ML
    • Recent
    • Categories
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Register
    • Login

    Help me pick the right desktop

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved IT Discussion
    56 Posts 9 Posters 14.5k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • creaytC
      creayt @MattSpeller
      last edited by creayt

      @MattSpeller said:

      @creayt I wouldnt run VM's on your render box unless it's a type 2 hypervisor like virtualbox - also VM's are what servers are for.

      I think the main argument for using VMs on your workstation as a developer is so that the development environment you're coding and testing on can more exactly resemble your code's final deployment situation, not to mention the ability to experiment w/ scary things and then reverse them in one fell swoop. I know there are a lot of articles on it, but up to this point I've never done it myself full-time.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • creaytC
        creayt @MattSpeller
        last edited by

        @MattSpeller said:

        @creayt http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TTkpYJ

        Easy upgrade to 128gb of ram later
        6c 12t CPU
        absolutely sick m2 ssd "Sequential Read: 1170MB/s, Sequential Write: 930 MB/s, Random Read (QD=32): 122K IOPS, Random Write (QD=32): 72K IOPS"

        other storage is what servers are for

        you'll need to research a gfx card that's suitable for what you're doing. I put in a GTX970 as it's $/performance is obnoxiously good.

        also needs psu, case, etc etc.

        That's pretty epic, and cheap! I'm definitely going to comb over this stuff and do a ton of Googling. That M2 drive is epic ( even if I don't get how it can put up those numbers w/ what Amazon says is a 5Gb/s connection. Thanks!!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • creaytC
          creayt @MattSpeller
          last edited by

          @MattSpeller said:

          $0.02 - wait until august when Intel launches their new CPU's and you'll get a better deal on their current lineup or move up to the new stuff

          Are these the v4s or something totally new? I can't say I'm up to date at all on the processor market.

          MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • MattSpellerM
            MattSpeller @creayt
            last edited by MattSpeller

            @creayt said:

            @MattSpeller said:

            $0.02 - wait until august when Intel launches their new CPU's and you'll get a better deal on their current lineup or move up to the new stuff

            Are these the v4s or something totally new? I can't say I'm up to date at all on the processor market.

            http://wccftech.com/intel-desktop-cpu-roadmap-confirms-broadwelle-q3-2015-broadwell-kseries-q1-2015-skylake-mid2015/

            New architecture same 22nm package - should be a decent bump in performance but time (well, reviews) will tell. Most exciting is the new mobos should better support M2 and possibly have two slots (omfg raid0 m2's)

            The server can dish out VM's for you. VirtualBox will do it if you really want but why reduce the performance of your render box (or save money on less ram or something).

            creaytC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • MattSpellerM
              MattSpeller
              last edited by MattSpeller

              http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-POWEREDGE-R510-2-X5660-24GB-RAM-H700-12-BAY-/171833967783?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item28021a44a7 - Edit: better deal on this one and it includes a not shitty RAID controller. It does not include drive caddies so keep that in mind.

              Throw some more RAM at it and fill it full of cheap SATA drives in OBR10 - I'd suggest the cheapest 1TB drives (or whatever is cheapest $/GB) - the more drives you have running the faster your RAID10 will be.

              Install VMWare or whatever other flavor of hypervisor floats your boat and you're off to the races. With the one I linked above you've got 12c 24t to work with - that'll easily do way more VM's than you'd need, your only limitation will be how much RAM you stuff in it.

              creaytC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • creaytC
                creayt @MattSpeller
                last edited by creayt

                @MattSpeller said:

                http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-POWEREDGE-R510-2-X5660-24GB-RAM-H700-12-BAY-/171833967783?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item28021a44a7 - Edit: better deal on this one and it includes a not shitty RAID controller. It does not include drive caddies so keep that in mind.

                Throw some more RAM at it and fill it full of cheap SATA drives in OBR10 - I'd suggest the cheapest 1TB drives (or whatever is cheapest $/GB) - the more drives you have running the faster your RAID10 will be.

                Install VMWare or whatever other flavor of hypervisor floats your boat and you're off to the races. With the one I linked above you've got 12c 24t to work with - that'll easily do way more VM's than you'd need, your only limitation will be how much RAM you stuff in it.

                Ahhh, I see where you're going with this. I should mention that:

                • I work from home full time in a tiny apartment and don't have an ability to set up a rack or anything.

                • I have the luxury of not needing much drive space or having a concern for redundancy at all. I use version control and any media files I deal with locally are testing images so I'm fine w/ 256GB total, comprised of a single drive or a Raid 0.

                • If I do go the separate route I do have this T110 available to run VMs off of, which does fit in my closet ( where it lived before I ditched my Retina iMac a week or two ago ).

                • I'll be developing/rendering off of a NetGear A6210 wifi adapter ( currently what the T110 is using ), and have no other choice but to go wireless w/ my 2 new puppies around. Do you think developing off of VMs served off of a separate box ( which can be hardwired to the router ) over wifi could introduce enough latency that the responsiveness might suffer? I'm already a stickler for instantaneousness, I'm not sure I could deal with that on every save, switch, test, repeat. The VMs won't be performing major workloads simultaneously with the exception of if I run the private betaware from home, in which case that'd be always on. So the 8t of the Xeon E3-1240 v2 might be ok.

                I appreciate all of the help! This is very educational.

                MattSpellerM 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • MattSpellerM
                  MattSpeller @creayt
                  last edited by

                  @creayt Mmmmmm ok I'm with ya now.... hmmm.... let me chew on this for a few mins....

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • MattSpellerM
                    MattSpeller @creayt
                    last edited by MattSpeller

                    @creayt Massive overkill commence: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zYM9ZL

                    6c 12t (overclock this hard)
                    64gb RAM
                    2x 512ssd's raid0 (because you'll eventually want more space + they're cheap)
                    1x 3tb backup drive, omit if you want but backups can save you a ton of time and can be run when you're not using it for other stuff... my internal sysadmin won't let me build a system without a backup system/drive/array
                    watercooling to keep noise way down in apartment
                    noctua fans to replace cheap case fans to keep noise down
                    Asus GTX970 to keep noise down (this model cools passively without turning the fans on until you use it for something like rendering)
                    PC P&C expensive power supply because failure isn't an option when you use it to make your living. Also gold efficiency rating so it's quieter and pumps out less heat.
                    I contemplated a horizontal case or similar but you can really do whatever you want with that part of it. I put one in that was well reviewed but go pick one out that speaks to you.

                    Run something like virtualbox and you can host as many VM's on this bad boy as you have RAM to allocate to them.

                    $2800USD

                    Next step up from here is going to a customized server. Buying something like the one I linked below on ebay and then pimping it out with cool stuff like the above parts. Only reason to look at this is because of RAM* - consumer ATX boards just do not support more than 64GB super reliably - (128GB in the next lineup coming in August).

                    *or dual CPU but if you end up needing more than the 6c12t monster can provide you REALLY need to think about going to a separate server for your VM's

                    creaytC 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ?
                      A Former User
                      last edited by

                      I looked between the Dell Percision T series and the HP z800 when getting my current workstation (24 cores). I end up getting the HP platform it was more flexible had way more SAS and SATA ports and better all around build quality.

                      scottalanmillerS creaytC 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • scottalanmillerS
                        scottalanmiller @A Former User
                        last edited by

                        @thecreativeone91 said:

                        I looked between the Dell Percision T series and the HP z800 when getting my current workstation (24 cores). I end up getting the HP platform it was more flexible had way more SAS and SATA ports and better all around build quality.

                        I've always been a fan of those. They are really nice. We used older models of that series at the bank for monte carlo simulations with CUDA processing.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • creaytC
                          creayt @A Former User
                          last edited by

                          @thecreativeone91 said:

                          I looked between the Dell Percision T series and the HP z800 when getting my current workstation (24 cores). I end up getting the HP platform it was more flexible had way more SAS and SATA ports and better all around build quality.

                          Thanks for the tip. It sounds like I'm better off performancewise ( given my lack of a need for mass storage at least ) w/ M2 and PCIe options.

                          What's your processor model if you don't mind my asking? How has having so many cores worked out for you? What do you do with that monster?

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • creaytC
                            creayt @MattSpeller
                            last edited by

                            @MattSpeller said:

                            @creayt Massive overkill commence: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zYM9ZL

                            Excellent options and a ton of stuff I'm going to look into! Thank you very much.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • creaytC
                              creayt @MattSpeller
                              last edited by creayt

                              This post is deleted!
                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • creaytC
                                creayt @MattSpeller
                                last edited by

                                @MattSpeller said:

                                @creayt Massive overkill commence: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zYM9ZL

                                So it looks like to do dual M2s on these mobos you have to use a PCIe add-in card for the 2nd. So to get a RAID out of that would you need to do a software one in Windows? Is there a better option?

                                MattSpellerM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • creaytC
                                  creayt
                                  last edited by

                                  I think I've found my case...

                                  s10.jpg

                                  T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • T
                                    technobabble @creayt
                                    last edited by

                                    @creayt said:

                                    I think I've found my case...

                                    s10.jpg

                                    Love the look...care to supply the name or a link to it?

                                    creaytC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • creaytC
                                      creayt @technobabble
                                      last edited by

                                      @technobabble said:

                                      Love the look...care to supply the name or a link to it?

                                      Antec S10. I think it's only a month or two old, but presuming I can remove that Antec logo it'll be the first DIY computer case I've ever seen that's actually sexy.

                                      http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129224

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • T
                                        technobabble
                                        last edited by

                                        I've always used Antec cases for my builds, but this is the nicest one yet!

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • MattSpellerM
                                          MattSpeller @creayt
                                          last edited by

                                          @creayt said:

                                          So it looks like to do dual M2s on these mobos you have to use a PCIe add-in card for the 2nd. So to get a RAID out of that would you need to do a software one in Windows? Is there a better option?

                                          Yeah I wouldn't spend that kinda cash on a PC right before the launch of a new chipset and CPU's - new mobos should have better support for M2 and SATAe

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • creaytC
                                            creayt @MattSpeller
                                            last edited by creayt

                                            @MattSpeller said:

                                            @creayt Massive overkill commence: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zYM9ZL
                                            6c 12t (overclock this hard)

                                            Though I have no expertise w/ OC-ing at all, and it's been probably 7-8 years since I assembled a rig myself, the T5810 has arrived and its performance is very disappointing, on top of that the SSDs are plain jane and generic looking SATA. So it's going back to Dell and I'm going to get savvy on self-assembly and go your suggested route.

                                            I think I'm going to wait for the new processors in August, and spend the time up until then learning how to do all of this stuff again.

                                            In the meanwhile, does anyone know how I can tell ahead of time what graphics cards will be compatible w/ my T110.2? It has a Thermaltake Tr/2 600W power supply, but none of the modernish cards I tried would boot. The pre-boot screen would sit and hold a solid underscore on a black screen or flash the underscore.

                                            Thanks!

                                            MattSpellerM ? 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 3
                                            • 2 / 3
                                            • First post
                                              Last post