Dell Machine for Rendering- What am I missing here?

Danbo!

Not a self-build, but you guys might know about compatabilities etc...

Ok so my current machine (single core 3.4Ghz, 2Gb Ram, 256mb g.card) is about 3 years old, had considered an upgrade, but am now thinking about buying from dell.

Main use is 3ds Max, V-ray and Photoshop.

So of course went straight to customize an XPS... :cool: but am very confused by the following..

XPS MACHINE:
PROCESSOR: i7 processor 920 (2.66Ghz, 8MB L2 cache, 4.8GT/sec)
OS: Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT)
RAM: 6Gb (DDR3) (max available )
HARD DRIVE: 750 GB Serial ATA non Raid (7200 Rpm)
GRAPHICS CARD: 1GB DDR3 nVidia® GeForce™ GTX285
OPTICAL: 16X DVD+/- RW Drive

Total Price: E2,566.99

Studio XPS (customised to match above as close as possible)

PROCESSOR: i7 processor 920 (2.66Ghz, 8MB L2 cache, 4.8GT/sec)
OS: Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT)
RAM: 8Gb (DDR3)
HARD DRIVE: 750GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD: 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GT220
OPTICAL: 16X DVD+/- RW Drive

Total Price: E1,069.00

For the purposes of comparison, I included in both: basic support package, basic mouse/keyboard, basic office software, Media card reader, no displays, no speakers, no printers or anything else...


So wheres the E1,500 extra coming from? The XPS has the better graphics card and looks the business, but the studio XPS has 2Gb more RAM.

Am I putting a powerful engine in a ****ty car here or something? According to dell, the Studio Machine with that spec is fine.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

Effluo

Well in monetary terms the difference between graphics cards is little less than 300 euro.

I don't really know how dell operate their different levels of studio versus xps, but I'd say the "xps machine" would prob have a better motherboard and cooling maybe even the ram would be of a better quality...

But nothing worth near 1500!!!!



Just to show, even though you said you wanted to get a dell....

This pc comes delivered and built with windows vista and an upgrade to windows 7 for €960... and one thing i do know is that the stuff that's in this will be of better quality than what's in the Dell and more than ample for you needs. It has a much better graphics card than the studio too with a better case and larger harddrive!

All this was got from www.hardwareversand.de


Keep in mind too that the i7 does get pretty hot and it's a good idea to have good cooling either way.

Also that build i put up can be upgraded to that gtx 285 for only €200 and card reader for less than €10. It kind of puts into perspective what value for money dell offers at it's high range models...
Want another terrabyte of a hard-drive? Only an extra €61!
All the parts of this build are fully customiseable, but for a reasonable price.

Something else to note is that all these parts will come with a 2-5 year warranty.
Hope you make the right choice


edit: just realised that the version of windows i put in is actually in German... (not very useful unless you're a hermaphrodite(or German)) But this would be very easily fixed.

Solitaire

The XPS has the better graphics and better cooling and expandability. Plus it has proper triple-channel DDR3 - the Studio may have more but its not going to run at full potential. Quantity over quality?

Dell charge insane amounts for graphics solutions. The bulk of the price difference is the GTX285. In real life the difference between a 9500GT and a GTX285 is ~€300. In Dell terms its closer to a grand. Retarded!

But the gap in quality is huge. For pure 2D the GTS220 is fine, but if you want to do any 3D modelling work you will need a gaming-grade graphics card - if you don't have a spare €3000 for a FirePro V8700 (which is really a €125 HD4870 with fancy drivers :rolleyes: )

If you do rendering instead then you're in CUDA and GPGPU territory. Look for a hardware renderer plugin before you buy. IIRC nVidia used to have Gelato prior to CUDA, no idea how good it still is. Not sure what ATi use in its place.

Overall, going for either build is basically asking to have your wallet gang-raped. Self-build may be a much better alternative.

Solitaire

Effluo wrote:

just realised that the version of windows i put in is actually in German... (not very useful unless you're a hermaphrodite(or German))

Danbo!

Bumpeddy bump...

Ok, so I'm still researching this and dell keep messing with their prices and its up and down very frequently. I wouldn't be confident with a self build but I've just stumbled across overclockers.co.uk. Any opinions on them?

I can get, for under €1200-
- Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz Overclocked to 3.80GHz!
- Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 (1600MHz) Tri-Channel
- Vista Home Premium 64 bit
- Nvidia GTX 285 (or ati 4890 for a little less)

This seems like a much better option. I also have a much wider choice of gfx cards with them, and can customise anything else by phone.

Would the above machine be decent for high poly modelling and rendering, and Flight Sim X with high-ish settings?

Thanks again

Solitaire

They're okay. Pricing is a bit deceptive as they charge our own ultra-high VAT rate to Irish customers, and there's been complaints about their customer service, or lack thereof. Then again, I haven't really heard of an e-tailer that could be accused of good service The biggest bonus is that sometimes they have stuff cheaper than Ireland or HWVS and also have some nice pre-OCd rigs for sale. But they're not the cheapest for most things and if there's a problem you're on your own.

Here's a comparison from HWVS, not OCd (yet ) though:



CPU isn't OCd but has an improved Turbo Mode, and the graphics card will be much stronger than a GTX285 once the drivers mature. That's for ~€950 shipped, still well under €990 if you also added a CPU cooler (Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Rev2) and use the PC-Configurator exploit to add "Rechner - Zusammenbau" (so they build it for you) without sticking to their systems. Bit cheaper than ~€1200-1300 eh?

EDIT: And you might want to go with the Corsair VX550 for a PSU - didn't see the long lead time on the Basiq Plus

leninbenjamin

do not buy an XPS!!! I've been using one in college for the past year (it's actually two years old) but it's been an absolute nightmare. We have a lab full of them (about 25 odd XPS's) and about every fortnight one fails.

Basically our problem was Dell used some cheap component on the northbridge that has awful thermal properties. According to the tech guy (we're not allowed open them up) it basically expands when the computer is on, and then cracks as it cools when you boot down. Secondly, there was only one intake fan on it and it didn't seem to circulate air properly to the CPU and Mobo which of course aggravated the problem. And this was in a room with the best air conditioning in campus (I'm told Dell wouldn't fulfil the warranty until it was proven that it wasn't an environmental problem).

so yeah, i can never ever recommend an XPS after my experience with them.

As for an i7 build, what Solitare lists is pretty good, although I would lean towards an Nvidia GPU for rendering myself. There seem to be a number of CUDA plug-ins in development for graphics apps these days. maybe a 275GTX til the DX11 cards have come out and drivers stabilised.

As for a custom build, it's pretty easy. I built my first comp this summer (an i7) and it went very smoothly. What I found beneficial was to get a Full tower case to give you lots of room to manoeuvre (and build up your confidence). Some midtowers can be pretty tight around the CPU cooler (particularly for i7).

Effluo

Ya un languages of un os's dart in Germanish....

The Windows 7 os's from hrdw.de are all in german....
Maybe get it from here?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Windows-Home-Premium-Version/dp/B002DUCMT2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1254332311&sr=1-1

Prob somewhere cheaper as amazon charge irish vat rates now too : (

It's not a bad price though

Solitaire

I was all for CUDA until I realised how few operations are supported... a decent i7 will render the point moot. But for future-proofing a DX11 card is vital - aside from the fact it'd take a lot to make a HD5850 sweat, as its a DX11 card it supports DirectCompute, Microsoft's GPGPU initiative. As its platform-specific (and a popular one at that ) instead of hardware-specific (nVidia's CUDA) its going to get lots of folks onboard pretty quick compared to CUDA, which could end up a veritable ghost-town due to DX11.