Need Opty Advice

You should see what I build. The Talon2/SC used to be described as jawdropping. Then I brought the Talon2/XTR and Talon2/XTW to bear. To say nothing of the Aerius Volatus. (Which starts at $48,700.) To put it in perspective; the Talon2/SC can render a complete Dodge Neon and rotate it across four spanned (2x2) LCDs in realtime. The Talon2/XTW B-series can render two complete Dodge Neons and rotate both across the same display. The Aerius Volatus can render the entire factory. Then again, I specialize heavily in CAD/CAM/CAE/CATIA/GIS workstations. So I get to toss out fun stats like that.
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Okay, now, you need to provide specs... what architecture for CPU, storage, video, ram? Operating systems? Are these off the shelf parts or stuff in the range of mainframes that IBM, SGI, SUN, and CRAY used to build? Why would anyone buy one of those versus a really nice CRAY or SUN workstation?

Spill it! Can't do this to me... I'm dying here :(
 
AreEss said:
Can get is different from having. It's not available for general order yet. I can get it too. If you wanna wait 2-4 weeks minimum. Hell, I can get 256's and 275's and 4GB DIMMs and 16-ways with dual PCIe 16x slots! You'll just have to wait and wait and wait.

There are some evaluation boards floating around. Can't say much more than that. Either way, all the good of the H8DCE with PCI-X added. They'll be available soon enough.
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How about the gigabyte board? I like it. No problems yet:

Link
 
yikess said:
Okay, now, you need to provide specs... what architecture for CPU, storage, video, ram? Operating systems? Are these off the shelf parts or stuff in the range of mainframes that IBM, SGI, SUN, and CRAY used to build? Why would anyone buy one of those versus a really nice CRAY or SUN workstation?

Spill it! Can't do this to me... I'm dying here :(
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Sure I can. The competition is out there and they want to know too. :D
Let's just say that you could order most of the parts for an AV, but you wouldn't be able to get the parts that make it an AV. Same for most of them.
As far as how I play toe to toe with the big boys, it's pretty simple and straightforward. I build a better box. Those shops will happily sell you the same box they sold Big Corp three streets down for a totally different task. The stuff I build is purpose-built for a specific customer or task. Like I said; very niche, not mass production. When you get into specialized fields, most folks would rather have a box that really does what they want/need rather than whatever's cheapest for IBM/Dell/etc. to build 10,000 of.
 
I call shens until some type of pic/data turns up. I doubt these haven't been mentioned enough for Google/links to pick up anything.
 
i don't doubt him. there's a terrific market for high end customized workstations. i sell Uniwise workstations that routinely cost 20K or more. depending on the hardware included, you could easily hit a 35-40K cap.

now, that's prolly including a hefty margin since i could prolly pop a decent workstation out for slightly under 20K (using 4 x 8xx processors, to boot) but...i don't have the time or energy for that.

anyhow, i don't think there's any need to worry about another Liebernan or Phantom style company here.

dave
 
dave_graham said:
i don't doubt him. there's a terrific market for high end customized workstations. i sell Uniwise workstations that routinely cost 20K or more. depending on the hardware included, you could easily hit a 35-40K cap.
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Exactly, to say nothing of clusters, which is where some of the big money is. I specialize in desktop/deskside like the Talon2 and multirack modules like the AV. Dave's stuff is I suspect A/V and Audio oriented, whereas I specialize in CAD/CAE/CAM/GIS/etc. That said, it's not uncommon for a 2-way to hit $20K.

now, that's prolly including a hefty margin since i could prolly pop a decent workstation out for slightly under 20K (using 4 x 8xx processors, to boot) but...i don't have the time or energy for that.
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Well I sure as hell don't do industry standard these days! ;)
Yes, there's significant margin, but way below most others. A lot of the cost is eaten in the detail work that goes into my boxes, because there is a lot of custom low volume manufacturing involved.

anyhow, i don't think there's any need to worry about another Liebernan or Phantom style company here.
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Nope. As I said, no web presence because I don't have the capacity to handle the amount of orders I'd expect from it. Yet. That's the key word. It's in the works. Just don't expect to see anything you'd order for home when it goes up. (Unless your home has a climate controlled room with raised flooring, or happens to be a Boeing design facility.) ;)
 
Nope. As I said, no web presence because I don't have the capacity to handle the amount of orders I'd expect from it. Yet. That's the key word. It's in the works. Just don't expect to see anything you'd order for home when it goes up. (Unless your home has a climate controlled room with raised flooring, or happens to be a Boeing design facility.)
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Can you tell me why someone like Boeing, with all the money it can spend, would order from a small one man company like yourself rather from someone else who can mass produce AND provide support? I'm not doubting you, but just pretend I'm lockeed martin and I'm interested in buying some workstations. What would be your sales pitch? Judging from what you are building I'm guessing your customers are using stuff like CATIA and not windows based solidworks or inventor.

I guess we're way off topic here, so I'll just stop after this post :)
 
Heh, I was just about to post the same thing...how the hell would I find you if I wanted to purchase an uber high-end workstation? Sounds like only word of mouth could sink you.
 
yikess said:
Can you tell me why someone like Boeing, with all the money it can spend, would order from a small one man company like yourself rather from someone else who can mass produce AND provide support? I'm not doubting you, but just pretend I'm lockeed martin and I'm interested in buying some workstations. What would be your sales pitch? Judging from what you are building I'm guessing your customers are using stuff like CATIA and not windows based solidworks or inventor.

I guess we're way off topic here, so I'll just stop after this post :)
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We should make our own topic.. anyways, Boeing/Lockheed was an example. Thing you have to bear in mind is that they only buy from GSA regardless, and it's all bid. If I have the lowest bid and I'm GSA listed, I get the sale. (Yeah, it's arguably moronic.) A lot of large corporations work this way. It saves me some hassle. Also have to bear in mind that I do limit my sales. Let's say Lockheed sends me an RFB on 200 workstations. I would send them a nice letter stating that I appreciate their interest, but do not have the capabilities to submit a bid for this project. But Boeing has an RFB for 2 rendering systems; I submit a bid and hope I'm lowest.

As far as support, I don't really want to get into that. Suffice to say, 'reboot, reinstall Windows' doesn't cut it, nor does 'we'll ship you a new part next-day.' Support for systems like these is totally different from desktop support, but also part of my capacity woes.

movax said:
Heh, I was just about to post the same thing...how the hell would I find you if I wanted to purchase an uber high-end workstation? Sounds like only word of mouth could sink you.
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PM me here, track me down by word of mouth, get referred by a consultant. It's how I limit my intake so I don't get overwhelmed with orders. I can only fill so many orders right now, so I don't want a great deal of exposure, because that just leads to getting too many orders. Long term, no, it's not a good plan, but like I said, things are in the works. ;)
 
To get back on topic!
Everything has been ordered withe the exception of a few H2O parts, here it is.

TYAN K8WE MB
2 Opteron 254
4x2GB Samsung RAM
1 WD 150 Raptor
3 WD 400~SATA3
1 300GB Maxtor external~backup
1 Netcell Revo 5 SATA card
Plextor DVD/CD External
PC P&C 1kw PSU
Silverstone TJ07

H2O

2 Cuplex XT~Have 1 already
2 Twinplex Pro NB~Have 1
2 Twinplex GPU~Have them, unfortunately Sharka doesnt have the Aquagrafix for 7800
2 EVO 240~Have 1
1 Aquaero~Have it
1 Aquabay~Have it
1 Aquabox
1 Aqua Multiswitch
Various fittings

It will be a busy weekend as it will all be here by Friday.
 
Lookin' good, mang, I just cringe at the thought of your power bill now :) Nice WC parts as well, but why the external optical drive? Using that space inside case for WC setup?
 
movax said:
Lookin' good, mang, I just cringe at the thought of your power bill now :) Nice WC parts as well, but why the external optical drive? Using that space inside case for WC setup?
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Purely aesthetic purposes.
 
and see...i'd LOVE to work with AreEss since i dig doing this kind of work.

nothing makes me happier than digging into a plate of hardware and assembling these suckers..

dave
 
dave_graham said:
and see...i'd LOVE to work with AreEss since i dig doing this kind of work.

nothing makes me happier than digging into a plate of hardware and assembling these suckers..
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Why you think I'm doing it? :D

Problem is that there's so much engineering involved.. to be honest, I'd be much happier if it was just 'slap parts in box and ship' like the old days. But if you do that, it'll bite you in the ass right quick. Instead I get the joy of drilling out rivets so I can completely disassemble cases to mount blowers and ducting for the motherboard underside and DIMMs, replacing every single included fan, etcetera.

It's just a different kind of fun. :)
 
AreEss said:
Why you think I'm doing it? :D

Problem is that there's so much engineering involved.. to be honest, I'd be much happier if it was just 'slap parts in box and ship' like the old days. But if you do that, it'll bite you in the ass right quick. Instead I get the joy of drilling out rivets so I can completely disassemble cases to mount blowers and ducting for the motherboard underside and DIMMs, replacing every single included fan, etcetera.

It's just a different kind of fun. :)
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Most of my gear arrived today, guess ill be doing the same thing. Stay tuned!
 
I changed horses midstream. I dumped my H2O gear, it is all for sale, and went back to air cooling. I bought two Zalman 9500 CPU coolers and when I went to install my two 7800's, problem, the cards came with NV silencers and they will not fit.
I would really appreciate any advice from those who have a TYAN K8WE MB running in SLI, as in what coolers are you using?
 
AreEss said:
Why you think I'm doing it? :D

Problem is that there's so much engineering involved.. to be honest, I'd be much happier if it was just 'slap parts in box and ship' like the old days. But if you do that, it'll bite you in the ass right quick. Instead I get the joy of drilling out rivets so I can completely disassemble cases to mount blowers and ducting for the motherboard underside and DIMMs, replacing every single included fan, etcetera.

It's just a different kind of fun. :)
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just curious on this point but why not contract a custom case fabrication at a local fabricating shop and do 40 or so cases in a run. especially if you already have the cad software to design it yourself? this would give you more free time to play at your favorite hobbies and wouldn't cost much more than the pre-built cases you are having to buy to house all that hardware. not to mention you could custom etch your logo on the cases during fabrication. any additional costs per case you could just bury without any markup by passing the few extra hundred on to the purchaser vs. the cost of a pre-fabbed case you have to modify (eating up your time and costing the customer anyway).
 
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