CAD Workstations

Tempus · 09-03-2003, 10:35 AM

Here's a fun one. I get to custom build a few (6) CAD workstations for out detailing department.

I've got a box idea in mind but I figured I'd poll for information first.

OS: Windows 2000 SP4
Software: Office 2000, Lotus Notes R5, AutoCAD 2002, Quickpen CAD Pipe3D 2.1.XX

(Will be moving to XP once the rest of the software has their new XP versions certified.)

I'm not sure what the budget will be yet as I'm going round robin for the money. Our controller has very tight purse strings.

I'm leaning toward the RAD9800/P4 3.0C platform but I'm not sure if I won't be better going AMD. I know the code is NOT 64bit and won't be for the life of these machines, but... who knows.

I'm not planning on getting high end workstation graphics cards as I haven't really send that much performance advantage from them. I'm more worried about a very stable hardware platform that can handle the high floating point math these things work on.

Sugguestions?

Please try to be specific on the cpu, mobo, videocard, nic (if needed) and hdds.

The office is going gigabit if that helps.

utabintarbo · 09-03-2003, 10:58 AM

What kind of CAD work is to be done on these (architecture, tooling, rendering, etc.)?

I would probably stick with a P4 if you can afford it - better bang/buck using AMD though...

There are 2 pages of P4 mobos with integrated gigabit LAN listed on newegg.com, several by Intel - a safe bet.

If a lot of rendering and solids work is to be done on these w/s's (see q. above), it might be advantageous to look into a real w/s-type graphics card a la FireGL or 3Dlabs. If you want nice smooth image manipulation, that is. Otherwise, spending the money on a 9800 is unnecessary - go with a 9000 or similar. I'd stick with ATI (good long-term support), but I'm an ATI whore from way back!

Bob

airspirit · 09-03-2003, 11:19 AM

Going NForce2 Ultra 400 (some have integrated Gigalan) with overshot and highly air cooled XP 2500+ chips (over 3200+ speed easily anymore) will free up money for other stuff. Explaining the cost effectiveness of replacing those chips should they die should make a controller happy.

Also: going with cheaper chips allows you to get more system memory, which is of great importance in that type of machine. Memory availability should be of higher importance than modest chip speed gains in a CAD machine, and memory bandwidth is KING. If on an XP, make sure that bad bastid is running DDR400 or faster (IOW: over 200 FSB).

That brings me to another point: 64 bit chips. While the software may not be 64 bit (and don't doubt that they will port it for these reasons in the near future), the Opteron platform can give you kick ass SMP with great memory support. A dually Opteron w/ 1GB per chip can do good things, and since it is a forward looking platform, it would be more servicable down the road if things break than any current Intel platform. This will be expensive (more so than the Intel idea), but would be the better investment, IMHO.

Combine either of those ideas with some SCSI HDDs or SATA at the least, and you could have some good terminals for your doodz0rz.

As far as CAD cards go, I hate to say it but you may want to look at the NVidia FX cards ... supposedly they do better in some CAD programs due to driver support and such, though my brother rages in 3DStudioMax on my old 9500 Pro OC'd ... I can't help you there.

I should say, though, that the 9800 Pro runs some nice dual monitor stuffs, and I'm really liking the ease of use of the Hydravision suite ... the NVidia dually software could suck my whoosiwhatsits for all it sucked. You will only get 3D imaging in Monitor 1 in a configuration like this, however, so many people render in one screen with all the other assorted crap in the other for ease of use.

airspirit · 09-03-2003, 11:20 AM

I should note for you all that many of the R300 ATi cards can be modified into FireGL cards easily for a quarter the cost. Something to consider, and it is perfectly safe if you are competant.

airspirit · 09-03-2003, 11:24 AM

Crap! Here is some food for thought:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11339

FX chips are rebadged Opterons running at 400 FSB, btw.

Caeberos · 09-03-2003, 12:21 PM

How can you modify R300 Ati cards into fire GL's?

Tempus · 09-03-2003, 12:36 PM

The CAD work in question is 3D pipe detailing. That is, running mechanical systems (pipes, fittings, duct work, electrical, etc.) in a building, in a 3D coordinate system. Lots of math on the regenerations and conflict checks.

I built the last generation on a dual P3 platform w/ GF2 GTS Pros. But that was 3 yrs ago.

-----------------

The Opteron vs. Prescott debate is really what I'm looking at right now. Memory bandwidth is definately a primary consideration, as is northbridge/southbridge link and northbridge bandwidth.

As I said, I'm not leaning on a W/S class videocard because this isn't really "rendering" work. Its straight building design stuff. The card has to be able to hand large renders but the system needs enough memory bandwidth to fit a 30+ floor building and all its components.

I was pondering scsi, but I'll probably go SATA. Most likely raptors. I like mine =)

this is a Q4 project so I need to have some basic number ready in the next 6 weeks or so. Prelim meeting is in 2 weeks.

And while I agree that a 9800 is basically overkill right now, I have to expect that I won't be able to do any upgrades for 3 years. I tried that last time --- using the buy 1-2 steps down and do 12-18month upgrades. Everyone said it was okay and had thge budget allocated but then changed their minds at "go time."

So, this time I'm not trusting anyone. I'm getting the most badass rigs I can. I also get one of the 6 as my "development" box so I can pre-test apps and platforms. *cough* backup gaming and folding *cough*

I might even use one or two rigs as watercooled or vapochilled (or even a prometia if I can swing the price) as a "proof of concept" piece.

nicozeg · 09-03-2003, 03:48 PM

You should reconsider about WS type graphics. As I measured on 3ds benchamarks, the bigest performance gains by modifying a Geforce into a Quadro are on the manipulation of high poligon count non textured scenes, where fps more than double. That's exactly the type of work you describe.

airspirit · 09-03-2003, 04:32 PM

Modifying a R300 is done by desoldering and moving a resistor on the GPU packaging. Very detailed but definitely doable. There are many tutorials online.

I would go with the opterons. The prescotts are a bridge platform that will only exist until Q3-Q4 next year when Tejas comes out with yet another socket. You will be unable to do any service to those PCs in under two years time, you will probably still not have the performance benefits (and possible 64-bit support if it appears) of the opterons, and they put out over 100W of heat on the LOWEST MODELS. Did I mention that they will probably be more expensive than the opterons?

I would NOT look at a prescott platform. You'd be better off with a current P4 than that ....

As for the watercooling or Prometia: opterons don't need supercooling, so that's out, and unless you are going to build watercooling systems that are either externally contained (such as the EXOS or some such), easily maintained by IDIOTS, or both, I wouldn't go that route. There would be too much liability if something goes wrong. It is an office environment: tell them to deal with the damn fans ... not that you will have that much of an issue on them since they don't run horribly hot.

Also to add to the mix: duallies do very nice in rendering, especially in CAD programs designed to take advantage of it. That right there is enough to put you on the opteron path, I would hope. Keep your eyes peeled, however, since you may be able to use Athlon FX chips in the place of Opterons and get more bang for your buck ... though this is yet to be determined.

Tempus · 09-03-2003, 10:51 PM

Would the extra cache on a dual Xeon setup be worth considering?

shiltz · 09-04-2003, 09:20 AM

Don't go with an ATI card for a cad workstation, ATI cards are horid for cad work, i've been doing cad for over 6 years now, every ATI system i've worked on was horible, their open GL support is very lacking, it's lacking to the point that the fire GL cards we had were worse than an MX420 card.

If the budget can afford it get the highest geforce quatro card you can get as it's one of the best cards for cad out there without spending way to much for something like a wildcat, if it can't afford it get an FX5900 card, don't get the lower end 3Dlab cards either, they are overpriced and their perfomance is only compairable with the geforce 4 ti series cards on cad apps.

Tempus · 09-04-2003, 11:42 AM

thanks shiltz. Thats what I had heard a few years ago when I last looked at Ati cards. Driver support for OpenGL just wasn't. I hoped they had fixed that once they took over the game market (or atleast made a very serious run at taking it over.)

utabintarbo · 09-04-2003, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shiltz
Don't go with an ATI card for a cad workstation, ATI cards are horid for cad work, i've been doing cad for over 6 years now, every ATI system i've worked on was horible, their open GL support is very lacking, it's lacking to the point that the fire GL cards we had were worse than an MX420 card.

If the budget can afford it get the highest geforce quatro card you can get as it's one of the best cards for cad out there without spending way to much for something like a wildcat, if it can't afford it get an FX5900 card, don't get the lower end 3Dlab cards either, they are overpriced and their perfomance is only compairable with the geforce 4 ti series cards on cad apps.

I disagree. All the ATI cards I have used (for CAD or otherwise) have been very good to me. Sounds like a user/driver issue to me!

Bob

airspirit · 09-04-2003, 05:37 PM

Definitely operator error. I'm using my 9800 Pro in a strictly OpenGL environment (linux) and I have no problems whatsoever. ATi cards follow the OpenGL standards more accurately than the Nvidia cards ... I don't know what you were doing wrong.

Tempus · 09-05-2003, 05:49 AM

Maybe I should go this route

http://www.asus.com/news/2003/20030822.htm

airspirit · 09-05-2003, 10:16 AM

For the cost, go Opteron. They perform better.

shiltz · 09-05-2003, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by airspirit
Definitely operator error. I'm using my 9800 Pro in a strictly OpenGL environment (linux) and I have no problems whatsoever. ATi cards follow the OpenGL standards more accurately than the Nvidia cards ... I don't know what you were doing wrong.

wasn't a user error, it was an ATI driver/hardware problem, the computers were setup by the companies IT department, I also made sure they had the lastest service pack of the program we were running (solidworks 2001) and the lastest drivers for the video card, if you enabled hardware openGL it would crash solidworks everytime and it was only an issue with the ATI cards.

airspirit · 09-05-2003, 11:38 AM

Hrm ... I don't know what to say, then. ATi has had better OpenGL support for years and they still do. *shrugs*

Perhaps it was the particular program then? I don't know what to say ... just throwing out an educated guess.

Tempus · 09-08-2003, 10:58 AM

I know for a fact that there was an problem with the ATI workstation cards back 5-6 years ago. Autocad, microstation, and solidworks all seemed to have issues.

I heard it was fixed with a driver revision but we had moved to nvidia by then so I never tested it.

Just read the other thread about the Opteron benchmarks. Looks like its definately a competitive platform.

Sept. 23 is the release date for the FX?

utabintarbo · 09-08-2003, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shiltz
wasn't a user error, it was an ATI driver/hardware problem, the computers were setup by the companies IT department, I also made sure they had the lastest service pack of the program we were running (solidworks 2001) and the lastest drivers for the video card, if you enabled hardware openGL it would crash solidworks everytime and it was only an issue with the ATI cards.

If they were set up by your IT Dept., that explains why they didn't work!

Brad · 09-10-2003, 01:49 PM

I'm actually half way through quoting 20 machines for a similar purpose, the specs I'm doing is:

2x Opteron 242
Tyan K8W motherboard
4x 512mb ddr ecc reg
Asus FX5200 Dual DVI
Seagate 80gb 7200rpm (boot)
2x Seagate 80gb 7200rpm SATA (data)
other worthless shit
2x 19" LCD's with DVI

Their purpose isn't rendering, it just requires pure cpu power. I've given them the option to go to 244 or 246 cpu's, as well as up to 4gb or ram, or an array of 4x raptors in raid 10 for data.

myself, I just can't wait to build the things

Tempus · 09-11-2003, 10:25 AM

Quote:

myself, I just can't wait to build the things

glad to know you are in it for the same reasons I am.

Mind if I ask why the dual monitor setup. And which one you are looking at getting. I've been pondering either the viewsonic VX900 or an NEC 1960

09-03-2003, 10:35 AM	#1
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	CAD Workstations Here's a fun one. I get to custom build a few (6) CAD workstations for out detailing department. I've got a box idea in mind but I figured I'd poll for information first. OS: Windows 2000 SP4 Software: Office 2000, Lotus Notes R5, AutoCAD 2002, Quickpen CAD Pipe3D 2.1.XX (Will be moving to XP once the rest of the software has their new XP versions certified.) I'm not sure what the budget will be yet as I'm going round robin for the money. Our controller has very tight purse strings. I'm leaning toward the RAD9800/P4 3.0C platform but I'm not sure if I won't be better going AMD. I know the code is NOT 64bit and won't be for the life of these machines, but... who knows. I'm not planning on getting high end workstation graphics cards as I haven't really send that much performance advantage from them. I'm more worried about a very stable hardware platform that can handle the high floating point math these things work on. Sugguestions? Please try to be specific on the cpu, mobo, videocard, nic (if needed) and hdds. The office is going gigabit if that helps. __________________ Thou art God.

09-03-2003, 10:58 AM	#2
utabintarbo Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sterling Hts., MI Posts: 496	What kind of CAD work is to be done on these (architecture, tooling, rendering, etc.)? I would probably stick with a P4 if you can afford it - better bang/buck using AMD though... There are 2 pages of P4 mobos with integrated gigabit LAN listed on newegg.com, several by Intel - a safe bet. If a lot of rendering and solids work is to be done on these w/s's (see q. above), it might be advantageous to look into a real w/s-type graphics card a la FireGL or 3Dlabs. If you want nice smooth image manipulation, that is. Otherwise, spending the money on a 9800 is unnecessary - go with a 9000 or similar. I'd stick with ATI (good long-term support), but I'm an ATI whore from way back! Bob __________________ Sarcasm is yet another of the free services we offer!

09-03-2003, 11:19 AM	#3
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	Going NForce2 Ultra 400 (some have integrated Gigalan) with overshot and highly air cooled XP 2500+ chips (over 3200+ speed easily anymore) will free up money for other stuff. Explaining the cost effectiveness of replacing those chips should they die should make a controller happy. Also: going with cheaper chips allows you to get more system memory, which is of great importance in that type of machine. Memory availability should be of higher importance than modest chip speed gains in a CAD machine, and memory bandwidth is KING. If on an XP, make sure that bad bastid is running DDR400 or faster (IOW: over 200 FSB). That brings me to another point: 64 bit chips. While the software may not be 64 bit (and don't doubt that they will port it for these reasons in the near future), the Opteron platform can give you kick ass SMP with great memory support. A dually Opteron w/ 1GB per chip can do good things, and since it is a forward looking platform, it would be more servicable down the road if things break than any current Intel platform. This will be expensive (more so than the Intel idea), but would be the better investment, IMHO. Combine either of those ideas with some SCSI HDDs or SATA at the least, and you could have some good terminals for your doodz0rz. As far as CAD cards go, I hate to say it but you may want to look at the NVidia FX cards ... supposedly they do better in some CAD programs due to driver support and such, though my brother rages in 3DStudioMax on my old 9500 Pro OC'd ... I can't help you there. I should say, though, that the 9800 Pro runs some nice dual monitor stuffs, and I'm really liking the ease of use of the Hydravision suite ... the NVidia dually software could suck my whoosiwhatsits for all it sucked. You will only get 3D imaging in Monitor 1 in a configuration like this, however, so many people render in one screen with all the other assorted crap in the other for ease of use. __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

09-03-2003, 11:20 AM	#4
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	I should note for you all that many of the R300 ATi cards can be modified into FireGL cards easily for a quarter the cost. Something to consider, and it is perfectly safe if you are competant. __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

09-03-2003, 11:24 AM	#5
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	Crap! Here is some food for thought: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11339 FX chips are rebadged Opterons running at 400 FSB, btw. __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

09-03-2003, 12:21 PM	#6
Caeberos Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: New York Posts: 32	How can you modify R300 Ati cards into fire GL's?

09-03-2003, 12:36 PM	#7
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	The CAD work in question is 3D pipe detailing. That is, running mechanical systems (pipes, fittings, duct work, electrical, etc.) in a building, in a 3D coordinate system. Lots of math on the regenerations and conflict checks. I built the last generation on a dual P3 platform w/ GF2 GTS Pros. But that was 3 yrs ago. ----------------- The Opteron vs. Prescott debate is really what I'm looking at right now. Memory bandwidth is definately a primary consideration, as is northbridge/southbridge link and northbridge bandwidth. As I said, I'm not leaning on a W/S class videocard because this isn't really "rendering" work. Its straight building design stuff. The card has to be able to hand large renders but the system needs enough memory bandwidth to fit a 30+ floor building and all its components. I was pondering scsi, but I'll probably go SATA. Most likely raptors. I like mine =) this is a Q4 project so I need to have some basic number ready in the next 6 weeks or so. Prelim meeting is in 2 weeks. And while I agree that a 9800 is basically overkill right now, I have to expect that I won't be able to do any upgrades for 3 years. I tried that last time --- using the buy 1-2 steps down and do 12-18month upgrades. Everyone said it was okay and had thge budget allocated but then changed their minds at "go time." So, this time I'm not trusting anyone. I'm getting the most badass rigs I can. I also get one of the 6 as my "development" box so I can pre-test apps and platforms. cough backup gaming and folding cough I might even use one or two rigs as watercooled or vapochilled (or even a prometia if I can swing the price) as a "proof of concept" piece. __________________ Thou art God.

09-03-2003, 03:48 PM	#8
nicozeg Cooling Savant Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Santiago, Chile Posts: 403	You should reconsider about WS type graphics. As I measured on 3ds benchamarks, the bigest performance gains by modifying a Geforce into a Quadro are on the manipulation of high poligon count non textured scenes, where fps more than double. That's exactly the type of work you describe.

09-03-2003, 04:32 PM	#9
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	Modifying a R300 is done by desoldering and moving a resistor on the GPU packaging. Very detailed but definitely doable. There are many tutorials online. I would go with the opterons. The prescotts are a bridge platform that will only exist until Q3-Q4 next year when Tejas comes out with yet another socket. You will be unable to do any service to those PCs in under two years time, you will probably still not have the performance benefits (and possible 64-bit support if it appears) of the opterons, and they put out over 100W of heat on the LOWEST MODELS. Did I mention that they will probably be more expensive than the opterons? I would NOT look at a prescott platform. You'd be better off with a current P4 than that .... As for the watercooling or Prometia: opterons don't need supercooling, so that's out, and unless you are going to build watercooling systems that are either externally contained (such as the EXOS or some such), easily maintained by IDIOTS, or both, I wouldn't go that route. There would be too much liability if something goes wrong. It is an office environment: tell them to deal with the damn fans ... not that you will have that much of an issue on them since they don't run horribly hot. Also to add to the mix: duallies do very nice in rendering, especially in CAD programs designed to take advantage of it. That right there is enough to put you on the opteron path, I would hope. Keep your eyes peeled, however, since you may be able to use Athlon FX chips in the place of Opterons and get more bang for your buck ... though this is yet to be determined. __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

09-03-2003, 10:51 PM	#10
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	Would the extra cache on a dual Xeon setup be worth considering? __________________ Thou art God.

09-04-2003, 09:20 AM	#11
shiltz Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: usa Posts: 84	Don't go with an ATI card for a cad workstation, ATI cards are horid for cad work, i've been doing cad for over 6 years now, every ATI system i've worked on was horible, their open GL support is very lacking, it's lacking to the point that the fire GL cards we had were worse than an MX420 card. If the budget can afford it get the highest geforce quatro card you can get as it's one of the best cards for cad out there without spending way to much for something like a wildcat, if it can't afford it get an FX5900 card, don't get the lower end 3Dlab cards either, they are overpriced and their perfomance is only compairable with the geforce 4 ti series cards on cad apps. __________________ Athlon 64 3000+ Venice / Asus A8N-SLI Premium / 2X Corsair XMS 512mb PC3200 BFG 7800GTX / Audigy 2 / Dell FP2001 20.1" / Antec TruePower 2.0 TPII-550 WD Raptor 36.7GB / WD Raptor 74GB / Maxtor 120GB SATA Water Cooled: CPU Swiftech Storm / GPU Maze 4 / Danger Den Double Heater core / Eheim 1250

09-04-2003, 11:42 AM	#12
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	thanks shiltz. Thats what I had heard a few years ago when I last looked at Ati cards. Driver support for OpenGL just wasn't. I hoped they had fixed that once they took over the game market (or atleast made a very serious run at taking it over.) __________________ Thou art God.

09-04-2003, 05:37 PM	#14
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	Definitely operator error. I'm using my 9800 Pro in a strictly OpenGL environment (linux) and I have no problems whatsoever. ATi cards follow the OpenGL standards more accurately than the Nvidia cards ... I don't know what you were doing wrong. __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

09-05-2003, 05:49 AM	#15
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	Maybe I should go this route http://www.asus.com/news/2003/20030822.htm __________________ Thou art God.

09-05-2003, 10:16 AM	#16
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	For the cost, go Opteron. They perform better. __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

09-05-2003, 11:38 AM	#18
airspirit Been /.'d... have you? Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Moscow, ID Posts: 1,986	Hrm ... I don't know what to say, then. ATi has had better OpenGL support for years and they still do. shrugs Perhaps it was the particular program then? I don't know what to say ... just throwing out an educated guess. __________________ #!/bin/sh {who;} {last;} {pause;} {grep;} {touch;} {unzip;} mount /dev/girl -t {wet;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} {fsck;} echo yes yes yes {yes;} umount {/dev/girl;zip;} rm -rf {wet.spot;} {sleep;} finger: permission denied

09-08-2003, 10:58 AM	#19
Tempus Cooling Savant Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 456	I know for a fact that there was an problem with the ATI workstation cards back 5-6 years ago. Autocad, microstation, and solidworks all seemed to have issues. I heard it was fixed with a driver revision but we had moved to nvidia by then so I never tested it. Just read the other thread about the Opteron benchmarks. Looks like its definately a competitive platform. Sept. 23 is the release date for the FX? __________________ Thou art God.

09-10-2003, 01:49 PM	#21
Brad Thermophile Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Nuu Zeeelin Posts: 3,175	I'm actually half way through quoting 20 machines for a similar purpose, the specs I'm doing is: 2x Opteron 242 Tyan K8W motherboard 4x 512mb ddr ecc reg Asus FX5200 Dual DVI Seagate 80gb 7200rpm (boot) 2x Seagate 80gb 7200rpm SATA (data) other worthless shit 2x 19" LCD's with DVI Their purpose isn't rendering, it just requires pure cpu power. I've given them the option to go to 244 or 246 cpu's, as well as up to 4gb or ram, or an array of 4x raptors in raid 10 for data. myself, I just can't wait to build the things __________________ 2x P3 1100's at 1400, Abit VP6, 2x Corsair 256mb PC150 sticks, 20gb 'cuda ATA-III, 2x 40gb 'cuda ATA-IV in raid 0. 20" Trinitron. No fans 2x 2400+ at 2288mhz (16.0 x 143), Iwill MPX2, 2x Kingmax PC-3200 256mb sticks, 4x 20gb 60gxp in Raid 5 on a Promise SX6000. Asus Ti4200 320/630. Cooled by Water

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