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Which is better for 3D (lightwave) or Photoshop work?

dchakrab

Senior member
Here the two systems I'm choosing between, both coming to just over $400 without a monitor:

1. Dell PowerEdge SC420:

PCIxpress slot, no AGP
Intel® Pentium®4 processor, 520, 2.8GHz, 1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB (is this HT?)
FREE UPGRADE to 512MB DDR2, 533MHz, 2X256MB, Single Ranked DIMMs
(...should i be choosing the 400mhz memory for a 800mhz system?)
80GB, Serial ATA, 1 inch, 7.2K RPM, Hard Drive


2. Dell Dimension 3000:

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor w/ HT Technology (3GHz, 800 FSB)
FREE UPGRADE 512MB Dual Channel 400MHz DDR SDRAM
80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive

The second system has a rebate, bringing it to about the same price as the first. The first seems like the much better deal, except for the PCIxpress slot...I'm probably going to have to stick a PCI graphics card in one of the other slots to save money. If I'm using this as a rendering machine for 3D (Lightwave) is this going to kill performance? Also, i'm not sure if the first configuration is a HT proc or not. Since the second has a faster processor with HT, is this going to make a significant difference?

The second also uses DDR2 memory, as compared to DDR on the second, though the second is dual channel.

Advice, comments? Both deals die today, so I have to make up my mind today sometime (Sunday).

Thanks,

Dave.
 
Oh, and there's also an SATA 7200rpm drive vs. IDE 7200 issue between these two. I would assume the SATA drive is preferable for 3D work, but how much of a difference is this going to make?

How much is a PCIxpress card going to cost me, at minimum? I already have a perfectly working ATI All-in-wonder card (32 mb) which would work in the Dimension (I think it has a standard AGP slot)...if i'm majorly short on cash, would it be better to get a $30 PCI video card, a cheap (how cheap?) PCIxpress card, or an older "3D" workstation type card for the first machine?

-D.
 
Bump...already had one response on another forum that said to go with system one because of the high cost of PCIXpress...how expensive are we talking about, exactly?

-D.
 
Bump...no responses? Maybe i should have posted in a different thread, though the processor / bandwidth seemed to be the deciding factor here...

 
Well, there's a lot of issues here.

First, let's explain basic processor interface stuff. The Pentium 4 uses a "quad pumped" bus, which means that it can essentially send 4x the amount of information per MHz. So when intel says their bus is 800MHz, it is REALLY only 200 MHz. DDR (for Dual or Double Data Rate) RAM sends 2x the information per MHz, so when it says 400MHz, it is really only 200MHz. So basically the RAM and CPU on system two are interfacing perfectly together. At 533, the RAM interface speed is really 216.~~, and it doesn't seem like a little extra speed hurts the overall performance because of asynchronous interface. Plus, I think that the chipsets that officially support 533RAM will eventually support the 1066FSB CPUs.

Second, all 800MHz (again, really only 200MHz FSB) Intel CPUs support HT.

Third, there is essentially no real world performance difference between SATA and PATA. SATA is probably a tiny little bit faster, but the major advantage is air flow and future upgradability (and potential speed increases in the future).

Fourth, you don't want to do 3D rendering on a PCI card. Even though most of the initial rendering is done by the CPU in the programs you mention, previews and such would suck.

Fifth, don't let PCIexpress scare you. You could get a GeForce 6600 for ~$200 that would have VERY nice performance. DDR2 is the future and I'm pretty sure most of the new DDR2 chipsets are dual channel. If you want upgradability, you should stick with system 1.
 
Thanks!

Both of these systems are dual channel capable. How much of a difference does running in dual channel mode make?

$200 is way over my budget right now...I'm thinking about starting out with a $30 PCI card and using this as a rendering machine...no games, nothing, just a render box for Lightwave, maybe photoshop work. Later, this will be my second monitor card and I'll add in a PCIXpress card to drive a primary monitor...that card will probably be in the $100 range.

I'm definitely leaning towards the server box...users on Sharkyforums seem to prefer the Dimension option instead. I'm also thinking about selling the 80 G SATA drive to bring the cost down even lower, if there's no performance difference, since I have a 160G drive I could put in there instead...that should get me about $70 maybe?

-Dave.

 
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