NX New System Recommendations 4

[GEMToo]

We are about to purchase NX Mach3 Progressive Die Design and are going to build a new system. Plans are for XP 64-bit, at least 4 GB RAM probably 8, 2HD's in RAID 0 and an Intel processor with an Nvidia video card. The questions are which processor/video card ? After reading other posts it sounds like using a Core 2 Duo E6850(3.0 GHz@1333) would be "better" than a Core 2 Quad E6600(2.4GHz@1066). These processors are comparable in price, is this assumption correct? Would a Xeon(???) be any better or any AMD for that matter ? On the video card end is a low-end Quadro the way to go or are the high end gamer cards adequate if not better, is there any advantage to using SLI ? Our assemblies will have thousands of components and I'm hoping to spend our money where it will be best utilized.

 

[looslib]

I would not build my own system for any of the top-tier CAD/CAM systems. The software vendors have certified certain components from the hardware vendors and will certify a machine configuration as being Good to run their software. Building your own system can be an excuse for any of the software comapnies to say you have a hardware problem when you get some weird problem while executing the program.

Dual core processors are all that you need as a quad core has more system overhead and runs slower than a dual core machine. NVIDIA Quadro FX1700 or huger for your graphucs card, Stay away from the gaming cards as they are not optimized for OpenGL. For a XP64bit system, I would go with 8GB memory at a minimum.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[cowski]

I agree with Ben's post. In addition you may want to rethink RAID 0. It gives no fault tolerance, if one disk goes - all your data is gone. Maybe keep the 2 hard drives separate and install your OS and apps on one drive and use the other drive for file storage. RAID 0 actually increases your chances of losing data.

 

[hudson888]

There are several posts on similar topics in this forum, and they're searchable. I have read most and posted several. I tend to build up custom systems simply because of the premium that pre-built system vendors place on their products. Since most of those have websites that allow you to configure you're essentially doing a similar thing, and while I custom build I source it all from a reputable local supplier and have then build the basic system. If you read through here and frame your requirements then attempt to configure according to a vendor's website then they will hopefully offer compatible components, using that as your shopping list I would price around and go back to the big guys if there is no substantial saving in using your reputable local computer outlet. In my case there always is.

Another approach that suits many is to go for a laptop, there are many very capable options these days. I would look at Dell, MacBook Pro has been reccommended, or HP have some desktop laptops that tempt me with their big 20 inch displays configured correctly they may be a good one to go for.

The consensus seems to be that NX is probably better on Intel, as I think there is some sort of relationship involved, though I could be wrong. Colleagues have dabbled with AMD in the past with results that satisfied their needs. On the other hand most people seem to think their needs are the most extreme, (hence the number of SUV's in our cities), and I thought these guys needs were moderate. For one system if you're not going to experiment then go with the tried and true. I have also read the the quad core over the duo core is much of a muchness as far as NX is concerned.

Get a plenty of memory, 8mb if you can, or at least leave room for expansion in terms of how you buy the modules per number of slots on the motherboard. Try and get in quickly as the prices may be about to go up, (something to do with dust storms from China drifting over Korea I was told). I would think XP-64 has the nod over Vista for most of what I have read.

Get a FAST a hard disk if possible, and yes I don't bother with RAID. What I do is have two hard disk a smaller fast one with the O/S and current projects, and a big storage drive for the bulk of data used less frequently and my backups. I don't partition the small disk either avoiding any associated issues with system stability if anything does go wrong. Recently we posted about I think is was a 60Gb or 80Gb SATA runs at 7200 rpm, would offer the best bang for your buck short of SCSI which probably breaks the bank.

Get a decent graphics card the best you can afford. Look up the certified hardware guides from PLMS before you buy anything, but especially these. I have often fallen short of the budget required for some of the certified graphics cards, but any well rate Nvida GeForce, or FX series cards with 256Mb or 512Mb. of memory on board have worked flawlessly. Avoid ATI unless you can find a certified model or specific recommendation to counter the bad experiences of myself and others in the past. Ignore gaming statistics you'll find a lot of good benchmarks for all kinds of hardware on sites like tomshardware, but the graphics card benchmarking seems to relate mainly to gaming which has distinctly different requirements to CAD.

That's about it. Get yourself the best size and quality of monitor that you can. If anything from what I have read you're probably better with a bigger wider flat panel, than using two smaller screens as some people seem to like. There are several posts about problems with it so I tend to think who needs the hastle.

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[GEMToo]

Thanks all for the prompt advice and great tips. We will take a good look at the approved systems, including a laptop, which is in the plans. I don't think linux is really an option for us at this point, unless it's a huge boost in performance. So as it stands we'll be looking for:

Core2 Duo E6850 (3.0 GHz@1333)
X38 MB
8 GB RAM
Quadro FX1700 (512MB)
No RAID
XP 64-bit
Spaceball (or equivalent?)

This configuration seems to be 80% available from most approved vendors for around $2500 in a desktop and nearing $4000 for a laptop. I hope a simple phone call would get us the exact configuration we really want. I have built almost all of our systems in the past but agree that the approved hardware vendor is the way to go.

Again, thanks for all the help and suggestions.

 

[hudson888]

Get a space pilot if you can the full featured version includes Ctrl, Shift, Esc, Alt. This is handy now, but according to recent posts will be even handier when you want to look at using the radial pop-ups in the future. If you run out of money don't despair get the space navigator they're still pretty good, also suitable with laptops.

Best Regards

Hudson

 

[DavidTolsma]

If you go with Windows 64, get 8 Gig of ram. Using a Dual Core and or multiple processors enable multiple processor mode in NX.

Go with a Top-Tier computer builder, like Dell, HP of the world.

-Dave Tolsma
Tolsnet LLC

http://groups.google.com/group/NX_CAX/

http://groups.google.com/group/plm-exchange/