Professor orders $5,000 Dell XPS

[f4phantom2500]

I keyed in a purchase requisition document that shows that a professor here bought a Dell XPS 710 with a QX6700, 4GB RAM, 2 8800GTX's, 2 160GB 10,000 rpm drives in a RAID 0 array (I guess those Raptor drives made for Dell or whatever?) and a 20" Widescreen monitor. My question is why would a professor need this kind of rig? Obviously it's not for just tooling around, and I don't think it's for some sort of lab thing since I mean, come on, being a professor I think he'd have access to all the computing power he'd need, besides why would he need dual 8800GTX's? If I didn't know any better I'd say he was just trying to get a super gaming rig on the school's dime. Can anyone think of a good application for such a computer for a professor?

 

[rudder]

impress the two geeky female students at the university.

 

[MisterJackson]

He's taking advantage of the system and will likely either take it home or part it out.

What's he teach.

 

[LS20]

because he can.. why do you care?

 

[FoBoT]

because he can

 

[R Nilla]

I'm surprised he didn't opt for the 30" monitor...

 

[GoPackGo]

Use it or lose it budget mentality.

The biggest mistake is business / government.

 

[Crono]

What does he teach? If he's a philosophy or ethics professor, you know something is up.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo
Use it or lose it budget mentality.

The biggest mistake is business / government.

That, and you should see how AIM runs on a quad core!

 

[spidey07]

Some people need a powerful computer. Obiously he does.

 

[jhayx7]

Originally posted by: Crono
What does he teach? If he's a philosophy or ethics professor, you know something is up.

Underwater basketweaving

 

[imported_Imp]

What our rising tuitions go to pay for? Looks more like he/she bought by price.

 

[radioouman]

The budget was there, so he is taking advantage of it.
To be fair, he is getting a system that will last a long time. He may only be allowed to get a new computer every five years.

 

[DVad3r]

You really should not care too much. He probably wants it to play games during his free time. The point is at laest he invested the money well, and got a sick rig for the money. I work at the government catholic school board, it buys microsoft mice, optical ones, the most basic basic kind (5 dollar mouse) for 89.99 + tax. The money it uses to buy these thigns are tax payers dollars. Now that's criminal.

Ask him what games he plays, tell him you want to benchmark his rig.

 

[Phokus]

Obviously he wants to turn up all the detail on all the computer games he plays LOL

 

[Viper GTS]

The 8800's are for CUDA, of course.

Viper GTS

 

[ksaajasto]

i doubt that they do need it, but its great to show off, and they also have plenty of money to throw away...
KS

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Some people need a powerful computer. Obiously he does.

How is that obious [sic] from what the OP has told us?

 

[SuperNaruto]

What dept is he in ? some of these math/physics/stats guy run matlab.. faster the better.. it be wasted in other dept..

 

[paulxcook]

AutoCAD? But surely he would know not to buy an 8800 for that.

 

[MrPickins]

Depending on what he's doing he may need the power. Some simulations are intense.

Even the video cards may be warranted:

GPGPU.

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
The 8800's are for CUDA, of course.

Viper GTS

Doh! Beat me to it.

 

[tw1164]

He can multiple copies of minesweeper now; plus he knows that it takes more paperwork to deny a request then to approve it

 

[hanoverphist]

i wish my prof had a rig like that when we were taking that SoftImage class, that software was a resource HOG back then. rendering would have taken a fraction of the time if we all had that as well.


mebbe he teaches something that needs that power, or mebbe hes using budget cash to make sure he doesnt lose it for next year.

 

[Reckoner]

They probably gave him a budget, and anything he didn't use, he lost. So why not fully use the funds?

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: GoPackGo
Use it or lose it budget mentality.

The biggest mistake is business / government.

It's a fact of life in government. If you don't use the money you really do lose it the next year.

Edit: Speaking of which, if he's doing some kind of 3d modelling, maybe he'll use that horsepower.