So I'm gonna get a new PC at work. While I don't have an unlimited budget, I don't need to get a basic one either. We prefer to use Dell's here, so that's what I'm gonna get.
I do some graphics work (using Photoshop, Acrobat, etc).
Any thoughts on what to go with? They have so many models and too much crap I haven't kept up with to know what is better.
For example here are some choices on processers for a Precision model:
And here are video card options:
Intel™ Core®2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz/1066MHz/4MB L2/Dual-core/VT [add $1,134]
Intel™ Core®2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz/1066MHz/4MB L2/Dual-core/VT [add $709]
Intel™ Core®2 Duo E6600 2.40GHz/1066MHz/4MB L2/Dual-core/VT [add $489]
Intel™ Core®2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz/1066MHz/2MB L2/Dual-core/VT [add $319]
Intel™ Core®2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz/1066MHz/2MB L2/Dual-core/VT [Included in Price]
Intel™ Pentium® 4 Processor 631, 3.00GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz, HT [subtract $30]
And the part I'm most clueless on, hard drives:512MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX 4500, Dual Monitor DVI or VGA [add $1,450]
256MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX3500, Dual Monitor DVI or VGA Capable [add $825]
256MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX 3450, Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI + VGA [add $525]
[SIZE=-1]Enhanced Graphics[/SIZE]256MB PCIe x16 ATI Fire GL V7200, Dual Monitor DVI or VGA Capable [add $725]
128MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX550, Dual VGA or Dual DVI or DVI + VGA [add $71]
128MB PCIe x16 ATI FireGL V3400, Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI + VGA [add $71]
128MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro NVS 285, Dual DVI or Dual VGA Capable [add $10]
128MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro NVS 285, Dual Monitor VGA Capable [Included in Price]
C1 All SATA drives, Non-RAID, 1 drive total configuration
C1 All SATA drives, Non-RAID, 1 drive total configuration [Included in Price]
C1a All SATA drives, Non-RAID, 2 drive total configuration add $0
C2 All SATA drives, Non-RAID, 3 drive total configuration add $0
C3 All SATA drives, Non-RAID, 4 drive total configuration add $0
May delay your Dell Precision 390 ship dateC4 All SATA drives, RAID 0, 2 drive total configuration add $0
C5 All SATA drives, RAID 1, 2 drive total configuration add $0
C6 All SAS drives, Non-RAID, 1 drive total configuration add $0
C7 All SAS drives, Non-RAID, 2 drive total configuration add $0
C8 All SAS drives in RAID 0, 2 drive total configuration add $0
C9 All SAS drives, RAID 1, 2 drive total configuration add $0
Boot Hard Drive
For hard drives, GB means 1 billion bytes, total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.Mixing of SATA/SAS Hard Drives is allowed, but the 1st Hard Drive or Boot Hard Drive must be SATA.When Ordering SAS Hard Drives, you must select a SAS controller.When ordering RAID, all hard drives in the RAID must be exactly the same capacity, speed, and type.80GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 8MB DataBurst Cache™
Help Me Choose
160GB SATA, 10K RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache™ [add $231]
80GB SATA, 10K RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache™ [add $130]
750GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™ [add $501]
500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™ [add $301]
[SIZE=-1]New Lower Price[/SIZE]320GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 16MB DataBurst Cache™ [add $101]
250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 8MB DataBurst Cache™ [add $71]
160GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 8MB DataBurst Cache™ [add $31]
80GB SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ and 8MB DataBurst Cache™ [Included in Price]
May delay your Dell Precision 390 ship date300GB, 3Gbps, SAS, 3.5 inch, 10K RPM Hard Drive [add $501]
May delay your Dell Precision 390 ship date146GB, 3Gbps, SAS, 3.5 inch, 15K RPM Hard Drive [add $501]
146GB, 3Gbps, SAS, 3.5 inch, 10K RPM Hard Drive [add $351]
73GB, 3Gbps, SAS, 3.5 inch, 15K RPM Hard Drive [add $301]
73GB, 3Gbps, SAS, 3.5 inch, 10K RPM Hard Drive [add $181]
Should I just go with a cheaper model (Optiplex)? It seems the Optiplex doesn't have as many options on the hard drive.
If you're gonna buy a dell, PM me and I'll set you up with my Dell Rep (Rick). He'll give you/your company about a 15-20% discount and free three year gold warranty. He's also really good at sizing up what different folks need.
I'm buying Dells w/ Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 2.13GHz, 2 gigs of Ram, 250 Gig SATA hard drives, 256 meg graphics, DVD +-RW, 19 inch DVI Flat panels, 3 year gold onsite next day support for $1300 after taxes and shipping from Austin, TX to Savannah, GA.
The core 2 Duo E6400's have been clocked at 150% faster than the latest P4 Xeon server class processors.
I'm working with two new Dell PowerEdge 2900 servers right now with dual, dual core xeon 5160's @ 3 GHz and these things are screaming!! I was donating the processors to climateprediction.net for about a week and I was winning the all time fastest model computations.
