Workstation build help.

[chicoman]

I need to put together a workstation for mostly running SolidWorks, MasterCam X2 and some other little applications.

ATM running a Quadro FX 4400 > Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 > Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R board and 2GB OCZ Platinum?s on Win XP 32bit I?ve built about 1 1/2 years ago.

The system isn't bad maybe a little sluggish at times but was wondering if it's worth upgrading to some of the newer tech and if there would be any increase in performance.
What would you suggest for an upgrade if any.

Was looking in to...
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM2+ 3.0GHZ
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe ATX AM2+ AMD790FX
4GB G.SKILL F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ.

Or should I jump to the Intel Core i7 920 platform?

Now I'm not sure if I should I keep the FX 4400 or sell it and look in to spending a little more and go for something better. If so what would you recommend?

There?s no set budget but would like to keep it around $1000 not including a Quadro card.

 

[bamacre]

Why not just replace the cpu with a Q9650 instead of switching out motherboards? And just double up on the memory.

 

[Blain]

* True, you don't even need to change MBs to move to a Q9650, just make sure the BIOS is up to date.
* You should move to a 64-bit OS.
* Load the thing up with 8GB (4 x 2GB all the same brand & specs) DDR2 PC2-6400

 

[chicoman]

I was wondering if adding more ram would help and go to 64Bit OS then.

Also I think I can easily overclock that CPU to 3GHz but since it's a workstation not sure it's a good idea.

 

[nsafreak]

As a general rule of thumb overclocking a workstation is not a good idea. Adding more RAM and switching to a 64 bit OS would definitely help though. Whether a newer Quadro would help much I'm not sure since I'm not familiar with the applications you're using. I'd say do the RAM & OS upgrade first since it would be fairly inexpensive, then upgrade the video card if you need more performance gains.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: nsafreak
As a general rule of thumb overclocking a workstation is not a good idea. Adding more RAM and switching to a 64 bit OS would definitely help though. Whether a newer Quadro would help much I'm not sure since I'm not familiar with the applications you're using. I'd say do the RAM & OS upgrade first since it would be fairly inexpensive, then upgrade the video card if you need more performance gains.

+1

Upgrade the CPU last if it's still sluggish. But it shouldn't be, with 8GB/64-bit OS (and you could even try Win7 64 beta for free) it should cruise right along. You can crank up your Q6600 to 3GHz just to see if it makes a difference - if it does, sell that chip & buy a Q9550.

 

[chicoman]

Thank you for all the suggestions fellas.

I'm in the process of finding out if all the software used in this machine is 64bit compatible and will take it from there.

Using Mastercam X2, Lantek and not sure about the rest but they aren't as important.
I will only go XP64 or Win7 64.

Been using 7 since the day was rereleased for download and I think it will be alright in the end.

I might try overclocking the Quad to 3GHz, should be alright considering the high clocks other are getting.
IIRC it's a G0 version also

 

[Modelworks]

Overclock the Q6600 to 3Ghz, I have a G0 that I run in my workstation ( 3dsmax, Maya) overclocked and it works fine.
Ram may speed things up if you are using up what you have. If not then going to 64 bit isn't going to make it faster.