We are a small studio that does CGI for TV ads, architectural and product visualization and such. Small translates into "we don't have unlimited funds", while unfortunately "cgi for TV ads" simulatiously translates into "we always need more processing power"
That beeing said we are currently (1 Q timeframe) looking for a substitute for three of our workstations. We do work AND render on these machines, as we do not have the cash for a dedicated render-farm. For shits and giggles, really, I just recently looked into the option of going dual clovertown - but I wasn't really considering it as an option, as anything above four cores in one machine used to be pertty much unafordable for us.
Now, what I came up with was this - obviously not having read any reviews, as I didn't even consider this option before.
Now, as I said before, I obviously have not looked into the individual parts, yet, but as a rough guestimate I really have to say I am pretty surprised! Can you really get a machine with 8 (brand new) cores and 4 GB of RAM for roughly 3600/3800 bucks? That is a pretty good deal if you consider that 4 dualcore woodcrest systems would easily set you back 7000€ and that does not even include all the software licenses we have to pay per seat. Am I missing something big here?
As an alternative I would like to compare that to the overall costs of a 4x4 system, even though we would only have the option of going 8 cores late next year. Depending on cost we could then probably upgrade more machines to 4 cores now, and upgrade to 8 cores later down the road, but as of now that is only speculation.
Any input is greatly appreciated, as I really want to know if/where my calculation is way off... Cheers,
J
That beeing said we are currently (1 Q timeframe) looking for a substitute for three of our workstations. We do work AND render on these machines, as we do not have the cash for a dedicated render-farm. For shits and giggles, really, I just recently looked into the option of going dual clovertown - but I wasn't really considering it as an option, as anything above four cores in one machine used to be pertty much unafordable for us.
Now, what I came up with was this - obviously not having read any reviews, as I didn't even consider this option before.
CPUs: 2 Xeon 5345s - 1600.00 €
Mainboard: GIGABYTE 7BESH LGA771 FSB1333 - 380 € (I'd prefer an Intel eATX board, but haven't really looked into which one. Any recommendations?)
RAM: 4GB Kit - such as Kingston ValueRAM FB-DIMM Kit 4096MB PC2-5300F ECC CL5 (DDR2-667) - 600 €
HDDs: 2 SEAGATE Barracuda7200.10 250GB - 160 € (5 years warranty was the deciding factor here. HDD speed is not really important in that case, so I figured that'd work)
PSU: just a placeholder - Antec TP3-650 EC TRUEPOWER TRIO - 130 € (two things here: Firstly can I really use standard ATX PSUs for workstation boards? and secondly I doubt 650 will be sufficient. Any recommendations?)
Case: ANTEC P180 - 160 €
VidCard: HP nVidia Quadro FX1500 - 560 €
DVD-burner: 1 NEC AD7170 DVD burner - 36 €
Mainboard: GIGABYTE 7BESH LGA771 FSB1333 - 380 € (I'd prefer an Intel eATX board, but haven't really looked into which one. Any recommendations?)
RAM: 4GB Kit - such as Kingston ValueRAM FB-DIMM Kit 4096MB PC2-5300F ECC CL5 (DDR2-667) - 600 €
HDDs: 2 SEAGATE Barracuda7200.10 250GB - 160 € (5 years warranty was the deciding factor here. HDD speed is not really important in that case, so I figured that'd work)
PSU: just a placeholder - Antec TP3-650 EC TRUEPOWER TRIO - 130 € (two things here: Firstly can I really use standard ATX PSUs for workstation boards? and secondly I doubt 650 will be sufficient. Any recommendations?)
Case: ANTEC P180 - 160 €
VidCard: HP nVidia Quadro FX1500 - 560 €
DVD-burner: 1 NEC AD7170 DVD burner - 36 €
Now, as I said before, I obviously have not looked into the individual parts, yet, but as a rough guestimate I really have to say I am pretty surprised! Can you really get a machine with 8 (brand new) cores and 4 GB of RAM for roughly 3600/3800 bucks? That is a pretty good deal if you consider that 4 dualcore woodcrest systems would easily set you back 7000€ and that does not even include all the software licenses we have to pay per seat. Am I missing something big here?
As an alternative I would like to compare that to the overall costs of a 4x4 system, even though we would only have the option of going 8 cores late next year. Depending on cost we could then probably upgrade more machines to 4 cores now, and upgrade to 8 cores later down the road, but as of now that is only speculation.
Any input is greatly appreciated, as I really want to know if/where my calculation is way off... Cheers,
J