E7500 vs E8400 -- I am buying 100-130 systems

[ecom]

Given system that is otherwise equal, is an E8400 going to make a huge difference?

There is a difference of about $80 between the two CPU options. Clock speed I think is not a huge issue, but what about the additional cache?

The computers are used for MS Office including mail, running Java apps, and web. No gaming, no overclocking. Another option is Q8400 which is $10 more than the E8400 so I'm thinking if I go E8400, I may as well go Q8400.

I need the machine to last maybe 4 to 5 years. The Q8400 has slower clock speed but more cores. Will this be advantageous?

I am not considering I3 or I5 at this time because the system will be another $100 or so more compared to the E8400 or Q8400 based system.

I am replacing P4 2.8GHz machine and contrary to what many people may argue, those machines are completely inadequate for the tasks I've listed. Bumping them up to 2GB+ from 512MB RAM does not appear to make a big difference.

Yes, I know this is currently in the wrong forum. I have PM a mod to move it for me.

 

[corkyg]

Moved per your request.

 

[Rifter]

you need to build one machine in each configuration and then test them. From the listed uses i would build the E7500 systems, as 3-4 yars is a short time, if you were keeping them for 5+ then its a no brainer to go with the Q8400.

 

[llamajizz]

Honestly I could see the e7500s lasting 5 years with no problem. I would think of it this way: Even for basic tasks like running MS office, if you throw a p4 next to an e7500 there will be a huge difference (especially if you have stuff running in the background). But if you run those same apps on an e7500 and throw it next to an i7, you're not going to notice a major difference in speed. And I honestly don't think there would be a discernible difference if you pinned an e7500 next to an e8400. I would save some money and go with the e7500.

 

[Soulkeeper]

Depending on the prices you are getting from your supplier and if you plan to ever upgrade the cpu's i'd think AMD would be a better option than s775

 

[maniac5999]

Depending on the prices you are getting from your supplier and if you plan to ever upgrade the cpu's i'd think AMD would be a better option than s775

I'll second that. On Newegg you can get a 3.0ghz Athlon II x2 for $62. Want a Quad? the X4 630 is 2.8ghz, 95w and $96 Unless you already have the L775 motherboards Intel's a bad choice for anything under $200.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Office apps will be limited by your HDD, so E7500 will be enough. It's cheaper, and will use less electricity.

I went from E7200 to i5-750 and barely noticed a difference in office apps and browsing.

 

[ecom]

Building systems is completely out of the question...it takes too much time and it is a logistical nightmare.

Dell has two Optiplex AMD based solutions but they are not viable. the 740 is only minitower which is too big and is a 3+ year old product. The 580 only has Athlon B22 which is slower than the E7500.

 

[CurseTheSky]

What about the Pentium 4 systems is inadequate? Is it the inability (well, difficulty) to multi-task? Slow downs when a virus scan or other program kicks in? Etc.?

I'd do it this way - if you just need general office use systems and don't care about them being "moderately quick" for all 4-5 of those years (in comparison to whatever else is out at the time), get the E7500. On the other hand, if you want them to remain closer to the top of the curve for a longer period of time, get the Q8400 on the thought that applications will become more heavily multi-threaded in the future. I would completely ignore the E8400 option as the extra clock speed and cache won't make much of a difference in the long run.

 

[ecom]

The P4s we have get bogged down multitasking. Some of the spreadsheets accountants work on have macros or other programming built in and others, when printed in 12 pt font, cover 50 sheets of 11x17 paper front and back. Others often have things like 100 page complex Word documents. Printing these things out to PDF take a long long time.

Many of the custom apps run unbearably slow on the P4 machines. I think these are all Java apps. It accesses a DB back end, but they are quite slow to initialize also even if they are locally cached.

After pressing Ctrl-P to bring up the print dialog, it might take 15-20s to appear. Trying to bring up the print settings for the printer might take another 30 seconds before anything appears.

It is not uncommon to see someone running multiple instances of Excel, Word, IE7 (custom apps), along with the mail client. Even with 2GB of RAM these machines don't work all that well.

Virus infection we haven't had much of a problem with. I think the virus scan is continuously scanning in the background but I don't see that processing consuming large amounts of CPU.

A lot of users are asking for Google Earth and on the P4 with 845 chipset, it doesn't work very well. So we end up paying for something they can't use very well.

Machines in question are mostly HP D530 and a few Compaq Evo D510.

We do have about 150 C2D E6600 in service and those run significantly better than the P4s. This purchase will bring the rest of the users up to date.

 

[Emulex]

P5300
SSD
Enough ram
modern o/s and office versions (multi-threaded)

notice SSD!

 

[Herald85]

We have about 160 of the following machines:
Athlon 64 X2 Dual 5000+
3GB RAM

They're fine for almost everyone. I have Cisco Supervisor, Remedy (ticket system), Lotus Notes, 6 Excel files, IE 8 (7 tabs), UltraEdit, two RDC and TeamViewer open. I have zero slowdown. The 'powerusers' have Q8200 machines and I haven't received a single complaint.

You should analyze if your company uses or will use multithreaded applications in the future. If that's a no, just get the E7500. It's definately fast enough for office usage and saving 10000$ is always nice.

 

[ecom]

P5300
SSD
Enough ram
modern o/s and office versions (multi-threaded)

notice SSD!

That isn't going to work. That's like $300 more per system -- cant afford that right now.

 

[BTA]

We have an E7200 system with 2gigs of DDR2 as well as a Q9400 w/8gigs of DDR2 in the household. Both are used for some gaming and mostly work related tasks. Lots of multitasking on each.

The E7200 system still cruises through everything...and I can't say my Q9400 system is all that much faster, at least not to the point where you go "holy shit we should do this on the quad system."

Sounds like you're working with the same crap P4 systems we have at work and I'll agree they are unacceptably slow especially with all the crap background software that work environments make you load them up with.

I can't imagine an E7500 system not handling work tasks for a good 5 years +.

 

[ecom]

I submitted a quote request for 100 identical machines w/ E7500 or E8400. I want to see if I get any volume discount and if there will be a reduced cost difference.

 

[Emulex]

i threw x25-V's on p4-2.8HT and p4-3.0's and they outrun the newer P5300 intel/7200.12/DDR3 systems in most cases.

you can not beat latency. fragmentation. virus scan. nightly backup. spin up/down.

 

[shamans33]

Out of curiosity, how much is dell charging you per system at qtys of 100?

If you could custom design the system, a triple core amd system with small SSDs would be the best value for productivity.

 

[ecom]

Refurbing 5 to 6 year old computers is not a good idea. While it will extend the useful life of the computer, these computers are really already past end of life. I should thank my good graces that they've been able to make it this long past their 3 year warranties. I don't have parts to repair them nor am I interested in stocking them.

Maintenance in a business production environment is quite different. If my parents' computer doesn't work, they don't get to watch Hulu for a day or two until I can get to Fry's or order something from Newegg. Purchasing process could take weeks or even a month in my organization. I can't just go run out to the local computer shop and buy the stuff and expect to get reimbursed.

It will result in cannibalizing other machines for parts which I definitely don't want to do because it means less machines. If I am at a field office since it could mean having to lug a bunch of computers out there. Call me lazy if you want, but our vehicle pool is about 300 yards down the street and parking in front of the building is very limited and each of these P4 computers weighs about 20lbs each.

 

[Emulex]

you'd get a big deal or case written for that many machines. the core2 processor are EOL this year whenever they run out so its sell what you have. Prices are going up once you move to the new platform since its going to be around.

Curious: Wouldn't you rather base your system off core i3/i5 tech so you have a consistent product model? If you need 100 next year you aren't going to get the same chipset/etc your sysprep will be done all over yadda.

They do not charge you to ship 100 computers to 60 offices - that should be part of your case/big deal/var agreement lol.

 

[ecom]

I spec'd them with the E7500 CPU. I'm not going to to go i3 or i5 yet since they still cost too much or I have to get less computers and do the phase out over a longer period of time.

I already have a bunch of E6600 in service so more C2D should be fine. The Optiplex 780 came out in December so they should be available for another year or so. I think they have 18 month product cycles... I will still be able to buy them once the new budget cycle comes around in the fall.

 

[Emulex]

core2 production ends this year or when sold out. hence why that model is a bridge to get the last stock out the door.