New computers for the engineering department! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 04:10:03 am
content: Hey guys,It's time to buy some new computers for the engineers here at the office. We are looking to get about 10 machines of the same or similar type. The performance requirements are pretty laid back with the most demanding application probably being Solidworks and we really don't have any huge complex assemblies. The rest would mostly be Altium, some (2D) Autocad, and maybe a bit of Xilinx ISE and TI CodeComposer on a couple stations.Background:Los Angeles California USA locationOn the hardware front:Does anyone have a recommendation for some solid office EE design machines? Are HP and Dell still the best options? I'd rather spend time doing design work than assembling and supporting desktops, so pre-built is important. Something moderately priced would be nice since we need to get a few of them and don't have a huge budget being a small company. Is it unrealistic to keep it under $1K USD each? The key selling point would probably be reliability. Any favorites from a support standpoint?As for operating systems:How many of you are running windows8 at work? Are you happy with it from an office productivity standpoint? I personally don't have much experience with win8 except briefly playing with a friends laptop and my impression was mostly of the WTF variety. This was before 8.1 though so I'm willing to give it a shot, especially if I get some good feedback here.There are a couple senior type engineers that would rather have something that looks as closely to windows XP as possible. From that standpoint windows7 seems like an acceptable compromise. Is that silly to even consider at this point for a new machine?Just to head this one off, Linux is out from the start. I could make it work for me personally, but there is no way I'm going to spend any more time being the "IT department" with everyone else than I already have to.If you had to buy 10 PCs that would last a while for the engineering department in your office, what would you get?

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 04:22:26 am
content: Er...laptop or desktop? (Your budget suggests desktop, but most new machines these days are laptops + docking station so you can travel and take work home.)These days the machine itself is the least significant of your concerns. Just pick a business level brand name like Dell or HP with quad core processor, upgrade the memory to 8 or better 16 GB and you are done.Then consider human factors. Monitors? A dual monitor workstation today is almost standard. Three screens even better.What about your backup solution? On premises, or cloud? Does your existing system work well enough or do you need to upgrade it?(BTW, I think buying from Dell is probably less painful than buying from HP.)

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 05:17:13 am
content: Z series workstationmachines fromHP.can't go wrong with those.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 08:52:58 am
content: Personally, I'd stick with Windows 7 and get fast, high performance machines with lots of memory, and definitely don't skimp on the CAD machine. Anything that has to do with synthesizing, compiling, etc is always I/O bound and is one of those applications where a lot of memory can make a big difference in performance, especially when coupled with a fast processor.It may still be hit or miss which applications are even supported on Windows 8 at this point. For example, I believe ISE is still unsupported on Windows 8 and if I remember correctly some people were having trouble getting it to work at all.I'm sure the guys using ISE and doing CAD work would disagree with the idea that they have laid back performance requirements, unless your business model includes paying engineers to twiddle their thumbs and/or get frustrated and leave early.The cost difference between a mediocre machine and a great machine is pretty low these days, and the worst thing you can do is save a couple hundred $$$ only to saddle your staff with boat anchors that sap their performance. It's like putting cheap gas in a Ferrari.I'd also spring for dual monitors for anyone who wants one, if they don't already have them. The productivity increase is ridiculous, especially for engineers.If you really want to get the best bang for your buck and have machines that will last for a while, by high performance machines today. It's just my opinion, but after 20 years in the biz I can tell you that skimping here is the gift that keeps on giving, in the form of lost productivity and frustration.

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 09:24:44 am
content: First thing, without a shadow of a doubt, is to ask the people who actually use these machines what their requirements are. You can't make a decision without data.SolidWorks, for example, needs a lot of RAM, and a fast processor won't hurt either, especially if you're using add-on packages like flow simulation.I run Windows 7 64-bit with 8 GB RAM, and the most resource intensive application I use is Altera's Quartus. My PC spec is OK for that, given that the largest devices I've used to date are about 40k logic gates. It's not overkill, though, and memory requirements never go down with time, only up.Personally I can't think of any reason to go for Windows 8 over 7. The overwhelming response I've seen to Win 8 is that it's a failed attempt at a UI, just like Microsoft's failed phones and failed tablets, and the best I've seen said about 8.1 is that it's not as bad as 8. Windows 7, on the other hand, is familiar, works well enough and is well supported.Dual monitors are essential IMHO. Don't waste time messing about with this, just get on with it. There's no substitute for having a schematic on one screen and a PCB on the other, or any other application plus email. The time when monitors were bulky, expensive and required careful justification are long, long over - a good screen costs the same as about an hour's work, and it'll pay for itself within its first week.Also consider solid state discs, at least for the boot drive and commonly used applications. I have two laptops, both very similar in spec, but one has a top-spec conventional drive, and the other has an SSD. The difference in time to boot and load applications is astonishing, I'd never go back.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 09:46:19 am
content: I hated Windows 8,but I recently updated to 8.1 which I don't hate so much!It definitely seems faster & less clunky than W8.If it was remotely possible,I would buy PCs without an operating system,buy a Windows DVD & install it myself.That way,you don't get all the "dumbed down" OEM software!Our last desktop was from "e-machines".It had all sorts of bugs,& whenever I tried the fixes from the Microsoft website,they didn't work with the OEM version of W7.After about the 12th "crash " I bought a proper Windows 7 DVD ,removed the dumb version & installed the new one.No more problems!

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 09:48:27 am
content: Given that you want solid machines but on a reasonable budget I'd look into refurbished Dell workstations, these are often brand new cancelled orders and you should be able to get them with 3 years on-site support.I have a Dell T5500 precision which I got 4 years ago. It has dual Xeon 2.95GHz 4 core processors and 24GB of RAM, it came with 3 years warranty but only cost £2k instead of £5k (in fact it was less than the cost of the two processors in it at the time). It is a very solid machine compared with Dell's desktops. Dell regularly update the BIOS and I've never had any trouble with it even when running all 8 cores flat out for days at I time.The problem with going the refurbished route is it takes time, availability and prices are very variable (sometimes the prices is stupidly high, some times they are very low) so if you followed this strategy you'd have to replace the machines in a phased way rather than buying all 10 at once but you could make some major savings especially on things like quadro graphics cards that are already fitted.I got my machine from a third party company but Dell sell direct (or used to) via their Dell Outlet. The warranty should be the same as buying new - though check that this is the case.Here is Dell's current US inventory for the T5600:http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb&brandid=2803&fid=9911There is just one under $1000 and that doesn't have much RAM (though RAM is cheap to upgrade) but if you are making multiple purchases you probably could negotiate more discount.There are more of the T3600 under $1k :http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb&brandid=2803&fid=9911NB Dell charges very high prices for RAM (like Apple does) so go for the examples with little RAM and upgrade it yourself.The 3 year support from Dell I've found very good in the past. I bought one of their mobile workstations from their Outlet store about 9 years ago and it came with 3 years on-site as standard. The screen went and an engineer came out to my house and replaced it very promptly even though I was just an individual and not some major customer with multiple machines. Of course this was quite a few years ago and it may have gone down hill since.

author: owiecc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 10:04:53 am
content: SSD plus at least 8GB of RAM plus two monitors (Altium) or one big monitor (Solid/Autocad).You can also have one really beefy machine for Xilinx and run a server on this machine for other computers.

author: JuKu
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 10:21:12 am
content: Win8, in the desktop mode, is, with a huge margin, the best MS os. Fast, lean, stable, all my applications work (ymmv), easier to find things (search works great)... Some things are done differently (8.1 should help, I've not seen it yet), and so there will complaints that the old (and clumsy) way is not there. For me, no productivity hit. "Ok, that is done this way now, took me three seconds to find, I saved ten times that in morning bootup time alone."+1 for SSD. No serious machine should be without.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 10:26:32 am
content: This year we're getting rid of our Dell Precision 490 workstations and replacing them with Dell T1700 systems. I think these have an 8 core i7 processor at 3.5GHz, 32GB RAM, 250GB SSD and a 2GB Nvidia K2000 graphics card.Before we went with the T1700 we had Dell send us 2 sample systems, one with the ATI card and one with the K2000 and the engineers preferred the K2000 over the ATI card. (Sorry don't recall what it was)We're using this configuration for Design Engineers using stuff like Rhinoceros, and Flamingo. Mechanical guys using Ansys and Pro/E / Creo / Windchill and our guys that use Autocad as well.I don't know the cost, though. We're still keeping our T3500 and T5500 systems.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 11:53:52 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on November 14, 2013, 04:10:03 amI always buy Dell computers from their 'for business' section. These are a bit more expensive than comparable consumer grade computers but they last much longer and run without hickups. Also stick to Intel CPUs. The 'for business' machines from HP are also good.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 12:56:59 pm
content: Quote from: JuKu on November 14, 2013, 10:21:12 amIt boots up to the silly "lock" page,then you have to click on that to get the "sign in" page.That in itself is makes bit slower than W7!With the "Pro" version,you can eliminate that,but not with my version.I found a download which will fix that.I also downloaded W8.1,which definitely seems faster.

author: John Coloccia
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 01:11:10 pm
content: So carefully re-read what I wrote about ISE and Windows 8. Unless something has changed, ISE and Windows 8 don't work with each other.re: the Dell PrecisionsYep, I was thinking one of those would fit the bill too. True, headache free machines.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 01:20:15 pm
content: I agree with free-electron. We have deployed HP Z210s with 4Gb ram, 320Gb hard drives and Win7. These are 2 year old models. I have 2 of them running here at the house including one running 2 monitors. HP support is also great. I don't care for Win8. JuKu, I respectfully disagree that Win8 is the best OS. I feel Win 7 Enterprise/Professional/Ultimate is much more intuitive and easy to use. My wife and stepdaughter both have Dell laptops running Win8. I just upgraded my wife's to 8.1 and it bugged her until I disabled the login to microsoft account. The jury is still out on upgrading my stepdaughter's computer. I run Win7 Ultimate on my personal computers and the company computers run on Win7 Enterprise.Tom, NW0LF

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 02:05:53 pm
content: With regards to the OS: I've decided to move as much as possible to Linux and run whatever needs Windows on Windows XP in a virtual machine. Windows 7 is filled with even more annoying features than XP. Everything is hidden and explorer keeps shifting directories up and down so you often have to look hard to where the directory you clicked ended up. I thought the XP version which sometimes doesn't show all directories couldn't become worse. Every Windows version feels fast when freshly installed. Run it for a couple of months and its dead slow as usual. My kids can't install anything on their computers (Dell workstations BTW) and yet it takes minutes for their computers to start or shutdown (Windows 7).IMHO the best OS Microsoft has produced so far is Windows2000. Rock solid and to the point (no frills).

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 02:51:05 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on November 14, 2013, 04:10:03 am1) go to intel site. look at their table #1 the most cored most GIPS most cached most everything, that will end up most expensive CPU (usually)2) go check motherboard's manufacturer that can support the selected CPU above, the highest bus speed, most ram capacity and slot. most feature highest number of USB port or such.3) go find the fastest RAM with lifetime warranty4) go check HDD or SDD or raid or whatever.5) go find everything additional board or devices of pheripherals that you need the fastest everything. it all depends on your specific need.6) and lastly, this is the most important... find the "brand" name PC that has everything you have listed in itQuote from: Smokey on November 14, 2013, 04:10:03 ami always thought videogames played by kids are the most demandingQuote from: Smokey on November 14, 2013, 04:10:03 amurgghhh i missed this what a waste, ok method reviewed...1) list all known good brand name on paper2) pick a pencil close your eyes make 10 rounds arm movement and hit the paper.3) buy the brand closest to where the pencil hit.(footnote:) any descent computer today can run SolidWork. if its not, then SolidWork is the problem, not computer.Quote from: Smokey on November 14, 2013, 04:10:03 amreliability you say? if you dont want to bother opening up your machine, vacumming and cleaning spider web and ant nest dont talk about reliability. if your "brand name" PC doesnt have top number 1 PSU on earth dont talk reliability. recheck BAW comments its golden you probably never know it, get a specialized tech for the task, without the "one", dont talk reliability. reliability is not about the machine, its about the people around it. without the "one", throwing a dice to select a brand PC is much more sensical.Quote from: Smokey on November 14, 2013, 04:10:03 amif you are the generation who play crush candy during freetime, Win8 is probably for you. no offense to all of you young people (not necesary Smokey, i mean whoever reading this).IMHO.

author: sync
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 03:14:10 pm
content: Look which hardware is certified by the software vendors. Using them avoids trouble if you need support from them.

author: JohnnyGringo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 03:18:29 pm
content: Graphic Cards. Your apps are fairly graphic intensive. I don't think that you'd be able to get a decent graphics card in a laptop to drive 2+ monitors. So, go desktop/workstations, which are more configurable. I personally prefer the Nvidia cards.Intel -- 8 pipelines minimum.Memory -- 16GigiBytes <grin> would be the minimum. The more memory, the less demand on disc IO which is the slowest component.Decent trackballs/keyboards/peripherals for doing CAD.I've never bought an off-the-shelf system. Always preferred to have exactly what I needed. No more, no less.It'd be more expensive than a pre-made, but you'd get exactly what you want. Since you're buying in 10(+) quantities, you should be able to get some price breaks. I'd go tohttp://www.neweggbusiness.com/and work with those folks for a deal.Just FYI, neweggbuisness is owned/operated by newegg.com and is generally cheaper than the consumer side.My usual disclaimer: I work for no one. My opinion is freely given and worth exactly what you had to pay for it.

author: SLJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 04:38:34 pm
content: I've been using Dell desktops here in my office for some time. Prices have dropped recently on them. I have both Win 7 and Win 8. Win 8 is faster and quicker to boot. Runs all my old software with no issues. You can set win 8 to boot directly to the desktop installing "Start Button 8" which takes all of one minute. You might be able to buy Win 7 machines a little cheaper at this point though. Either runs fine here though. I have found I'm using the touch screen in win 8 more than I thought I would. It works in the desktop as well as the app screen.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 09:37:35 pm
content: Great posts. Thanks guys.The monitor issue is an easy one. Like I've posted elsewhere, I run 6 monitors at work (three across, two down). Decent monitors are something we have already. I've been a multi-monitor convert for years (used to run 3 huge CRTs). That's one of the reasons I don't want to go laptop. I posted a topic here a while back asking about more than a couple accelerated monitor support on a laptop (even with docking stations and such) and it didn't sound like there were any good solutions (USB graphics cards are not a good solution).(Get ready to laugh a little. Or maybe cry. Not too much though, we aren't the only ones.) The number of windowsxp machines currently outnumbers everything else around here by a fair margin. One reason why I said the performance requirements are not that high is because it's currently all running acceptably (mostly) on XP, so its not that aggressive. Anything that's not 10 years old would be a good upgrade. I wasn't trying to say that Solidworks or ISE in particular doesn't require a lot of resources. Just that our use of them is pretty limited to small assemblies and small CPLDs.Looking through Dell and HP's business site some more, it sure appears they are still pushing windows7 pretty hard for these work stations. I'm totally fine with that, since running windows7 would make my life easier anyway.My point about reliability being important was that the hardware should be designed to last and not to a minimal price point (quality caps, quality components, quality cooling layout). If you buy the cheapest motherboard at Frys just to get something running you can't expect it to function for a while no matter how much maintenance you do. I'm certainly not in the boat of making a list of all the possible options and then automatically picking the thing that has the lowest cost. There is always a sweet spot though where you've gotten above the level of crap. At that point it's more a matter of not spending more than you need to. The price of the really high end always seems to outpace the actual value (unless you really need whatever special features they have). I don't have much experience buying off the shelf PCs specifically for the office, so this is the stuff I'm working out. The $1K USD I mentioned earlier isn't a budget limit or anything, I was mostly just wondering if that amount would get above the crap level. I'm not looking for the enthusiast hardcore gamer cutting edge, nor am I looking for the lowest cost. I just want something that won't get in my way so I can do my job and still leave enough money so the company can actually pay me next month.As far as actual hardware:Is there a big benefit to going Xeon over the standard i5 or i7? If the machines are going to only spend a small portion of their time doing significant number crunching, would non-workstation desktops be a good option or does the quality drop off too fast? Would a high end desktop be better value than a low end workstation?And on a semi rant note, why do the small form factor towers cost so much more? And what's up with Dell not giving you extra memory and graphics card options in the configuration pages for the cheaper workstations? If you call them up do you get more flexible options?

author: sync
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2013, 09:47:59 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on November 14, 2013, 09:37:35 pmLook for next business day hardware support. Dell and HP offer this.QuoteECC RAM. Which is required for any serious workstation IMHO.

author: SLJ
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2013, 12:31:40 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on November 14, 2013, 09:37:35 pmThey are cheaper workstations. It does not pay them at that price to offer a lot of different configurations.From my experience with Dell, by the time you have selected more than a couple of upgrades on a workstation you have moved up to the next price level series anyway.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2013, 02:25:51 am
content: Quote from: SLJ on November 15, 2013, 12:31:40 amDell likes to build "preferred" systems in large quantities and box them up and warehouse them for fast turnarounds. If you start picking and choosing with parts they have to custom build those for you.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 15, 2013, 03:26:52 am
content: Smokey,Do yourself a favor and read through the beginning and end of this thread over on the SolidWorks forumhttps://forum.solidworks.com/thread/64437?tstart=0Those guys keep a running list of the best hardware for SolidWorks - low, medium and high cost. There is a lot of feedback on which hardware works and which doesn't, and the stuff you think would help a lot sometimes doesn't, and vice versa. There are also a lot of recommended configurations from Dell and Xi (Xi is a computer builder oriented towards CAD/development computers) if you want to buy off the shelf instead of build (good idea, IMO).I run a Core i7 3770k, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD drive, an AMD FirePro 4900 graphics card and a 30" screen. Shop wisely and you can get a system like that (probably go for a 4770k now) for your $1k price, of course without monitor.The Quadro card is quite a lot more $$ but the ROI isn't really there - it's not that much faster than the FirePro series. If you want to shave more $$ off, nix the SSD and go with traditional drives. But my system is smokin' fast and I often have Altium, Solidworks, MasterCAM, a browser window with 10-20 tabs, PSoC Developer, Excel, Word, MS Access, Outlook and a couple other things open and never misses a beat.IMO, no reason to spend over $1k these days on a work computer unless it's for a very specific task that needs the power like video encoding or rendering.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2013, 04:01:12 am
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on November 15, 2013, 03:26:52 amThat's a ton of great information. Thanks!

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2013, 07:46:00 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on November 15, 2013, 04:01:12 amThe T1650 which was the predecessor to the T1700 looks like their least expensive system.We have some of those ATI cards where I work and the overall opinion wasn't favorable, however with the latest drivers the performance was much better.For some reason those ATI cards are not as good at large 2D drawings, they seem to really lag compared to even older Nvidia cards.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 15, 2013, 05:06:01 pm
content: If its 'just' for 2D work then don't rule out Matrox video cards. I use those almost exclusively because the drivers are rock solid.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 19, 2013, 10:24:28 am
content: I'll try to install and run SpecViewPerf on one of these T1700s tomorrow and come back with the results.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2013, 05:52:09 am
content: Is that a good score?

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2013, 05:54:27 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on November 21, 2013, 05:52:09 amI'll run it on one of the 490's that we're replacing and see how it compares.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2014, 01:20:32 am
content: We ended up not pulling the trigger yet. Here is what I'm looking at now...http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductUUID=5D8Q7EN5ttsAAAFEvih3uZJa&CatalogCategoryID=1usQ7habk58AAAFCf9otkXzGThat is one of the pre-configured packages. That package only comes with onboard graphics, but I think that might be fine in that a software guy can use it the way it is, and anyone needing 3D (including me) can get nice graphics cards as addons. That way we are all using the same base hardware.A Z230 system with those same specs if I made it to order costs around $1852, so not too bad.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2014, 01:43:35 am
content: Xeon Processors and real workstations, don't get them consumer stuff.For example Lenovo Thinkstation D series with dual 8 core Xeon processors and at least 16GB of ram for starters, Quadro instead of GeForce. Windows 7 64bit until Windows 8 is more mature (not saying it's not but is always better not to jump to the latest because you don't know what is not supported yet in Windows 8 ).Edit: yeah, you'll end up paying 3 times (edit: or even 5 times) what you are shooting at, but over 4/5 years if no more it doesn't really matter.Linky:http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/workstations/thinkstation/thinkstation-d-series.htmlI know, they are not IBM anymore but really they are keeping up with the rep Lenovo always had.

author: all_repair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2014, 02:09:35 am
content: It depends on the lead time of your buying process vs Moore law (yes, slowing down but still near speed of light compare to most buying lead time).My guiding principle for all IT purchases is to skip as many principle as possible. Then try to get a package from the vendors that already done their compatibility test, and has onsite support for first few years (unless you already have spare IT hands waiting for work to do). Spare some moment on evaluating if the window tablet PC like microsoft Pro 2 alike (or 3?) can be an option for a few sets, these equipment can transform some work process and open new usage areas.

author: TiN
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2014, 04:50:52 pm
content: Tried using Win8 (Win2012 to be exact) for EE purposes on WS some time ago, failed miserably due to incompatibility with some older software, issues with not-so-well written drivers for 3rd party USB hardware, specially those flash programming tools, and remember had wierd issues with ALTERA Quartus 11 and USB Blaster.Decided it's way too early today and switched back to Win2008R2 (Win7 server counterpart). Win7x64 runs Solidworks, Cadence on daily basis, with lots of other tools (ARM MCU dev, some python/C toolkits, etc). All running on X79 board with 64GB memory and server 10-core, which is handy doing PCB/Thermal simulations or 3D renderings for mechanicalsI'd suggest getting 16-32GB RAM (cheapest from known vendor) and at least 120-160GB SSD (don't really matter which one, just not most cheap junky noname) for working files/system/software, if budget allows. These two really boost response from system, compared to fancy VGA's, CPUs, motherboards.Multicore or even worse, multisocket systems make sense ONLY if typical 24/7 workload will be rendering or simulation or similar kind of work which demands high processing power for parallel loading. Usual EE-style work barely uses more than 2-4 CPU cores at once. So dumping big $$$ into CPUs is barely useful.Quadro or FirePro graphics is even less needed for EE, as it gives benefits only for people who spell "rendering, shader, CUDA, polygon, HPC, cluster" more often than "food, water, tea, coffee". For ECAD/Solidworks, leave alone embedded programming or FPGA design professional graphics is waste of money.

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2014, 10:23:24 pm
content: Quote from: Stonent on November 21, 2013, 05:54:27 amMy old 490 (2nd computer at work) doesn't fair too well. but at 1600x1200.Will try to run it on my main box before heading out, but at 1600x1200 as well (dual displays on both systems).Edit: I did run the test before leaving work I'll post tomorrow the result, but I was doing a full build and I don't know if the beginning of the test would be affected because I had all the cores compiling at the time.So the first test might be off, not sure. I'll try to run it at lunch time tomorrow and make sure I'm not running anything in the background.