Input required - New systems build
 

Hi guys,

Well my question is in regard to workstations and not a gaming PC. I know a lot about gaming PCs but nothing about workstations.

I'm starting a new business and need your input on decent workstations. I will need a few of them so I need them to be effecient and cost effective. The guys that will be using these system will be programmers (nothing to do with games, CAD or 3D design), mostly database work.

So far I've come up with about $1,000 per station.

P-45 motherboard (Gygabites EP45-DS3R ATX)
Intel E8400 CPU
4x gig RAM
2x 500g Hard Drives (Hitachi Deskstar P7K500)
Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse
500W OCZ StealthXStream PSU
ATI 3450 videocard
22" Acer X223WBD monitor

I would appriciate your input. I know that if I go to my guys its always going to be the fastest and greatest. But I doubt it is what they really need... LOL

Regards

and BTW I'm open to AMD or Nvidia...

That depends a little on how they are organized. If each workstation is used for both, programming and compiling, these specifications should be quite good. Otherwise you can choose a cheaper CPU and a slower mainboard. For pure programming e.g. for webapplications and stuff, that's overkill.

Depending on the operating system and the desired places and sizes for the cases, I'd even recommend to go for a Micro-ATX-Board with onboard graphics allowing you to use a smaller case.

The monitor is quite good for that purpose, IMHO.

Maybe I would reconsider the wireless keyboard and mouse. I made rather bad experiences using them in a working environment. Perhaps you should make it an option?


Good luck on your project!

nm

Consider changing the CPU to a quad (Q6600 and up) since that's the way to go and faster productivity because you have extra processing power.

Thanks, what about AMD CPUs? I'm quit out of the loop when it comes to AMD CPUs now. Could they be good?

Thanks for the keyboard thing I will keep it wired (or bluetooth mayby?).

I want every station to have 2 monitor eventually, so will onboard graphic work?

AMD AM2 Cpu's are perfectly fine for what you want to use them for. What operating system do you intend to use?

The difference between AMD and Intel is not so big. As with most competitors, sometimes one of them has an advantage but overall they're quite close together.

I honestly wouldn't switch to a Quad, unless you can be certain the operating system and programs they are going to use is capable of making use of it effectively. For XP it's more or less just a lot of money for the virtual ruler, if you don't priorize processes manually.

The thing with wireless input devices on workspaces is, that people tend to care less and less about their working tools. So they will sooner or later run out of battery-power on any wireless-device. Even for those with a docking station, my experience is, that people tend to get lazy and just care less and less, until the keyboard or mouse fails in the wrong moment.

If you plan 2x22" monitors, I'd definitely go for a graphics card. Onboard-chips may support it, but the image-quality for 2 monitors with that resolution is probably not the best.

100% Agree, also if your planning on installing WinXp (32bit) then you dont really need to have 4GB of Ram, 2 will be fine.

Will most probably be Vista 64 bit but I will leave that to the IT guy... I'm looking at the business ($$$) side of thing.

Looks like its going to be AMD, for a lower price (about $850) I get relitavely the same machine (save for a X2 AMD 5200+ CPU and MB). I know that Intel are a bit faster but for what we are planning on doing I think that this will do just fine. And with what I save ($150), I can almost get a second monitor ($206).

Thanks guys,

True. Good calculation.


Good luck & ~S!~