with that FX1800, I would rather build it myself assuming all the components in this wishlist below are truly compatable.

 

Intel Xeon E5520 Nehalem 2.26GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 80W Quad-Core Server Processor - Retail $385. NEWEGg

 

PNY VCQFX1800-PCIE-PB Quadro FX 1800 768MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Workstation Video Card - Retail $400. NEWEGG

 

ASUS Z8NA-D6C Dual LGA 1366 Intel 5500 ATX Dual Intel Xeon 5500 Series Server/Workstation Motherboard - Retail $260. NEWEGG

 

CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory CMX8GX3M4B1333C9 - Retail $270. NEWEGG

 

2 Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $199.99 EACH / $400.PAIR NEWEGG

 

CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC $220. NEWEGG

 

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail ( $159.98 $24.99 Std. Ship) $185. NEWEGG

 

2 SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - OEM ($24.99 EACH) $50.00 PAIR NEWEGG

 

$2170. Single CPU. $2555. Dual CPU.

 

Those are price qutes without shopping around.

[Jayson Kramer]

Why would you need to DVD burners?

you are gi4gs short on Ram and you forgot the OS cost to. so so far this is a great deal.

[Mike DeButts @ MLC CAD Systems]

MotorCityMinion - I see some of your point, but most people don't want to build their own pc. Also what kind of warranty does your NewEgg pc offer? What kind of tech support does your NewEgg pc offer. Lets be honest your not comparing apples to apples. I have no doubt you can build a comparable system but it would be hard to offer the Dell support and warranty for the same price. Thanks for commenting on this post.

 

Mike DeButts

[MotorCityMinion]

I never said that was a bad price and I'm not knocking the product. If a person doesn't feel like building a better system around the same cost this would be an good option. If my work bought me one today, would I laugh? No, I'd probably smile and be grateful.

 

Add $135. if you actually need another 4gb of ram. for a total of 12gb. 2 VelociRaptors-ZOOM ZOOM, probably a better mobo, 1000w PSW, a case that actually has room to spare and better cooling options. 2 Burners @ $50., why the he!! not. How much is your favorite OS retail? More at the Dell configuration site I bet.

[Jayson Kramer]

Motorcity, so you know this was not a poke at you. hope you are not taking this way. I see what you are saying.I used to build my own all the time to then It was easier and cost wise was to go with Dell. of course this is what they are hoping you will do to. but I would take your box to with a smile.

[Ryan Green MLC CAD Systems Inc.]

I'm a Mastercam AE as well, and a good share of systems I see in use are just barely capable of letting the software reach its full potential. They’d love to get a hotrod of a system, but are a little intimidated and unsure when it comes to selecting options, and most customers don't care to piece together a custom system themselves (just don't have the time, interest, etc...). They want name-brand proven products with reliable support, and pre-loaded with the most up to date Windows Genuine software. Most importantly, they want great value for their dollars.

Some of these outdated systems I see being used with Mastercam X4 are like watching a Volkswagen try to pull a freight train. It's just flat out painful to watch. I don't know how some of these guys stay sane dealing with this! This software is only getting better with time, but is demanding more of the hardware as well. With Team Mastercam at Solidbox, you get proven Dell systems that are configured for pulling that "freight train" of power that is Mastercam. No guesswork, just proven complete systems and discounted at the same time.

[gcode]

I've been running Dell's for years

Buy them from the refurb store..saves a ton of money.

$150 gets you a 3 year warranty.

Sure.. you can save some money building your own

and you can build them bigger and better than Dell, but 2.5 years out, when your $1500 Quadro card blows up.. Dell will hand deliver

and install a new one the next day.

[Dave.L]

For years I bought dell exclusivley until the last PC (3 years ago) came loaded with all this BS trial software and it made me re-format (btw with no OS disk)

 

The machine sat for a bit over 30 days coz we were too busy to get it setup, so they used that 30 days to not provide the OS disks

 

So, I said no more Dell for us. The last PC, workstation was my current HP. Very, very happy with it

 

I do belive it's best to get a system from the big boys since they test the components ablility to work with each other and that's worth it. They are not going to pair up components that can play well toghter since they have too much to lose.

 

BTW, we have a DELL rack server. Knock on wood, it's been running for near 6 years 24/7 with zero issues.

[gcode]

quote:

---

The machine sat for a bit over 30 days coz we were too busy to get it setup, so they used that 30 days to not provide the OS disks

---

Odd,, I bought my daughter a home pc and she lost the OS disc.

2 years out a virus desroyed the machine

I called them and they sent me a new OS disc

no charge

 

another thing about Dell.. any OS disc from any Dell will work on any other Dell with the same OS

[Dave.L]

quote:

---

another thing about Dell.. any OS disc from any Dell will work on any other Dell with the same OS

---

I can't recall if it was a win2K or XP but it would not accept the code from another disk I had. I had to go out any buy the operating system.

 

BUT, in the past, I always got the disks and you are correct, those disks would work on any dell PC.

 

I ready don't know what was different about this one other than it was a lower end machine just for our shop data collection.

[MotorCityMinion]

Jay, it's all good. I understand the warranty issues as well. It's a risk you take when building your own PCs, that's for sure. My home machine is a IBM Intellistation, and that came with great support, although I had some OS issues as well. The restore partition failed, and they sent out 2 sets of restore disk that also failed. I loaded up a retail version of XP and all was good. They did say I could bring the machine into a service center though, no charge. No more new comps with proprietary hardware ever again for me. I also use a HP workstation at work and it rarely gives me any grief. Both are older machines though. I built my son a new comp over the holidays based on some of the builds in the benchmark posts, came in at around $1200. and it does very well in general.

 

Now back to my 1st statement about benchmarks.

 

"No guesswork, just proven complete systems and discounted at the same time."

 

Since somebody is actually trying to use this forum as a sales lead, and the 1st post originated in the benchmark forum, how about running the benchmark and posting the results, giving us some data to take to those responsible for purchasing the hardware. I'm confident that the Solidbox system should produce some decent numbers.

 

[ 01-31-2010, 10:07 AM: Message edited by: MotorCityMinion ]

[Mike DeButts @ MLC CAD Systems]

Due to SolidWorks World going on this coming week the Benchmarking may be a little delayed. SolidBox will release Benchmark results on this forum using the test with the sample file as soon as possible. There are six different computers to test. While this test is done the benchmarking for www.mysolidmark.com will also be done. you can read more about it here http://mysolidbox.com/mastercam/index.php?..._page=page&id=2

[bogusmill]

Here we have a contract that lets us buy only Dell or HP but at home I only build my own. My last home built held the benchmark record (still might for a single quad core CPU machine) for about 6-9 months. I have $1400 in it and am my own tech support so I am NOT on the phone for hours while a Dell tech guy walks me through fixing my machine. The parts warranty on many components is as long or longer than Dell's. I use parts only from high end brands and haven't RMA'd hardly any components.

 

Recently I advised the IT guys what we wanted as our new PC's and guess what, we ordered 2 Dell T5500's, twin E5520 CPU's, 12Gb RAM, FX3800 video card, & 80Gb Raptor HD loaded with XP 64bit. Almost exactly the same as Solidmark's top offering. This is a very nice machine I highly recommend it. We paid $3,168 ea. on our State contract so the Solidmark price is a very good deal.

 

My homebuilt has twin Dell 2408WFP monitors and I use wireless Logitech keyboard and MX Revolution mouse so parts wise Solidmark thinks very much as I do. However my homebuilt has a 30% overclock at 3.5Ghz and is very stable. It also is about 25 seconds faster on the benchmark than the T5500.

[Mike DeButts @ MLC CAD Systems]

Do you guys have any other suggestions for other bench mark points of concern?

[Rob @ Target Machine]

I'm sure you'll make alot of forum members happy by posting results from our benchmark.

 

As for the benchmark test itself, it's pretty straight-forward.

 

Just make sure all ops are dirty and regen files aren't being used. The Mcam event log will time it for you.

 

Will the M6500 be available from your site when its finally available from Dell?

 

How about an option to go up to the Covet model?

[Mike DeButts @ MLC CAD Systems]

Looks like next week the benchmarking will done.

 

The second quarter SolidBox plans to add more selections for each Series.

The M6500 and possibly the Covert will be added 2nd Quarter.

If anyone else has suggestions on different configurations let me know.

Thanks for everyones inputs on this post...

[Rob @ Target Machine]

Thanks Mike. I need a certified workstation for Mcam and your laptops are right in the ballpark of what I'm looking for.

 

I can't wait to order my M6500 Covet. :effin sweet: :yeah baby: :woot woot:

 

We'll all be watching for the benchmarks.

[The_Evil_Machinist]

Murray stole the benchmark record from me. I only had it for about 4 months but still to be on a mac, make a declaration of complete ownage and live up to it, Feels good man!

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

Yeah, but I bet your benchmark championship cost a bit more than mine. I did it with a $1500 build!

[The_Evil_Machinist]

[Mike DeButts @ MLC CAD Systems]

Guys I'm very sorry about the delays on getting the benchmarks ran and published. Look for the Top Offering of laptop "Carbide Series" Benchmark to release sometime next week. SolidBox has applied to be a Mastercam Partner to obtain their own HASP to perform benchmarking and test. Unfortunatlly I'm very busy and not able to coordinate my schedule with theirs. Please hang in there SolidBox understands how important these benchmark results are to the Mastercam user.

[Mike DeButts @ MLC CAD Systems]

The Benchmark time is results from the emastercam benchmark file test.

The verify time is ran on the same file after the test has ran with Quality and Speed set in the center.

The file conversion tests were from the same file also. By saving out versions of each shown file types. The time Matercam took to open each file is displayed.

 

I'm including results for the Cobalt Laptop and a custom T1500 system we configured for a customer. As we get more results I will post them.

 

 

 

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

Good job, those are respectable times.