Help w/machine purchase.
33 messages in this thread
Hi,
I asked this question last week, but only got one response. I was hoping
that a few more of the experienced users or those who have made recent
purchases might chime in. I would really appreciate your hints and advice.
I am looking to buy a machine to be my primary "workhorse" at home. I
currently am using a Gateway 486/25 at home, and have access to several
pentium 90's w/32megs+ at work. I would love to hear everyones suggestions
for this machine. I would like to keep the following in mind while making
this decision:
1. Would need to be under $6000 complete.
2. Would run most everything,including 3ds4, acad13, photoshop, and other
day-to-day programs.
3. I would like to move to Win-NT as soon as possible, probably with a dual
boot until 3ds is released as an NT product.
4. I would like it to be a multimedia machine, with expandability and a
large monitor (17" or 21"??), cdrom, and sound.
Specific questions I have:
1. Dual-Pentium or not? Is anybody out there using one, should I look at a
machine with 2 cpu sockets (Micron)
2. How much ram to start with, 32, 64 or somewhere between? Do I save if I
buy more with the machine.
3. Monitor size? Is a 20-21" monitor worth that much more, or will a 17" be
the best buy?
4. Recommended HD size? (1-2 gigs?)
5. SCSI or IDE? Should I start with SCSI or upgrade later?
6. Recommended Pentium speed? Is a pentium 100 worth the extra 200-300
bucks? Would I be better off waiting until the 120's come out?
7. Back up options?(I use a Colorado TBU 250 on my other
machine..slow,small, does anyone have a brand and type suggestion?)
8. Does anyone have any reccomendations about brands. I was looking at
Micron, but also Gateway, Zeos, Dell and Quantex. Anybody have one of
these.
I realize that this covers a lot of ground, but I would really like some opinions from
the experience in this forum, and also with the new version of 3dsNT coming
out, I would like to be prepared. I am unfortunately unable to wait for long
before making this purchase, otherwise I would probably wait until summer to
decide.
Thanks so much for all advice offered.
Doug
I recently went through the throes of having to make a purchasing
decision for the new 3ds division at MetroLight Studios. After
shopping just about everybody I settled on Cornell Computer Systems
(800-886-7200). They are local-ish to me (LA, Ca) which is always
nice and they had really nice systems pre-configured with the goodies
I wanted. Plus they delivered them fast (3-5 days). They had a nice
advertised configuration for about $6795 – I don't have the exact
specs in front of me, but you could check Computer Shopper and look
for the graphics dual-Pentium systems.
In a nutshell it has:
Dual Pentium 100 Motherboard with 1 CPU EISA/PCI
Large Tower 400w power supply
32mb RAM
Seagate 2gb Fast and Wide SCSI HD
Adaptec Fast and Wide SCSI PCI controller
Toshiba 4x CD-ROM
Viewsonic 21" Monitor
Diamond Stealth 4mb VRAM
I went to 128mb RAM and a network card which brought it to $10k. You
can add a second CPU if any software ever makes good use of it – if
not, no big deal because the capability to do that cost very little
extra.
I'm pretty happy with the decision and have had no problems running
3ds4, Photoshop etc. in an insane production environment. I believe I
made the right hardware decisions WRT speed, expandibility etc. The
only problem is DOS base memory shortage which is why I'm starting to
hate DOS with a huge passion. QEMM 7.5 may help with this.
Martin,
Just out of curiosity, why would you buy EISA-based mobos? (Unless,
of course, you're using the EISA-based Targa 2000).
Scott,
>> Just out of curiosity, why would you buy EISA-based mobos? <<
all the Dual Pentium motherboards I saw were EISA/PCI.
Martin,
>>…all the Dual Pentium motherboards I saw were EISA/PCI.<<
Very interesting. I wonder why? I'm looking into the new Triton
chipset Pent100's. They're suppose to be smokin'! (Although I here
the new EDO ram isn't).
Scott,
re: EISA/PCI motherboard
>> I wonder why? <<
possibly because many of them are for file servers and that's EISA's forte.
Ah, yes, file servers…I should have known!
-Scott
Martin,
The ASUS folks (Triton boards) are supposed to have both EISA/PCI and
ISA/PCI Dual Pentiums.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Kevin,
Thanks for the info…I've heard good things about the Asus Triton boards,
although I've heard that EDO ram isn't all it was cracked-up to be (and only
available in 4megs). Still, Triton chipset is supposed to be approx. 20%
faster even w/o EDO.
-Scott
P.S. Thanks for calling to confirm receiving my upgrade order today!
Scott,
I'm not sure you were aware of this, but Martin Foster is using those
boards now at Metrolight.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
That's funny. He mentioned an EISA configuration. The ASUS ain't EISA, is it?
(Wow–talk about a tongue twister!) I think you mentioned that you don't sell
mobos, right? I want to build a new system from the ground up. Any
suggestions?
-Scott
scott,
We do sell some systems, but I've gotten tired of custom purchasing and
configuring based on a customer's crappy specs, and the typical resulting
problems. However, what WE sell might not always be appropriate for a
particular need, or fit the time frame, so other suppliers are available.
Martin was able to purchase from a local vendor on the fast track, others do
well with mail order Microns and such. ASUS offers more than one board
configuration.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Kevin,
I'm interested in an ASUS Triton w/ pipelined cache (Non-EISA). Do you know of
a dealer (local or otherwise) that has them in stock?
-Scott
Kevin,
>> The ASUS folks (Triton boards) are supposed to have both EISA/PCI and
ISA/PCI Dual Pentiums. <<
I'd probably go with the ISA/PCI, if given a choice now. There's been no
problem with the EISA/PCI boards, but we don't really need EISA.
Martin,
>> Viewsonic 21" Monitor
How do you like that monitor? I've been thinking of one, (the price
can't be beat). I'm sure there are nicer 21" monitors, (if you have
the cash), but have you been satisfied with it? I'm using a
#9GXE64Pro video card, (like your card, it uses an S3 964 w/4megs
VRAM), so output should be similar. I'm primarily concerned with
brightness and contrast, (assuming focus is good).
John
John,
>> Viewsonic 21" <<
I like the monitors a lot. For the price and the features it's great value. I
like the Nec XP21 the most, but it's $800 more. I think a 21" monitor makes a
lot of sense for heavy production, especially with Windows NT coming along.
Thanks so much for the information. That is the stuff I wanted to hear! Could
you tell me if or why the 21" monitor is worth the extra money over the 17"?
Also, having not had any experience with vram, could you tell me how much of an
advantage it offers over dram, and also how much of a visible advantage 4mb
offers over 2mb (for video ram). Thanks for your help.
Doug
Doug,
>> Could you tell me if or why the 21" monitor is worth the extra money over
the 17"? <<
strange question. Isn't bigger always better with monitors? Especially at
higher resolutions and with 3ds and windows. Monitors have a direct affect on
productivity, so a good one is a good investment. They also usually can be used
through a few generations of PC. I'm using the same one I bought 4 years ago.
>> Also, having not had any experience with vram, could you tell me how much of
an advantage it offers over dram, and also how much of a visible advantage 4mb
offers over 2mb (for video ram). <<
VRAM is faster because of its architecture – quite a lot faster. But you pay
more for it. 4mb gives you more colours at higher resolutions then 2mb. With
2mb the highest 16.7m colour resolution is 800×600. With 4mb it would be
1024×768 (or 1152×970 ???). Yet again a good investment for Windows/WindowsNT
and to pair with a big monitor.
Martin,
Thanks for the information. I realize that my questions may sound strange, but
from someone who is generally stuck with 14-15" monitors, 17" is pretty good,
and the price jump from 17 to 21 is usually over $1000. I do believe that
bigger is "always" better, I just wasn't sure it was where I should put that
$1000 yet. (G) Again, thanks for your suggestions. You have definately helped
to confirm that I probably need to go with the best I can buy upfront, rather
than try and upgrade many peices later. (That usually adds up to more money in
the long run)
Doug
Doug,
in my case the price difference between a NEC XP17 (about $1200) and a
Viewsonic 21ps (about $1600) wasn't even close to $1000.
Martin,
I am glad to hear it. I will definately talk with the company you bought from.
Doug
Doug,
>> I will definately talk with the company you bought from. <<
be careful. They are trying to push the Everex dual Pentium motherboard heavily
over the ASUS for some unknown reason. I did quite a bit of research and
insisted on the ASUS motherboard – I recommend you do likewise.
Thanks for the warning. I have heard a lot of good things about the ASUS.
Doug
Doug,
re: Asus motherboard
your welcome.
Martin, I meant to ask, what chipset does the ASUS motherboard have that you
got? I have heard good things about the Triton, but don't know enough about
the differences.
Doug
Doug, FYI…
SuperMicro has a new pipelined triton coming out next month that'll blow away
the ASUS. You might want to check it out before buying the ASUS.
-Scott
Doug,
Check out the Idek Vision Master 21", an excellent value. I have one along
with a 17" & I've had no problems at all. Can't beat it for the price &
reviews have been very favorable.
-Scott
Thanks Scott, What did you pay for the Ideki 21", if you don't mind my asking?
Doug
>7. Back up options?(I use a Colorado TBU 250 on my other
machine..slow,small, does anyone have a brand and type suggestion?)
I like the HP 1533a also known as the Jet store 6000 dat tape drive. About 4 to
7 gigs per tape. I also like tapedisk software which allows one to mount the
tape as a drive.
Ed
Thanks Ed. I really appreciate you help. Do you have any idea as to how much
these drives run (appx)?
Doug
Around 12-1400
Ed
Thanks again Ed.
Doug