Graphical Workstation configuration (i7 vs Xeon, Unbuffered vs Buffered RAM,.)
Hi everyone,
I am going to make a hardware configuration for a company that uses a lot of graphical applications like Archicad, autocad, etc...
I have a few questions regarding this set-up:
* i7 of intel Xeon: I have read that the maindifference between these CPU's is that Xeon mostly is used in servers and i7 mostly in desktops. The advantage of i7 is that you can overclock them and are actually more suitable for graphical applications?! The advantage of Xeon is that the motherboard supports multiple CPU's on the motherboard. The motherboard then also supports buffered and ecc memory modules?
* RAM: I have read a nice explanation of unbuffered and buffered ram on EE (https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27210946/Core-i7-Vs-Xeon.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+10+30+i7+xeon) but is it such a big difference to use buffered RAM to choose for a Xeon CPU? Is ECC supported RAM also needed in workstations? Does anyone have a site which can provide me with all the information about RAM? The clocking speeds, ECC, buffered and what I should be looking at if I would want to buy new RAM?
*GPU: I have read that ATI and NVIDIA have seperate lines of GPUs for graphical applications. NVIDIA has Quadro and ATI has the FirePro line. Is there an overal difference between them and which are the specs on the GPU I should be looking at?
*HDD: Is it safe to say that a normal HDD (SATA-600 or SATA-300) would be enough or does SSD provide such a big difference in running applications or just booting the OS? Is there also a big difference in SATA-300 and SATA-600?
*Hardware manufacturer: I have seen that Dell mostly has Xeon CPU in their workstations. Do they use them so that you can easily add other CPUs or why would this be the reason?
Thank you very much! I want to give my customer the best value for his hardware and would appreciate if you could give me some extra information.
I am going to make a hardware configuration for a company that uses a lot of graphical applications like Archicad, autocad, etc...
I have a few questions regarding this set-up:
* i7 of intel Xeon: I have read that the maindifference between these CPU's is that Xeon mostly is used in servers and i7 mostly in desktops. The advantage of i7 is that you can overclock them and are actually more suitable for graphical applications?! The advantage of Xeon is that the motherboard supports multiple CPU's on the motherboard. The motherboard then also supports buffered and ecc memory modules?
* RAM: I have read a nice explanation of unbuffered and buffered ram on EE (https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27210946/Core-i7-Vs-Xeon.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+10+30+i7+xeon) but is it such a big difference to use buffered RAM to choose for a Xeon CPU? Is ECC supported RAM also needed in workstations? Does anyone have a site which can provide me with all the information about RAM? The clocking speeds, ECC, buffered and what I should be looking at if I would want to buy new RAM?
*GPU: I have read that ATI and NVIDIA have seperate lines of GPUs for graphical applications. NVIDIA has Quadro and ATI has the FirePro line. Is there an overal difference between them and which are the specs on the GPU I should be looking at?
*HDD: Is it safe to say that a normal HDD (SATA-600 or SATA-300) would be enough or does SSD provide such a big difference in running applications or just booting the OS? Is there also a big difference in SATA-300 and SATA-600?
*Hardware manufacturer: I have seen that Dell mostly has Xeon CPU in their workstations. Do they use them so that you can easily add other CPUs or why would this be the reason?
Thank you very much! I want to give my customer the best value for his hardware and would appreciate if you could give me some extra information.
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Try looking at Cadalyst.com
They review hardware often.
They review hardware often.
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ASKER
How do you estimate the hardware that will provide with enough power for the applications without going for an overkill?